Who are the most complex/layered characters in the Marvel Universe?

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I'm one of the few I guess that really doesn't put Watchmen on such high pedestal. I bought the TP in anticipation of the movie that was being hyped at the time. So maybe I was anticipating too much. I did like the Rorschach character though. I think it's mostly because I don't like the darker toned themes. I get enough of that in the RW and still prefer the escapism vibe of the comics medium. IMO It's the kind of book you read once and but have no interest in revisiting it. The movie was a "C" if I were to grade it.

I was thinking about trying the HBO series since it got a slew of Emmy nominations so maybe will pass on that one.

The Watchmen movie and the HBO show are not great stuff but there are elements of interest and fun there. The movie's opening sequence is genuinely cool, and far better than the rest of the movie. The HBO show likewise has an interesting opening sequence and a few decent ideas but it's undone by the fatal miscasting of Jeremy Irons and misreading of Laurie's story.

As for Moore's Watchmen, well it can be an acquired taste for some. And it's reputation can be a turn off. So I get that. For me the thing that struck me on reading it several times (and I still dip in to re-read bits from it on occasion like any comic) is how different it was from the reputation. Everyone says it's a dark comic but its colors are actually quite garish and bright...it has greens, oranges, purples all over the place (the movie and TV show failed to grok this, the nearest equivalent of the Watchmen color palette is in fact the Warren Beatty Dick Tracy movie). And when I say that it's made of the stuff of regular superhero comics I mean it, because while it's famous for realism and avoiding stylization in its fight scenes, it's also got moments where stuff like a dude hiding in a freezer, or someone stopping a bullet is played completely straight. Watchmen is made by people who know superhero stories and know how it works straight but who in this instance decide to subvert and make unfamiliar all that people take for granted about the genre.

It's a fairly deceptive comic. Like Rorschach is written so well that you can read it as a straight narrative of a vigilante with a tragic worldview or a total parody where Moore is basically laughing at him right the way through (except for the very last scene where he takes off the mask and becomes a human being again). There's so many different motivations and readings you can apply to those characters and the story still works...that doesn't quite happen often in superhero ongoings.

[MouserGrey]

Adam Warlock. I dont know if mercurial can be layered because its feels like I'm mixing metaphors. But I've just never been sure what motivates him. It always seems more than just a foil for Thanos to me. And the whole Magus/Goddess complex thing he has going on. And the artwork of Strange Tales was so trippy.

[SpideyCeo]

In terms of character appearances, after Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson makes the most appearances across all comics. Jameson is in third place but not far behind.

So those are the three most important characters in the stories. The one who appear most often and recur most often...and as such the stories are about them.

aunt may disagrees with you.

[Marvel Forever]

I vote for Doctor Doom as a complex character.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

aunt may disagrees with you.

She hasn’t even clocked 1000 appearances so she’s not in the room where it happens so to speak.

[Zelena]

Adam Warlock. I dont know if mercurial can be layered because its feels like I'm mixing metaphors. But I've just never been sure what motivates him. It always seems more than just a foil for Thanos to me. And the whole Magus/Goddess complex thing he has going on. And the artwork of Strange Tales was so trippy.

What was interesting with Adam Warlock is that he didn’t seem to know it himself and sometimes he isn’t motivated at all.
He was an artificial man with no familial background, without roots and looked like a soul… in search of something in world of super-beings who hadn’t this problem.
Sometimes he could be quite depressing and annoying for his friends.

[SpideyCeo]

She hasn’t even clocked 1000 appearances so she’s not in the room where it happens so to speak.

she appeared in much as mj has outside comics. Shes the only constant that we take from peter being someone whos a normal life type instead of the wack wish fufillment we always get from his avebger buddies.

[Chris0013]

I vote for Doctor Doom as a complex character.

Truth.....

[Revolutionary_Jack]

...outside comics...

To reiterate, the post is discussing the comics, mainly 616 Marvel Universe and not adaptations.

When people talk about "the Marvel Universe" (which y'know, is in the title of this thread) it's understood rhetorically that we are talking of 616 Continuity, the aggregate continuity that traces itself to "the house that Jack and Stan built".

Mike Avila, of Syfy Wire, who has interviewed many Marvel co-creators openly calls her "the most important character in the Spider-Verse outside of Peter Parker" in this video interviewing her co-creator John Romita Sr starting at 09:20.



Anyway I don't believe you have answered or responded to the OP.

[MoneySpider]

The most obvious answer is Groot. I mean, when he says "I am Groot!", I feel his pain...all of it. But when he says "I am Groot!", I can hear the humor and happiness within his heart.