Top 20 MCU Moments That Caused Massive Backlash

#20: Butchering the God Butcher

“Thor: Love and Thunder” (2022)

When word broke that the fourth Thor movie would introduce comic book fan favorite Gorr the God Butcher, people were pretty excited. Unfortunately once the movie actually came out people were collectively disappointed. While Christian Bale certainly tried to bring some drama and gravitas to Gorr, the villain felt tonally at odds with the movie’s overly goofy vibe. It also didn’t help that the MCU severely downplayed the god butcher part of Gorr. Sure, the movie told us that his god-killing spree was bad, but all we really got was him murdering some d-list deities. To make matters worse, many of these deaths happened offscreen too! So yeah, it’d be Gorr who got butchered in the end sadly.

#19: Having Thor Put On Some Pounds

“Avengers: Endgame” (2019)

Thor’s been everything from a prince to a warrior to a full-fledged superhero. But he’s also been a buffoon. After the trauma of “Infinity War”, he became a husk of his former self in “Endgame”. In a look reminiscent of the Dude from “The Big Lebowski”, he was an overweight depressed gamer. Some defended this appearance, saying he looked more in line with typical Norse mythology, but the depiction just didn’t connect with most fans. His growth in “Infinity War” was undone. Sure he was sad a bit in “Endgame” but that wasn’t enough to repair the damage. Thor eventually got back into shape, but his transformation from a thundering god to a lazy couch potato to a jovial himbo was still a major letdown.

#18: Loki Falls in love...with Himself?!?

“Loki” (2021-23)

The first season of this show gave a whole new creepy spin to the concept of self-love. When Loki discovers a female variant of himself named Sylvie, sparks fly between them. In fact the two even share a kiss in the season one finale. Loki experiencing love is cool, but hooking up with himself probably wasn’t the right idea. The whole thing just felt gross, and we’re not the only ones thinking that. A majority of fans were put off by this pairing and we can’t blame them. Thankfully it seems like Marvel got the message since the romantic relationship was quietly dropped during the second season. All in all, the semi-incestuous relationship was a weird chapter in Loki’s life that’s best to be ignored.

#17: Killing Foggy

“Daredevil: Born Again” (2025-)

The cancellation of the original Netflix “Daredevil” had fans worried that they would never see Matt Murdock and his supporting cast in the MCU ever again. Thankfully the launch of the sequel show “Born Again” showed that there was plenty of life left for the “Daredevil” property. However, not all parts of that franchise would be treated fairly. Within the first few minutes of the “Born Again” premiere, Foggy was unceremoniously killed off by Bullseye. This felt like a huge middle finger from Marvel to the fans. Anyone who watched the Netflix show knew just how iconic Foggy was. Even though an argument could be made that the show needed to have a radical creative change, cutting Foggy Nelson hurt all of us deeply.

#16: Wasting Taskmaster

Various

How to handle a character like Taskmaster proved to be a surprisingly difficult task for the MCU. That’s because fans were largely displeased with the character’s portrayal. Instead of a comic accurate Anthony Masters, we got a new character at the helm in Antonia Dreykov. While this change was frustrating, all could’ve been forgiven if Antonia was well-written. Sadly though that wasn’t the case. The MCU Taskmaster was basically treated like a footnote. She was a pretty one-note villain in the “Black Widow” movie and then killed off haphazardly in “Thunderbolts”. Marvel essentially saw Antonia as a glorified jobber and nothing more. Taskmaster never got their time to shine, and now who knows if the character ever will again?

#15: Everything About Smart Hulk

Various

The intelligence of Bruce Banner and the raw strength of the Hulk are both important parts of this hero. However, blending those two fundamentals together is like putting pizza and ice cream together. They’re both amazing foods but nobody wants rocky road as a pizza topping! So with that in mind: Smart Hulk was a recipe for disaster. Turning Hulk into just a green version of regular Bruce vastly reduced his importance. In fact, Hulk became boring. This is a founding Avenger and he arguably hasn’t done anything important since “Endgame”! It’s no wonder why fans want to see the Hulk let loose once again. If we don’t get that then the Incredible Hulk is probably going to get rebranded as the Insignificant Hulk!

