#191 – MCU One-Scene Wonders: The Characters Who Stole the Spotlight

Welcome back to Marvel Maniac and MCU After Show. I'm your host, Eric Cicada, aka Mr. Honest. Today we're shining the spotlight on the unsung heroes of the mcu. No, not the Avengers, not the main villains, but the one scene wonders those characters who showed up for a single moment, dropped a line, and somehow became unforgettable. The MCU isn't just built on Tony Stark and Captain America. It's built on texture. It's built on side characters that make the feel alive, funny, and sometimes even heartbreaking. So let's celebrate the one scene wonders of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The rules aren't super strict. Very short appearances. Some of them may appear in other movies, some of them may appear literally in more than one scene. But like not, not too much time on screen. The, the window of which I'm accepting these as part of this list is a little bit open, but I still definitely have like standards on. If they're in more than like three scenes, they're not allowed to be in it. So it's going to be a little bit of a variety. Let's start with Captain America. Civil war at MIT towards the beginning of the film, Tony Stark is confronted after a speaking event by Miriam Sharp, a grieving mother. She tells him her son was killed in Sokovia during Ultron's attack. That one conversation, the guilt she lays on Tony, it changes the whole trajectory even of the whole mcu. Tony, rattled by guilt, throws himself behind the Sokovia Accords. Without Miriam Sharp, there really is no civil war. There's no Avengers split. It's just one scene. One woman. And the Avengers are never the same again. Next up, the old man and Stigart, who stands up to Loki. In the original Avengers, Loki declares himself ruler. The man refuses to kneel and Loki sneers, there are no men like me. And the man replies, there are always men like you. Chills. In one line, he connects Loki to every time written history, he reminds us why the Avengers exist in the first place. To push back against that kind of evil. This guy is so stand out, I could see him in my mind delivering this line. It's one of the most powerful. One scene wonders, in my opinion, because it's just this normal older man standing up to a God. And he nearly gets made an example of by Loki. If Captain America didn't show up just at the right time. Then we have Jonathan Pangborn and Dr. Strange. This is the man who walked again after being paralyzed using mystic arts instead of medicine. Strange still Clinging to science tells him this is impossible. Pangborn is the proof that Dr. Strange is wrong. Along with Pangborn, we have the actual physical therapist that probably made up the funny one of the funnier scenes of Dr. Strange. And Dr. Strange needs proof from this guy. And the guy's like, I'll take me a while to pull up the file, but it'll be good to prove you wrong. I just love the interactions. Doctor Strange, such a. The original Doctor Strange is such a great movie. Jonathan Pangborn is not a hero or a villain, but without him, Strange never goes on his journey. That is a one scene wonder. Now for comedy gold. Zach Cherry AKA Do a Flip. The guy from Spider Man Homecoming, Spider man swings by and he yells, hey, Spider Man. Do a flip. And Peter obliges. The crowd cheers. Then, years later, same guy, different city. He's recording Shangi's bus fight live, streaming it. Marvel didn't have to make that connection, but they did. And suddenly a random civilian becomes a reoccurring thread that makes the universe feel lived in. I'd still consider him a one scene wonder because in both scenes in each movie, he is in that single scene. The bus fight may be a little bit more often, but like I said, this door is pretty wide and it is in the same essence of the other appearances. Let's move to Ant man and the Wasp. Quantum mania. It gave us another great civilian moment and maybe one of the funniest moments in the whole movie. An older man spots Scott laying and he shouts, well, it's in his coffee shop. And he says, thank you, Spider Man. He cracked me up. In theaters, even though it was in the. In the preview. It's quick, it's funny, and it shows us how the public actually sees these heroes as like a blur of costumes and names. Not perfect, not reverent, just human. And I did go on to find out that that man said, thank you, Spider Man. He was actually supposed to say Ant man, but he actually did mix the two up IRL. That is just hilarious. Now moving to Iron Man 2. Do you remember the little boy at the Stark Expo in Iron Man 2? He puts on an Iron man mask and raises his toy blaster at a drone. Tony swoops in just at the perfect moment and blasts the drone and says, nice work, kid. Years later, Marvel actually retconned that kid to be young Peter Parker for real. Whether that