Marvel Cinematic Universe Villains Ranked
5. The High Evolutionary – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
“All I wanted to do….was to make things…,perfect”.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 Review
Say what you like about the inconsistency of Phase 4 of the MCU, but it has brought some great villains to life; villains that make it painfully personal for our heroes.
One of the most unambiguously detestable villains in recent years, the High Evolutionary is a space eugenicist tearing apart and putting back together his menagerie of captive animals in an effort to evolve them as part of his sadistic quest to create the “perfect society”. When one of his most promising experiments, Rocket Raccoon, disfigures him and escapes, the High Evolutionary becomes obsessed with getting him back and finishing his work.
His sacred mission, he claims, is to create “the perfect species… the perfect society” at any cost. His depraved experiments include: creating countless new creatures through cybernetic enhancement, forcefully and agonisingly accelerating their development from so-called lower lifeforms, thoughtlessly exterminating entire planets of them when they don’t meet his expectations.
The High Evolutionary’s philosophy is completely skewered by Rocket moments after he and his Guardians family kick the living crap out of him in revenge for his atrocities in one of the most satisfying villain demises in the MCU so far: “You didn’t want to make things perfect, you just hated things the way they are”.
4. Wenwu – Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
“Be careful how you speak to me, young man. I have lived ten of your lifetimes. I have eaten more salt than you have had rice in your life!”
Shang-Chi’s ruthless immortal warlord-turned-supervillain father Wenwu wants his son to return as the heir to his empire and to help him find the mythical village of Ta Lo and the dark portal that it guards.
Shang-Chi didn’t have to make Wenwu such an interesting villain. Being an antagonist in a hero’s first adventure usually means you’re just a dark reflection of the good guy, or a mentor gone bad, but the hefty emotional underpinning of Wenwu will take some topping in any sequel.
Wenwu doesn’t just want to rule the world but also wants his physically and mentally abused family to be whole again in order to carry on his legacy of violent power-seeking, doing nearly everything he does under the tragic delusion that he will be able to bring the dearly departed love of his life back to him. A hypnotic Tony Leung brings unshakable gravitas and a deep reserve of pained emotion behind his eyes, also managing to look seriously badass kicking the crap out of people with his ten magical bracelets.
3. Thanos – Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019)
“I know what it’s like to lose. To feel so desperately that you’re right, yet to fail nonetheless. It’s frightening, turns the legs to jelly. I ask you to what end? Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now it’s here. Or should I say, I am.”
Avengers: Endgame Review
The Mad Titan Thanos seeks to unite the six infinity stones and wipe out half the universe at random to overcome dwindling resources.
For the first 10 years of the MCU, Thanos was the big one, the threat among all threats that everything was building towards. He had others (Loki, Ronan, Nebula and Gamora) doing his bidding, on the hunt for his infinity stones, before stepping forward to finish the job himself.
Thanos is clearly the most powerful enemy the Avengers have faced to date by some margin, able to easily beat Hulk in hand-to-hand combat and grapple with multiple heroes at the same time even before he was fully powered, but it is Josh Brolin’s level, controlled voice that completes Thanos’ memorable appearance.
Brolin even brought pathos to the role with the abuser’s guilt he briefly showed towards having to ritually sacrifice his favourite adopted daughter Gamora, right before he went back to committing universe-wide genocide.
2. Zemo – Captain America: Civil War (2016)
“I knew I couldn’t kill them. More powerful men than me have tried. But if I could get them to kill each other…”
Zemo is an ex-Sokovian special forces operative who lost his family to collateral damage caused by the Avengers and so plots to tear the World’s Mightiest Heroes apart.
Zemo’s battle with the Avengers, though it results in the fracturing and eventual disbandment of the superhero team, could not have been smaller and more personal. The Avengers inadvertently killed his wife and child, so he engineered an ingenious scenario that he envisioned would cause their leaders to kill each other.
By re-activating Bucky’s Hydra programming just as Steve Rogers was winning him around, and leaking the information that Bucky was Tony Stark’s parents’ assassin, Zemo brings Iron Man and Captain America into a fight to the death.
1. N’Jadaka/Erik Killmonger – Black Panther (2018)
“Just bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped from ships, ’cause they knew death was better than bondage.”
Black Panther Review
Killmonger is the vengeful prince of Wakanda looking to re-take his throne and have his country lead a worldwide black uprising against oppressive white powers.
Some of the very best movie villains are heroes from a different perspective. They’re right, but the way they go about fulfilling their aims is wrong. Erik “Killmonger” Stevens, born Prince N’Jadaka, is the nephew of the late King of the secretive technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda, a King who killed his brother to stop him from using their technology to help African descendants around the world fight back against their oppressors.
Having such a prominent black character trying to alter the balance of power to ensure his people never suffer again is a provocative and revolutionary idea. Killmonger tops this list not just for the ambition of his plan as an Earth-bound supervillain but because Michael B Jordan’s performance is that layered and emotionally grounded and every bit as compelling as Chadwick Boseman’s as Black Panther, the hero we’re unequivocally rooting for.
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Do you agree with where these villains have been placed? Who is your favourite baddie in the MCU so far? Let us know in the comments below and follow The Film Magazine on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for many more lists like this one.
List updated to include Dar-Benn 29th Nov 2023. Originally published 16th Sept 2021.
