Marvel Comics once earned the name the House of Ideas, meant to reflect the sheer ingenuity and creativity that went into its vast array of comics. From heroes, to villains, to completely unrelated superpowered or otherwise extraordinary people, no one can deny that Marvel has a vast assortment of all kinds of characters. Many of these characters can shatter the very bounds of reality, such as the planet eater Galactus or the Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Doom. And let’s not get into what Molecule Man and the Sentry, the man said to have as much power as a million exploding suns, are capable of. However, with all great ideas there must also come the bad.
Marvel has not only produced some of the strongest characters ever imagined, but also by far some of the most disappointing and weakest ones as well. This list will cover ten of the most utterly useless and least powerful heroes and villains in all of Marvel.
Having literally debuted in a series titled X-Men: Worst X-Men Ever, Bailey Hoskins more than deserves to be on this list. Bailey boasts the mutant ability to explode. Once. He cannot reform or heal or anything else, he can just explode. Needless to say, an ability that requires sacrificing your life to use is fairly bad in most scenarios. Bailey only sits at tenth place here because when he does explode it is very impactful and a powerful blast, and during the Krakoa era of the X-Men mutants were constantly dying and being revived easily. He could have been very useful if he was willing to visit the Five every day, but beyond that, being a walking bomb isn’t great.
Egghead is a villain with a staggering intellect and an equally large head. You might wonder why he is here when other tech based and unpowered geniuses such as Iron Man aren’t. Well, despite being able to produce extremely dangerous technology, he almost never enhances himself with it. He never builds special suits or weapons that only work for him, and thus leaves himself open to others using his tech as much as him. And beyond that, without access to his inventions he has no combat training or special capabilities, and is just a man in his fifties. He’s usually not depicted as particularly physically fit, either. He has high potential, but on his own, he usually doesn’t reach it.
Armless Tiger Man is definitely a Golden Age villain, having debuted way back in Marvel Mystery Comics #26, released in 1941. As the name implies he has no arms, and instead fights with his dexterous feet and sharpened canines. He has no discernable relation to tigers beyond having sharp teeth. Now, Armless Tiger Man seems to be fairly dangerous as he is both ferocious and fairly accurate with throwing knives, but he is just a man with a distinct hatred of machines.
More recently going by the name Trapster, Pete was introduced as a villain to fight theFantastic Four’s Human Torch with an “unbeatable super weapon.” The weapon in question? A glue gun. Yes, Paste Pot Pete picked his moniker after inventing his patented glue gun that can shoot a very adhesive substance. After inventing this his first thought was to use it for crime, which I cannot understand because how would glue help you rob a bank. Anyways, he sits here because his gimmick not only is pretty useless, but Spider-Man literally has basically the same tech with his webshooters, which are infinitely more versatile.
Almighty Dollar’s secret identity is J. Pennington Pennypacker and I am so happy that’s real. He’s made a grand total of one appearance, having starred in one issue of Marvel’s NFL Superpro, a comic centered around an ex NFL player who wore an indestructible uniform and very nearly made this list. Inconceivably, Almighty Dollar’s super power is money related, with the ability to shoot pennies from his hands. Instead of choosing to destroy the economy by printing endless money, Almighty Dollar chose to fight crime, so that at least shows his strength of character. At least he can use his power to get enough money to buy a real weapon, so that puts him above Paste Pot Pete.
Not much is known about Soft Serve, because she’s a mutant that only appeared in the background of a few comics trying to feed other people on Krakoa the ice cream she’s made with her superpower. In fact, we only now anything about her because her creator Bob Quinn talked about her and shared this sketch online. As for what he said, her mutant ability connects her to the “ice cream dimension,” which allows her to produce any flavor of ice cream. Unfortunately, the location of the portal means that instead of, say, shooting it from her fingers or her eyes, Soft Serve literally poops out the ice cream. According to Forge it is the best ice cream he’s ever had, but I frankly wouldn’t be able to stomach it. She might not be the weakest hero of all, somehow, but she has probably the most disgusting power.
Howard the Duck is a very interesting choice for this list, because if you just look at his abilities and stature he is simply a rather short anthropomorphic duck-man. However, Howard has had some of Marvel’s craziest adventures over the years, often fighting and somehow defeating some cosmic beings and supervillains that are far out of his league. Often, this would involve some special circumstance or weapon that he would only carry for a moment, but Howard usually comes out on top. Still, while he might have incredible luck and timing, he is basically still just a duck. Not exactly the best for a one on one fight in most circumstances.
Hindsight is very special, because while he doesn’t technically have any superpowers, I fully believe he secretly does have the power to annoy everyone around him. Originally going by Hindsight Lad, Carlton LaFroyge blackmailed his way onto the New Warriors superhero team after he discovered Speedball’s secret identity. His special skill? While he’s pretty good with computers, his actual talent is analyzing what someone did wrong and telling them what they could have done better after the fact. His contribution to the team that he’s not even supposed to be on is telling the others how they could have risked their lives better after the fact. All while he sits in the comfort of their home base, of course. This guy definitely wins for most infuriating character, no doubt.
Granny Smite is a 87 year old mutant introduced in the “From the Ashes” era of X-Factor, and is a horribly tragic character. After surviving two different deadly events that killed her family she discovered she is effectively immortal, and is now testing her mutant power by attempting to die in as many ways as possible. She is literally an 87 year old woman who is trying to die. It’s pretty darn hard to be weaker than that. Granted, Granny Smite is in pretty incredible shape for her age, but she’s still, and I cannot stress this enough, an old woman who is trying to die. Beast said it best, as long as nobody’s trying to kill her she’s practically useless.
Tim Boo Ba is the vile, diabolical, unstoppable, tyrannical ruler of Devotkos. He rules with an iron fist, ensuring all bow before his unassailable might. He has beaten back entire armies as they were unable to even harm him. His warriors subjugate all before him and ruthlessly punish all who would oppose him. Everyone on his world pays him homage, and even the Watcher himself acknowledges that Tim Boo Ba’s power is absolute, that none could ever hope to contest him. That was until one day, when his entire world was drowned in a massive flood that appeared from nowhere, with even the mighty Tim Boo Ba taken under the biblical level waters. What was the source of this great tide? A single drop of water. See, Tim Boo Ba is the ultimate warlord of Devotkos, which is a teeny tiny world in the Microverse. It existed on a scale model science project that a young boy’s mom accidentally spilled a drop of water on. Yes, Tim Boo Ba’s power is unmatched, but only in his very tiny corner of the Marvel Universe. Against literally anyone else, he is literally a spec they would never notice. He is truly and utterly incapable of hurting anyone else on this list, and thus is without a doubt Marvel’s weakest character.
So there you have it, the top ten weakest characters in Marvel Comics. Disagree with our list, or think we missed someone that should definitely be included? Let us know in the comments below!
Marvel Comics is home to some of the strongest characters of all time, and alongside them, the weakest people ever thought up. Read More