The MCU Is Growing: The Best New Characters Introduced In 2021

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the world, 2020 proved an unfortunate dry spell for fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the release of many highly anticipated movies and TV shows, the first of the MCU's fourth phase, delayed until 2021.

Thankfully, 2021 made up for the drought. There's been plenty for fans to enjoy, with four films and five television series hitting screens throughout the year. As the opening act of MCU Phase Four, these films and shows have introduced a lot of characters sure to be important in the future.

Here are the best new characters introduced to the MCU in 2021.

Agatha Harkness

At first introduced to the sitcom world of Westview as Wanda and Vision's nosy neighbour, Agnes, the twist ending to WandaVision's seventh episode, 'Breaking The Fourth Wall', revealed that Agnes was actually another witch, Agatha Harkness. While in the comics, Agatha is a friend and mentor to Wanda, WandaVision reimagines the character as an antagonist, subtly manipulating events in Westview as she plots to uncover exactly how Wanda cast such a powerful spell over the town.

With her fun, quirky characterisation and catchy song 'Agatha All Along', now nominated for multiple awards, Agatha is one of the many reasons that WandaVision became the popculture phenomenon that it was. The character was so well received that Kathryn Hahn will reprise the role in a spin-off series, Agatha: House of Harkness.

Tommy & Billy Maximoff

In the closing moments of WandaVision's second episode, Wanda finds herself magically pregnant. In episode three, her twin sons, Tommy and Billy, are born, and in episode five, they age themselves up to five, and then ten years old. In episode six, 'All-New Halloween Spooktacular', the boys develop powers. Tommy has the ability of super speed like his Uncle, Pietro, while Billy displays abilities similar to his Mother.

Fans of Marvel Comics were exited by the introduction of Billy and Tommy, due their likely future status as Young Avengers members Wiccan and Speed. They are the second and third potential Young Avengers to debut in the MCU, after Cassie Lang from the Ant-Man films, destined to become the hero Stature. While the twins disappear when Wanda dismantles the Hex in the WandaVision finale, their return has already been teased, as they are heard calling to their Mother for help as she studies the Darkhold in the series' post-credits scene.

Yelena Belova

Yelena Belova, Natasha Romanoff's adoptive younger sister, made her debut in Black Widow, when the film was finally released in July 2021, after being delayed by the pandemic for over a year. Like Natasha, Yelena was trained from a young age to become a deadly Black Widow assassin. After obtaining a chemical that will cure their fellow Widows from the evil Dreykov's mind-control, Yelena agrees to help Natasha take down the Red Room.

Yelena also appears in Hawkeye. The series revealed that Yelena was a victim of the Blip, and that she has struggled to cope with the news of Natasha’s death. While she was hired to kill Clint Barton, she ultimately decides not to carry out the assasination, once she realises how much both she and Clint genuinely loved Nat.

Yelena quickly gained fans for her sibling banter with Nat, and later, her fun, ‘frenemy’ style relationship with Kate Bishop. Fans are eager to see her again, however, some are fearing for the younger Black Widow’s safety after her failure to kill Clint.

Alexei Shostakov/The Red Guardian

Black Widow also introduced David Harbour in the role of Alexei Shostakov, aka The Red Guardian. While initially Russia's answer to Captain America, the flashback sequence that opens Black Widow shows Alexei having spent three years undercover in the U.S, with Melina Vostakoff posing as his wife, and Natasha and Yelena as his daughters. When the mission comes to a dramatic end, Alexei is torn between his strong desire to return to active fieldwork, and the genuine affection he has developed for the girls. Years later, when the adult Natasha and Yelena break him out of Prison, he agrees to join their quest to take down the Red Room.

Alexei served as a regular source of comic relief in Black Widow, through his imagined rivalry with Captain America, and somewhat misguided attempts to reconnect with his surrogate daughters. Many fans are eager to see him again, possibly in a Yelena-centric Black Widow sequel.

Mobius M Mobius

Agent Mobius M. Mobius, played by Owen Wilson, was introduced in Loki as a worker for the Time Variance Authority, an organisation tasked with maintaining the Sacred Timeline by 'pruning' anyone who creates a new branch by deviating from their assigned path. Against the advice of his co-workers, Mobius recruits a Loki variant to catch another even more dangerous Loki variant who is threatening the timeline. While initially loyal to the TVA and the mysterious Timekeepers, Mobius's worldview is shaken when he discovers that he and everyone else working for the TVA are in fact Variants. He then teams up with Loki and the 'dangerous variant', Sylvie, in search of the truth behind the TVA.

Mobius quickly became a favourite with fans, who are looking forward to seeing the character again in Loki season two.

Sylvie

At the conclusion of Loki's second episode, Loki learns that the Variant being pursued by the TVA is a female variant of himself. This variant has rejected the Loki name, instead dubbing herself Sylvie, and has a slightly different powerset from most Lokis, including some level of mind control. After her Nexus event, which occurred during her childhood, Sylvie stole a temp pad and escaped the TVA. Believing that they stole her life from her, Sylvie has made it her mission to bring the TVA down. She sees herself as a champion of free-will, which cannot truly exist as long as the Sacred Timeline is being so strictly maintained.

