The Best Marvel Villains in the MCU, Ranked

Image via Marvel

Portrayed by: Sir Ben Kingsley

Appears In: Iron Man Three

Your appreciation of Ben Kingsley's take on The Mandarin depends on how much you really care about Iron Man mythology. In the comics, of course, he's one of Tony Stark's biggest foes. So it's reasonable that comic nerds were enraged that his movie adaptation amounted to nothing more than a gag. But, like, it's a damn funny gag, is it not? A combination of me not really being an Iron Man/Mandarin truther and generally appreciating Shane Black's efforts to make one of Marvel's most distinct and thoroughly enjoyable movies thus far lands me in the rare group of those who just laughed at Mandarin but really Trevor the Jovial Drug Addict Thespian Patsy. Villainous? Not so much, but hilarious. —FT

Portrayed by: Tom Pelphrey (Ward), Jessica Stroup (Joy), and David Wenham (Harold)

Appears in: Iron Fist

It makes sense that Netflix's blandest Marvel hero would, in turn, feature their blandest batch of "villains." The Meachums, who grew up with Danny Rand but gave zero f*cks about him when he returned to claim what was his, made sense, but their inclusion into this lukewarm series brought about some of Iron Fist's most meh storylines and sequences.—khal

Portrayed by: Daniel Brühl

Appears in: Captain America: Civil War

Civil War's all about the family feud and less about the outsider stirring shit up, so the villain doesn't quite matter. Who cares about the guy pulling the strings, we just need to get to that epic splash page smackdown. Still, Zemo is the most milquetoast, non-threatening herb that it kind of works against his grand machinations. The diabolical mastermind who tore the Avengers apart is...this lame?—FT

Portrayed by: Thomas Kretschmann

Appears In: Captain America: Winter Solider, Agents of SHIELD​, Avengers: Age of Ultron

This dude didn't even have a real chance to shine; he's a tweener villain in Cap 2's post-credits scene, brief cameo on S.H.I.E.L.D. and then the intro of Age of Ultron. With a cool ass name like that, you'd expect the last reigning head of HYDRA to put up much more of a fight than he ultimately does. Red Skull is turning over in his grave, fam. —FT

Portrayed by: Sam Rockwell

Appears In: Iron Man 2

No disrespect to the god Sam Rockwell, but Justin Hammer really isn't much of a bad guy. He spends much of Iron Man 2 being sonned by Tony Stark sans the super suit—he can't even see him in the boardroom thanks to his struggle ass company that always comes in behind Stark Industries. He's all bark and no bite, and even gets flipped on by his would-be accomplice. Ultimate struggle villain. —FT

Portrayed by: Christopher Eccleston

Appears In: Thor: The Dark World

There's a reason, many reasons, actually, why Thor 2 is easily Marvel's worst movie. A villain blander than his pale-ass skin tone is one of them. I don't even remember a damn thing about this guy and I've seen this shit twice. Did he even speak? Or just glare a lot? I'm sure dude was real lit in the comics but as far as the MCU's concered, he's best left forgotten. —FT

Portrayed by: Erik LaRay Harvey

Appears in: Luke Cage

With the first-half of Luke Cage season one featuring a brilliant portrayal of Cottonmouth by Mahershala Ali, why did Marvel decide to bring forth a bible-thumping, ruthless killer like Diamondback on the tail-end? He was very one-note, and for all of his technologically-advanced weaponry, once you removed the gats and the suit, he was just a jealous man that knows too many bible verses without understanding the context. Hopefully he's reduced to a fraction of the second season of Luke Cage.—khal

Portrayed by: Corey Stoll

Appears In: Ant-Man

Yellowjacket is essentially another Obadiah Stane, a boardroom villain whose evil plot revolves around making a lot of money and selling off inventions but like, less impressive. Blame the script more than Corey Stoll, but he doesn't do much with the meager screentime he's given. Cool suit, but even in the decidedly low-stakes Ant-Man, Yellowjacket fails to register. Grand opening, grand closing. —FT

