Good Is Not Nice / Marvel Universe

Marvel Universe

Comic Books

Comic Books

• Black Panther: T’Challa is at his best a benevolent and wise warrior and king. When it comes to people outside Wakanda and Westerners in particular, he is frequently incredibly taciturn, smug, and outright rude. To his enemies, T’Challa is far worse as seen by this famous exchange with his nemesis Ulysses Klaw.
  Black Panther: Klaw, one question. Do you have any children?
  Ulysses Klaw: No, I don't.
  Black Panther: Good. Because I’d have to kill them too.
• Captain Marvel: Carol Danvers is this in modern comics, while she had her Hot-Blooded and difficult moments in her early comics, Carol still made a strong case of Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold. In recent years, however, Carol is much more bitchy, aggressive, and incredibly impatient with others. She still has her sweet moments (seen mostly with her protege Kamala Khan and best friends Spidey, Jessica Drew, and Groot) but otherwise, Carol is simply hard to get along with and can be quite the Conflict Ball (if not an outright Villain Protagonist in Civil War II). She still manages to be a hero at the end of the day albeit one who’s willingly to watch a villain suffocate in the vacuum of space in front of her.
  • Carol’s excuse for her bad attitude is largely attributed to her asshole misogynistic father, who refuses to acknowledge her numerous accomplishments and wishes she had become a housewife. That and her streak with alcoholism.
• Deadpool: Being a Large Ham Anti-Hero who runs on Insane Troll Logic and has a history of working for villains, Wade Wilson is far, far from a idealistic hero. Despite this, he’s a loving father to his daughter Ellie, surprisingly good friend to Spider-Man and occasionally capable of genuine heroism when he stops being a pain in the ass and puts his mind to it.
• Doctor Strange: Stephen Strange being another creation Steve Ditko like Spidey in his early days wasn’t afraid to be a jerk, but unlike Peter, has kept this irritable and unfriendly attitude well past the Silver Age. The doctor is a powerful force for good and has many touchingly affectionate moments with Wong and Clea, but Strange is definitely this trope compared to other more affable and cheerful heroes.
  • Stephen’s Freudian Excuse for this attitude is the drowning of his sister and death of his mother at tender age, both of which instilled him with the aloof personality he has an adult.
• Fantastic Four:
  • When the four trespassed into Heaven in a bid to resurrect Ben Grimm, Johnny was struck by an archangel's Flaming Sword and noted that it hurt even worse than Hellfire.
  • Ben Grimm aka The Thing. He's a Bruiser with a Soft Center when it comes to people he likes— everyone else? Not so much, Ben especially earlier on was aggressive and jerky and much like Hulk below willingly to megaton punch anyone who takes a tone with him. He’s mellowed out to be more of a big softie in modern comics, although he still has has a fair share of mean moments.
  • Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic is in a similar boat to Tony Stark (see below) in this regard. While a Family Man and Science Hero at his best, his arrogance and numerous morally questionable actions firmly put Reed here. He is willingly to do anything for greater good and save the universe although that often means occasionally taking a few pages out of Doctor Doom’s playbook.
• Ghost Rider: As a Terror Hero whose demonic appearance, nature, and ability for destruction often cause him to be treated as a monster by the Avengers and other heroes, it’s not difficult to fear Johnny Blaze. Except for everything he does as the Spirit of Vengeance is purely born out of righteous goodness and to protect the innocent, though that frequently goes hand in hand with horrifically punishing the wicked. Even as King of Hell and rocking a Super Mode that looks like a DOOM boss, Johnny has not lost his heroism.
• Hawkeye: In Hawkeye (2012), Clint talks about how much of The Paragon Captain America is, how he truly believes in Clint being capable of doing so much good and Clint feeling good about proving him right. That said, Clint makes a point to Ivan how Captain America is not there and how he's completely at Clint's mercy.
• The Incredible Hulk: Depending on the Writer, the Hulk can be this; he causes a lot of collateral damage and can be an out and out Jerkass at times, but he'll go out of his way to save innocent lives and make sure no one dies during his rampages, and he's got one of the higher "save the world" count among the Marvel heroes.
  • Even Hulk's more recent “Devil Hulk” transformation in spite of his world conquering ideas, still cares for innocents. Growling a bystander during his fight with Abomination “Well you waiting for a third monster? MOVE IT LADY!”
