Top 5 Marvel Cinematic Universe Villains

Marvel

Mar 2

Some people may think that the best thing about the DCU and the MCU is the heroes like Batman, Superman, Captain America, or Iron Man, but they would be wrong. The best thing about these cinematic universes is their villains. Superhero Villains are far more interesting than the heroes and typically have better origin stories. It is no secret that the MCU has dropped the ball on villains like Wanda Maximoff in Multiverse of Madness, but the studio does have some good villains. Let’s take a look at five of the best villains in the MCU. I will not be including any “villain” that has completely justifiable motivations like Loki, Agatha Harkness, or Killmonger. WARNING!! This article contains spoilers for Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Iron Man, and Black Widow!!

5. Red Skull (Captain America: The First Avenger)

Red Skull, also known as Johann Schmidt, was the leader of HYDRA which was a Nazi organization during WWII. He is why SHIELD has the Tesseract at the beginning of The Avengers. This villain planned to take over the world using the Tesseract but was ultimately defeated by his weapon when he touched it. We see him again on planet Vormir, where he has been cursed to guard the Soul Stone. Being a Nazi immediately makes you a villain, but Red Skull is the entire reason that we have HYDRA which is why he made this list. Also, Hugo Weaving does an incredible job in this role!

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4. Hela (Thor: Ragnarok)

Hela is the best female villain in the MCU, and it isn’t close. She is the literal Goddess of Death, and Odin became so afraid of her that he sent her to the Nine Realms. She is the oldest of Odin’s children and, due to her power, was completely wiped from existence to the point that Thor and Loki did not know she even existed. She is incredibly strong and proves it by shattering Mjölnir. I wish Cate Blanchett would take on more villain roles because her acting is what made this character so cool.

3. Ultron (Avengers: Age of Ultron)

Ultron is the only villain on this list that was literally created by someone in the MCU. He is an AI that was created by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner using Loki’s staff, which contained the Mind Stone. His entire purpose is to fight against reason, which Tony feels is keeping him from being able to protect the Earth from outside threats. Unfortunately, Ultron wakes up when he is alone and searches the internet, only to find that most of the problems on Earth are actually caused by humans. With this information, he decides to eliminate all humans and replace them with machines who will take better care of the planet. He is an interesting villain because you can’t argue with his reasoning, but you also can’t agree with him. James Spader does an incredible job of voicing this character.

2. Obadiah Stane (Iron Man)

Obadiah Stane is one of the most boring villains on this list, but he was also one of the most cunning. He worked behind the scenes right under everyone’s nose, and yet no one realized he was a problem until he let them find out. While he is incredibly boring as a villain, it is sometimes nice to have a pure human villain with no powers. His only motivations were greed and power, which gave Jeff Bridges a lot of creative freedom when bringing him to life.

1. Dreykov (Black Widow)

Dreykov is not only the top villain in the MCU but also the worst and most evil. He was the head of the Red Room, which was the organization that Natasha Romanoff had mentioned a few times in previous films. The Soviet organization hand-picked children from infancy based on their genetic makeup and would kidnap them to force them into the program. Within this program, the young girls were brainwashed and forced to fight to the death to weed out those that the program considered weak. When the girls were ready to “graduate,” they would forcibly sterilize them to keep them from being able to have children, ensuring they would be loyal only to the program. If that isn’t bad enough (it is), Dreykov also transforms his daughter into a killing puppet called The Taskmaster, who has almost completely lost the ability to think on her own. Even Ray Winstone’s performance couldn’t give this character any redeeming qualities.

Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Iron Man, and Black Widow are available to stream on Disney+.

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