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Top 10 Marvel Cinematic Universe Villains Of All Time

When it comes to its villains, the MCU has often been criticized for having generic and underdeveloped antagonists who are normally the weakest part of otherwise good films. However, there are several villains in the MCU who manage to stand out from the rest. With that said, here is a list of the top ten best Marvel Cinematic Universe villains.

10. Johann Schmidt/Red Skull (Captain America: The First Avenger): When it comes to Captain America’s villains, none are as iconic or important as Johann Schmidt/Red Skull. Naturally, it made sense that he was the villain that Steve Rogers faced during his first movie in the MCU. The leader of the terrorist organization HYDRA and first person to take the super soldier serum, the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) aimed to use the Tesseract in order to have HYDRA win World War II and conquer the world. This scheme inevitably put him up against Captain America (Chris Evans) who of course tried to stop him. After being transported to an unknown planet by the Tesseract, Schmidt was forced to be the guardian of the Soul Stone until someone else was able to claim it. The villain’s original fate was never made clear until he appeared in Avengers: Infinity War (now played by Ross Marquand). Aside from being a megalomaniac and supervillain, Red Skull is also a Nazi, making him one of the most despicable villains in the MCU.

9. Helmut Zemo (Captain America: Civil War): Of all the powerful villains that exist in the MCU, you would not expect a normal civilian to be the one who comes closest to destroying the Avengers. However, Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl) proves that you do not need to have an army, superpowers or advanced weaponry to take down the most famous superheroes in the world. After his family was killed in Sokovia when the Avengers fought Ultron (James Spader), Zemo became consumed with vengeance, blaming the heroes for causing the destruction. Zemo made it his goal to tear the team apart. However, knowing that he could never take on the team directly, he instead manipulates the group into fighting each-other, particularly pitting Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) against Captain America. While his scheme did not completely work, it is arguable that he is one of the most successful antagonists as the team did not fully come back together until Avengers: Endgame.

8. Hela (Thor: Ragnarok): After two very disappointing Thor movies, Taika Waititi breathed new life into the series by making the characters more interesting, having the story be more exciting, getting the humor to be actually funny and making the film just overall more enjoyable than the previous two installments. It comes as no surprise that the villain turned out to be much better. As the Goddess of Death, Hela (Cate Blanchett) was a sadistic villain who aimed to conquer the nine realms after taking control of Asgard. While she isn’t the most sympathetic antagonist, she is definitely one of the most entertaining villains in the MCU. Thanks to Blanchett’s performance that just oozes charisma, Hela manages to stand out from many of the villains in the MCU. She is also shown to be one of the strongest, being Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) biological sister who even he couldn’t personally defeat. It took the destruction of Asgard by the demon Surtur (Clancy Brown) to finally take her down.

7. Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger (Iron Man): It is a shame that this villain is often overlooked when people talk about the best MCU villains, because Obidiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) is actually very underrated. The partner of Tony Stark, Stane attempted to take over Stark Industries by having Tony kidnapped by the terrorist group the Ten Rings. After Tony miraculously returns and announces that he will no longer have the company manufacture weapons, Stane attempts to kill Tony once again and take over the company. Using Tony’s first suit, Stane attempts to murder both him and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) before Tony can finalize his decision of making Stark Industries no longer manufacture weapons. Stane is a terrific villain thanks to the charismatic performance of Bridges and amazing script. Stane is also one of the most important villains as if it wasn’t for him having Tony kidnapped, the latter would not have realized how dangerous his weapons were and more notably, Iron Man would not even exist. While many pass Stane off as a generic villain, he absolutely deserves more credit for his impact in the film and the entire MCU.

6. Adrian Toomes/Vulture (Spider-Man: Homecoming): Michael Keaton really is a terrific actor. Whether the film is good or bad, he always manages to be memorable in the role that he is cast in. While Vulture is a villain from the comics that I was personally never invested in, this movie gave me a newfound appreciation for the character. Adrian Toomes is a former construction worker who was supposed to help clean up New York City after the Avengers saved it from an invasion. Unfortunately, Tony Stark used higher authorities to perform the damage control instead. As a result, Toomes lost his salvage company. Instead of finding another job, he and his crew stole a large amount of the alien technology and started selling the material for profit. Unlike most of the villains in the MCU, Toomes is simply trying to provide for his family and have a decent life. The relatable aspects of the character is clearly one of the reasons that this character is one of the most popular antagonists in the MCU. His relationship with Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) is a very interesting one, as while he does not like the hero for trying to stop his dealings, he is somewhat fond of him and tries to dissuade him from associating himself with someone like Tony Stark. Vulture is just an overall great villain and not many people seem to argue that he isn’t one.

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5. Quentin Beck/Mysterio (Spider-Man: Far From Home): While the movie’s attempt at trying to hide this character’s true motives is ineffective and unnecessary, Quentin Beck/Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) is an amazing villain and a nice contrast to the Vulture. While Toomes was trying to make a somewhat honest living and provide for his crew while also avoiding conflict with Peter Parker, Beck is the complete opposite. He only caused so much chaos in Spider-Man: Far From Home to make himself look like a hero to the public and only saw his own crew and Peter as a means to end to further his goals. Of all the villains who have appeared in a Spider-Man movie, Mysterio is probably the least sympathetic and just an unstable psychopath. However, the reason he is one of the best villains is that aside from Gyllenhaal’s brilliant unhinged performance and on point accuracy to his comic book counterpart, his impact on the greater story in the MCU is very important. One of the most shocking moments in the MCU occurs during the mid-credits scene of Spider-Man: Far From Home when he posts a video that frames Peter for the attack in London and reveals his identity to the world. If he really died at the end of the film, then framing a teenager for terrorism and revealing his secret identity is one of the cruelest acts that we have seen a Spider-Man villain perform in a film.

