We are now fully into the Comic Book Movie (CBM) Era! I hope everyone is enjoying themselves so far, we've still got a while to go. DC Comics and WB Studios are just getting their extended universe started with Man of Steel in 2013, Batman v. Superman this passed March, and now Suicide Squad in August.
Marvel, however, is in what they're calling Phase 3 of their shared universe movies. In total, Marvel Studios has produced 13 movies and 2 Netflix series! They've introduced us to dozens of characters, including the Avengers! I am a huge fan of these movies, and I enjoy every thing about every single one of them, no matter what is said of the quality. One major complaint that I have heard throughout the years is that the villains in the MCU have not been very difficult to defeat. Well today I am going to talk about each one of the villains we've seen in the MCU, and by the end we'll see just how dangerous they all are and who the worst/best is! Let's go!
So we'll start with the solo movies, ok? The obvious place to start here is of course, Iron Man. First Iron Man movie in 2008 was Obadiah Stane played by The Dude. I mean Jeff Bridges. He definitely wasn't The Dude in that movie. No, Obie killed and attempted to kill a lot of people. He was very unDude, if you know what I mean. Anyway, he was a good villain because he was close to the protagonist and the twist was (if you didn't already know who Obadiah Stane was) a good one. He was even a formidable physical opponent to Tony Stark (in an early version of the Iron Man armor) when he highjacked the Iron Monger armor at the end of the movie. B
Iron Man 2 (2010) featured 2 villains Whiplash played by Mickey Rourke and Justin Hammer by Sam Rockwell. Justin Hammer, just like the comics, was the head of a company that was trying to compete with Stark Industries. He was merely the money behind Whiplash, who was the main antagonist in the movie. Whiplash aka Ivan Vanko was a decent opponent to a drunk and poisoned Tony Stark, but once Tony straightend out, cured himself, and teamed up with War Machine; Vanko was quickly defeated with Hammer taken down by Pepper Potts. Iron Man 2 wasn't a great movie, but it had some important character moments as well as some cool action scenes. C-
Iron Man 3 is a very controversial movie as far as Marvel villains go. Tony Stark faces what looks like his most deadly enemy yet in the Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley) while another competitor (Aldrich Killain played by Guy Pierce) comes back from Tony's past to ruin him and all that jazz. The Mandarin was presented as a pretty scary bad guy, by bringing our real world fears of domestic terrorist attacks into a CBM. In the comics the Mandarin is a very powerful villain of Iron Man's with magic based powers, something most comic fans were hoping to see. So when there were no powers from the Mandarin at all AND he turned out NOT to even be in charge of anything, people kind of lost their shit. I mean, I get it, it's usually disapointing when movies don't honor the source material or at least try to. But whatever, I thought it was a decent twist for a pretty good movie. AND Aldrich Killian and his AIM (Killian's company Advanced Idea Mechanics) goons were good solid bad guys. Killian had a good villain scheme, and he almost won, but Tony Stark & his Super Friends proved to be too much for Killian and the Gang to handle. B
Moving on to our next Avenger, Thor God of Thunder! So the Thor movie introduced us to our first "A" level villain. So far we've seen B's, but Loki is definitely an A all the way! First of all he's a classic villain in the sense that his villainous orgins begin with him being taken from his people (the Frost Giants) and raised as something else (an Asgardian, specifically as Odin's adopted son and Thor's brother). So when Loki finally does turn against his adopted family, it's a pretty big deal. Loki is no joke. He is the God of Mischief and his powers are on par with the Gods of Asgard, he is also incredibly fun to watch on screen. I don't think I need any further evidence here. Solid A.
Thor: The Dark World showcased two levels of villainy. The first level is the introduction of another race of Asgard's enemies, the Dark Elves and their leader Malekith. In the beginning of the movie we see how Malekith is defeated by the forces of Asgard and disappears from some time. The second level of villainy is the addition of what is called the Aether, which turns out to be one of the Infinity Stones, the Reality Gem. While Malekith is aware of only a fraction of the Aether's power, he is still able to wield it. Not something everyone is capable of, and most that are able do not have a clue to the true potential of the stone's abilities. In summation, Malekith and his minions (namely Kurse, the Dark Elf that crushes that glowing thingy and changes into that super strong monster guy that breaks everybody out of jail on Asgard), are formidable villains against Thor and co. They're successfully attack Asgard, kill Frigga, and force Thor to break out Loki and flee his own home. B for that, B+ for wielding the Reality Gem.