  • Joe Fixit aka Grey Hulk is definitely a Jerkass and mobster compared to his mild manner alter ego Bruce. But he’s still willingly to save others and in Immortal Hulk journey into hell to save Bruce from the Leader.
  • Betty Ross has become this in modern comics, having become jaded and taciturn due to going through so much pain in her relationship with Bruce. She's quite the Anti-Hero, but even at her most callous she hasn’t lost her care for Bruce/Hulk and will fight the Avengers to protect him.
• The Illuminati are all about this: they're willingly to commit multiple morally questionable actions for the Greater Good. Notably, five of their members, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Professor X, Black Panther and Black Bolt are on this page. The sixth member Namor however is too extreme to even count as good, working under Blue-and-Orange Morality as a Anti-Villain.
• The Inhumans: The Inhumans are this to an extremely exaggerated Designated Hero degree, being an extremely elitist group who value Terrigen Mist over innocent lives on Earth. Their Pet the Dog moments and alliances with Marvel’s heroes against threats like Thanos do ultimately put the Inhumans on the side of good, even if their aristocratic behaviour is often insufferable.
• Iron Man: Tony Stark has never been the nicest guy, even Stan Lee claimed he initially had written Tony to be unlikeable as a caricature of Howard Hughes. Yet Tony despite being a Broken Ace on multiple occasions still cares about saving the world and is the first to put himself on the line for humanity when it comes down the wire.
  • The heroes who debuted in Iron Man’s books can also be considered this. Black Widow and Hawkeye are both unscrupulous villains turned heroes who willingly to kill to achieve their goals, but are still Avengers who would do anything for their friends and loved ones.
• Luke Cage: In his early appearances and even to this day, Luke Cage is quite the Big Scary Black Man who will happily dispense beating to anyone foolish enough to wrong him. Luke’s Bruiser with a Soft Center and Papa Wolf tendencies to his family do offset his brutality but he’s hardly a nice guy.
  • His wife Jessica Jones is hardly Purity Personified either being an understandably jaded and emotionally volatile Broken Bird who’s already just recovered from all the crap she’s been through. Jess isn’t afraid to deliver beatdowns to Marvel’s underworld and doesn’t prioritise politeness or mercy.
• The Mighty Thor:
  • Depending on the Writer, the Thunderer himself can be quite arrogant, ill-tempered and a ridiculous brutal Blood Knight. Even at his most benevolent, Thor is as Hot-Blooded and violent as they come and perfectly willingly to express his displeasure to fellow Avengers (such as Iron Man and Hulk) when they anger or wrong him. Despite this he is more often The Cape and Big Good and willingly do anything to protect Midgard and his loved ones.
  • His father Odin, is no different. Aloof, grumpy, arrogantly prideful on top of being a woeful dad, Odin’s unlikable personality and choices eventually cost him his wife, both his sons’ respect and his kingdom. Nevertheless, for the greater good of the universe Odin will do his upmost to protect and safeguard, as both Galactus and Thanos discovered the hard way.
  • As of Loki: Agent of Asgard Loki has become this, he’s still a Trickster God and often a deeply unpleasant Jerkass but Loki is now totally willingly to help Marvel’s heroes and his own Asgardain family against evil as a Guile Hero. This characterisation ironically makes Loki Truer to the Text of Norse Mythology.
• The Punisher: Frank Castle is this up to eleven, almost none of Marvel’s heroes (even the likes of Captain America and Spider-Man) can stomach Frank or his behaviour which given his prehensility to Pay Evil unto Evil and shoot any criminal at the drop of the hat is quite understandable. Despite this, Frank puts innocent life, particularly children above everything else.
• S.H.I.E.L.D.: S.H.I.E.L.D. members often fall under this, Nick Fury and Maria Hill are aloof, unfriendly, paranoid, and frequently antagonistic to Marvel heroes. Yet at the same time they along with the rest of SHIELD, genuinely care about doing good and safeguarding mankind. Nick Fury Junior, (modelled after the Ultimate universe Samuel L. Jackson Nick Fury) is decidedly more moral than his father, but no less ruthless.
• Spider-Man:
  • Spider-Man had his moments in his early teenage days. He would often act very cocky and could be a bit of a jerk towards fellow heroes at times. He mellowed out a lot more once he came into adulthood.
