10 Times Marvel Movies Made Powerful Characters Look Like Total Fools

It's a shame that dramatic tension and superheroism can't seem to exist on screen without one of them suffering by proximity. If nobody is under threat, the stakes simply aren't believable, and if everyone is, what's the point in investing them with powers that make them stand head and shoulders above mere mortals?

Unfortunately, Marvel seem to struggle to cut the right balance between the two extremes. So far we've seen precious few deaths that really mean anything, and while the stakes have been raised with every ensemble chapter to the MCU, the damage (aside from collateral) has been limited. With that in mind it's hard to really believe that Thanos' universe-shaking threat will actually live up to billing.

At the other end of the scale, there are more crimes being committed in the name of pushing new talents or the good guys over the bad ones. To borrow from wrestling parlance, the MCU has an unnervingly frequent habit of squashing monsters and turning supposedly top level talents into jobbers for the sake of drama. They might be unerringly committed to their general brand (and to the source material), but that doesn't mean there's not a rich history of powerful characters being made to look like utter fools. And it's the kind of thing fans notice (and tend not to forgive easily)...