After revitalizing Steve Rogers’ character and stepping up the MCU’s action in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the Russo brothers were gradually given more and more responsibility throughout the rest of the “Infinity Saga.” They followed up The Winter Soldier with Captain America: Civil War, often dubbed Avengers 2.5 for its sprawling super-cast, then helmed the double whammy of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Throughout these movies, the Russos introduced a bunch of fan-favorite characters to the MCU, from Spider-Man to Black Panther to Wanda Maximoff to the Falcon.

Ebony Maw

The Russos were burdened with paying off years of Thanos-centric post-credits scenes and subplots when they gave the Mad Titan a spotlight in Infinity War. This take on the character was suitably complex, nuanced, and engaging, mostly thanks to Josh Brolin’s performance.

Thanos is backed up by the Black Order – a team of four alien minions – but his most trusted confidant and right-hand man is Ebony Maw, dubbed “Squidward” by Tony Stark. Maw is a classically smarmy, hammed-up bad guy whose space-bound death scene is gruesomely satisfying.

Eitri

After his hammer is destroyed by Hela, Thor travels to Nidavellir to have a new weapon forged by King of the Dwarves of Nidavellir, Eitri. Based on the figure of the same name from Norse mythology, Eitri ends up creating Stormbreaker for the God of Thunder.

Peter Dinklage did a great job with all the deadpan line deliveries in this role. When Eitri warns Thor that the power of a dying star will kill him and Thor says, “Only if I die,” Eitri dryly quips, “Yes… that’s what ‘killing you’ means.”

Morgan Stark

Following the unexpected five-year time jump near the beginning of Avengers: Endgame, Tony has settled down with Pepper in a cabin in the woods, where they’re raising their daughter Morgan. Morgan has many adorable moments with her father in the movie, like telling him, “I love you 3,000.”

Morgan only appears briefly in Endgame, but she represents everything that Tony spent the Infinity Saga working towards – and what he gave his life to protect at the end of the movie.

Sam Wilson/The Falcon/Captain America

In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the Russos were tasked with ingratiating Cap into the modern world. Part of that journey was giving him a new best friend. Sam Wilson is a fellow veteran with all the same values as Steve (but a much more recent date of birth).

Sam was initially relegated to supporting roles, but after becoming the new Captain America in glorious fashion in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he’s primed for a bright future in the MCU.

May Parker

After casting a younger actor than usual to play Peter Parker, Marvel and Sony took the same approach to Aunt May. May is typically portrayed as an elderly woman, but the MCU cast Marisa Tomei as a middle-aged version of the character. This Aunt May was introduced by the Russo brothers in Civil War.

Throughout the Spider-Man solo trilogy, Tomei brought a ton of laughs to the role, shared tangible mother-son chemistry with Tom Holland, and capped off her arc with a heartbreaking death scene in which she finally imparts Uncle Ben’s “With great power comes great responsibility” wisdom.

Helmut Zemo

While the MCU has often been criticized for its “villain problem,”, something that is frequently cited as one of its biggest failures, Helmut Zemo from Captain America: Civil War is a rare exception. Daniel Brühl recently reprised the character with a fun Leo Getz-style supporting role alongside Sam and Bucky in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Zemo isn’t an all-powerful alien who uses brute cosmic force to pummel the heroes like the majority of MCU villains; he’s just a regular guy who tears the Avengers apart by turning them against each other.

Sharon Carter

Characterizing Sharon Carter as a love interest for Steve Rogers, her would-be uncle, was a major misstep in the early days of her MCU arc. But Emily VanCamp has always given great performances in the role and she got a lot more to do in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

The finale of that series insinuated that Sharon was the mysterious “Power Broker,” so she could be a villain – or, at the very least, an antihero – in the franchise’s future.

Wanda Maximoff

Wanda Maximoff was first introduced as a major MCU character in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but Elizabeth Olsen made her debut in the role in the mid-credits scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. She appears alongside Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Pietro as prisoners of Hydra.

The Russos explored Wanda’s character in more depth in Civil War. The inciting incident in the movie – and the reason the U.N. introduces the Sokovia Accords – is a fatal mistake made by Wanda during battle.

Black Panther

For the most part, Captain America: Civil War focuses on tearing apart the Avengers that already existed in the MCU. But it also introduces a handful of new superheroes, like the late, great Chadwick Boseman’s beloved portrayal of Black Panther.

Two years after Civil War gave T’Challa a promising introduction, his first solo movie – helmed by Ryan Coogler – became a worldwide cultural phenomenon that broke box office records and scored Marvel Studios its first Oscar nod for Best Picture.

Spider-Man

Not only did Civil War introduce Black Panther to the MCU; it also introduced a new version of Spider-Man, played by an actor who actually looks like a teenager. With his role in Civil War, Tom Holland kicked off a Spidey arc that went on to become a fan-favorite take on the webslinger.

Both Peter Parker and Spider-Man get an unforgettable introduction in Civil War. Peter is introduced when he brings scrapped computer parts back to Aunt May’s apartment in Queens, while Spidey is introduced when he steals Cap’s shield ahead of the middle-act airport battle.