There are times when a superhero debuts to all kinds of acclaim and they seem like they’re going to be the next big thing. In the Marvel Universe, there have been loads of amazing heroes who looked like they were about to join the ranks of the most respected heroes and yet it never happens. Even heroes who have been around forever fail when given a bigger spotlight.
There have been tons of heroes with all the potential in the universe that have squandered it. Some of them got raised above their station and others just fell off the map after their big break but regardless of how it happened, it did happen.
10 Ares Could Have Been The Next Thor
Ares was the God of War and got his big break when Iron Man put him on the Avengers. His gruff manner and love of battle made him the team’s Thor replacement and he more than earned his keep. When Norman Osborn took things over, he stayed with the team, becoming one of the Dark Avengers’ most powerful members.
He would end up getting killed in battle with the Sentry and returned, but ever since then, he’s pretty much done nothing of note, which is super disappointing for someone who was beating on Avengers level enemies constantly.
9 Justice Got A Chance With The Avengers And Then Just Vanished
Justice started his heroic career with the New Warriors, using his telekinetic abilities to battle evil with the teen team. Eventually, he and his girlfriend Firestar got the chance to become Avengers and he was actually pretty great at it. However, once he left the team, he sort of just faded away.
Eventually, he was just a background character in big superhero battles. He would help train the young heroes of the Initiative but that was sort of a demotion for someone like him, who had proven himself battling against some of the most dangerous Avengers’ villains of them all.
8 She-Hulk Is Great On Teams But Not As Great By Herself
She-Hulk is a longtime Avenger and former member of the Fantastic Four. She’s often pretty superior to her cousin but she’s not exactly the best solo hero. This is a tragedy because she’s actually pretty great- she has a fun personality and as a superhero lawyer, there’s all kinds of shenanigans she can get into. However, for whatever reason, on her own, she’s just not interesting after a while.
She’s smart and tough but that’s just not enough. She’s great on a team and can do a lot of damage but on her own, it’s all her being a lawyer or fighting other people’s villains, which just isn’t great for a hero with her potential.
7 Wonder Man Gets Too Caught Up In His Relationship With Scarlet Witch To Be That Great Of A Hero
Wonder Man is pretty powerful when it comes right down to it. Empowered by ionic energy, he has massive super-strength and durability and if he dies, he reconstitutes eventually. All things told, he should be an A-list Avenger but his relationship with Scarlet Witch messes everything up for him.
Wonder Man usually gets so embroiled in that relationship that it holds him back a lot. Either he and Vision are always squabbling about Scarlet Witch or they get together and that pretty much becomes the center of his entire being.
6 Storm Is Great But She Hasn’t Been A Big Deal In A Long Time
Storm is one of the most powerful X-Men of them all and the total package when it comes to being a hero but she hasn’t really been a big deal in a very long time. In fact, even when she’s led the X-Men in recent years, she always felt overshadowed by someone. Sure, she joined the Fantastic Four and the Avengers and married T’Challa, but she honestly feels like she’s regressed over the years.
Storm is one of the greatest leaders in the Marvel Universe; she earned her place as leader of the X-Men by beating Cyclops without powers. She’s amazingly powerful but she gets constantly overshadowed by all kinds of other mutants and heroes. Even when it seems like she’s about to be a big deal again, it just sort of fizzles.
5 Spectrum Rose To Avengers’ Chairwoman But Got Overshadowed By Other Captain Marvels
Spectrum began her superhero career as Captain Marvel and her complete control over energy made her probably the most powerful Captain Marvel of all time. Her time on the Avengers made her a star and she even became the leader of the team. However, once she left the team, she kind of lost a lot of her stature.
Genis-Vel, Mar-Vel’s son, took over for her as Captain Marvel and since then she’s floated around all kinds of superhero teams as Spectrum, with some tenures more successful than others. She’s easily one of the most powerful people on the planet but the loss of the Captain Marvel mantle to multiple heroes affected her adversely.
4 Iceman Is One Of The Most Powerful Mutants On Earth But Rarely Lives Up To It
Iceman’s powers have grown and expanded for years until he’s become one of the most powerful mutants on the planet. His abilities to control ice seemed dull for a long time but he was able to master them and perform some feats that no one would have thought possible.
However, as powerful as Iceman is, he just never brings it all together. His happy-go-lucky attitude doesn’t really help things; he can defeat just about anyone but always sort of fades into the background of whatever X-Men team he’s on.
3 Stature Changed Her Name And Went Nowhere
The Young Avengers built a lot of stars but one character who pretty much went nowhere is Cassie Lang a.k.a. Stature. Cassie is the daughter of Scott Lang, Ant-Man, and is a second-generation superhero. In fact, the only reason he’s alive now is because of her and the Young Avengers. Her size-changing powers have made her a formidable combatant.
She would die and get resurrected, rechristening herself Stinger, to fit her father’s insect motif. This was pretty much the end of her superhero career as someone with a future and she’s pretty much disappeared ever since.
2 The Return Of Steve Rogers Pretty Much Ended Falcon’s A-List Sojourn
The Falcon is the Marvel Universe’s greatest B-lister and while he is the greatest, it’s sad that he’s only on the B-list. He’s easily one of Cap’s best sidekicks and a great hero on his own; he’s been an Avenger and even earned his place as Captain America. Unfortunately, Steve Rogers’ return and him becoming Falcon again dropped him back to the B-list.
Falcon is one of the greatest heroes in the Marvel Universe but getting downgraded back to the Falcon had an adverse effect on his prospects; he lost his place in the Avengers and has pretty much faded away.
1 Winter Soldier Made A Big Splash When He Returned But It Ended Pretty Soon
Sometimes, story retcons work out better than expected and the Winter Soldier is a great example of that. He was a big deal from the start and when he became a hero again and took over as Cap, it was a big deal. However, much like the Falcon, once Steve Rogers came back, he was on his way down the tubes.
Since the end of his tenure as Cap, the Winter Soldier has bounced around and never found a new niche. He was never the best at anything and that was the problem- there were better spy heroes, he didn’t really fit as a straight-up superhero, and even the attempt to make him the guy who killed alien threats before they got to Earth fizzled. Winter Soldier was all potential and it all got squandered.
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