Portrayed by: Mads Mikkelsen

Appears in: Doctor Strange

Mads can do menacing in his sleep but even still, Doctor Strange drops the ball on really letting his Hannibal-style freak flag fly. In a lesser actor's hands, this would be Malekith/Thor 2 levels of wack but even with M.M.'s natural charisma this guy still barely registers. I had to Wikipedia his name for the purposes of this list, even. Worse still, the great Dormammu is unmemorable, reduced to a banal, non-threatening CGI lame. It's an L when the throwback Saturday morning cartoon version was lowkey scarier.—FT

Portrayed by: Tim Roth

Appears In: The Incredible Hulk

Even though it follows Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk still marks a period when Marvel hadn't yet ironed out their formula. Therefore, while not trash, it's largely forgettable, so much so that people rarely remember it counts as part of the cinematic universe. That extends to Tim Roth's Emil Blonsky, the solider who gains a hard-on for the Hulk so much that he takes even more serum and becomes a literal, you guessed it, Abomination. Roth is serviceable, Abomination looks decently cool and smashes things, but he does nothing to elevate himself or this movie from comic book mediocrity. —FT

Portrayed by: Dichen Lachman

Appears In: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Jiaying serves as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Inhuman emissary and is later revealed as Skye's mom. Her superpower is the ability to suck the life out of people in order to stay young and healthy—so um, Inhuman vampire, we guess. In an end-of-season twist, she's revealed to be even more crazy and megalomaniacal than Calvin Zabo, intent on wiping away humanity altogether to make the world safe for her fellow Inhumans. That doesn't end well for her, but she still proves herself to be a deadly combination of conniving, willing to kill, and certifiably nutso. —JD

Portrayed by: Mallory Jansen

Appears in: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Sure, the evil robot thing has been done in the MCU before—quite superbly in fact by James Spader as Avengers big bad Ultron—but Mallory Jansen brings another layer to the Pinocchio theme in the role of Aida (Artificial Intelligence Digital Assistant). Cold, calculating and corrupted by the Darkhold, she wants to be free of her programming so she can experience life as a real woman and do hoodrat stuff, like kill the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. squad. While the latter is par for the course when it comes to any villain, what isn't is how Aida goes about it: trapping the team's consciousness in a VR world where she rules as Madame Hydra. It's a total mindfuck that gets even more mindfuckery when it's revealed that her end game isn't just to become flesh and blood, but to make Fitz her little boy toy. The only thing scarier than a robot that wants to kill you is one that wants to fuck you. Unless, of course, you're into that sort of thing. No judgment. —ASR

Portrayed by: Mickey Rourke

Appears In: Iron Man 2

If only the script gave Whiplash room to flourish. After a dope setpiece in fucking Monaco, on a racetrack no less, dude falls to the wayside. He pops up occasionally so Mickey Rourke can flex a struggle Russian accent and make corny jokes about his pet bird, before returning for an anticlimactic, rushed climax. But we'll always have the scene where he bossed up on a live track and very nearly gave Tony Stark the pieces. —FT

Portrayed by: Peter Shinkoda

Appears In: Daredevil

To be honest, this guy was starting to get annoying as the Chief Complainer in Wilson Fisk's criminal conspiracy. He was always pouting and glaring while bringing nothing to the table. Thankfully, his final episode changed all of that when he provided one of the most exhilarating fight scenes of Daredevil's entire, impressively choreographed first season. The guy is literally a fucking ninja and spent an entire episode effectively trashing Matt Murdock. It was almost sad to see him go. —FT

Portrayed by: Jeff Bridges

Appears In: Iron Man

As MCU's inaugural villain, you can't judge Obadiah Stane too harshly. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for the OG Iron Man, and he shares part of the success. So he's basically just a boring boardroom villain. If this were the fifth or sixth movie in the franchise, that would suck (cough, Ant-Man, cough), but here it's OK because of the movie's relatively quaint low stakes. And the Iron Monger suit is a damn cool, beautiful monstrosity, and beastly where Tony Stark's own suit is just cool and slick. —FT