With Loki's help, Sylvie eventually reaches the domain of He-Who-Remains, who created the TVA and idea of the Sacred Timeline in order to prevent a Multiversal war once sparked by his own evil variants. Despite Loki's pleas to consider the implications, Sylvie kills He-Who-Remains, resulting in the birth of the Marvel multiverse.

While fan reception to Sylvie, particularly the romantic aspect of her relationship with Loki, has been somewhat mixed, there's no arguing that she is a very interesting addition to the future of the MCU.

Xu Xialing

Xialing is introduced in the film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, as the younger sister of the movie's hero, Shang-Chi. Estranged from her brother when the film begins due to her belief that he abandoned her when they were children, Xialing is reunited with Shang-Chi when he arrives at her underground fighting ring to warn her that their Father, Wenwu, is on his way to obtain her piece of a pendant that will guide him to their Mother's magical Homeland, Ta Lo.

The siblings reconnect while protecting Ta Lo, however, the film's post-credits scene suggests Xialing may be lying to Shang-Chi. While Shang-Chi believes Xialing has gone to dismantle their Father's crime organisation, the scene reveals that Xialing has instead taken leadership herself, and is no training young women to fight as she was never allowed to as a child.

While Shang-Chi was the hero of the film, for many fans, Xialing, an amalgamation of comic characters Zheng Bao Yu and Sister Dagger, was the more interesting of the two. Also, with organised crime beginning to feature in other MCU projects, such as Hawkeye, Xialing's role as leader of the Ten Rings organisation could make her just as important to the wider universe as her brother.

Captain Carter

The first episode of Marvel's multiverse-exploring anthology series What If? introduced a world where it was Peggy Carter, not Steve Rogers, who was injected with Super-Soldier serum. This Peggy became known as Captain Carter, with Steve serving at her side in the Hydra Stomper, an early model Iron Man type suit. Like Steve in the original timeline, Captain Carter finds herself accidentally propelled to the future at the conclusion of her episode. In the final episode of What If's? first season, Captain Carter is recruited into The Watcher's Guardians of the Multiverse team to battle Infinity Ultron.

While other members of the Guardians of the Multiverse, including T'Challa Star-Lord and Party Thor, proved popular with fans, Captain Carter is one of the most likely to factor into the MCU's future. She is already confirmed to appear in What If? season two, and is even receiving a comic book spin-off.

Makkari

Makkari, played by Lauren Ridloff, first appears in the film Eternals as a member of the titular group of near-immortal heroes. Makkari possesses the power of super speed, greater than that of any other MCU speedster, and is deaf in order to render herself immune to the sonic booms caused when she runs. She is the last Eternal to rejoin the group in the film, but one of the first to commit to the plan of saving Earth rather than allowing the planet to be destroyed by the birth of a new Celestial.

Makkari quickly proved to be one of the most popular characters in the film, even inspiring some fans to show interest in learrning sign language. On top of this, her sweet bond with fellow Eternal Druig has resulted in the two becoming a fan-favourite couple.

Druig

Druig is an Eternal with the power to control minds. Over the years, he becomes increasingly disillusioned with the Eternals policy of not interfering in human affairs unless Deviants are involved, when he knows he could have used his powers to sway them away from war and destruction. When the team splits up, Druig spends centuries 'protecting a human village from themselves' through the use of mind-control. Despite his belief that humans will simply destroy themselves once left to their own devices, he comes to understand that they deserve the chance to make those choices, right or wrong, and joins Sersi, Phastos, Makkari, and Thena in their attempt to save Earth.

Druig formed an adorable double act with Makkari, and fans can't wait to see more of the two together.

Kate Bishop

The recent Hawkeye series introduced Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop, a young woman who grew to idolise Clint Barton after he saved her life during the Battle of New York. Inspired by Clint to take up archery and martial arts, Kate's wildest dreams come true when a series of mishaps lead to her teaming up with Clint to take on the Tracksuit Mafia.

Fans adored Steinfeld's portrayal of Kate, praising how comic-accurate she was in both appearance and behaviour. Fans also loved the chemistry between Kate and Yelena in their few scenes together, and are hoping to see the pair team up in a future project.

Maya Lopez/Echo

Hawkeye also introduces Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez/Echo, a high ranking member of the Tracksuit Mafia. Maya is deaf, but has worked to heighten her other senses, easily able to watch and copy the fighting style of those she is up against. Initially wishing to kill the mysterious Ronin as revenge for the death of her Father, Maya changes targets when it turns out that Kingpin may have been responsible for steering Ronin in her Father's direction on the night she was killed.

Maya appears to shoot Kingpin in the Hawkeye finale, but as the actual shot happens offscreen, some fans have doubts over whether the villain is actually dead. This is a question that could be answered in the upcoming Echo spin-off series.

2021 was a great year for new characters entering the MCU. Now, with multiple shows focusing on new characters, such as Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk on the way, let's hope 2o22 is the same.

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