When you think Marvel, characters such as Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor probably first to mind.
But where would any of those heroes be without their evil counterparts? That’s right, we’re talking about the Marvel villains!
There are TONS of baddies between the 23 MCU films — but who’s the best and worst? (By best we mean best character… not, like, best person. You get it.)
Ranking the Best and Worst Marvel Villains
WORST:
3. Yellowjacket
When watching Ant-Man did you think, “huh, I feel like I’ve seen this guy before?” Cause we did, and then quickly realized that Darren Cross, aka Yellowjacket, is basically just Obadiah Stane from Iron Man.
They are both disgruntled employees working alongside a tech genius boss. They then try and take over the company (subtly but not really) and manufacture said genius’ technology to use in an evil way. The bad guy then dons said technology, instantly knows how to use it despite the hero needing a montage of practice to master it, and battles the Avenger where ultimately good triumphs over evil.
Yawn, we’ve seen you before Darren, and you were better as Jeff Bridges.
2. Adrian Killian
Remember the whole you need a good motive to be a bad guy thing? You’re telling me this guy was blown off by Tony Stark so he then dedicates his life to destroying him and murdering people? Okay, pal.
We need a more convincing backstory!
Side note: A lot of this is Tony’s fault, huh? Oh, well, he’s still my fave.
1. Ultron
Our least favorite is Ultron, aka the super robot created by Tony Stark (oops). Why don’t we like Ultron? Well, besides the fact that he’s a murderous A.I., he’s literally the definition of a cartoony super villain. We like when our villains have a treacherous backstory and are somewhat justified in their motives — when you can feel sympathy for a villain, that’s what creates a well-rounded character!
Ultron is literally just a robot who decides to take over the planet. That said, James Spader was the perfect choice to voice him.
Check out my review and thoughts on Age of Ultron here!
BEST:
3. Thanos
Of course the pivotal baddie made our top three! One of the things that makes Thanos such a good villain is he comes across as sane. Lots of evil characters come across unhinged and chaotic, but Thanos is even keeled and calm. He pitches his plan, and he sounds educated, philosophical, and convincing — until you remember he’s talking about literally murdering half of the universe’s population.
Oh, snap.
2. Loki
It pains us even to consider him a villain because we LOVE Loki, but we also suppose you have to consider him one… at least during The Avengers. We love that Loki goes from good to bad to good to bad — he’s always looking out for #1, and you never know if you can trust him!
What can we say? We stan a morally ambiguous character.
1. Killmonger
Talk about a story with an incredible backstory! Killmonger’s motives aren’t wrong. In fact, they’re downright understandable and justified. He just chooses a, uh, slightly more violent path to achieve his goals.
We can’t even tell him he’s wrong after seeing his childhood story, and in the end, were sad to see him go.
Click here for my thoughts during Black Panther — which I just watched for the first time!
Who is your favorite Marvel villain? Let us know in the comments!
Want More Marvel? Check out these posts!
- “This Movie Made Me Feel Again”: 74 Thoughts I Had Watching ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ for the First Time
- “Thank Goodness for Andrew Garfield.” 69 Thoughts I Had Watching ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ for the First Time
- 62 Thoughts I Had Watching ‘Spider-Man 3’ for the First Time Ever
- 56 Thoughts I Had Watching ‘Spider-Man 2’ for the First Time Ever
- 67 Thoughts I Had Watching ‘Spider-Man’ for the First Time in Almost 20 Years
- 3 Things I Loved and 3 Things I Hated about Marvel’s ‘Eternals’
- 5 Reasons I Loved Marvel’s ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’
- Such a Poser: 102 Thoughts I Had Watching Black Widow for the First Time
- I’m Mad That I’m Sobbing Again: 54 Thoughts I Had During the WandaVision Finale
- Why Am I Crying Over a Robot? 51 Thoughts I Had Watching WandaVision Episode 8
Between this and your views on Vision and the Scarlet Witch, I sense a prejudice against sentient artificial intelligence. The idea of both characters is showing that created, “robots” are capable of intelligence and sentience and them and others wrestling with what that idea means.
Still enjoying your take on the franchise though, keep the lists coming.
Loki!
Loki is the best villain. Love love love him!
Here’s hoping Killmonger (and Michael B. Jordan) gets a chance to come back to the MCU as the new Black Panther! It has happened in the comic books in an alternate dimension, and with the next phases of MCU movies dealing with the multiverse, it could happen!
Thanos was actually the hero and the Avengers were the enemy. Thanos saw what a horrible tragedy the entire Multiverse was headed to based on over population and what happened to his own planet. He sacrificed the only thing he ever truly loved to save everyone else. After he was done he went back home peacefully and gave up his armor for good. Thanos saw the danger his people were in from overpopulation and knowing they would not change did what no one else would. The elimination of half the population, at random and without prejudice, in order to make life better for the planet as a whole. The Avengers came and turned it back and therefore doomed the entire multiverse to suffer the same fate.
Thanos was the protagonist of Infinity War, not the hero. With that level of power, he could have increased resources instead of killing billions including plants and animals (Accordion to Feige) which doesn’t actually fix the resource issue. He had a unshakable and incorrect view of the issue.
Increasing resources would be a very short lived solution. The over population would continue unchecked until disaster occurred. I guess you feel the Avengers restoring everything to the same was a happy ending?
Unquestionably. We only have Thanos’s word what caused the issue on his planet and that there was no other way to avert it. We also only have his word that an infinite universe would run out of resources. Not to mention destroying half the plants and animals means a reduction in resources. He had a belief, not proof, that his way was the only solution, and he acted on it in an incredibly evil way before the snap. The Avengers saved the lives of billions.