These movie characters deserved so much more in their recent big screen outings!
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00:00 From epic super smashes being teased but never truly delivered, to Wizarding World staples
00:05 being sidelined for much of the spellbinding action, these movie characters deserve so
00:10 much more in their latest adventures.
00:12 And spoilers ahead, of course!
00:14 I'm Gareth from WhatCulture.com, and here are 10 characters completely wasted in recent
00:19 movies.
00:20 10.
00:21 The Illuminati – Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
00:24 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' unleashing of the much-anticipated Illuminati
00:29 acted as both a satisfying dose of fan service and soul-crushing swerve before fans had even
00:34 had a chance to come to terms with what they were actually seeing.
00:37 Hot on the heels of bringing John Krasinski's brilliantly fan-cast Mr. Fantastic, Patrick
00:42 Stewart's Charles Xavier, Anton Mount's Black Bolt, Hayley Atwell's Captain Carter,
00:46 and Lashana Lynch's Captain Marvel into the mix in the universe-travelling epic, the
00:51 Scarlet Witch quickly made mincemeat of the supposed team of Universal Protectors, brutally
00:56 dispatching each member with devastating ease before turning your attention back to
01:00 Strange.
01:01 Now sure, this unexpected culling of the Illuminati did help establish Wanda Maximoff as even
01:05 more of a deadly threat, whilst also introducing – and reintroducing – us to characters
01:10 that could rock up in later movies from other corners of the multiverse before long.
01:14 But you'd be lying if you weren't even a little bit underwhelmed at the sight of
01:17 some of Earth's mightiest heroes from across the multiverse being shockingly introduced
01:22 on the MCU stage, only to be swatted away like frustrating superflies shortly after.
01:27 9.
01:28 Alfred Pennyworth – The Batman It was difficult to find just about any faults
01:31 in Matt Reeves' realisation of a Gotham crawling with a sort of grime and villainy
01:36 The Batman seems to truly thrive in.
01:38 However, among a mesmerising ensemble of DC's finest – with Robert Pattinson's aforementioned
01:43 brilliant Bruce Wayne portrayal, Colin Farrell's transformative turn as the Penguin, and Zoe
01:47 Cravett's captivating Catwoman all justifiably garnering much of the attention coming out
01:52 of the 176-minute monster – was one particular cog that simply struggled to make much of
01:57 an impression, to be honest.
01:59 While Reeves will likely feed us much more when it comes to Andy Serkis' long-suffering
02:02 Bat Butler in sequels, his introduction in The Batman amounted to little more than a
02:07 background presence, who does little to impact on the staggering picture at all.
02:11 With so much being made of Serkis' Alfred's military background, and strained relationship
02:16 with the brooding Bruce coming into the flick, too, his eventual handling felt like a bit
02:20 of a missed opportunity – especially with such a talented thespian at the wheel.
02:24 8.
02:25 Venom – Spider-Man No Way Home In what is quickly becoming an irritating
02:28 staple of Marvel's most recent entries into their ever-expanding MCU, a post-credits sting
02:34 quickly devolved into little more than a limp what-could-have-been after the box office
02:37 smashing latest Spidey outing.
02:39 With many a web-slinging fanatic losing their damn minds upon witnessing Venom being warped
02:44 into Tom Holland's Spider-Man universe during Let There Be Carnage's post-credits shocker,
02:49 a moment that acted as the undoubted highlight of said second symbiote experience was depressingly
02:54 undone in a matter of moments.
02:57 Highlighting how Eddie Brock had spent much of No Way Home's runtime sat in a bar discussing
03:01 the history of the MCU – which most of us have done on occasion, let's be honest – Tom
03:05 Hardy's bumbling anti-hero abruptly being launched back into the Sony Spider-Verse,
03:09 though not without leaving a blob of symbiote sludge on the counter, of course.
03:13 But like an almighty slap in the face to those who had filed into theatres to see the Venom
03:17 sequel's Spidey tease be deliciously paid off.
03:20 Co-writer Chris McKenna would later confirm that there was a version of the script that
03:24 had the iconic black symbiote rock up at the Statue of Liberty for the feature's epic
03:28 conclusion, but for whatever reason, Brock's MCU bow wound up being reduced to a disappointing
03:33 piss-up instead.
