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Greetings, True Believers!
Archetypes have power.
The hero, the bully, the trickster, the mentor, the everyman, the innocent, the ruler, the renegade. These are roles people take on in real life, as well as in stories. They help us grasp who a character is while allowing the storyteller plenty of room to fill in unique details.
In a thousand different ways, these personas have been woven into fictional characters across every medium: literature, comic books, film, and, of course, professional wrestling.
Many of today’s larger-than-life WWE heroes and villains share archetypes and other qualities with characters from the Marvel Universe. The comparison is more than a fun exercise: it can reveal whether a wrestler’s character is clear, compelling, and fully developed—or whether the role has begun to work against them. Seeing those shared traits helps us better understand what these wrestlers stand for, what makes their characters resonate, and how they are succeeding—or failing—in their roles.
The strongest WWE characters, like the strongest comic-book characters, have a clear core. We understand who they are and what they want. Many talented wrestlers struggle to project a clear persona that matches what the story, and fans, need them to be.
This week, we examine who is successfully embodying their role, and who needs a rewrite.
Marvel Rising Star: Cody Rhodes as Captain America
The earnest, inspirational standard-bearer who genuinely believes in doing things the right way. Cody’s current persona remains built around the aspirational American Dream identity: perseverance, integrity, leadership, and being the person others can rally behind.
Closer to a babyface like John Cena than an anti-hero like Steve Austin, Cody comes off as WWE’s moral compass: its most trustworthy and steadfast star, a man who can be counted on to do the right thing.
Although there have been a few notable lapses—such as Cody taking weeks to consider The Rock’s offer to sell his soul and become a corporate champion—fans can be assured Cody will ultimately stand up for what is good over personal gain. He leads the WWE locker room in a similar manner to how Captain America leads the Avengers.
Stories almost always benefit from a true-blue hero. Cody Rhodes is among the best WWE has to offer. Although I’d love to see what he could do as a fallen hero—as a heel—I believe Cody has far more value in the spot he’s in. Oba Femi might eventually replace him as WWE’s top babyface, but as WWE’s golden boy paragon of virtue, Cody’s spot is secure.
Runner-up: Roman Reigns as Thanos
Like Thanos, Reigns is a power-mad leader whose authority rests on intimidation, ruthlessness, loyalty, and the belief that everything revolves around his ambition.
Thanos was obsessed with his quest to destroy half of the living beings in the universe in a misguided attempt to save the rest. Roman is driven to lead his family to status and power in WWE.
Both are arrogantly certain they know what is best for everyone around them. Both take their missions too far in the mistaken belief that the ends justify the means. Both are leaders who have succeeded in amassing ultimate power, so formidable that all who oppose them must band together if they have any chance of victory.
Reigns’s fate could play out in a manner similar to Thanos’s in the Avengers films. I foresee a Bloodline war against such an alliance at Survivor Series being something of an Infinity War, with Femi ultimately challenging Reigns at WrestleMania as WWE’s version of Endgame.
Second Runner-up: Gunther as Dr. Doom
Regal, disciplined, arrogant, and convinced of his own superiority, Gunther, like Doom, is obsessed with being treated with the respect he believes he deserves. Both share a contempt for any opponents they consider beneath them—in other words, nearly everyone.
Both Europeans project intellectual and physical superiority, a disdain for weakness, rigid personal codes, and an absolute belief that they are superior to all others.
The narcissism they share also conceals a sensitive ego. Neither merely wants to defeat an opponent. He wants to demonstrate that the opponent was never worthy of standing across from him to begin with. Once defeated—be it by Reed Richards or Jey Uso—they cannot rest until they have proven their superiority, their wounded pride turning defeat into obsession.
The same characteristics that make Dr. Doom arguably the greatest Marvel villain of all time make Gunther WWE’s most consistently successful heel.
