Villains of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Ranked From Worst To Best

Marvel Studios, the hit-making factory behind ‘The Avengers’, ‘Captain America’, ‘Iron Man’, ‘Thor’ et al, has released 10 films since 2008, and every one has been a box-office smash.

We thought it was a prime time to revisit the films, but not to examine the success of its heroes (that’s a given, they’ve made 10 films), but to look at the bad guys of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Which of the many villains and henchmen of the movies can be considered the best of the worst? Here’s our list, in reverse order.

Warning: Spoilers for all Marvel films ahead.

The Abomination/Emil Blonsky - ‘The Incredible Hulk’

Poor old Tim Roth. This was only the second film to come from the newly formed Marvel Studios, but they hadn’t managed to get away from the “like the hero, but evil” template for villains.

In his human form, Blonsky is a relentless soldier who wants the super-soldier serum himself to prolong his military career – it’s hardly the most scintillating of motives – and in his monstrous form, he’s basically just a spiny version of The Hulk, with a tiny pea head. Their final showdown is a largely forgettable murky CGI-fest. If Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk gets his own spin-off, Marvel needs to provide a much more worthy foe.

Iron Monger/Obadiah Stane - ‘Iron Man’

The early signs were promising. Who wouldn’t want to see The Dude facing off with Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark? Jeff Bridges even reluctantly shaved his head for the part, but unfortunately most of his stuff ended up on the cutting room floor.

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His transformation into the super-suited Iron Monger took a backseat to Tony’s journey to becoming Iron Man, and the subplot felt rushed. The classic Iron Man villain was squandered on the movie, which Bridges revealed earlier this year, felt like a “$200m student film” to make.

Kurse/Algrim - ‘Thor: The Dark World’

First introduced in 1984, Algrim was the most powerful Dark Elf on Svartalfheim, who later transformed into the super villain Kurse, a worthy opponent of Thor.

For ’Thor: The Dark World’, Algrim, played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, was more of a henchman to the main villain Malekith. He’s an imposing presence and has one of the most badass villain costumes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but he doesn’t get enough screen time to make much of a lasting impression, other than that of a dangerous hulking beast.

Alexander Pierce - ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’

Bonus points for getting Hollywood icon Robert Redford to play the main villain in your 1970s conspiracy film homage Marvel, but it would have been nice to see him exerting a bit more of his Hydra might during the Cap sequel.

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Yes, we know he coolly dispatches his housekeeper when she disturbs a secret meeting with ‘The Winter Soldier’, but he also asks Nick Fury to arrange an Iron Man flyby for a family party. It’s hardly the behaviour we expect from our uber-baddies.

Whiplash/Ivan Vanko - ‘Iron Man 2’

Mickey Rourke went to extraordinary lengths to ground his villain character in reality. He spent months bulking up, visited a Moscow prison to get an ear for the dialect, and studied Russian mafia tattoos to make sure Vanko’s were authentic.

It’s a shame then that a lot of his performance was cut by the ruthless Marvel producers in a bid for a snappier run time. His introduction as Whiplash at the Grand Prix is great, but after that he takes second fiddle to Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer and spends the rest of the film moping over his parrot.

Justin Hammer - ‘Iron Man 2’

We’ll never forget Sam Rockwell’s incredible improvised dance routine at the Stark Expo and that (coupled with the irresistible charm of the actor) is the sole reason Hammer is so far up our list.

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The industrialist Hammer is a classic Iron Man adversary, and to his credit, he helps create War Machine over the course of the movie, but in the end his defeat is a bit of a damp squib. He already returned for a brief cameo in the DVD extra ‘All Hail The King’, so here’s hoping Rockwell gets another crack at Hammer again soon.

Nebula - ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’

Our biggest gripe about ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ was that Karen Gillan’s blue-skinned cyber-assassin didn’t get enough screen time. The scene where she back-chats her father Thanos then sashays away like a surly teenager was one of our favorites in the film.

Good job then that she survives as we can’t wait to see her return, hopefully for the 2017 sequel. Not sure whether Gillan will relish shaving her head again for the part though.