03:34 7.
03:35 Santiago Moncada – Uncharted Antonio Banderas' moustache-twiddling big
03:39 bad by the name of Santiago Moncada, found in an unexpected box office video game adaptation
03:45 hit Uncharted, is about as painfully two-dimensional as the film itself.
03:50 On top of fiercely underserving a talent of Banderas' ilk throughout, the fact that
03:54 Moncada's most memorable moment within the paint-by-numbers treasure hunting adventure
03:58 comes in the form of his shocking death partway through the runtime tells a story of a character
04:03 and actor utterly wasted in what could have been a film-saving move.
04:07 This glorified cameo appearance amounts to a wholly planned and lifeless attempt to add
04:11 an intimidating hurdle to our hero's attempts to locate some fabled treasure.
04:15 Whether due to just not being able to craft a character capable of holding our attention
04:19 for longer than a few minutes, or a sizable chunk of his on-screen arc being cut from
04:23 the finished product, as suggested in some reviews, a once-intriguing proposition was
04:28 quickly thrown onto the ever-growing, uninspired antagonist pile before long.
04:32 6.
04:33 The Fast Nine With its cast adding more star-studded talent
04:37 by the film, it was pretty much inevitable that some members of Fast Nine's eye-catching
04:41 ensemble were going to be somewhat short-changed by the time the latest instalment screeched
04:46 onto our screens.
04:47 And despite acting as the villainous force in the shadows before eventually making her
04:51 devious presence known in The Fate of the Furious, it was Charlize Theron's Cipher
04:55 who found herself hugely sidelined in her latest appearance in Vin Diesel's Ode to
05:00 Family.
05:01 Set inside of a box for the majority of the flick, even upon escaping her imprisonment
05:04 Cipher's only real action comes from miles away, as she commands an explosive drone from
05:09 afar.
05:10 While an incoming Cipher spin-off could finally deliver on the promise of such an intriguing
05:14 cyber-terrorist, her time as part of the Fast universe has been deeply forgettable up to
05:19 this point.
05:20 And the arrival of yet more villainous forces in the form of Jason Momoa's incoming Fast
05:24 Ten character could overshadow the bowl-cut badass even more in the coming entries.
05:29 5.
05:30 Norman Nordstrom - Don't Breathe 2 Fewer to know that Fede Alvarez's chilling
05:34 horror thriller Don't Breathe would give us one of 2016's biggest unexpected box-office
05:39 hits - and simultaneously one of the most gripping central characters of the year, too.
05:44 But that's precisely what happened the second blind Gulf War veteran Norman Nordstrom stalked
05:49 onto the scene, and what likely led to the film's follow-up focusing more on the complex
05:53 turkey-based, awilding figure, naturally.
05:56 Yet it was in said increase of attention on Nordstrom in last year's Don't Breathe
05:59 2 where an inevitable mishandling occurred.
06:02 Instead of sticking with the terrifying human being a conflicted beast of a man - what undoubtedly
06:07 made him such a compelling character to behold in the first place - the decision was made
06:11 to change tack, and frame Stephen Lang's questionable vet as a flawed anti-hero for the follow-up,
06:17 leading to many an uncomfortable moment over the course of the sequel.
06:20 Whatever supposed good Norman does in the follow-up does little to wash away the horrific
06:24 deeds he performed and attempted to execute in that first outing.
06:28 But these attempts to redeem Norman only succeeded in undoing the chilling and exceptionally
06:33 performed work that came before it.
06:35 4.
06:36 Raban Hakanen Dune
06:37 With a roster as undeniably stacked as Denise Villeneuve's staggering sci-fi feat of filmmaking,
06:43 expecting each and every intriguing presence taking residence on the likes of Arrakis and
06:47 Gator Prime, to get their moment in the ever-present sum was always going to be a bit of a tall
06:51 order.
06:52 Unfortunately, in the case of the likes of Zendaya's mysterious Charney and Dave Bautista's
06:57 Raban Hakanen, a need to focus on the other corners of the galaxy in this first of two
07:02 epic Dune entries reduced their eventual screen time to little more than a few throwaway shots
07:06 and exchanges.