Third Runner-Up: Kevin Owens as Deadpool
This might seem an odd comparison. Owens does not break the fourth wall—thankfully, his character stays in kayfabe. Owens’s humor is more PG-13 than Deadpool’s, but it has a similarly sarcastic edge. The two do share a certain energy, however.
Both are unpredictable, irritable, willing to give voice to thoughts that others would keep private, and prone to solving problems with violence. Their blunt honesty, sharp wit, black humor, and constant irritation with everyone around them keep fans on the edge of their seats, wondering what they’ll say next.
Although both are focused on defeating opponents physically, they tend to mock them mercilessly before doing so.
Like Deadpool, KO seems to operate on the principle that if everyone around him stopped being ridiculous, he wouldn’t have to tear them down verbally and punch them in the mouth.
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Marvel Fading Star: Seth Rollins as Loki
Rollins, like Loki, is a flamboyant schemer, manipulator, and agent of chaos who always winds up the victim of unforeseen consequences, ultimately hoisted by his own petard. Hopelessly narcissistic, power-hungry masterminds obsessed with being exalted above all others, Loki and Rollins will stop at nothing to accomplish their goals.
Both are capable of being a villain, antihero, or somewhere in between—such as a reluctant ally. Convinced they see the bigger picture and are fighting for something greater, everyone around them sees the truth: their schemes ultimately serve their own glory.
While they sometimes act irrationally, we can never be entirely sure whether they are actually three steps ahead. But that uncertainty is supposed to be part of the appeal—and it is where Rollins’s character has begun to falter. The “architect” of chaos who lacks the foresight to be a true mastermind, the fatal flaws inherent in their grand plans doom them to failure.
Despite his efforts, Rollins has never fully succeeded in this role. His presentation is consistently inconsistent, and he contradicts himself as often as not. He tells us he is a visionary and revolutionary, but the character rarely makes us believe it.
The problem is that Loki’s chaos is part of a coherent character. Rollins’s often feels like a collection of disconnected ideas. He can be brilliant in individual moments, but WWE has yet to establish a version of Seth Rollins whose motivations, methods, and presentation consistently fit together.
First Runner-Up: CM Punk as Tony Stark
These seriously flawed heroes are brilliant, supremely charismatic, self-assured, and occasionally insufferable. Possessed of a gifted mind for wrestling or technology, each is convinced he is always the smartest person in the room.
They are both truly remarkable in their abilities—almost as great as they consider themselves to be. They seem to consider themselves infallible despite all evidence to the contrary.
We can’t help but admire their supreme confidence, even as we recognize how easily it can shade into smug arrogance.
Punk’s brittle ego is what sets the two apart. He seems to lack the capacity for self-deprecation. When wounded, his pride makes him petty, bitter, and oblivious to the way he treats others. This trait prevents him from being a true team player and makes it hard for many fans to get behind him.
Stark’s arrogance ultimately becomes part of a journey toward growth and sacrifice. Punk’s arrogance, by contrast, often seems less like a flaw he must overcome than a grievance he expects everyone else to acknowledge. That difference makes Tony Stark a complicated hero and Punk a far more difficult character to root for.
Second Runner-Up: Bron Breakker as Rhino
A terrifying physical specimen, a freak of nature whose most important character trait is simple: once he really gets going, he is virtually unstoppable and capable of running down anyone in his path.
Breakker makes an excellent heavy and a great addition to any heel stable—a supervillain group in the mold of the Sinister Syndicate—but is hard to take seriously as a true threat on his own.
Although he did some of his best mic work this week, Bron still paled in comparison to Oba Femi. That contrast highlighted Breakker’s central problem: his physical charisma is undeniable, but his character still feels more like a weapon than a fully formed personality.
Rhino works because the audience immediately understands his function: point him at something and watch him destroy it, then see how the hero outmaneuvers him. Breakker offers much the same appeal. The question is whether WWE can add enough depth to make him more than the human battering ram in somebody else’s story.
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