The Avengers/Marvel Cinematic Universe OC Originality Test

Among the many, many Avengers/Marvel Cinematic Universe OCs out there, certain traits, characteristics, plots, and backstories have become inordinately common - to the point where many of these characters feel exactly the same as a dozen others, which ultimately makes most of them bland and forgettable. So if you want to find out whether your OC might be one of these characters or might be something truly different, take this test.

Note - this is not a Mary Sue Test (that test is over here.) It also won't tell you whether your character is intrinsically "good" or "bad" - just whether your character might have a lot of commonly-used elements.

(This test is also recommended for minor comic characters who require almost as much work to fit into the Earth-19999 continuity as three-dimensional characters as any OC would - eg, Sigyn, Fenris, etc. While they might score a few points from their prerequisite traits, if you've put some effort into them they should still be able to finish with a decent score.)

  1. Is your character a teen or young adult, or looks like one?
  2. Is your character a child or sibling of a canon character (adoption counts), or grew up so close to a canon character that they might as well be family?
    1. Is this canon character Loki, Phil Coulson, Bucky Barnes, or any of the Avengers?
    2. If an Avenger, is it Tony Stark?
  3. If the above doesn't apply, does your character have any other connection to any of them via backstory?
  4. Is your character in a close non-familial relationship or gets into a close relationship with any of the Avengers or Bucky Barnes? (It doesn't necessarily have to be romantic. Becoming super close friends counts, too.)
  5. And speaking of Loki:
    1. Is your character in any kind of close non-familial relationship with Loki, or gets into one at any point? (As above, it doesn't necessarily have to be romantic.)
    2. Does this relationship ultimately cause Loki to give up most, if not all of his villainous ways?
    3. Or does your character help him achieve his villainous goals? (EG, help him take over Earth/Asgard, take revenge on SHIELD, kill his enemies, and so on.)
    4. Does your character understand or come to understand Loki as others do not and/or vice-versa?
    5. Does your character have any sort of psychic or mystical connection to Loki, and/or does Loki psychically/mystically send your character messages/visions/whatever?
    6. Did your character have an extreme reaction over any of Loki's apparent deaths? (EG, did practically nothing but cry and sob for days, locked self up in bedroom and refused to speak for ages, etc.)
    7. Did Loki kidnap, capture, or whisk your character away at any point; or at any point did Loki ever wind up living with your character or end up placed under your character's care, treatment, or supervision?
    8. Was your character sent to interrogate Loki, or does your character otherwise speak with Loki while he is held in captivity?
  6. Does any major character essentially become surrogate family to your character and/or become a mentor to your character during the course of the story?
    1. Is it Loki or any of the Avengers?
  7. Does your character's appearance include...
    1. Violet/purple, red, or "emerald green" eyes?
    2. Black hair and green eyes together?
    3. Black hair and pale skin together?
    4. Clothing that uses black as a major color?
    5. Clothing that uses green as a major color, if your character is from or connected to Asgard, Vanaheim, or Jotunheim and/or your character is a magic user?
  8. Do your character's skills, powers, or fighting style include...
    1. Archery?
    2. Knives and/or swords?
    3. Wings?
    4. Transformation/shapeshifting?
    5. Elemental powers? (EG, being able to control/manipulate fire, earth, water, air, ice, electricity, etc.)
    6. ...Does your character actually control "the four elements?"
    7. Magic?
    8. Manipulating people and/or their emotions?
    9. Telepathy, mind-reading, or sensing emotions?
    10. Detecting lies and/or forcing people to tell the truth?
    11. Anything relating to cats (domestic or wild) or wild canines (eg, wolves, coyotes, etc.)?
    12. Computer hacking?
    13. Engineering/inventing?
    14. Eidetic memory?
  9. Is your character a clone, or was otherwise created in a lab?
  10. Did your character's powers come from a serum?
  11. Is or was your character ever an assassin?
    1. Who wears a catsuit and/or relies on martial arts skills to get the job done?
    2. Was your character ever sent to kill a major canon character?
  12. Was your character experimented on for any reason, or augmented or put through any kind of process or program to create a "perfect assassin," living weapon, supersoldier, or similar?
    1. Did it happen when your character was a child or teen?
    2. Was mind-control, brainwashing, torture, and/or memory-wiping involved?
    3. Was it done by Baron Strucker's people (IE, the division of Hydra that experimented on Pietro and Wanda Maximoff in Sokovia), or any of the people responsible for the creation or management of the Winter Soldier?
  13. Was your character forced into any other kind of slavery or servitude?
  14. Did your character have abusive/cruel/neglectful parents/guardians?
  15. Was your character orphaned, abandoned, and/or grew up not knowing the identity of one or both parents, and/or were any of your character's parents/caregivers addicts of any kind?
  16. Was your character bullied, teased, shunned, or considered a freak by schoolmates, peers, family, neighbors, or such?
  17. Did your character spend any time homeless/on the streets?
  18. Does your character like the same music Tony Stark likes?
  19. Is your character snarky/sarcastic and/or has a hot temper?
  20. Was your character around on Earth during the 1940's (IE, around WWII), and isn't dead or very old by the 21st century for some reason?
  21. Does your character have a habit of hitting punching bags when stressed or angry?
  22. Is your character a god/goddess, or at least considered one? (Note that Asgardians in the MCU are not actually gods; they were simply taken for gods by the humans they visited.)
  23. Is your character interested in Norse mythology?
  24. Does your character often play pranks on people, or enjoy causing "mischief" or similar?
  25. Is your character Asgardian nobility, or a servant who works or worked for them?
  26. If your character is Sigyn...
    1. Does she have long, curly blond hair that flows down her back and/or a tiny/petite figure?
    2. Is she supposed to be "pure?"
    3. Is her appearance basically Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen?
    4. Was she reincarnated as a human/Midgardian?
  27. Does your character have a frost giant form, or is a frost giant with the ability to look human? (Don't click if your character always looks like a frost giant, and cannot easily change it.)
  28. Is your character some other kind of magical/legendary creature or mythological figure? (EG, siren, vampire, non-Norse deity, etc. Half-human hybrids count.)
  29. Does your character save Pietro Maximoff from dying?
  30. Does your character end up working with the Avengers on a regular basis and/or work for SHIELD?
    1. Does your character live or move in with any of the Avengers?
  31. Was your character reluctantly or forcibly recruited by SHIELD, or forcibly taken into SHIELD custody at any point?
  32. If they haven't done so already, is SHIELD and/or any villains or evil organizations trying to get their hands on your character for any reason? (EG, SHIELD wants your character to be an Avenger, Hydra wants to kidnap your character for experimentation, Loki wants to kidnap your character to use against the Avengers or to make his queen, etc.)

