The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a bit of a reputation for cringey lines, with plenty of awkward lines sprinkled throughout the esteemed franchise’s history. The movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are known for their quips and jokes, which keep a generally lighter tone compared to many other superhero stories. Unfortunately, this razor’s edge the scripts of the franchise walks can often be a double-edged sword, resulting in some painfully cringey dialogue.
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In most cases, cringey MCU lines are failed attempts at comedy, with jokes that either don’t land, don’t fit the character saying them, are overly-reliant on dated pop culture, or have some uncomfortable implications that don’t age well. In other rare cases, these lines might be a misguided, but genuine attempt to sound cool, only to fumble horrendously. While the MCU has plenty of great lines, not every line of dialogue in the series is a winner.
10 “Dab!”
Hulk, Avengers: Endgame
Of all the Avengers, the Hulk has some lines that age poorly, being a particular standout due to his increased levels of dorky dad humor as the series progresses. One of the worst examples is his diner scene in Avengers: Endgame, where a post-blip Ant-Man meets Professor Hulk for the first time. A group of fans come up for a picture with Hulk, who awkwardly attempts to relate to them with some out-dated Gen Z slang.
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Even as a purposefully outdated reference meant to show how out-of-touch The Hulk is, the “Dab” simply doesn’t work as a joke on any level.
As the kids walk away, Hulk simply shouts “Dab!” and performs one, clearly losing the respect of his admirers fast. Even as a purposefully outdated reference meant to show how out-of-touch The Hulk is, the “Dab” simply doesn’t work as a joke on any level. The fact that he simply yells the line without even incorporating it into the conversation shows that the writers simply didn’t put too much thought into the quip.
9 “What Are Those?!”
Shuri, Black Panther
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As bad as Hulk’s “Dab” is, at least it was intentionally supposed to be a somewhat corny line. The same can’t be said for Shuri’s reference in Black Panther, shortly after the character is introduced. The Q to T’Challa’s James Bond, Shuri is the one behind many of Black Panther’s impressive pieces of tech, including some new stealth boots she eye-rollingly refers to as “sneakers”. If that joke weren’t corny enough, Shuri also hits T’Challa with a hearty “What are those?!” upon first seeing his choice of footwear.
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This line references an old viral video of a man who asks the same question to a police officer, pointing out his shoes. By the time Black Panther came out in 2018, this was already quite a dated meme, making it a baffling inclusion into such an important film. Not only that, but the line occurs in Shuri’s first scene, giving a bad first impression that the character is luckily able to make up for soon. Of all the pop culture references in the MCU, Shuri’s “What are those?!” reference is one of the most jarring.
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8 “My Name Is Darren, And I Am Not A D*ck!”
MODOK, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is one of the MCU’s biggest commercial failures, thanks in no small part to some cringe-worthy writing. The re-introduction of Darren Cross, a.k.a. Yellowjacket, at least had a lot of potential in the setting, imagining the forgettable Ant-Man antagonist into one of Marvel Comics’ most famous Avengers villains. Sadly, like many other things in the franchise, MODOK is treated as a complete punchline, from his terrible CGI face to his tiny bare butt.
The epitome of his humiliation is his supposedly triumphant final line, where he turns on Kang after taking to heart Cassie’s instruction, “Don’t be a d*ck“. MODOK’s final sacrifice is supposed to be a heartfelt, powerful moment, but the awkward battle cry totally undercuts whatever small character arc Darren/MODOK allegedly underwent. Failing as both a joke and a dramatic moment, MODOK’s final words are less than impressive.
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7 “I Hope You And Banner Aren’t Playing ‘Hide The Zucchini”
Iron Man, Avengers: Age of Ultron
Joss Whedon was a huge boon to the early Marvel Cinematic Universe, with dialogue that fleshed out the personalities of each distinct team member in The Avengers. The downside to Whedon’s writing, however, is the fact that the Buffy the Vampire Slayer scribe occasionally goes too far in pursuit of a joke. This happens fairly often in Avengers: Age of Ultron, in which Iron Man makes an awkwardly sexually-charged jab at Bruce Banner and Natasha Romanoff’s budding romance.
Giving an order mid-battle when flying around, Tony Stark pokes fun at the situation by alleging that Hulk and Black Widow might be “playing hide the zucchini”.
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This explicit and, frankly, gross way of poking fun at the already tumultuous romance feels very out of place in the otherwise sanitized PG-13 world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Because of the tonal whiplash, flat-falling humor, and gross mental imagery, it’s easy to see this line cause physical recoil with its sheer cringe-worthiness.
6 “Let’s Face It, This Is Not The Worst Thing You’ve Caught Me Doing”
Tony Stark, Iron Man
Iron Man’s jab at The Hulk and Black Widow romance was far from the character’s first time stepping over the line in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As early as his first appearance, Tony Stark wasn’t afraid to show off his unsavory side with a few callous and crude jokes, nevertheless staying true to his early character. At one point, when Pepper Potts walks in on him trying on a new suit of Iron Man armor, he remarks “Let’s face it, this is not the worst thing you’ve caught me doing”.
