No main character or story is any good without supporting characters, actors, apparitions, or whatever else. Except when it’s a mono story, of course. But, besides that case, just think about it - supporting characters are really what makes the story come alive and our main hero shine in all their glory. Without them, the story wouldn’t be as vivid, or our main character as real. That is, if the arc of supporting characters is done right - otherwise, you get… well, you get useless characters, is what you get. And, if you’ve ever wondered who might be among just the most useless characters ever, you’re in luck, as people on this cool Reddit thread shared their opinions on the most meaningless characters that have ever graced our screens.
So, what makes a bad supporting character? Well, for starters, if it’s a movie, it is bad acting. That’s a constant and unbeatable truth. However, if the acting is good, it might be that the writer or director completely forgot what purpose said character might’ve once had and left them literally just hanging around without supplementing the story in any way. Moreover, such a character might be done in the most cliched way, and nobody likes that, right? Now, when it comes to useless cartoon characters, it all boils down to them literally interfering with the main story, leaving you with more questions than answers and very often bewildered by their annoying traits. Sure, if you have your own ideas on what makes a useless character, do share them in the comments section, as we always value your opinion!
But first - let’s check what people had to say on this AskReddit thread, shall we? If you agree with their picks of the most useless movie characters (or TV series, cartoons, animes, and so on), upvote their submissions. And, after all that is well and done, share this article with your friends, too!
#1
"Bella in Twilight. Followed closely by every other character in Twilight."
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45points
#4
"Jar Jar Binks was extremely useless in everything he was in."
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24points
#5
"The Joker in Suicide Squad. Take all scenes with him out and the movie still makes sense, still crap though."
espilono replied: "Alternate title for Suicide Squad: Edgelords Consolidated."
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23points
#6
"Lori Grimes. Absolute last person I would want to be stuck in a zombie apocalypse with she was nothing but an inconvenience in every way."
MooMoo4228 comments: "She ties with Andrea."
brittwithouttheney replied: "Andrea was awesome in the comics. The show did her zero justice."
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23points
#7
"Every cartoon comedy sidekick ever. Orko, Nono, Scrappy Doo, Godzooki, Uni, Snarf etc. I found them difficult to watch and they always mess up more than they help so they're actually worse than useless."
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23points
#8
"That one kid character from every kids’ animated series where the main cast are adults and not kids themselves. You know the one. He/she tags along with the main team and only serves to be kidnapped/get into trouble every episode so that the heroes will have someone to save. Often times the main characters won’t LET them come along with them because they KNOW this kid is absolutely useless. But it doesn’t matter because they find their way into trouble anyways while shouting sassy one-liners all the way.
The first one to come to my mind was Steven Universe. But he’s a cool twist on this trope because the whole gist of the series is that we watch him grow OUT of it. He’s the only character I can think of who went from tagalong kid/load to the strongest character in the cast."
Acastamphy replied: "Scrappy - Doo."
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21points
#9
"Chloe from Fairly Odd Parents."
hunterdawn3421 asked: "Who's Chloe?"
ilikeicing454 answered: "Exactly."
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21points
#12
"Every single cop in every superhero movie.
I get that the hero is supposed to come in and save the day from the bad guys but they make cops seem absolutely useless in every way imaginable. The hero has to do absolutely everything. It seems like cops can't even handle common crooks in superhero movies."
biznatch11 replied: "Jim Gordon in The Dark Knight wasn't useless."
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20points
#13
"Riley from Buffy the Vampire Slayer... he's supposed to be likable and sweet and instead he's the most boring character of all time and also fills me with hatred for absolutely no reason."
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20points
#14
"DeAngelo from The Office 100%. I don't even remember if DeAngelo was his first name or last name, that's how useless he was. I don't even know if I'm spelling the damn name right but I don't care 'cause he was just- I don't know what he was."
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19points
#15
"Barbara from Stranger Things."
Grumm-SkullCaver replied: "Yeah... she deserved better, she was the token grief character for the main character to develop."
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19points
#16
"The Phoenix from the live-action Mulan."
Snoo79382 replied: "I was hoping someone would say that that useless thing that keeps following her replaced the one character that should've been in the movie. Plus the movie gave her Force powers and didn't work to be a trained fighter."
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18points
#17
"The mum from Jurassic Park 3. She's constantly screaming and shouting and drawing attention to herself on an island with killer dinosaurs."
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18points
#18
"Is nobody gonna mention the elephant in the room? That thing literally never does anything except be mentioned occasionally..."
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17points
#19
"Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Such a wasted character, he's only there to die."
EmseMCE comments: "I'm pretty sure they had a sharing arrangement. Fox got Quicksilver for the X-men movies and Avengers killed him off. And though it's not stated it's her, X-men killed off a "Scarlet Witch" character so Avengers could have her. Though Quicksilver did have a little sister so..."
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17points
#20
"I remember seeing a tweet about Rise of Skywalker saying something along the lines of 'Rose is the Asian kid who's stuck at home studying while everyone else is out saving the galaxy.'"
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17points