    • This is even how the Uncle Ben incident happened originally. Several retellings (such as The Movie) try to make it more sympathetic, but really, he just let the thief go because it wasn't his problem. He learned the "with great power..." thing from what happened later, but it didn't instantly transform him into a perfect human being.
    • He's still a much lighter example, relentlessly insulting and taunting the criminals he fights and at times even the people he saves.
  • Played straight with Venom after becoming a Anti-Hero rather than a misguided and Ax-Crazy Anti-Villain. While still mentally unbalanced, Eddie has turned to good and managed to develop a Bash Brothers friendship with Spidey even aided the Avengers against threats like the Poisons and God of Evil Knull.
  • Kaine the current Scarlet Spider is of similar mold to Venom. While strongly lacking the All-Loving Hero qualities of Peter, he’s still on the side of good.
• Ultimate Marvel:
  • Captain America. Probably the most noticeable difference between him and his 616 counterpart.
• X-Men:
  • Professor X, a well-intentioned Stern Teacher at best and an arrogant Manipulative Bastard who in the words of Kitty Pryde is an outright “jerk” at worst. At heart Charles is a good man who genuinely believes mutantkind can coexist with humanity and even in more recent comics at his most Ambiguously Evil he claims he still hasn’t given up on that dream. But for sake of his students and race, he’s totally willingly to take extreme and immoral methods to ensure his mutant survival.
  • Monet St. Croix: Good? ... maybe. Pleasant? Not really. Monet isn't incapable of being nice, but it does take her a wind-up. And if you upset her... you're screwed. Just ask Ballistique, if she ever recovers from what Monet did to her.
    Monet: (as she tears Ballistique's mind to shreds) Go on. Say I "can't". It'll be funny. I'll laugh like this: Ha. Ha.
  • Wolverine's a grump and very snarly to gentle or friendly approaches from his friends. But he has also a protective streak bigger than Canada: threaten those he cares for, and the offending party will be shredded three ways from Sunday, especially if they push it.
  • Gambit can go from untrustworthy, lecherous, hotheaded jerk to friendly, protective, gentle, romantic nice guy. He’s especially caring to his loved ones (especially Rogue, Jubilee and X-23), but will happily blow any foes to kingdom come given half a chance.
  • Cyclops has become this in recent years. Self-righteous, militant, emotionally stunted as all hell and quite the Conflict Ball before some Character Rerailment. He’s not the Mutant Captain America as originally billed, but Scott will still do his upmost for his race. Even in the earliest comics where only Jean could see past the unlikable qualities the others chided Scott for, his heart was in the right place.
  • Psylocke has her righteous and compassionate moments like her Captain Patriotic brother, but it’s often outset by her untrustworthy Femme Fatale behaviour in addition to her Blood Knight tendencies. She cares deeply for her friends and family but is often shocked at her own brutality. Downplayed in more recent comics after taking the title of Captain Britain from Brian.
  • Emma Frost after her Heel–Face Turn to the X-Men. Her extremely unpleasant Rich Bitch personality ensures that hardly any of the X-Men (besides Cyclops and to a lesser extent Jean) can put up with her for very long and even Nice Girl Kitty Pryde eventually snapping and subjecting Emma to a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. On the flip side thanks to X-Men rubbing off on her, Emma has become a Defrosting Ice Queen with Pet the Dog Mama Bear qualities to her students, she also genuinely believes in protecting mutantkind.
  • Magik makes the aforementioned Betsy and Emma look sweet and gentle in comparison. Infamously she once requested to her pet demon whom held Amora the Enchantress captive, that she not physically be harmed... but beyond that he could do whatever he wanted. Thankfully later comics have drastically toned her cruelty down, although she’s definitely an Anti-Hero compared to her brother Ideal Hero Colossus.
  • Magneto after his final permanent Heel–Face Turn to the side of the X-Men in House of X. He’s still haughty, aggressive, considers humanity as little more than “wolves” but he’s stopped his antagonistic and abusive behaviour and completely loyal to Xavier and Moria’s agenda.
  • During the events of AXIS, Sabretooth underwent a Heel–Face Turn due to a spell-gone-wrong cast by Scarlet Witch, and at the end of the event he remained "inverted." This turned the gleefully bloodthirsty and psychopathic Blood Knight Creed into someone genuinely ashamed of and trying to atone for his violent past. However, even though Creed is now a hero, he's still a colossal dick.