Malekith - ‘Thor: The Dark World’

At last, a villain with genuine motives. Christopher Ecclestone’s Malekith is the leader of the Dark Elves who were banished into suspended animation eons ago by Thor’s grandfather Bor. 

When the events of ‘Thor 2’ bring him and his Kursed soldiers back to reality, Malekith is suitably peeved. He kills Thor’s mother Frigga (the only substantial death of a major character in the MCU so far) and threatens to destroy the universe with the film’s Macguffin the Aether, before he is defeated by Thor and his Earthling pals.

Ronan the Accuser - 'Guardians of the Galaxy’

The 6ft 3in Lee Pace cuts an imposing figure as Ronan The Accuser and his robing scene at the start of the film is one of the more memorable villain intros in the Marvel movies.

Ronan is a fanatic, pure and simple, and his levels of insanity knows no bounds. He dares to defy Thanos? No-one does that (apart from his sassy daughter). Although his plan to destroy Xandar is ultimately doomed, Pace’s jut-jawed blue meanie cuts a mean swathe through James Gunn’s sci-fi thriller.

Aldrich Killian - ‘Iron Man 3’

What sets Aldrich Killian apart from Iron Man’s other movie adversaries is the fact that he has genuine super-powers. The Extremis technology has not only transformed him from an awkward, spotty nerd, into a tanned charmer, it’s also given him regenerative powers and fire-blasting abilities.

Guy Pearce is great as the villain who reveals himself to be the real Mandarin (which itself turns out to be a bit of a fib*), we only wish he’d been as memorable as the other one… but more on him in a minute.

The Red Skull/Johann Schmidt - 'Captain America: The First Avenger’

Now this is what comic book movie villains should look like! He has a head that looks like a skinless skull, has a penchant for black leather, and is allied with the Nazis – what more could you want?

The Red Skull, played with dripping menace by Hugo Weaving, is a vintage Marvel villain. He was created by legendary comic creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in 1941 and is considered to be one of the most iconic comic baddies ever. His movie version doesn’t disappoint, and we hope that he returns at some point in the future. Being vaporized by an Infinity Stone can’t stop him, can it?

The Mandarin/Trevor Slattery - 'Iron Man 3’

This is sure to prove a controversial choice. Many Marvel fans were up in arms when it was revealed that the Mandarin, played by Sir Ben Kingsley, was not the real deal and was really an actor from Croydon called Trevor.

They felt that ‘Iron Man 3’ treated the classic Tony Stark foe flippantly, but we think the Trevor Slattery scenes were so gut-bustingly funny that he deserves his place on this list, even if he wasn’t technically a villain.

The Winter Soldier - 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier’

He may have only been a pawn in Alexander Pierce’s plans, but the pathos and pain that surrounded The Winter Soldier in ‘Cap 2’ makes him one of the most complex and interesting villains committed to screen in the MCU to date.

He’s conflicted and confused, but he’s also deadly, and a physical match for Steve Rogers. He also made guy liner and goggles look cool so that’s got to count for something.

Loki - ’Thor’/'The Avengers’

It’s hard to overstate how awesome Tom Hiddleston’s god of mischief is in the Marvel films. He made such an impact in ‘Thor’ that Marvel brought him back twice. First as the primary villain in ‘The Avengers’, and secondly to lend some star power to ‘Thor: The Dark World’.

Wrought with patricidal rage and a sense of injustice over his perceived birthright, Loki steals every scene he’s in and Hiddleston’s delivery is deliciously sharp. His “mewling quim” speech in ‘The Avengers’ is one for the ages, and as the ‘Thor 2’ coda reveals, this is just the start for Loki.

(*In the Marvel One-Shot ‘All Hail The King’, a mini-film on the DVD of ‘Thor: The Dark World’, it’s revealed that neither Trevor Slattery and Aldrich Killian were the real Mandarin, and that the head of the Ten Rings terrorist group is still at large.)

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Image credit: Marvel