The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has had some very exciting villains over the past 15 years. Some of the greatest Marvel villains of all time, such as Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thanos (Josh Brolin), Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), and Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), have made the transition from the comics to the big screen. However, considering Marvel Comics has been around for 60+ years and has created tens of thousands of characters in that time, there is still a large pool of villains that the MCU can pull from.
The best villains are the ones that are powerful and complex, with interesting and expansive backstories. Having strong motivations or even just wholeheartedly embracing one diabolical side also makes for an interesting villain. Here are 10 extremely powerful, complicated, and terrifying villains who we would love to see in the MCU.
Mephisto
Mephisto is one of the villains that we’ve been waiting the longest to see. Considering how deeply interwoven the villain is with Scarlett Witch and Doctor Strange, many have been anticipating his debut since the premiere of WandaVision. In the comics, Mephisto is an inter-dimensional demon who lives in a hell-like pocket dimension. While he’s not the actual Satan of the Christian religion, he does very much try to portray himself as Satan and convince humans that he is the epitome of all evil. His goal is to basically have hell on Earth, expanding his hellish realm and enslaving all of humanity in it. In order to reach his goal, he uses his intense powers of immortality, reality manipulation, magic, and shapeshifting to trick mortals into relinquishing their souls to him. Even some of Marvel’s greatest heroes have become victims of Mephisto’s manipulation, deceit, and shifty bargaining and suffered greatly for it.
Bullseye
While Bullseye did appear on the big screen in the 2003 Daredevil film (played by Colin Farrell), that movie predates the MCU, and we’re ready to see this character make a cinematic return. Bullseye, as portrayed by Wilson Bethel, appeared in Netflix’s Daredevil series and captivated fans with his descent into madness. We’d love to see him transition over to the MCU and continue his feud with Daredevil (Charlie Cox) in Daredevil: Born Again.
In the comics, Bullseye’s real identity is unknown. He gave several accounts of his childhood, which included him killing his father and a baseball opponent at an early age, but it’s unclear if his account is accurate. As an adult, he becomes an assassin and, although he isn’t superhuman, he has an almost unheard-of marksmanship. He can turn just about anything into a weapon by throwing an object with enough accuracy and force for it to become lethal. Meanwhile, he tended to become obsessed with his targets, which led to his longstanding feud with Daredevil. He’s a thoroughly unhinged mysterious villain who can literally kill someone with something as random as a peanut, making him one of Marvel’s most terrifying villains.
Annihilus
Annihilus is one of Marvel’s most powerful and brutal villains. He is an insectoid creature of high intelligence who became the ruler of an anti-matter pocket dimension called the Negative Zone. Annihilus became a tyrant and set out to fully conquer both his dimension and all of its surroundings. In addition to his insatiable desire to conquer, he also feared death and was obsessed with maintaining his life, thus, making him willing to kill and destroy anything he felt threatened it. He attempted to invade Earth and Asgard multiple times and devastated countless planets and galaxies with the Annihilation Wave. This force consisted of tens of thousands of warships that could overpower cosmic entities and reduce entire galaxies to nearly nothing. If he invaded Earth in the MCU, he’d be one of the most devastating villains in the franchise.
Molecule Man
Molecule Man is another villain who would exceed nearly every current MCU character in power upon his debut. Owen Reece grew from a shy child into a bitter loner who worked at a nuclear plant. He became one of the most powerful forces in the Marvel universe after an accident at the plant led to him developing psionic powers at a cosmic level. He can manipulate molecules to achieve any effect he desires, bend reality on a multiversal scale, and is also nearly omnipotent and omniscient. However, he is one villain who grappled with himself quite a bit, with his own insecurities and disbelief in his power sometimes being the only thing that stopped him from destroying the world. Ultimately, he was often just seeking fulfillment, such as love and friendship, and when he had that, he would actually lead a normal life and lean more towards the superhero than the villain side.
Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister was born Nathaniel Essex and was an extremely intelligent man with an interest in Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and survival of the fittest. After the tragic loss of his son and wife, he became fixated on perfecting the human genome, capturing the attention of Apocalypse. As a result, Apocalypse transformed him into Mister Sinister, which granted him shapeshifting powers. He spent most of the villain career trying to break free from Apocalypse’s hold on him and manipulating the X-Men in his obsession with advancing human evolution and creating the ultimate mutant. This highly intelligent mutated man with a unique goal and tragic backstory would certainly make for an interesting villain in the MCU.
Nightmare
Nightmare is one of Marvel’s creepiest villains, with goals similar to Mephisto’s. His origins are unclear, but he is the evil ruler of the Nightmare realm of the Dream Dimension. He feeds off of humans’ dreams while they are tortured in their sleep in the Nightmare realm. Like Mephisto, he seeks to permanently entrap humans in his realm or to merge his realm with the waking world. He is also immortal and unstoppable, considering his existence is continually maintained by humans’ dreams. His schemes were rarely successful, but few individuals could avoid him as he would creep into unsuspecting heroes’ dreams and attempt to trap them in there.
Morlun
Considering how Spider-Man (Tom Holland) delves into the multiverse in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Morlun would be an especially relevant villain to debut in the MCU. In the comics, Morlun is a multiversal Spider-Man hunter, meaning he’s an entity from Earth-001 who travels the multiverse attempting to destroy every world’s Spider-Totem. He has the power to absorb the life force of other living beings to grant himself superhuman powers, which is why he set out upon absorbing all the Spider-Totems. Additionally, one touch can allow him to track and stalk a victim for as long as they live, making him one of the most relentless and dangerous villains.
Jigsaw
Jigsaw is easily one of Marvel’s most terrifying villains, both in appearance and personality. His troubled childhood led him to become a hitman, which brought him into connection with the gang that killed Frank Castle’s family. This led to a long-standing feud between Castle and Russo, including a brutal fight that left Russo horrifically disfigured, leading to him taking up the alias Jigsaw. While he bears no powers aside from physical strength, his obsession with Castle is chilling and leads to him continuously tormenting Castle. He even went as far as to dress like The Punisher and embark on murderous rampages to frame him. With Jon Berthnal’s Punisher returning in Daredevil: Born Again, Jigsaw is another villain we’d love to see in the series.
Madcap
If you like Deadpool, then you’ll surely like Madcap, who is basically just a more extreme version of Deadpool. His true identity is unknown, but he became horrifically disfigured and acquired an extreme healing factor after being involved in a car accident with an A.I.M. vehicle carrying Chemical X07. He was the sole survivor of the crash that killed 40 people and was soaked in X07, which gave him a healing factor. His survival and inability to feel pain or die drove him insane. He donned a harlequin outfit, called himself Madcap, and set out to drive everyone else in New York insane, too. The only one he couldn’t drive to insanity was Deadpool, leading to the two engaging in a brutal, bloody, and insane feud. With Deadpool 3 on the way, Madcap would make for a particularly interesting villain.
Nitro
Nitro was originally born Robert Hunter and led a normal life until he was genetically altered during his retirement by the Kree Lunatic Legion. This led to him becoming a “living bomb” with the power to explode and reform himself. In exchange for his powers, he worked as an agent of the Lunatic Legion and became one of Captain Marvel’s most relentless foes. With Captain Marvel set to be a big part of the MCU, introducing one of her most formidable villains with one of the most unique powers in the Marvel universe could be quite interesting.
(featured image: Marvel Comics)
