MCU Villains Ranked
Hey all, my best friend shared with me his list of the villain’s from the MCU from best to worst, so I will share mine that I wrote back to him, as well as their ultimate plans (as I remember them, if I erred in this feel free to correct me) and the reason’s behind their motives. Note: I am defining this as the major villain from each MCU movie, as in the villain that comes in direct conflict with the protagonist. Also, for those who haven’t seen them yet, I’ll do my best to mark spoilers, but...some of these movies have been out 10+ years. With that being said, we’ll start from the bottom wiiiiiith
21. Aldrich Killian/ “the real” slim shady Mandarin (Iron Man 3), plan: ???, motive: get back at Tony Stark, I guess? Going to be a reoccurring motive on this list tbh. Also Iron Man 3 was convoluted as shit so he gets the bottom because I don’t remember his plan or motive for the life of me, so...not memorable whatsoever. I had to look his name up. 20. Malekith (Thor 2: The Dark World), plan: annihilation, motive: I honestly don’t remember. Was it revenge against Asgard? Does he genuinely believe that nothingness is the natural state of the universe? If it’s the latter, he does a better comic Thanos than movie Thanos. 19. Abomination (The Incredible Hulk), plan: kill Hulk, I guess, motive: he just wants a good fight? He’s power hungry? Honestly he sounds like a perfect anime villain. Also fuck Norton. 18. Kaecillius (Dr. Strange), plan: contract with Dormammu to bestow immortality on mankind, I think? motive: hurt feelings over being betrayed by the Ancient One, I think. Honestly not lower because based Mads. 17. Yellowjacket (Ant-man), plan: sell weapons, why? make money, also it’s implied all his science experiments have made him like, psychotic, I guess? 16. The Supreme Intelligence (Captain Marvel), plan: Skrull genocide, why? Racism, I guess. This is the first of many plans of: genocide you’ll see on this list. 15. Ronan the Accuser (Guardians of the Galaxy 1, Captain Marvel minor villain), plan: Xandar genocide, why? a long-spanning hostile and war filled history with Xandar, so...a grudge. 14. Iron Monger (Iron Man 1), plan: usurp control of Stark Industries, why? Greed, ressentiment towards Tony Stark. Also higher on the list because based Jeff Bridges. 13. Mysterio (Spiderman Far From Home), plan: ultimately humiliate a dead man and his teenage protege while setting himself up as the next big thing TM, why? because Tony Stark embarrassed and humiliated him by making his life’s work a joke. Only reason he’s not lower is based Jake, and Mysterio is an INCREDIBLE manipulator. 12. Ghost (Ant-man and the Wasp), plan: cure her illness/self-preservation, why? *SPOILERS* the same accident that gave Ghost her abilities is also slowly killing her and she was promised (lied to) a cure by Hydra (?) for years to work as their assassin. First example of a sympathetic villain on this list and well deserved. 11. Red Skull (Captain America - the First Avenger), plan: rule the ashes of the world after bombing it to shit, why? delusions of grandeur actualized after becoming a superhuman. 10. Whiplash/Titanium Man (Iron Man 2), plan: literally AND figuratively destroy Tony Stark, why? ultimately a traumatic childhood, I think. The reason I place Vanko so high over other Iron Man villains (and stand by that) is despite his national origin he is literally a foil for Tony, none of Tony’s other adversaries I believe were able to match him in smarts, which is where it counts. 9. Ultron (Avengers 2), plan: genocide of humans, why? Humanity is a threat to Earth, which he is designed to protect (I can hear Joss Whedon waggling his bald ass eyebrows from here with that out of the box thinking) 8. Thanos (Avengers Infinity War & Endgame), plan: universal 50% genocide, why? to save the universe so they don’t wind up like his ruined homeworld (I swear I’m not a bad guy, uwu) Yeah so...Thanos does not get the top spot. Or the top 5. He is not worthy. IMO, his depiction in the MCU for all the hype that was laid out for him was...wasted? 7. Vulture (Spiderman Homecoming), plan: sell weapons/nifty gadgets to the highest bidder, why? to provide for his family. Vulture scores high on this list for this motive, excellently delivered by Michael Keaton. 6. Zemo (Captain America: Civil War), plan: destroy the Avengers, why? revenge for his family who *SPOILERS* perished due to Ultron fucking with Sokovia. Zemo scores *VERY* high on this list for being one of maybe 2 villains on this list who ultimately succeeded in his plan. 5. Hela (Thor Ragnarok), plan: universal conquest, why? Because she was conditioned to be her father, Odin’s personal weapon and taught to crave that, I guess. 4. Alexander Pierce (Captain America: Winter Solider), plan: national security ostensibly, in reality just eliminating all Hydra’s enemies in the name of ruling the US, why? the why here is why Pierce is so high. First, I place him here instead of the Winter Solider because he’s pulling his strings. Second, the movies don’t make it clear if it was under Pierce’s leadership/direction (and we don’t have enough time with Strucker to be shown otherwise) but without the Red Skull’s influence, Hydra evolved from a mindless cult into a legitimate terrorist organization with goals and a purpose, which to me makes them that much more of a threat. 3. Ego (Guardians of the Galaxy 2), plan: annihilation/universal expansion, why? a sense of loneliness and to give himself something to do. Ego is one of two villains here who attempted to literally wipe out all life in the universe, only his ambition was to also fill the universe with himself. 2. Loki (Thor, Avengers 1), plan: (Thor) frost giant genocide, (Avengers 1) conquer Earth, why? I think the Frost giants for abandoning him? He makes it sort of out to seem like he’s casting aside his heritage to make Odin proud or like eliminating their enemies as *SPOILERS* the frost giants were very eager to try and kill Odin like twice in the movie, and as far as conquering Earth goes...did he do it to spite Thor? Would he have conquered any planet that just happened to have an Infinity Stone? There has been some speculation online that Loki throughout the events of Avengers 1 is manipulated by Thanos...but I’m not sure. Also Loki deserves a very high spot on this list because, apart from Thanos, he’s in the most Marvel movies on this list. 1. N’jadaka/Killmonger/”Golden Jaguar” (Black Panther), plan: Wakandan dominance, why? to avenge his father/carry on his legacy