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Right away, this line has some troubling sexual implications that only get worse when one remembers Pepper Potts’ position as a subordinate of Tony Stark. It’s no secret that in his pre-Iron Man days, Tony Stark was certainly one to mix business with pleasure, weaponizing his CEO status to create a messy workplace environment. Considering Potts was originally Stark’s secretary, lines like this call the whole foundation of their relationship into question.
5 “People Create… Smaller People? Er… Children! I Lost The Word There. Children.”
Ultron, Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a long-running problem of refusing to allow villains to stay threatening, at least in a straightforward manner. From side villains to overarching bad guys, antagonists are quickly the butt of many a joke in the MCU, often diluting the threat level and importance of a given character. Ultron is one of the worst sufferers of this particular writing affliction, his serious and existential terror being undercut by a variety of underwhelming jokes.
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One of the worst of them is during one of his long-winded, philosophical speeches, in which Ultron muses on humanity’s fear of irrelevancy. For no reason at all, the script decides to have Ultron briefly forget what the world for “children” is, calling them “smaller people” in his confusion. Nevermind the fact that this joke makes little to no sense, as Ultron is an all-knowing artificial intelligence that should, in theory, have perfect total recall – Worse, it isn’t even funny.
4 “The Illumi-Whaty?”
Doctor Strange, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Over the long course of Doctor Strange’s Marvel Cinematic Universe journey, Stephen Strange has become one of the most inconsistently-written characters in the entire series. Within the same film, Strange’s personality alternates from being a focused, strict surgical genius to a playful quipster that likes to listen to Beyoncé. The latter style of writing for Doctor Strange is far weaker, as evidenced by an infamously cringey line in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
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Upon learning about the secretive Avengers equivalent of an alternate Earth, the Illuminati, Doctor Strange expresses confusion, making a play on the group’s name. First of all, this line completely undersells Stephen Strange’s own intelligence, as the Illuminati as a concept exists in our world – Someone as smart and well-traveled as Strange would’ve certainly heard of them. But the true cringe-worthy offense committed by this line is the mere fact that it’s a lazy joke for the sake of padding out screen time.
3 “Get On Your Phones, Scour The Internet, And Scooby-Doo This Sh*t!”
Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: No Way Home
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Unfortunately, Doctor Strange’s poor comedic timing isn’t limited to just his own movies. Being a central fixture of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange is essentially responsible for the film’s events, accidentally bringing in the Spider-Man villains from other universes after botching a global spell that would erase everyone’s knowledge of Peter Parker being Spider-Man. Once the villains are on the loose, Doctor Strange angrily commands Spider-Man and his friends to find the rest of the loose dimension-hoppers.
To do so, Strange is beholden to making a lame pop culture reference, insisting the young hero and his friends track down and capture the new villains in the same manner as the iconic Scooby-Doo! gang. The line feels quite juvenile for something that Doctor Strange would be saying, and the annoyed frustration with which he delivers it totally ruins the timing and delivery. Sometimes, the MCU simply can’t resist referencing another famous media property even when it doesn’t necessarily make sense to do so.
2 “She’s Got Help”
Okoye, Avengers: Endgame
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Not every cringe-worthy line in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a joke that doesn’t land. Sometimes, in its rare moments of being genuine, the franchise will fumble what could have been an otherwise cool action beat by burdening it with an eye-rollingly corny line of dialogue. The premiere example of such obvious lampshading is the sequence during the final battle of Earth in Avengers: Endgame in which every single female Marvel hero teams up to help protect Spider-Man and the Infinity Gauntlet from Promixma Midnight.
As a whole, this moment comes off as more cringey and manufactured than genuine.
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The idea of showing off all the powerful women of the MCU isn’t a bad one, but the self-congratulatory slow zoom out as every single female character happens to appear at the same time comes off as blatant pandering. The triumphant swell of music as each new character appears is also somewhat negated by the fact that Scarlet Witch and Captain Marvel alone are powerful enough to handle anything Thanos’ army could throw at them, including the Black Order. As a whole, this moment comes off as more cringey and manufactured than genuine.
1 “I Have Famously Huge Turds!”
Drax, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
For the most part, the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy has some of the most consistently funny dialogue in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks to the clever writing and brilliant performances on display. However, even in a series as impressive as Guardians of the Galaxy, not every joke can land, as evidenced by Drax, Rocket, and Star-Lord’s exchange early on in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. To cap off an argument, Rocket threatens to smuggle one of Drax’s bowel movements into Star-Lord’s pillowcase.
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Drax finds this oddly specific threat hilarious, exclaiming that he has “Famously huge turds!“. This whole exchange feels a tad too juvenile, even for the MCU, relying on a level of base gross-out humor and potty language that appeals to the lowest common denominator. Considering how funny Bautista’s delivery usually is in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this line stands out as being particularly cringe-worthy.
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