was always planned, I don't think so, but. Or just a, you know, probably more of a clever move. It retroactively turned one a one Scene Wonder into Spider Man's first brush with Iron Man. And that's the MCU magic at work moving forward. Guardians of the Galaxy. The first one gave us Korath, the pursuer, played by Dejeman, Hansu. Star Lord. Try sorry for butchering that name. Starlord tries to make an epic entrance, saying, I'm Star Lord. And Korath deadpans who. That's usually like the gift that plays in my mind when a specific type of moment that relates to that always happens. It's so funny. Very well delivered. That one word became a meme. And Korath went from generic villain to fan favorite. He even shows up again in Captain Marvel, a little bit bigger of a part. Not huge, but it cements his place as more than just one throwaway bad guy. I'd say in this scene in Guardians of the Galaxy, he truly was a wonder. And who could forget the Galaga guy? Yes. Tony Stark, walking around the helicarrier, calls out a random SHIELD Agent. That man is playing Galaga. He thought he would. We wouldn't notice, but we did. It's one of the best lines, throwaway lines in the movie. And one joke, one second of screen time, and boom, it's just instant fandom legend. And that is peak Marvel humor. And if I'm not correct, I'm. I might be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure that Tony Stark improvised that line. And then they actually show him playing Galaga at the end of the scene. So it's really well done. Of course, now, next, we can't skip the old lady on the train. Or was it a bus? And Captain Marvel. Carol senses she's a scroll in disguise. And before anyone else understands, she punches her square in the face. The reactions from the passengers are priceless. Half horrified, half confused. Even the look on her face is pretty funny. The lady who gets punched. And out of context, it looks like Carol has gone completely rogue. In context, it's one of the funniest one scene reveals Marvel has ever done. A more serious one scene Wonder would be Njobu, Killmonger's father, played by Sterling K. Brown, a great actor in Black Panther. He only appears in the Oakland prologue, but his death defines everything. Killmonger's pain, his rage, his entire worldview. It all begins with that moment without. In Jobu's story, there's no Killmonger as we know him. And into another funny one. That's what I love about these. There's funny ones, and then there's serious ones. Iron Man 3 gave us the tattoo guy and the newsman. The Stark superfan with a goatee and an Iron man tattoo. He's awkward and he's funny and also kind of unsettling, let's be real. But he makes a point. Tony Stark isn't just a hero, he's a brand. And people idolize him so much even inside the MCU as well as out. They ink him on their skin. That. That's world building now. How could we forget Pizza Papa. Pizza Papa. Bruce Campbell and Dr. Strange in the multiverse of madness. He hassle Strange over a pizza ball and strain hexes him into punching himself repeatedly. We all sat through the credits just to see the gag at the end where Campbell looking at the camera saying it's over. Breaking the fourth wall. Raimy fans ate it up. Classic one scene wonder. And even though it was a post credit scene and the one scene with Doctor Strange still passes as a one scene wonder for me. And last, before we wrap up, I have one more. I have to mention Peter Dinklage's appearance in Infinity War as Eitri the Dwarf King. Now I know it's technically more than one scene, but it's still one appearance in the entire mcu. Except for what if we see him in one episode of that too. But it was a great appearance and very powerful too. He's the last of his kind forced by Thanos to forge the Infinity Gauntlet. The scale of the Forge, the weight of his performance, it adds this almost mythic layer to the movie. And it's unforgettable. And adding him to the movie wasn't strange at all. It was pretty honestly awesome to see Peter Dinklers. A good surprise. More importantly though, each week is a Stormbreaker. Without him, Thor doesn't have the weapon that nearly kills Thanos and Wakanda. One appearance and it changes the whole Infinity Saga. Even though Thor didn't go for the head. That's the MCU's magic. Pulling in an actor like Peter Dinklage for one performance and making it feel like he belongs among the most epic moments in the entire franchise. So those are my picks for the MCU's one scene wonders. The small characters who somehow stole the spotlight, whether through gravitas comedy or just perfect timing. Which one is your favorite? And did I miss anything unforgettable? Like, I know there's probably a few more of these at least. Tweet me, drop me a comment, let me know your personal one scene wonder. 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