#14: Wanda’s Heel Turn

“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” (2022)

After losing both Vision and their magical imaginary children, Wanda Maximoff went down a dark path. How dark? Well she ended up on a murder spree in the second “Doctor Strange” movie that saw her kill members of the Illuminati. She also nearly killed the magical teenage girl America Chavez. So yeah, it’s pretty safe to say that Wanda lost all her marbles. While some fans had no problem with Scarlet Witch becoming evil, many criticized it. It didn’t really feel like it was the logical next step for her after the events of “Wandavision”. Elizabeth Olsen herself even expressed some frustration with aspects of “WandaVision” seemingly getting ignored. Either way though we can all agree that an evil Scarlet Witch is a scary sight!

#13: She-Hulk Twerking

“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” (2022)

Oh boy, people did not like this. At the end of episode three of “She-Hulk”, Jen and her client Megan Thee Stallion let loose. This leads to an infamous clip of She-Hulk twerking. The internet had a collective meltdown over this, with many even calling it one of the MCU’s lowest points. In all honesty, that might be a little bit harsh. Is it kind of cringey? Sure, that horrendous CGI isn’t doing Jen any favors, but this is also just a lighthearted end credit. This moment got far more backlash than it may have deserved. Because of that, the discourse around this show remains divisive to this day. With that in mind, it’s unlikely that the MCU will repeat this creative choice going forward.

#12: Turning Sharon Into a Villain

“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” (2021)

Sharon Carter has had a really rough life in the MCU. She started out as a resourceful SHIELD agent who developed a romance with Captain America. Unfortunately for her though, Steve Rogers later time-travelled to get back together with Sharon’s great aunt Peggy. Oof, the mental gymnastics on that thing are a nightmare. Anyways, the logical next step was to reveal that she was now secretly a bad guy named the Power Broker. Yeah…this didn’t really work. Her out-of-character turn to the dark side was baffling for viewers. Was she really the right character to make a crime lord? What would Steve think of all this? Ultimately the Power Broker was a pretty broken concept.

#11: Calling Black Widow a Monster

“Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015)

There were some real problems with “Age of Ultron”, and unfortunately the romance between Natasha and Bruce had some issues like this scene in particular. While sharing her backstory with Bruce, Nat explains that as part of the training she had she’s not capable of having children. After that, she likens that situation to being a monster. This was an extreme statement to make and not a popular line in the slightest. Marvel probably had good intentions by trying to showcase Black Widow’s pain in an attempt to build sympathy for her. However, the insensitive monologue just ended up making the whole scene feel disrespectful. The real monster of this movie is Ultron, not Black Widow.

#10: Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch Aren’t Mutants

Various

Integrating mutants into the MCU has been tricky. Many fans wanted to see the X-Men alongside the Avengers — and when the MCU introduced Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, fans thought this could be a possibility. Unfortunately, Wanda and Pietro had a bit of a bumpy start in this shared universe. Their status as mutants was scrapped, instead being referred to as “miracles.” Their family tree was also reimagined. Typically, Magneto is their father, but that wasn’t the case here. Sure, Marvel couldn’t lean into all of the X-Men goods back then, but ignoring who these characters were didn’t make fans happy. Maybe the real miracle here is how popular Scarlet Witch became despite all of the changes.

#9: The CGI Head

“Thor: Love and Thunder” (2022)

If you always wanted to see a floating head in a “Thor” movie, congratulations — this scene might have thrilled you. Unfortunately, the effect looks pretty unsettling. Heimdall’s son Axl relays a message to Thor and the gang about Gorr. But we’re willing to bet all words get lost in translation because audiences could only focus on the horrendous CGI. A multi-million dollar movie shouldn’t look like it belongs in the bargain bin. No offense to the VFX team, but this just was not it. There’s even a cleaned-up version on Disney+, but we’re not sure it’s much better. This laughably bad scene was one of several reasons this “Thor” entry is regarded as a weak point of the franchise.

#8: Howard the Duck & Darcy Lewis Have a Kid

“What If...?” (2021-24)

What if a human woman and a duck had a child? There’s a lot of fun stuff in the show “What If...?” but we’re not sure who was wondering about this specific scenario. An episode where Darcy Lewis has a child with Howard the Duck is going to ruffle feathers no matter what way you want to slice it. This exact scenario plays out in the fourth episode of season three, which sees the birth of Byrdie. It's an absolutely bizarre storyline to do, and given the limitless premise of the show, a bit of a disappointment. Out of all the boundary-pushing scenarios they could’ve done, they go with this? Seriously, what the duck were they thinking?