Portrayed by: Lee Pace

Appears In: Guardians of the Galaxy

Ronan the Accuser is essentially an intergalactic religious zealot who makes the rest of his species look bad and quite evil because of his fanatical beliefs. So yeah, this particular member of the Kree species is pretty much in Space ISIS. As the main villain in Guardians of the Galaxy, he doesn't get much in the way of character development in order to get the audience to get to know the film's four main protagonists a little bit better. His main motivation is little more than "genocide for genocide's sake, also because Nove Prime suxxxx." He got a little boost of power thanks to the Infinity Stone implanted in his self-righteous race war gavel of destruction, but he's neither imposing enough to ever seem like a true threat, nor memorable enough to have eager nerds clamoring for a comeback. —JD

Portrayed by: Bill Paxton

Appears In: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

In the comics, Garrett is a turncoat S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that becomes a cyborg. In the MCU, Garrett is a turncoat S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that's kind of a cyborg, but also 100% a dickhead—at least when he shows his true colors. Revealed as the guy whose machinations turned Grant Ward into a remorseless killing machine, it was definitely surprising to see him turn into a villain, but he's more known for talking crazy after getting injected with alien juice rather than ever posing a real threat. His cybernetic comic form was referenced in his final appearance in the show, suggesting he'd come back as a formidable baddie, but thanks to Coulson and the return of the Destroyer-influenced rifle from The Avengers, any of Garrett's future appearances in the MCU would definitely have to be flashbacks. —JD

Portrayed by: Bridget Regan

Appears In: Agent Carter

Dottie Underwood makes her debut in Agent Carter as a Midwestern ballerina who moves into Carter's all-girls housing situation (WHAT'S GOOD WITH THAT RENT, THO?) and is later revealed to be a formidable assassin trained by the same Russian program as Natasha Romanov down the line. That's right—Dottie marks the earliest appearance of the Black Widow in the MCU, and confirms that, like in the comics, Black Widows are part of an espionage program and not just one specific character. That program is alluded to by the modern Black Widow in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but don't count Dottie out yet—she's due for revenge against good ol' Peggy, and may get it in Season Two. —JD

Portrayed by: Toby Jones

Appears In: Captain America: First Avenger, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Agent Carter

If this were limited to just First Avenger, this weasel ass hench-sidekick wouldn't even make the list. But as the far superior Cap sequel reveals, Armin Zola is quietly the linchpin in HYDRA's contemporary flourish, effectively Trojan horsing SHIELD and keeping Red Skull's vision alive. Score one huge win for the bad guys on account of gross underestimation. Hail HYDRA. —FT

Portrayed by: Brian Patrick Wade

Appears In: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Props to Carl "Crusher" Creel for being the first ripped-from-the-comics villain to appear on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He also pops up as an Easter egg in the Daredevil series, where Matt Murdock's pugilist dad faces off against a pre-powered Creel in the squared circle, though we don't actually see him appear in the ring, only witnessing the unfortunate aftermath. As far as an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. villain, the Absorbing Man raises the stakes for the crew of non-powered agents, giving them something to fight that could most definitely kill any one of them with a single blow. Comic fans rejoiced when Creel made a makeshift ball-and-chain weapon in the show, referencing the weapon he commonly used in the books. —JD 

Portrayed by: Guy Pearce

Appears In: Iron Man Three

So, the trade-off for The Mandarin being an actual threat is smug Guy Pearce, who at one point, actually breathes fire?! Purists might kill me but, I'll gladly accept the swap. Killian is like the best parts of Iron Man 2's individually problematic Justin Hammer and Ivan Vanko merged into one. His villainous aspirations mostly amount to rigging supply and demand, as most Tony Stark foes do. But he actually has the fire-breathing muscle and charisma to hold the film down on his own. Hence Iron Man Three lowkey being the best of the series so far. —FT

