4 Most Interesting Antagonists in The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Jenna Marie
Sep 6, 2018
4 min read

We all know Marvel to be pretty slack in developing many of their villains and antagonists. Their motivation isn't always clear, and some have become pretty forgettable (anyone remember Zemo?)

However, there are definitely a few among them that have stolen the hearts of audiences- and the victories for Earths Mightiest Heroes. Here are our top 5 favorites!

1. Loki

There are many reasons as to why Loki is on this list. We seen the start of his villainy in Thor (2011) and just like many villains, their evil side is usually revealed when something tragic happens to that character.

In Loki’s case, he found out that he was adopted by Odin, the King of Asgard .Of course we can all say that we would probably freak out if we found out something like that, but this made him react in a very aggressive way. Not only was he adopted, but his original heritage was that of the Frost Giants, which were enemies of Asgard, his home.

And of course there must be some sort of jealousy involved in his reason to turning evil. For Loki, that jealousy came from his brother Thor who was made the new King of Asgard. In Loki’s mind, he was the rightful heir to the throne.

Our Asgardian of Mischief has certainly proved his villainy even more so in the first Avengers movie (2012). Yet no matter how evil he seemed, we can all admit that we grew to love him even more every time we watched him. Loki always seemed to be notorious, even though there were times he seemed to be turning his ways around. Not to mention he had an endless supply of tricks. He may not be the most powerful or strongest villain, but hey, that adorable face though.

2. Ultron

Here we have Ultron from Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). Nothing creepier than accidentally creating an evil robot that wants to destroy the whole earth and everyone in it, am I right? And yes that kind of is a typical villain you see in most movies.

Ultron’s body was made mostly of vibranium, which is the strongest metal on earth and is also what Captain America’s shield is made of. He also hates humans, with a passion, and he wants to wipe out every single one of them. He wants the earth to be made only of “metal”, and has lots of help to do that. He was so well developed that he can control other machines, so he gave himself a huge robot army.

But I think what really makes him interesting is that Tony Stark himself was the one who created Ultron. Nothing better than having one of the best MCU heroes create “a murder bot”. But one good deed that Ultron perfored was helping create Vision, who later put an end to Ultron, so hooray for Vision! But I guess Thor helped a little (just a little).

3. Killmonger

Erik “Killmonger” Stevens played a great villain in Black Panther (2018). He happens to be related to T’Challa (Black Panther), his cousin to be exact. Killmonger seemed to be a more ruthless, crazy villain. His goal was to challenge the Black Panther, his cousin, for the throne of Wakanda. Did he succeed?

Yes he did. The End.

Well technically he only succeeded for about a day or two, but you have to admit that when we saw Killmonger throw T’Challa over the water fall, and when he took the throne for himself, we kind of thought that was the end of it.

Even though Killmonger seemed like a phsyco, we could all still understand where he was coming from and his reasons as to why he wanted to take over the throne. But we see the more reasonable answer to his reasons. Like why wouldn’t Wakanda share their knowledge and resources (vibranium) to the rest of the world?

Well, because people like Killmonger would get their hands on it and possibly use it for bad, or take it all for themselves to be unstoppable. He is one of those villains that you still can’t help but love, and while Killmonger was about to die, didn’t we all want to give him another chance?

4. Thanos

Now I like to save best for last, and of course that would be THE ultimate most powerful and frightening MCU villain, Thanos the mad Titan.

Thanos has more ambition than any other villain. He will do anything and wait as long as he has to, to full fill his destiny. That destiny of his is to wipe out half of humanity to bring balance in the universe, because of the over-population. So what makes Thanos the ultimate villain then?

We have seen the combat skills of Thanos without the use of the infinity gauntlet, and one of those moments was when he defeated the Hulk with no problem at all. All of our jaws dropped when we seen that moment, and what a great way to open the movie too…right?

Of course with the use of the infinity gauntlet and the six infinity stones, he is unstoppable and invincible, not to mention his armies including the Black Order.

You might think that such a terrifying villain would have no weaknesses or feelings at first, but we get to see his relationship with his adopted daughter Gamora. She was raised by him to be the most powerful woman in the galaxy, which has made her his favorite daughter. Even Gamora thought that Thanos could never love someone/something, but his love is to his favourite adopted daughter, Gamora herself.

We were all so used to the heroes winning and villains being defeated in the end for so long, and the MCU decided to change that in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) with Thanos. We have all left the theatres just heartbroken and shocked, but there is still that little spark of hope we have deep down.

What did you think of our list? Comment below and let us know who your favorite MCU antagonist is and why!