20 of the Most Useless Fictional Characters

Not everyone has to be the main character, but they do have to be some kind of character. They can be the sassy best friend who dishes out the advice and encouragement the protagonist needs to move the plot forward, the villain thwarting them at every step, even the love interest who mostly just stands around looking hot, but they should do something. Lots of people in your life might be just kind of there, but that doesn’t fly in fiction.

Which is why a useless character is absolutely maddening, especially to user StarGuardianSnowFox. For example, “so many people have said Captain Marvel from the Marvel franchise, but Vision was absolute garbage,” they told r/AskReddit. “I mean, in Civil War, you can see him in some shots just… FLOATING THERE. And then the only thing he does is shoot a laser or something, MISS, and ends up paralyzing James Rhodes (Iron Patriot). Vis has always been my top pick for useless characters.”

They then asked, “What fictional character do you think was absolutely useless?” and their fellow Redditors proved anything but.