Portrayed by: N/A

Appears In: Thor

This thing literally just walks around, shoots huge beams from its face, and is generally indestructible. In another movie, that might be lazy and dumb, here it's just economical villainy. An appetizer before the real showdown with Loki. Which is to say, it works far better than it should. —FT

Portrayed by: Hugo Weaving

Appears In: Captain America: The First Avenger

Comic-book adaptation notwithstanding, there is such thing as being too cartoonish. Alas, that's why you cast blockbuster villain veteran Hugo Weaving, who elevated the HYDRA head cheese into a legitimately fearful bad guy and in turn elevated my personal least favorite—next to Trash Thor 2, that is—Marvel film yet into something watchable. Scope-wise, he's one of the biggest baddies in the MCU so far, and even in defeat his actions still have lasting ramifications throughout every film and TV show that followed. Remember, chronologically speaking, he's technically the first guy to bring the Infinity Stones into play. —FT

Portrayed by: Ralph Brown

Appears In: Agent Carter

Wow, Agent Carter sonned Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s entire roster of villains with this one guy. Dr. Fennhoff is a frequent enemy of Captain America in the comics known as Doctor Faustus, which gets a nice nod in the form of a book the character reads. He's especially dangerous because of his ability to use psychiatry for eeeevil, but also how he can get inside people's heads so much that he can pretty much make them see and do anything he wants. Sort of like Inception, except he can do this shit to you WHILE YOU ARE AWAKE. He raises the stakes for the S.S.R. by surreptitiously infiltrating their office and—spoiler alert—stealing Stark tech and leaving lovable hardass Chief Roger Dooley to a tear-jerking fate. He even manages to get Howard Stark under his control, which shows how powerful he is. When he's ultimately defeated, it's almost unbelievable how Agent Carter breaks his mental stranglehold, but he's definitely up there in terms of the MCU's most dangerous bad dudes. —JD

Portrayed by: N/A

Appears In: Avengers

The Avengers gets criticized for a third act that's all basically one huge action setpiece, but hey, Earth's Mightiest Heroes™ need to hit something to show off their strength in numbers. A lot of somethings. And in the wake of Age of Ultron, it's clear here that the Chitauri actually make for more lively punching bags than the faceless,  monotonous Ultron robot-henchmen. Plus, they have flying space-dragon-serpents. Win. —FT

Portrayed by: Robert Redford

Appears In: Captain America: Winter Soldier

Alexander Pierce gets more points for vision and scope than he does actual presence. For the most part, it's just Robert Redford being smug in a dope three-piece suit. But, factor in the backstory that he basically spearheaded HYDRA's decades-long infiltration of SHIELD, managed the Winter Soldier, and came thisclose to organizing a veritable genocide of potential HYDRA threats and he gets points for being a master orchestrator. Pierce was never going to engage the likes of Cap, Black Widow, or Nick Fury in hand-to-hand combat, that's what Winter Soldier is in the movie for. He's the type of villain who's only good for pulling strings, and to that end, he works. —FT

Portrayed by: Kyle MacLachlan

Appears In: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Another Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. villain ripped from the comics, Calvin Zabo a.k.a. Mr. Hyde was one of the craziest reveals of the season. Spoiler alert, but in the comics, he's the father of mutant and part-time Avenger Daisy Johnson—which was revealed to be the birth name of main cast member Skye. The television show flips her origins a bit, same dad, but she's now an Inhuman instead of a mutant (thanks, Fox). Kyle MacLachlan's Zabo goes from over-the-top crazy person to one of the most sympathetic, tragic figures in the show. You really begin to feel for the guy as he explains his motivations throughout the season. Even though he initially recruits some D-grade struggle supervillains (um... Angar the Screamer?), and his short transformation into his Mr. Hyde form (think Hulk but less green, worse teeth, and a weird neck) was a bit of a letdown, Zabo's ultimate fate unexpectedly hits you right in the feels. —JD

Portrayed by: Kurt Russell

First Appearance: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Last Appearance: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Status: Destroyed