#7: Kang the Conqueror Is Bested by Ant-Man

“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” (2023)

This guy was supposed to be the next big bad of the MCU. That’s kind of shocking considering he went out like a complete chump in the fight against Ant-Man. In “Quantumania,” Scott and Hope van Dyne push Kang into a multiversal engine core, defeating him. It’s a cool fight sequence, but a huge letdown too. Fans didn’t like the idea that this next-level supervillain died that easily. Even though there were multiple other menacing variants of him running around, this was supposed to be the main Kang. If the MCU revisits Kang, he’ll still be the guy who was taken down by the dude who talks to ants. Sorry, but that’s a bummer.

#6: Rhodey Is a Skrull

“Secret Invasion” (2023)

The long-awaited Skrull invasion turned out to be a flop. But as the miniseries ran, speculation flew over which fan-favorite characters would be outed as shapeshifters. Eventually, Rhodey would be revealed as a Skrull. But many fans were displeased at the vague nature of the reveal. When exactly was Rhodey swapped out? Had he been a Skrull since “Endgame?” Did the real Rhodey even know that his friend Tony Stark died? This plot twist just didn’t feel earned. It seemed like the show needed a big reveal and Rhodey squared that circle. “Secret Invasion” could’ve been a thrilling adaptation of an iconic comic storyline. But instead we got a dull show that just failed to live up.

#5: The Ralph Bohner Debacle

“WandaVision” (2021)

While this show might not have fully jumped the shark, it had its own divisive moments. The most commotion was caused when the identity of Evan Peters’ mystery character was revealed. Fans initially believed that he might reprise his role as Quicksilver from the Fox universe. Could this mean we were going to get the X-Men in the MCU? Nope, sorry. It turned out that he wasn’t Pietro, and it was all a trick. Peters was actually just playing some guy called Ralph whose last name sounded like an immature reference. Fans didn’t love how “WandaVision” stirred fan speculation and wasted an actor cameo, all for a stupid gag.

#4: Star-Lord Screws Everything Up

“Avengers: Infinity War” (2018)

It was really hard to be a Star-Lord fan around 2018. He got a lot of blame for the Blip. When Thanos is cornered by Iron Man’s group of heroes, they come incredibly close to prying the Infinity Gauntlet from his grasp. But when Star-Lord discovers that Thanos killed Gamora, he attacks the Mad Titan. His rage during this moment allows Thanos to regain control and fight back. Many fans became split over this. Star-Lord’s grief was perfectly understandable, but he also had a job to do. Some also believed that the way this scene happened was out of character for Quill. Either way, his reaction cost our heroes everything.

#3: The Real Way Fury Lost His Eye

“Captain Marvel” (2019)

How Nick Fury ended up with his signature eyepatch was a mystery fans were eager to see solved. But sometimes theories are more exciting than what we actually end up with. Near the end of “Captain Marvel,” a younger Nick Fury playfully holds up Goose, a dangerous alien that resembles a cat. But it turns out that this kitty’s got claws! Goose was actually the one who caused Fury to lose sight in his left eye. This wasn’t exactly the satisfying payoff fans wanted. “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” made it seem like Fury suffered a dramatic personal betrayal, and well — this wasn’t that. Talk about a letdown!

#2: Steve Kisses Sharon

“Captain America: Civil War” (2016)

On the surface, there’s nothing wrong with Captain America sharing a tender moment with Sharon Carter. But once you realize that she’s the great niece of Peggy Carter, Steve’s old flame from World War II, things get a little weird. Some fans didn’t see a problem, but many were a little creeped out by Steve’s decision to go from one woman in this family to another. It’s also strange because this kiss happened not long after Peggy’s funeral. And in retrospect, it’s even odder post-“Endgame,” where Steve rewrites his history to go back and grow old with Peggy. The time-travel shenanigans there only furthered the idea that the Steve-Sharon romance was doomed from the start.

#1: The Mandarin Reveal

“Iron Man 3” (2013)

The Mandarin had the makings to be a formidable supervillain when he was introduced in “Iron Man 3.” He was menacing, mysterious, and murderous. Except halfway through the movie, we learn that this is all a ruse. The Mandarin we thought we were seeing was actually just a washed-up actor named Trevor Slattery. While many in the fanbase have actually come to appreciate Trevor over the years, he didn’t get the warmest welcome initially. Fans disliked how the MCU made one of Iron Man’s greatest villains a joke. While we’d get a version of the real Mandarin eventually, we still never got to see him face off against Tony Stark — a total fumble.

Are there any polarizing MCU scenes we forgot? Share all of those disastrous moments down in the comments!