Quickie here. Before Iron Man and Thor is an often forgotten movie of the MCU. The Incredible Hulk. Two villains of the Hulk were featured here General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross played by William Hurt and Emil Blonsky aka the Abomination played by Tim Roth. Ross is a transcendent villain. By that I mean that his villainy goes beyond just the Hulk, but also Captain America and some of the Avengers. Well, you could argue he's more of a menace than a villain in Cap 3. But I also mean that he is a big enough character in the MCU (and in the comics) to move beyond just one movie with one hero in it. In the comics, Thunderbolt Ross actually becomes the Red Hulk and joins the Avengers for awhile. The Abomination is a great Hulk bad guy, and that basically means that his use in other stories would be as a group member who might oppose a good guy group's strong guy. Like if the villains of the MCU teamed up against the Avengers, Abomination wouldn't have his own plotline, he'd have a few lines and then fight the Hulk at the end. He's a good first movie villain. So B for T-Bolt Ross, and B- for the Blonski Abomination.
Captain America: The First Avenger brought us the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), one of my favorite Marvel bad guys. He was always Cap's nemesis in my favorite issues of Captain America and What If...? comics (What If's...? were a series of comics that would take a specific moment in Marvel Comics history and ask What If something else happened instead of what did). Skull does not disapoint in the first Cap movie either. He's a Nazi, just like in the comics, and also just like in the comics he's not really a Nazi but using the Nazis to further his own plans via HYDRA. His evil plans are really great and classic evil plans too! He researches and finds the Tessaract, which is actually the Space Gem (another Infinity Stone), and along with Dr. Arnim Zola (Toby Jones), they are able to weaponize the power of the Tessaract. Now, Red Skull is also short sighted in regards to the Tessaract and not being able to understand it's true power, but he's still a perfect villain for Cap! It's too bad he disappeared for good at the end of the First Avenger. Or did he? B
Captain America: The Winter Solider is arguably the best movie Marvel Studios has produced. The villains are great! Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is a brainwashed Winter Soldier who used to be Cap's best friend! You don't get much better villain drama then that! Lined up against Rogers, Bucky is a tough opponent. They are very similarly trained, and have similar abilities. Cap with his super soldier serum and shield, Bucky with his...um...robot arm. The other bad guy is played by the great Robert Redford, who plays Alexander Pierce, Nick Fury's boss who is also a high ranking member of HYDRA. If Pierce and Hydra along with the Winter Soldier were successful, we wouldn't be getting a Doctor Strange movie later this year. These guys get a B+.
Captain America: Civil War had a very interesting villain. No, not Iron Man, he wasn't actually the bad guy. It was Zemo, a veteran of Ultron's attack on Secovia in Avengers: Age of Ultron that I will be talking about shortly. Zemo was a great villain because no one saw him coming. We, as an audience, might have known he was up to something, but the final reveal of his true plan was masterful. Although not a physical threat by any means, Zemo's mind games were strong enough to earn him a B grade.
Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) is not only the newest movie but also the newest Avenger. In his solo movie Scott Lang teams up with the original Ant-Man, Hank Pym (played by Michael Douglas) to stop Yellow Jacket aka Darren Cross (Corey Stall). Cross is more of a villain of Hank Pym then of Scott Lang, and is only a bad guy because of his willingness to deal with Hydra and because he's willing to kill to get his way. Yellowjacket is a pretty good first movie villain in that he poses a solid threat to the main protaganist(s) in their first boss battle as a super hero. That final boss battle at the end could have gone either way, if Scott Lange wasn't willing to shrink to the sub atomic level. C, because he was also an irritating character.
Moving on to our first team movie, THE AVENGERS! Once again we have Loki as our main antagonist. He continues to be an A level villain in this movie and kicks it up a notch with having an alien army behind him. The Avengers also teased another bad guy, with cosmic level super powers, Thanos! But I'll talk about him later. We know what happens in the Avengers movie, so because Tom Hiddleston is so damn charming and wonderful as Loki and Loki has the Mind Stone on a sceptor and is leading an army of Chitauri, Loki moves up from an A to an A+
Now, the sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron is up for some debate. Ultron himself is a great villain, and in the comics he is a fantastic nemesis to the Avengers, coming back time and again to plague the heroes in new and interesting ways. The movie Ultron was very interesting to me. James Spader played Ultron wonderfully, with a casual yet sinister style. Ultron is the product of the Mind Stone integrating with a computer program developed by Tony Stark. The program didn't work out the way Stark wanted, and instead of protecting the world Ultron tries to end it. He was an interesting villain with an interesting endgame, and he was able to comprehend the true power of the Mind Stone. The argument against Ultron is that he made stupid tactical mistakes when engaging the Avengers, like leaving the cradle with a gestating Vision alone for Black Widow to capture. Also taking Black Widow captive and allowing the Avengers to track her location wasn't real smart either. However, the performance by Spader and Ultron's ultimate endgame earn him a score of B+. I hope he isn't gone for good.