After the massive L the Guardians franchise took with Ronan in the first installment, it was pretty crucial that James Gunn & Co. return with a villain that had some gravitas (or you know, was even memorable in the slightest). Enter Ego, Kurt Russell’s swoopy-haired charmer who managed to break the MCU’s villain curse by a simple bait and switch: for the first half of the film, he doesn’t seem like a villain at all. Ever inventive, Gunn carefully framed The Sovereign and their high-tech fighter ships as the film’s force to be reckoned with, before revealing that Ego had boned his way around the universe in search of (you guessed it) world domination. It’s not the most unique aspiration for a Marvel villain, but between the daddy issues and the game of catch with an orb of light, Ego manages to be just weird enough to crack the list. —Aubrey Page

Portrayed by: Julian McMahon

First Appearance: Marvel's Runaways

Last Appearance: Marvel's Runaways

Status: Chilling somewhere in the Church of Gibborim offices in LA...?

Although loosely tied to the MCU, Runaways, which some may have slept on, featured an antagonist worth mentioning: Jonah, who was on some super classic villain shit. He spent a good portion of the series as some mysterious, old AF being lurking in the shadows, but after having his body being rejuvenated, Jonah revealed himself as one of the more sinister big bads in the MCU. He's got the funds and actual power to rule. The only problem is that if his estranged daughter and member of the Runaways squad Karolina can harness her emerging power, it could be a wrap for Jonah in future seasons. —khal

Portrayed by: Wai Ching Ho

First Appearance: Daredevil , Season 1

Last Appearance: The Defenders

Status: Buried alive...?

Sometimes with bad guys gals, less is more. The less they reveal about themselves, the more intrigue. Madame Gao is all menace and mystery, and yet, her reputation for playing no games and suffering no fools precedes her. Between the way she garners fearful respect from her fellow co-conspirators, even Wilson Fisk, to the fact that she oversees a drug trade run by followers who willingly blinded themselves for her operation, Gao is downright scary. We never need to know anything more about her, TBH. —Frazier Tharpe

Portrayed by: James Spader

First Appearance: Avengers: Age of Ultron

Last Appearance: Avengers: Age of Ultron

Status: Deactivated...we hope

Props to James Spader, who brings several different personality traits to Ultron at once. As Tony Stark's bastard creation, Ultron's called on to display a lot of varying emotions for a robot. Granted, he's no Loki, but that's more the fault of an overstuffed script and film. He's in the unfortunate spot of having to follow a fan-fave villain while serving as a blatant placeholder for the ultimate Thanos showdown. That's a thankless job, and while many found Age of Ultron underwhelming, no one can say Spader didn't do his best to liven things up. —Frazier Tharpe

Portrayed by: Alfre Woodard

First Appearance: Luke Cage, Season 1

Last Appearance: Luke Cage, Season 1

Status: Living her best (crime) life in Harlem

One of the key points in Luke Cage season one was how awesome the women on the show were, but you can't be surprised; any time you give Alfre Woodard the rock, she's going to score every time. With Black Mariah, we see a political figure who's trying to sweep her shade under the rug so she can appear above board when the cameras roll. In Woodard's hands, Mariah's mania comes into play. It's hard goddamn work trying to stay pristine while you're truly a ruthless, icy figurehead in the Harlem underworld. She could command rage and wasn't afraid of clapping at Diamondback, but also had enough political clout to walk into a police station unafraid, like any real boss would. —khal

Portrayed by: Brett Dalton

First Appearance: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Season 1

Last Appearance: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Season 4

Status: Dead for the third(!!!) time

Originally a trusted member of the S.H.I.E.L.D. squad, Grant Ward turned heel in the wake of the events of Captain America: Winter Soldier, revealing that he was actually a secret agent of Hydra. It was the ultimate betrayal and perfect setup for a bad guy fans would love to hate. Because of his personal connection to Coulson & Co., Ward was always a bit of a wildcard as he toed the line between #TeamShield and #TeamHydra. In the end he chose the latter, and paid the ultimate price as Agent Coulson used his robotic hand to crush his former friend’s ribcage. Ward was essentially dead, but that wouldn’t be the last time we saw his face. Ward’s lifeless body got possessed by an ancient inhuman god known as The Hive, which upped the ante on his reign as the series’ recurring big bad and occasional virtual reality homie/lover/friend. —Anslem Samuel Rocque

