Does Marvel have a problem with their villains?

[TeeKay]

You can add me to the list of Killian's fans. He probably has the smartest plan out of any MCU villain.

Smarter than most CBM villains. Personally I loved his plan.

 

[Shikamaru]

Killian was one of the better MCU villains. His dislike mostly comes from the fact he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[scarlet-witch]

I've never taken issue with the Marvel villains. I've especially enjoyed Loki, Ultron, and Red Skull. Weak villains can hurt movies, but I don't think a villain has hurt any MCU films. There's definitely been some weaker ones, but I've never thought any of them were the worst part of their respective movies.

 

[That9neGuy]

Can we count Netflix MCU? Those villains are amazing. Kingpin and Killgrave both stole the shows

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Can we count Netflix MCU? Those villains are amazing. Kingpin and Killgrave both stole the shows

These shows are part of the MCU line.
So yeah, you can count them.

 

[That9neGuy]

Plus you can add in the Punisher who started as an antagonist and that corner of the MCU has really been producing some really quality villains,

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Punisher COULD be used as a villain, but as he's portrayed in Daredevil he's a protagonist, so I wouldn't count him.

 

[That9neGuy]

Punisher COULD be used as a villain, but as he's portrayed in Daredevil he's a protagonist, so I wouldn't count him.

He is the main antagonist the first half of the season, but does end as a much more antihero

 

[Guard82]

Even though Marvel's heroes usually outshine their villains in their movies, at least most of Marvel's villains have at least been decent. None of them have been terrible in my opinion. Even Malekith, whom I thought was the most boring of the MCU main villains, wasn't as bad as some of the comic-book movie villains from other studios -- such as Electro, Blackheart, Parallax, Hector Hammond, Eisenberg's Luthor, etc. Those villains were terrible, IMO, and at least Marvel Studios hasn't had any as bad as that.

 

[Guard82]

As others have said, the Marvel Netflix villains/antagonists have been great and have been expertly written and well-crafted. You can tell that the Netflix writers put a lot of careful thought into the portrayals of both the heroes and the villains.

Also, the writers for Agents of SHIELD have done a pretty good job of adapting a number of Marvel villains on that show as well, such as Mr. Hyde, Absorbing Man, Graviton, and Blizzard.

 

[Doctor Octopus]

Agreed. Kingpin the best of all.

 

[Xrated48]

I personally feel that Killgrave is the best villain the MCU has had so far.

 

[Doctor Octopus]

I think he second best.

 

[Filmfan93]

Kingpin was one the best villains in the MCU. I really want to re-watch DD Season 1 just because of him.

As for my most anticipated MCU villain, it has to be Ultron. I still can't believe how disappointed I was of him when I saw the movie. And I really had expected him to be a stone-cold killing machine, just like in the comics.

 

[metaphysician]

I think it depends on the criteria, honestly. While Killgrave was really well done, extremely compelling and horrifying, one can make a case that "Is so evil they can't be used more than once" is itself a downside for a villain. Whereas villains like Loki and Fisk can be used in multiple plots, and as multiple narrative roles, without driving off the audience from sheer darkness overload.

 

[The Whizzer]

I think it depends on the criteria, honestly. While Killgrave was really well done, extremely compelling and horrifying, one can make a case that "Is so evil they can't be used more than once" is itself a downside for a villain. Whereas villains like Loki and Fisk can be used in multiple plots, and as multiple narrative roles, without driving off the audience from sheer darkness overload.

There is so much going on with Killgrave on different levels for that show. In fact, the way that his relationship with Jessica parallels real abusive relationships that women go through, I think he can only work with this character in this series, and I hope they never bring him back. He's as close to perfect as the MCU has gotten, but it would take the shine off this performance if he all of a sudden started taking on Captain America.

 

[Doctor Octopus]

Other villains like Joker so evil on all levels and he can keep be reused. I think Kilgrave the same.