Keeping with the team movies now, Guardians of the Galaxy gave us our first look at what cosmic level powers look like in the MCU. Their main villain was a minion of Thanos, Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) along with Thanos' daughter Nebula (Karen Gillan). Ronan is a great villain in my opinion. He's a religous zealot who believes that his people, the Kree are eternally at war with the planet Xandar; headquarters of the NOVA CORP, a galactic police force for the Xandarian Empire. He is a brillaint military strategist with superhuman strength, speed, and reflexes, toxic immunity, and is able to adapt to any enviorment. He handles a fist fight with Drax the Destroyer with ease, throwing Drax around like he's a toy. To be fair, the Drax in the movie is not nearly as powerful as the Drax in the comics, but the Drax in the comics was also created specifically to kill Thanos while movie Drax is just an alien named Drax that's as strong as Dave Bautista (the guy who plays Drax, can I say Drax anymore in a sentence? Drax.). More evidence for Ronan is that he is able to completely possess and manipulate the Power Gem. This is a big deal. As the Collector (a kind of cosmic villain himself) teaches the GotG, the power gem "can only be held by beings of extraordinary strength". Even a collective group of beings tried to possess the stone, but were only able to for a few moments. The Guardians themselves were able to wield and use the stone, which is a testament to their attributes, but it also shows how much stronger Ronan is on his own compared to them. They ALL needed to be in contact with each other in order to control the stone, Ronan held it in his hand and contained it in his hammer. Ronan gets an A.
So we're out of movies that have come out, so let's talk about the Netflix series real quick.
Daredevil introduced us to the Kingpin, who proved to be an A+ city level villain. And in season 2 introduced The Hand, who will prove to be world class B level villains. Nothing to sneeze at here, especially when it's usually just Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and maybe one other hero (season 2 it was Elektra) fighting against these guys. City level and world level villains don't quite compare to cosmic level villains as far as abilities and threat levels are concerned. But these guys, the Kingpin and the Hand prove to be enough of a threat to give them both A's.
Now Jessica Jones presents a very interesting situation. Here is a relatively new super hero, that doesn't have that rich of a comic book history, but blew me away with the Netflix series. The show worked so well because of Jessica's arch enemy, Zebidiah Kilgrave aka the Purple Man. In the comics he has purple skin, in the show he wears purple suits. He is played exquisitely by David Tennant. Kilgrave has a very special super power that is a great rival to Jessica's super strength, he can manipulate people's minds by simply suggesting something. For example, one of the most intense scenes of the series was when Kilgrave and Jessica were negotiating and he agreed to leave the house with her. For insurance that he would be kept alive, he told his maid and butler, "if I'm not back in 3 hours, kill yourselves." They watched him leave the house with fearful looks on their faces and guns in their mouths then glued their eyes to the clock on the wall, just waiting and wishing for him to return in time. A freaking ++!
So that's what we've got so far. So who's the best/worst villain? Well I don't really know, but I say Kilgrave was the most frightening, Ultron was the most deadly, Loki is the most fun and Ronan is the most destructive of all the MCU villains. Who do you think is the best? I really want to know!
We're only in Phase 3 of the MCU, Phase 4 begins after Thor: Ragnorak. So here is a quick look at villains we'll see in upcoming MCU movies.
Next Thor movie we'll see Loki again along with the Grandmaster played by Jeff Goldblum and Skurge played by Karl Urban. I'm excited to see what games the Grandmaster has in store for us. In November we get to meet Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), the arch enemy of Doctor Strange (Benebatch Cumberdict, I mean Bendict Cumberbatch); Ulysses Klaw (Andy Serkis) was introduced in Age of Ultron but will return in Black Panther in 2018; next year's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will feature Ego the Living Planet who will probably be played by Sly Stallone (if not, then I think Stallone will be another villain); Spider-Man: Homecoming comes out next year and the rumor is that Michael Keaton will be playing The Vulture; and of course we have 2 more Avengers movies and the biggest Marvel baddie of them all, Thanos (played by Josh Brolin), is set to show us what full powered Inifinity Gauntlet is capable of!
There's a lot to look forward to! Let me know who your favorite Marvel villain is comics, series, or movies!
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