Portrayed by: Mahershala Ali

First Appearance: Luke Cage, Season 1

Last Appearance: Luke Cage, Season 1

Status: Dead, unfortunately—gone too soon

In a perfect world, the first season of Luke Cage would have only focused on Cottonmouth, primarily to give Mahershala Ali all of the screen time. While his Cottonmouth was a little too invested in getting rid of Luke Cage, any time he touched the screen was a work of art. From that infamous scene in front of the Biggie picture on his wall to his cool, devious approach to his criminal activities, it feels like Marvel and Netflix shot themselves in the foot by pushing Cottonmouth out to bring Diamondback in. Pour a little out for the big homie. —khal

Portrayed by: Vincent D'Onofrio

First Appearance: Daredevil, Season 1

Last Appearance: Daredevil, Season 2

Status: Running things behind bars

The real challenge in portraying a villain is humanizing a character who can very easily be reduced to a mustache-twirling cartoon, while retaining the necessary menace. Vincent D'Onofrio put Daredevil's debut season on his back, particularly a redundant second half, by zeroing in on the humanity of Wilson Fisk. His Kingpin isn't the arch master of crime that he is in the comics, but rather an insecure, affection-starved, violence-prone figure who believes he's ultimately doing the right thing by any means necessary. Daredevil is the rare instance on a series where the bad guys are just as interesting if not more than the heroes, and D'Onofrio's Fisk is the leading example. —Frazier Tharpe

Portrayed by: Michael Keaton

First Appearance: Spider-Man: Homecoming

Last Appearance: Spider-Man: Homecoming

Status: Rotting in jail

When it comes to Marvel supervillains, Vulture isn’t among the most terrifying or iconic foes Spider-Man has had to face. In the comics and cartoons, he was essentially just an old guy in green tights with wings that liked to do hoodrat stuff. That’s probably why it took so long for the OG bad guy to get the live-action treatment. Michael Keaton makes up for lost time by not only breathing new life into the character but also turning him into one of the creepiest and well-rounded antagonists Spidey has ever had to face on the big screen. Driven by a basic need to provide for his family, Adrian Toomes becomes the Vulture using tech he scavenged in the aftermath of the Battle of New York just to make ends meet. He’s a blue-collar criminal with a serious chip on his shoulder because life—and Tony Stark—dealt him a bad hand. In the end, Vulture isn’t necessarily a bad guy as much as he’s just a guy in a bad situation. Ultimately it’s that everyman appeal that makes the character so memorable. —Anslem Samuel Rocque

Portrayed by: Sebastian Stan

First Appearance: Captain America: Winter Soldier

Last Appearance: Avengers: Infinity War

Status: Erased from existence by the Thanos snap

It's a shame that Bucky Barnes eventually switched teams to fight on the side of good, because he made a damn fun villain. As HYDRA's phantom assassin secret weapon, he was lightweight robotic, literally and figuratively. But oh so effective. Great HYDRA, he worked Cap and Falcon, basically struck fear in the usually unflappable Black Widow, and almost killed Nick Fury. Impressive ass resumé off of just one film, salute this man. —Frazier Tharpe