Your total is:


1-5 Points
If you have properly developed your character and your score is here, you probably have a very original character! Go you!

6-9 Points
Might be a little bit cliche, but not necessarily enough to be a problem, particularly if you can give your character and your character's story some original qualities and avoid adding too many more cliched elements.

10-11 Points
Borderline territory. If there are any cliched elements you could easily remove from your character, you should consider pruning them off.

12-15 Points
Your character is likely very cliche and could probably use some serious adjustment.

16+ Points
At this point, odds are good that your character is pretty much a pile of cliches. You might just want to start over.

Did your character get a high score? Not sure what to do now?
Go take a look at the Marvel/Avengers Roleplaying & OC Creation Resource Kit, which has links to just about everything on this site that's relevant to creating an MCU OC.

If you're having a hard time thinking up anything that doesn't involve the backstory elements on the test, the How You Got Your Superpowers Generator can help you come up with less-common origins for your character's powers. The Random Backstory Idea Generator can help you find some less commonly-used elements to flesh out your character's backstory in general.

If you're really set on having your character be a test subject or be augmented in some way, check out Things To Know If Your Character Will Be Augmented Or Experimented Upon so you can give your character's backstory some sense.

If you're set on writing a romance story, check out the articles in Relationships, Romance, & Shipping.


Original site design, graphics, and text © LRC and may not be copied, reproduced, or reposted without permission (more info). Images, quotes, scripts, etc. from other sources © their respective owning parties.
View privacy policy.