It's good to be bad sometimes. Here are our favorite MCU villains, and why we can't let them go.
If the villains of the Marvel Cinematic Universe had to be described in a single word, it would probably be "inconsistent." There's no use trying to deny it--the good ones are really, really good, but the forgettable ones? Well, calling them forgettable is being pretty gentle, all things considered. But that's okay, it would be impossible to make a shared cinematic universe with a decade's worth of movies without missing the mark every now and then.
That said, sometimes it's best to focus on the positives, so rather than remind you of characters like Yellow Jacket or Malekith or James Spader as Robert California as Ultron, we're here to talk about the ones who fall into the other category. The absolute best of the best. The cream of the crop. Top of the pyramid--you understand what we mean. These are bad guys (and some anti-heroes) who, either by the sheer impact of their arcs in their respective movies, or by the potential they have to come back and impact the MCU in a major ways in the future, we just can't stop thinking about.
So, without further ado, here are our favorite MCU villains and why we love them. Let us know your favorites in the comments below, or tell us why these bad guys aren't so great after all. Points for creativity in your argument, and even more points for obscure pieces of trivia. Let's go.
1.) Wenwu
The latest addition to the MCU's roster of villains also happens to be one of the very best. Wenwu, AKA the real Mandarin, from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings blew us away with his unexpected depth and tragic story arc. Yes, he's an immortal villain who ran a terrorist organization in the shadows for decades, but he's also a father and devoted husband driven to the brink by grief and loss, and layers like that make for an amazing story.
2.) Vulture
Another dad in the mix, Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming was a breath of fresh air in the MCU. Adrian Toomes was a regular blue collar guy who got swept up in the wreckage of the Avengers' battle for New York, which led him down a very unfortunate path--and that made us love him. Michael Keaton also helped.
3.) Loki
It's hardly fair to call Loki a "villain" at this point, but still, credit where credit is due. Our favorite TVA agent got his start as the big bad of not one but two movies before he went on to become a lovable anti-hero with his own TV show.
4.) Killmonger
Of the one-and-done bad guys that populate the MCU, you'd be hard to find one with more emotional gravitas than Erik Kilmonger, who's final moments were so arresting and poignant they reduced many movie-goers to tears. At least he was recently featured in his very own What If…? Episode, but we'd love to have him (and Michael B. Jordan) back in whatever form we can
5.) Ghost
Okay, Ant-Man and The Wasp may not have been the most memorable MCU movie of all time, but it did introduce Ghost who, oddly enough, never really got an end to her story. Victimized and burdened with uncontrollable reality-warping powers, Ghost (and Goliath) were both left in the wind at the end of the story and have yet to come back or even be referenced in anything since--what are they up to? How are they doing?
6.) Iron Monger
Give it up for the one and only. We may be over a decade out from Iron Man one but we have to give credit to the MCU's first ever bad guy, Obadaiah Stane, who helped make Tony Stark into the man he became. Can you even imagine what the Avengers would have looked like without Obie's influence?
7.) Thanos
So Thanos's death (not the one he's in love with in the comics, his on-screen one) may have indirectly (or directly, depending on how you slice it) caused one of the MCU's biggest logical problems with the "reverse Snap" and it's subsequent aftermath, but even that doesn't get him uninvited to this list. After all, you don't get to lurk in the shadows for that long and cause that big a problem for that many heroes and not earn a spot on a best-of list. Also, he may have been buried under a hundred virtual pounds of VFX but Josh Brolin's performance was still an all-timer.
8.) Mysterio
Peter Parker just can't stop netting himself mentor figures, so it's probably a good thing that he got the requisite evil one out of the way in his second solo movie. Still, the MCU's interesting remix of Mysterio--a character who's comic book history is campy, to say the least--really won us over, and continued the theme of Homecoming's "bad guys affected by the MCU's history" theme really well.
9.) Hela
It's hard to find anything wrong with Thor: Ragnarok, easily the strongest of the currently available Thor movies for more reasons than anyone can count. But clearly among the strongest points of the film stands Hela, the incredibly powerful Asgardian god of the dead herself, and Thor's estranged sister, who came back to end the world. We love everything about her, from Cate Blanchett's regal portrayal, to her design coming straight out of the worlds created by Jack Kirby.
10.) Bucky Barnes
Okay, Bucky may be even less of a villain than Loki, but he is the chief antagonist of one of the greatest MCU movies of all time: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and for that we feel morally obligated to include him on this list. Yes, he may not have been operating under his own power for the movie, and yes, the real villain of TWS may have been the US government all along (Hail HYDRA), but how about that causeway fight scene?
11.) Mickey Rorke's bird
Finally, we have our dark horse. Iron Man 2 may be a, uh, low point in the Iron Man franchise for a lot of reasons--we also considered giving this spot to Sam Rockwell's fake tanned hands before deciding that it should go to something a little more sentient--but we have to acknowledge Whiplash's status as the only MCU villain to date to have an on-screen pet. If the kid Tony helped in Iron Man 3 got to inexplicably show up at his funeral after years of not being mentioned or referenced, surely Mickey Rorke's cockatoo will eventually come back in one form or another. Those things can live for like 80 years, it's probably still alive, right?
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