Films

Films

• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • The Avengers (2012), with only Captain America as the exception. Tony Stark is an arrogant, conceited Jerkass with problems with authority, but his goal is to make up for his past failures. The Hulk is a raging monster who cannot tell friend from foe during his temper tantrums, but just because he doesn't like you doesn't mean he won't protect you. Thor still has shades of being a Boisterous Bruiser who smashes first and asks questions later, but he follows his heart and demonstrates Undying Loyalty to his family, friends, and to Earth itself. Hawkeye and Black Widow are agents (and former criminals) who won't hesitate to do what needs to be done. Also, Black Widow is duplicitous and very rarely shows anything real about herself. That doesn't stop the two of them from being loyal to each other and to their comrades. And Nick Fury, who employs every single dirty trick to meet his ends. Fortunately, his ends are preserving worldwide freedom.
  • In fairness to the rest of the Avengers Captain America stops being an exception and plays this straighter in later movies. Particularly in Captain America: Civil War where despite his heart being in the right place Cap goes against the government, beats ups SWAT officers, attacks and fights off his teammates including a newly joined 15 year-old boy (albeit a superpowered one) and is forced to sacrifice the allies who were on his side to escape with his best friend Bucky whom he is partly doing this all for which does make Cap a kind of Well-Intentioned Extremist. The only time Cap crosses the line is when it’s revealed he kept the secret of Tony’s parents’s assassination secret from him for two years at which even the arrogant, conceited Jerkass Tony is allowed to give Cap a What the Hell, Hero?
    • Avengers: Endgame lampshades this when the older and experienced 2023 Captain America runs into his younger naive 2012 self and its like they’re two completely different people. 2023 Cap even cruelly takes advantage of his younger’s self feelings about Bucky’s death to overpower him.
  • Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Their members are Star-Lord (womanising, cocky thief), Rocket (a bad-tempered thug raccoon who spends his spare time making bombs to blow up moons), Gamora (a cold-blooded assassin raised by Thanos, of all people) and Drax the Destroyer (who gets introduced trying to kill someone in prison, and seems genuinely surprised being a hero means you can't kill people for annoying you). What a bunch of a-holes. They do have their own exception, though, in Groot (though even he's perfectly willing to impale bad guys and smile about it). And they do save the galaxy, when they have to.
  • Ant-Man: Hank Pym a bitter and Grumpy Old Man who drove away most of his friends and co-workers due to being an Insufferable Genius, but he is firmly on the side of good.
• X-Men: Apocalypse: Mystique is brisker and stricter with the young X-Men than Professor X.

Live-Action TV

Live-Action TV

• Jessica Jones (2015): Jessica Jones does some pretty unpleasant things to get Kilgrave, and is rather rude, sarcastic, and belligerent towards most people.

Video Games

Video Games

• Captain America takes a dose of this in Marvel Ultimate Alliance.
  Arcade: Captain America. I'd salute, but I think my arm is broken.
  Cap: Don't be an idiot. Tell me what Doom is up to, or I really will break your arm.
  Arcade: You wouldn't do that, that'd be torture.
  Cap: After what you did to Jean Grey, it wouldn't be torture, it'd be justice. Now tell me what Doom wants before I do something you'll regret.

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