4. Ego (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2): After Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) proved to be a very underwhelming main villain in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 stepped things up with Ego the Living Planet (Kurt Russell), a celestial being who is also the biological father of Peter Quill/Star Lord (Chris Pratt). When he first shows up, Ego seems to be a friendly and charming individual who only wants to reconnect with his son. However, as the movie goes on it is revealed that Ego is one of, if not the most evil villains in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. After sleeping with thousands of aliens across the universe, Ego kidnaps any possible children he may have in hopes of them having the same powers as him. If they did not have his powers, he murdered them in cold blood. When Quill is revealed to be a celestial like him, Ego planned to expand his essence across the galaxy on every planet, which would kill all of the inhabitants as a result. Along with being a callous and sadistic individual, Ego is undeniably Quill’s most hated and personal enemy, as the former murdered his mother (Laura Haddock) when he feared that she was getting in the way of his goals. Russell is phenomenal in the role, as his charisma and charm that he brings to the villain helps fool both the characters and audience into believing that he may be a decent person. Ego is a massive improvement over Ronan the Accuser and is without question one of the best villains in the MCU. In fact, most people agree that the villains in the MCU started to get much better after Ego was introduced.

3. Loki (Thor and The Avengers): Before a lot more of the MCU villains started to become interesting, most people agreed that Loki (Tom Hiddleston) was the most compelling and fun villain to watch on screen. The adoptive brother of Thor, Loki is the God of Mischief. Naturally, he is an antagonist to his brother and aims to conquer Asgard. After being defeated in the first Thor film, Loki resurfaces in The Avengers to conquer the Earth with an alien army. Even after he is defeated, Loki continues to return in several other MCU films. By Thor: Ragnarok, the character receives a significant amount of growth as he transitions from Thor’s arch enemy to a somewhat noble ally who is no longer aiming to take over the world. He is such a popular character that even after he was killed off in Avengers: Infinity War, the character was announced to be getting his own series on Disney+. Tom Hiddleston is clearly having a blast in the role, bringing a massive amount of charisma and charm to every film that he appears in. Even when he isn’t the main villain, Loki is always shown to be unpredictable, making the audience unsure if he can ever actually be trusted. Even though several other villains in the MCU have been entertaining, Loki manages to stand out for being one of the most popular villains and characters in the franchise.

2. Erik Killmonger (Black Panther): Some villains have often been applauded for being relatable and sympathetic antagonists and Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) is no exception to this. The nephew of the king of Wakanda T’Chaka (John Kani), Killmonger was left devastated when the former murdered his father (Sterling K. Brown) for selling secrets of Wakanda to the outside world and being left behind with no one to watch over him. Killmonger returns to Wakanda years later to challenge T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) for the throne. Even though Killmonger is the villain of Black Panther, you can clearly see where he is coming from, as he was obviously wronged and had a horrible life because of T’Challa’s father. When he is killed at the end of the film, you clearly feel sorry for the villain as all of the events that occurred could have been avoided if T’Chaka did the right thing and took Killmonger with him to Wakanda after he killed his father. Michael B. Jordan provides a heartbreaking emotional performance as the character and easily gives one of the best performances in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. With him being one of the most sympathetic MCU villains, Killmonger easily deserves a high spot on this list.

1. Thanos (Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame): After years of buildup and teasing his arrival, it was hard to believe that the iconic supervillain Thanos (Josh Brolin) could ever live up to the hype that was built around him. However, thanks to the amazing writing, phenomenal CGI and terrific performance from Brolin, all of the buildup surrounding the character somehow managed to payoff in the end. A powerful alien warlord who nearly everyone in the universe fears, Thanos aims to obtain all six infinity stones in order to wipe out half of life in the world. Despite the fact that most people fear him, Thanos is surprisingly not a being of pure evil, as he truly believes that what he is doing is for the good of the world. He actually wants to wipe out half of life due to his belief that once a certain population grows too much, the rest of that particular race is doomed to extinction. While his belief is obviously wrong and horrible, Thanos does have a sense of honor to him. He also does care about his adoptive daughter Gamora (Zoe Saldana) to a certain extent, actually growing fond of her after taking her in during his attack on her people. Apart from having sympathetic qualities, what makes Thanos such a great villain is that he always seems in control of a situation due to his immense strength and high intelligence. He is also one of the few MCU villains to actually win at the end. However, he is finally defeated at the end of Avengers: Endgame by Tony Stark during one of the greatest battles in cinema history between Thanos’ army and the Avengers and their allies. Thanos is not just the best MCU villain. He is one of the greatest comic book movie villains of all time.

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Adam Grunther

Adam is a freelance writer who is an avid fan of comic book movies and television shows, especially that of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Doom Patrol. He joins the team with a deep understanding for all of the content from both Marvel and DC Comics, and will use this information in future rankings and reviews. He looks forward to sharing posts that will bring a mix of entertainment and his passion for superhero related content to Only Comic Universe.

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