Does Marvel do a good job of developing their characters?
Before Phase 4 kicks off, we wanted to discuss our choices for the best character developments in the MCU since things kicked off over 10 years ago.
The key to good character development is seeing them grown and change. Changing not out of necessity, but rather by making a conscious choice. This can be a hard thing to accomplish if not done right. There are times it can flop, but when it is done right, the viewer connects with the character.
Marvel has done a good job with most of their characters, but there are a handful we think stand out above the rest.
On to our five choices for characters who showed the most development.
Loki
Loki started off as a bad guy but by the time his run was done, we saw how much he has changed. Nothing too drastic as he still cared about himself. But we do see Loki sacrifice himself trying to save Thor and Asgard. When Loki died in Avengers Infinity War, some people thought Marvel would back out on it and bring him back in the follow-up. They took another path where we will see an earlier version of the Trickster in the Marvel universe. Wonder how this will go.
Tony Stark
While he is the most obvious choice for the list, he still deserves the credit. From the first Iron Man to Endgame,. we see how Stark changed. From an ego eccentric person to one who is willing to sacrifice himself for the world. Hands down, he is the heart and soul of Marvel Phase 1 through Phase 3. It will be hard to one up him in the coming movies, but we do think there are some who could qualify.
Peter Parker
This is an interesting choice since we have limited screen time with Parker. After his brief intro in Civil War, we see the web slinger show up in the end of Phase 3 along with his two movies. Though Peter is still young, we do see him growing up before us and how his character changes. We think he is a strong candidate to be the star of Phase 4.
Rocket
Trash Panda was a hard sell at first. The loud crash attitude does not warrant anyone giving him a second glance. It was not until GOTG 2 where he interacts with Yondu. He see cracks in the armor of Rocket and fully see it break when Groot is snapped away. the only thing holding him back is we don’t think his development is done.
Thor
Hands down, we think the best character development belongs to the God of Thunder. When we first see him in Thor, there was not much to him. But over multiple films we see him begin to carry the burden of Asgard on his shoulders. We see how this pushes him to the point where he is on the brink of giving up only to bounce back. We love the arc Thor took and would challenge anyone who thinks any other MCU character showed more development.
There you have it. Maybe our list is not perfect, but we stand by it.