07:07 And while both characters look set to be given more meat to chew on in that aforementioned
07:11 2023 part 2, Bautista's brutal Raban featured rather prominently in the feature's marketing,
07:17 leading to many a disappointing big Dave fan by the time this first half of the substantial
07:22 space-aged family drama unfolded.
07:24 As Raban looks set to become a truly devastating figure for the Freeman, in that follow-up
07:29 on the back of being ordered to kill them all by his uncle Baron, it at least looks
07:32 like Villeneuve will be given a chance to develop the character into more than simply
07:36 lead angry henchmen next year.
07:38 3.
07:39 Agent Smith - The Matrix Resurrections Rebooting such an iconic system as that of
07:43 the Matrix franchise was set to be an unenviable task from the get-go, but the news of a lack
07:48 of original Agent Smith actor Hugo Weaving being pumped back into this cyber world made
07:53 an already tall order even harder to pull off by the time The Matrix Resurrections was
07:57 officially downloaded last year.
08:00 With Weaving not being able to sign on the dotted line due to scheduling conflicts, the
08:03 decision to install Jonathan Groff as the new and improved version of the once stoic,
08:08 indomitable force of the flicks ultimately didn't take off in the way Lana Wachowski
08:12 would have hoped.
08:13 Outside of the odd impressive throwdown with Keanu Reeves' Neo, and nostalgic flashback
08:17 to his weaving ways, Smith finds himself being largely overshadowed by new big bad The Analyst,
08:23 and even oddly joining forces with his one-time mortal enemy to take down said antagonist
08:27 late in the day.
08:29 Largely neutering a once single-minded program of destruction, the constant reminders via
08:33 jump cuts of Weaving's former intimidating presence only hammered home further just how
08:38 much of a wasted opportunity Smith's disappointing return ultimately turned out to be.
08:42 2.
08:43 Paloma - No Time To Die Racking up a quietly impressive CV over the
08:47 last few years, with scene-stealing showings in the likes of Blade Runner 2049 and Knives
08:51 Out, the casting of Ana de Armas alongside an already heavyweight ensemble for what would
08:56 turn out to be Daniel Craig's final 007 appearance brought with it high hopes of the star once
09:01 again delivering the cinematic goods.
09:03 Yet with the explosive actor being given all of about five minutes to make an impact on
09:07 Bond fans the world over, the eventual introduction of agitated CIA agent Paloma largely underwhelmed
09:13 by the time she ultimately rode off into the sunset.
09:16 Admittedly, Paloma more than holds her own during her time on screen, laughing off the
09:20 iconic agent's trademark advances and whooping her fair share of ass post-Martini downing.
09:25 Yet it's because of this impressive but all too fleeting appearance that many fans
09:29 were simply left clamouring for a great deal more of the effervescent entity in the runtime.
09:33 Here's hoping Armas' next spy thriller outing in The Grey Man brings with it much
09:37 more time to stretch the action hero muscles she could only briefly flex during No Time
09:42 To Die.
09:43 1.
09:44 Tina Goldstein - Fantastic Beasts The Secrets Of Dumbledore
09:46 Despite playing a vital role in both of the prior Fantastic Beasts features - acting as
09:51 both Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander's love interest and a leading light in her
09:55 own right - Katherine Waterston's Tina Goldstein is barely present in The Secrets
09:59 of Dumbledore outside of a few throwaway shots.
10:02 This is due to her character not being available after receiving a fancy promotion to Head
10:06 of Horrors at MACUSA.
10:07 Or at least that was the excuse fans were given.
10:11 In reality, the fact the feature's production was heavily disrupted by the pandemic may
10:14 have had a part to play in Tina's role being scaled back, with Waterston perhaps falling
10:19 victim to those dreaded scheduling conflicts again.
10:22 And Fantastic Beasts' increased focus on the relationship between Grindelwald and Albus
10:25 Dumbledore may have also played into David Yates' decision to lean away from the core
10:29 set of characters we'd become attached to in those earlier outings.
10:34 Whatever the reason, Tina's Secrets of Dumbledore showing being reduced to not much
10:37 more than an animated photo and wedding cameo felt like a thorough waste of both the previously
10:42 central character and an undeniably talented actor.