Every New Phase 4 MCU Character That Was Introduced, Then Disappeared

Ironically, it wasn't decimating half of all life thanks to Thanos's snap that caused a major dearth in the superhero population of the MCU. We fixed that problem in Endgame, and everyone who was snapped came back--but, in the fallout, many of the most recognizable Avengers either died or retired, stepping out of the limelight and leaving a vacuum to be filled. Thus far, every Phase 4 entry, from the Disney+ TV shows to the movies, have made moves to repopulate the cape-and-cowl community--so much so that many of them have only shown up once and, of those one-off appearances, some have only had a single scene as a post-credits stinger.

But fear now--that's where we come in. We're going to break down every newly introduced Phase 4 hero, along with their possible next appearances, to make this new era of the MCU a little bit easier to wrap your head around. Though, be warned, doing so will take us up through Thor: Love and Thunder, so brace yourself for spoilers.

Also, it's worth noting that we're not going to count characters like He Who Remains and Ms. Marvel in this list because they're both on pretty clear trajectories--their next appearances have been scheduled out, and we have a pretty clear idea of what they're going to look like and what it's going to entail. Instead, this list will focus more on the newly created characters who seem to have dropped off the face of the Earth since their debuts, or the characters who have very tenuous futures ahead of them regardless of their second season pick ups and possible sequels.

Shang-Chi was the star of his own movie, where we learned all about the mystical realm of Ta Lo and about the actual origins of the Ten Rings--complete with a wholly revamped look at The Mandarin. But despite this massive introduction, he has yet to come back in any capacity in any Phase 4 films, and we still don't even know when or where to expect him.

Shang-Chi's best friend Katy may not be a metahuman, but she's now one of the very few people in the world who know about Ta Lo and the Ten Rings. Still, she hasn't returned to any Phase 4 movies since--though we expect the next time we see Shang-Chi, we'll likely find her nearby.

Xu Xialing, Shang-Chi's sister, was last seen taking over her father's empire in the Ten Rings and, presumably, changing its direction--though we can't really be certain as to what end it will eventually be used. The Ten Rings is a massively well connected, exorbitantly wealthy cabal with ties to countless countries and innate knowledge of magical artifacts and Xu Xialing could wield this power as she chooses--but we have no clue where or how she will, because she hasn't been mentioned since the finale of the movie.

The Eternals ended their film splitting up. We had Thena, Makkari, and Druig leaving Earth while Kingo, Sprite, Phastos, and Sersei stayed behind. We have no clue what any of them are up to now, though, because they haven't interacted with anyone in any of the shows or movies following their debut. Also, the fact that there's a giant corpse of a Celestial now half-emerged from the Earth hasn't come up again, either.

Dane had very little to do in the Eternals movie that introduced him but we got a quick glimpse of his possible future as the Black Knight (along with a potential team-up with Blade) in the post credits. But, like so many others, we can't be sure what any of this means or when it will be important, he has never been mentioned again.

Harry Styles (and Patton Oswalt) made big waves with their debut in the Eternals post credits as they boarded Thena's ship as Starfox and Pip--but we've yet to see hide nor hair of them since.

Kate was last seen in the Hawkeye series on Disney+, where she was introduced. It seems logical that she'll crop up in some of the upcoming street-level stories, like the newly announced Daredevil Born Again or Echo, but we can't say for sure--and we don't know what the plans will be for her as a solo hero, either.

Smart money says Yelena Belova will join the Thunderbolts, which was recently confirmed to be the next big team-up movie. But we don't actually have any way of knowing that for certain. Though unlike a lot of people on this list, Yelena has actually shown up in multiple movies and TV shows, which puts her at a marked advantage in terms of prominence in the spotlight.

Oscar Isaac's Moon Knight was so disconnected from Phase 4 at large that the show itself never referenced the greater MCU a single time--we don't even have any solid way of identifying where it sits in the bigger timeline. So, naturally, we have absolutely no idea when or where he's going to be showing up next.

America had an explosive debut in the latest Dr. Strange movie which introduced her as one of the only characters we know who can travel the multiverse unassisted, which will obviously make her a huge asset in the future as the multiverse becomes more and more of an issue (like in Secret Wars, for example.) Still, even with this massive power at her back, we have no clue when or how America will return to the MCU. She hasn't been referenced since.

The post credits of Doctor Strange gave us Charlize Theron as Clea, who arrived to wisk Stephen away on some sort of multiversal adventure--but we don't know where or why, or even what the issue is. There hasn't been a new Doctor Strange movie announced, nor are there any planned shows on the roster for him, so we have no clue what any of this is about.

At the end of Thor: Love and Thunder, we got a stinger showcasing Ted Lasso's Brett Goldstein as Hercules, a fan favorite Marvel character (mostly for meme reasons) being sent after Thor on a revenge mission from Zeus. But, like Clea, we have no confirmed new Thor movies or shows coming up, so we have no idea when any of this is going to matter.

Like Hercules, Love and Axl (Heimdall's son) were both introduced in Love and Thunder, as potential players in the future of the MCU, but we have no idea when or where they're going to come into play again with Thor's future currently a blank slate.

John Walker, AKA USAgent, was introduced back in Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and we can assume after his meeting with Val he'll likely end up on the upcoming Thunderbolts team--but that's purely speculation. Interestingly, no one in any Marvel shows or movies since his introduction has had anything to say about him straight up decapitating a guy with the Cap shield, which seems like the sort of thing people would talk about.

Okay, this is a weird one. Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) did technically get teleported to the MCU for like, a split second, only to be sent right back during the post credits of No Way Home. But, he left a tiny bit of the Venom symbiote behind in the MCU universe--and we have no clue what's going on with that. As far as we can tell, it hasn't adopted a new host or done anything too wild, because it hasn't come back up. Is there a new Venom in the MCU? Will it become a problem? Or are we just going to pretend that never happened and forget about it? Who knows.