Portrayed by: Cate Blanchett

First Appearance: Thor: Ragnarok

Last Appearance: Thor: Ragnarok

Status: Dead-ish but that's debateable

Hela’s a villain I’ve praised at length, and for good reason. A nearly all-powerful interdimensional goddess who’s so powerful she can smash Thor’s hammer into pieces without breaking a sweat is the kind of baddie that warrants some waxing poetic. Not only is she nearly all-powerful, but she’s got a clear motivation and a compelling backstory, making her one of the first in the universe to sidestep almost every iconic Marvel villain pitfall. She’s not buried under 10 pounds of makeup, she gets plenty of screen time to establish her relationship to Asgard and the dysfunctional family within it, and while a goddess of death is less relatable than say, a Loki, she’s actually able to go toe-to-toe with Thor's entire Asgardian army in downright brutal combat—all while rocking a headdress even the baddest heroes in the MCU couldn't fuck with. —Aubrey Page

Portrayed by: David Tennant

First Appearance: Jessica Jones, Season 1

Last Appearance: Jessica Jones, Season 2

Status: Killed by Jessica but continues to haunt her

The best ~thespians~ make even the most odious villains likable in a magnetic way. Hate to Love, is the scientific term, I believe. To that end, David Tennant turns in one of the best bad guy performances across the entire Cinematic Universe—Loki hasn't committed acts nearly as unspeakable, none of his transgressions have been sans remorse. As the mind-controlling, proverbial Problematic Man haunting Jessica Jones, Kilgrave truly does not give a fuck, nor does he think he should. And he only gets worse. You're actively rooting for Jess to wring his neck; every scene that passes in which she doesn't rings increasingly hollow in a writerly "look-this-has-to-last-13-episodes" type of way. It's hard to complain about streaming drift when Tennant is gnawing through every frame like it's Big League Chew, though. Kilgrave is designed to make skin crawl, but damn if he's not magnetically watchable too. —Frazier Tharpe

Portrayed by: Tom Hiddelston

First Appearance: Thor

Last Appearance: Avengers: Infinity War

Status: Clapped by Thanos

There's a reason dude is the only real recurring villain in the Marvel movies—he's just that magnetic on screen and has more than enough layers to keep you coming back for more. While Thanos was all prelude, Loki sat comfortably atop the throne. He's evil out of lifelong insecurities; charismatic while still posing a real threat. He electrifies every scene he's in, even before he showed his hand in the first Thor; he is the main draw of the first two Thor solos, and 2012's The Avengers. Essentially, Loki is the anchor of Marvel's Phase 1 but by Phase 3 he was its twisted heart. —Frazier Tharpe

Portrayed by: Michael B. Jordan

First Appearance: Black Panther

Last Appearance: Black Panther

Status: Buried in the ocean with his ancestors

Let's keep it a buck: Marvel's swung and missed with a LOT of their villains. Just the nature of the beast, for good or ill. While many have come close, none had been as impactful to the zeitgeist as Michael B. Jordan's portrayal of Killmonger in Black Panther. Thanks to the magnificent pens that gave Killmonger a voice, swagger, and a villainous plan that many believed in, Jordan took this fleshed out being and gave him life. Any scene he walked into, he owned, treating Wakanda like a murderous sandbox. Even in death, he went out like a true soldier, hitting poignant beats that spoke to his character as a black man like none before him. The MCU isn't going anywhere any time soon; Marvel should pattern more of their one-off villains in this mold. –khal

Portrayed by: Josh Brolin

First Appearance: The Avengers

Last Appearance: Avengers: Infinity War

Status: Chillin' by himself, watching the sun go down 

With Thanos being teased in the MCU and used sporadically in subsequent films since 2012, Infinity War had to stick the landing with the Mad Titan. Spoiler alert: they delivered. Thanos runs roughshod throughout the film, kicking his plan into high gear, grabbing all of #DemStones. In doing so, we gain some sympathy (or is it compassion?) for his situation; at the heart of it, Thanos' plan was steeped in bettering his planet. It was supremely sadistic, and hyper violent, but he had his reasoning. The problem? Thanos does that thing we all know we SHOULDN'T do, and he does it, no matter how bad he'll feel. He's the ultimate exterminator, and the biggest threat to hit the MCU, ever. As of now, the question is if ANYONE will be able to truly stop Thanos' reign of terror, which is the true mark of a master big bad. —khal