You’ll Never Believe These 10 Marvel Characters Actually Exist

Since the very beginning, Marvel Comics has been working hard to create new and memorable characters for fans to love. Every year, dozens of new heroes and villains debut but, that said, not every character is met with resounding success. With hundreds of heroes and villains in the Marvel roster, it makes sense for them to be drastically different. Some characters are bright, cheerful, and beacons of hope. Meanwhile, others are more obscure, strange, or somewhat discomfiting. Truthfully, we can tell that the creators behind Marvel have fun making these characters, even if they’re shocking to learn about.

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Frankly, some of Marvel’s characters can get outright weird, and sometimes we love that. Who doesn’t love rooting for the odd little underdog? Technically speaking, Groot, Howard the Duck, and Batroc the Leaper all fall into this category. Shocking, right? Don’t even get us started on Peter Porker and his universe! But we love them all the more because of their quirks and oddities. Thanks to the growing popularity of the Spider-Verse, those characters have become more commonplace these days. So, let’s talk about some other peculiar characters of Marvel. Some of them are so weird you won’t believe they exist and yet, they do!

1) Throg

Let’s start with an easy and fun Marvel oddity! Simon Walterson, aka Throg, is a famous Thor variant. And yes, he really is a frog. He didn’t actually start out that way. Simon was originally a human being before Loki got his hands on him. Loki seemingly loves to turn people into reptiles and amphibians. Simon and Thor first met in Central Park when they worked together to save the day. Thor would leave behind a fragment of Mjolnir, which Simon could lift, proving his worthiness. One thing led to another, and now Simon, dubbed Throg, has his very own tiny Mjolnir.

Since then, Throg’s story has been told a few times, as the multiverse is vast enough to have more than one amphibian hero. Throg has even made it into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, thanks to Loki and the Time Variance Authority.

2) Ruby Thursday

It isn’t hard to see why a character such as Ruby Thursday stands out in any roster, even Marvel’s. Originally a scientist, she went the way of many villains, inducing an intentional transformation in herself. Somehow, she successfully replaced her head with organic circuitry, which is a nice way of saying she replaced her head with a computer (that also happens to look like a bright red ball). To make things even more strange, this new head can shapeshift, creating up to eight tentacles and even changing colors as needed. Ruby can also take the head off and survive, which makes more sense than it should.

If Ruby Thursday’s name rings a bell, it’s because she was inspired by the Rolling Stones song (“Ruby Tuesday”). She’s a dangerous villain because she’s as smart as she is creepy, and that’s saying something. This helps to explain why she hasn’t been left to the dust in Marvel’s history.

3) Doop

There’s strange, and then there’s Doop. Doop is a character who first appeared in the X-Men series, though he’s been a menace in several places since then. Truthfully, there are more questions than answers about this odd character. Doop is a little green critter, and if we believe he was born on Earth, it might feel safe to assume he’s a mutant (or an experiment). He’s welcome on Krakoa, so that speaks volumes. That’s only the beginning of Doop’s mysterious nature, as his powers come and go as needed, and that’s not an exaggeration.

While Doop may look like a pile of goo, he’s actually pretty sharp. Doop is a genius with access to psionic abilities. He may or may not be omniscient, though it’s confirmed that he does have some of the superhero starter pack powers (strength, flight, durability, etc.). What’s more concerning is that he can assimilate objects by eating them, and that includes the likes of Mjolnir. He once infamously ate the weapon, only to spew out a dozen duplicates.

4) Bliss

Over the years, Marvel has introduced hundreds of different mutants, ranging from the awe-inspiring to the horrifying. Bliss, a Morlock, is closer to the latter category. While Bliss’ story will feel very familiar (cast to the side by society, constantly on the outside, battling for her people, the usual earmarks), her mutation certainly makes her stand out. Bliss has a few powers that work together to create her rather unique look.

To start with, Bliss has a hyperextendable jaw, letting her open her mouth significantly more than the average human. This is important for what comes next. She also has a prehensile tongue, which is freaky enough, but that tongue has a full head at the end, complete with its own mouth, nose, and eyes. It’s terrifying. Adding to that is the fact that the smallmouth on her tongue has fangs that can inject venom. No, thank you.

5) Maggott

Everyone may dream of having amazing and drastic superpowers, but that isn’t how powers are handed out in Marvel. Just ask any unlucky mutant. Japheth is an Omega-Level mutant with arguably the grossest mutation around, though he’s fully embraced that part of his life. Maggotts’s mutation gave him a sentient digestive system – really. He has two sentient slug-looking creatures, whom he named Eany and Meany.