 

[Web-Head]

I've never taken issue with the Marvel villains. I've especially enjoyed Loki, Ultron, and Red Skull. Weak villains can hurt movies, but I don't think a villain has hurt any MCU films. There's definitely been some weaker ones, but I've never thought any of them were the worst part of their respective movies.

Pretty much agree with you, but you could argue that Malekith was a big reason why Thor 2 is considered the weakest film in the MCU

 

[Web-Head]

I personally feel that Killgrave is the best villain the MCU has had so far.

I agree. I liked him more than Fisk and even Loki.

 

[NotNickFury]

Well, yeah, by default, the MCU Netflix series' villains thus far have been great since there's more time to develop them and they're better written. But yeah, leaps and bounds above anything the MCU movies have managed to produce as far as villains go. The likes of Frank Castle, Fisk, and Kilgrave are memorable, helped by their performances.

I struggle to think of memorable villains from the films outside of Loki due to his prominence and possibly Red Skull. Maybe Ultron less because of his plan and more because of his lines and James Spader's delivery. Most, if not all, of the others are largely forgettable.

 

[The Overlord]

Smarter than most CBM villains. Personally I loved his plan.

The problem is Killian felt like another generic corporate bad guy and I think the Iron Man movies overused that character type.

I didn't think there was much too the character, he felt rather one dimensional.

 

[Flint Marko]

The problem is Killian felt like another generic corporate bad guy and I think the Iron Man movies overused that character type.

I didn't think there was much too the character, he felt rather one dimensional.

Killian's plan is what made the character above average in my eyes. It was a fairly interesting commentary on 21st Century Western fears and home-grown terrorism. From a technical standpoint, I'd argue Iron Man 3 is easily one of their most impressive films to date.

 

[Lantern Venom]

I've never taken issue with the Marvel villains. I've especially enjoyed Loki, Ultron, and Red Skull. Weak villains can hurt movies, but I don't think a villain has hurt any MCU films. There's definitely been some weaker ones, but I've never thought any of them were the worst part of their respective movies.

Mandarin was the worst part of IM3 because he turned out to be an INO and he was superfluous to the plot. Fortunately for Marvel Studios, they hit on all cylinders of the rest of the film and the end product was still quite good.

I don't think Darren Cross added anything to the MCU, outside of Corey Stoll's considerable acting skills. His story was a replica of Obadian Stane's story in IM instead of being something original.

 

[Doctor Octopus]

Killian's plan is what made the character above average in my eyes. It was a fairly interesting commentary on 21st Century Western fears and home-grown terrorism. From a technical standpoint, I'd argue Iron Man 3 is easily one of their most impressive films to date.

Agreed. The idea very interesting and good look at Tony and choices he make and how it affect people.

 

[Guard82]

Yes, those were some of my favorite parts of Iron Man 3. And I really liked Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce in their respective villain roles. Kingsley was amazing as the public persona of the Mandarin, with a deeply resonant voice and a haughty, eerie demeanor. I loved his Mandarin costume too. The twist with him being a decoy and a distraction for Killian's agenda was very clever too. Even though I was at first disappointed that I wouldn't see Trevor's Mandarin persona again, I had to admit the twist was smart and fit the movie well. And whether as the scattered Trevor or the creepy Mandarin, Kingsley stole the show every time he was onscreen.

Guy Pearce was very good as Aldrich Killian, bringing just the right combination of emotion and sliminess to the character, and serving nicely as the instigator of the whole plan to control the War on Terror as the founder and leader of A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics). He could be very calm in some scenes and very intense in others, and it always worked well. Even though I somewhat agree with the criticism that Killian was kind of generic and two-dimensional as a character, I thought he served his purpose well in the story. Both Pearce and Kingsley did very well in their roles as Killian and Trevor/Mandarin, and both antagonists were totally necessary to the whole villain plot of IM3 in order for it to work as well as it did.