There is a bright side to this kind of gross ability, as Eany and Meany can eat almost any material, and with a shocking amount of speed. Consuming any matter will help Maggott heal, and since the slugs are semi-autonomous, they can heal Maggott when he’s unconscious. Unfortunately, Maggott is pretty reliant on his slugs, as separation from his slugs would result in his eventual death.

6) Hellcow

Marvel has a pretty interesting (and sometimes dark) history with cows. In the Fantastic Four, a group of Skrulls were transformed into cows and forgotten about (yes, it goes as badly as one might expect). Then there’s Bessie, aka Hellcow. In case her name and cape didn’t give it away, Bessie is a vampire cow, transformed by Dracula himself. Naturally, this set her up to be quite the evil little cow. She became a recurring antagonist for Howard the Duck, at least for a time.

More recently, Hellcow has become more attached to Deadpool’s story. The two met in a mad scientist’s lab, and the rest, as they say, is history. She even joined up with Deadpool, Inc., and boy was that a chaotic adventure. Bessie recently had a child, whom she named Hellcalf.

7) Mandrill

The problem with introducing so many characters each year is that not every character will age well. What was once deemed appropriate for the time can later be seen as a real problem. Enter Mandrill, aka Jerome Beechman. Beechman is the result of scientific experiments and mutations, though less directly than some might expect. His parents were the ones exposed to all the radiation, but Beechman carried the results.

Mandrill is a mutant, and he was born with the appearance and strength of an ape. That alone isn’t enough to make Mandrill terrifying, but his secondary ability certainly is. Mandrill has dangerous pheromones, which he uses to control women, and we don’t need to explain how much of a problem that is. Yes, he used his powers in a very predictable manner.

8) Hindsight Lad

They say that “hindsight” is 20/20, which is arguably true. For example, most Marvel fans didn’t anticipate a hero playing around with that phrase, yet here we are. Carlton LaFroyge is one of those classic characters who was absolutely desperate to become a superhero. While he didn’t sign up to undergo a dangerous and highly questionable experiment, he did just about everything else to get his name on the rosters. In particular, LaFroyge really wanted to join the New Warriors, and his incredibly minor superpower was enough to open the door.

Here’s the thing, Carlton LaFroyge claimed to have a basic, boring, and ultimately useless superpower – the ability to see what could have been, seconds after it’s too late to change it. It’s hindsight in a nutshell, right? We all have that ability, so it probably doesn’t seem like Carlton is all that special, and that’s true. As it turns out, Carlton lied to get into the New Warriors roster, and it only worked because they were so desperate to drum up numbers.

9) Hairball/P-Cat

Niels was once an ordinary housecat who belonged to Dr. Nicholas Benson, but that quickly changed. Following an accident at the labs, Robbie Baldwin became the new owner of Niels. Together, the two survived being inundated with a strange energy source from another dimension. As such, they both gained kinetic superpowers. Robbie would become Speedball, while his new and very loyal cat would become Hairball.

To be fair, we have no problem with a cat becoming a superhero alongside their owner. We actually would love more stories like this, as long as the pet in question is never harmed in any way, shape, or form. What makes Niels’ journey a bit strange is his insistence on sticking to his owner’s naming scheme. Speedball and Hairball make for a cute team, right? But when Robbie became Penance (it’s a long story), Niels, ever-loyal, also changed his name, this time to P-Cat, which is short for Penitent Puss. Yes, we hated having to write that.

10) The Orb

Strangely enough, there’s more than one character in Marvel with a strong and creepy eye theme, but The Orb takes the cake. In case it wasn’t obvious, The Orb has a massive eye for a head. The Orb became a mercenary pretty early in life, and his extra-sensory abilities helped him succeed in many ways. Unfortunately, those abilities didn’t help prevent damage, and The Orb has been grievously hurt several times.

The Orb has been around for a few years, but the Original Sin event changed things for this character. The Orb became obsessed with The Watcher, and after a short series of events, he shot (but didn’t kill) The Watcher, stealing his eyes in the process. As a result, The Orb now has duties similar to The Watcher, as one might expect, but he doesn’t follow the typical rules. Instead of simply watching, he let his own opinions flow into the narrative, encouraging killers to embrace their darker sides.