Ranking The Best Marvel Villains Ever Made !!
Marvel has hundreds of villains across its various franchises and forms of media. The comics set up loads of these villains, while movies and TV adaptations shine new lights on some of them. Even the most die-hard Marvel fans will admit that a few of the villains are pretty terrible – who can forget the dreadful portrayals of Ghost and the Mandarin in the MCU?!
Still, Marvel has done a pretty fantastic job of creating villains with incredible depth over the years. We’ve picked a bunch of our favourites; let us know if you agree with the list or if there are some glaring omissions you can make a case for!
Thanos
You can’t start a list of Marvel villains without mentioning Thanos. He’s appeared in numerous comics and is perhaps best known for his role as the main antagonist in the Infinity Gauntlet Saga. However, Thanos rose to fame and became a well-known comic book character after the first phases of MCU films. This culminated in the epic two-part Avenger’s finale which saw Thanos eradicate half of life across the universe.
He’s a being of awesome power, which is why he made it to our previous list of the top 5 strongest Marvel villains. It’s quite sad that we probably won’t see him in the MCU again, especially as Josh Brolin excellently voiced him, and the design team really nailed his look.
Venom
Spoiler alert: this is the first of many Spider-Man villains on this list! Everyone loves Venom because he looks brilliant and is normally involved in some of the best Spider-Man comic runs of all time. He’s like Spider-Man on steroids, which makes it a travesty that we’re yet to see them go head-to-head on the big screen. Fans of the Spider-Man video game franchise will have loved playing Venom during the latest game, further cementing this villain as one of the coolest around.
There’s just something about the way he looks that sets him apart from all other villains. Maybe it’s the black and white colour scheme in the Spider-Man suit style. He’s also become one of the most popular Marvel villains for collectable hunters. You’ll find authentic collectables of Venom in a range of varieties, including some great statues. He looks amazing and makes a fine gift for any Marvel fan.
Magneto
Marvel has a history of developing villains with incredible backstories and motives. While some villains are motivated by simply being born evil, Magneto has a more complex history. Writers in the comics developed his character as a Holocaust survivor who became an extremist after seeing how the humans were treating mutants. He strived never to see the same thing happen to his people again, advocating for mutants to fight back against human oppression.
It all sounds so noble, though his troublesome past motivates him too strongly. He takes on very extreme methods of protecting the mutant population, normally to the detriment of humans. Magneto has killed many of them in the name of saving mutant-kind, though it made him a direct threat to his old friend Charles Xavier. Honestly, the more you read about Magneto, the cooler he becomes. He’s also one of the few villains to be just as good on screen as he is in the comics – largely thanks to Sir Ian Mckellan and Michael Fassbender.
Kingpin
Fans of the old-school Spider-Man animated series will remember Kingpin as one of the big baddies in the show. He was presented as a typical mob boss in that show, though other forms of Marvel media have made him inherently more badass.
Specially, the Daredevil series truly showed the complexities of his character, as well as how dangerous he is. Kingpin is one of the only villains on this list without any specific superpowers. He’s simply a criminal mastermind with many connections – and enough natural bulk to make him physically imposing. It’s always worth reading comics with Kingpin in to learn more about his backstory and to get a glimpse of what he’s capable of.
Apocalypse
Apocalypse claims to be the first mutant on Earth. While that’s debatable in the Marvel universe, what can’t be denied is that he’s one of the most powerful. He enhanced his normal mutant powers through Celestial technology and is a true force to be reckoned with. Of all the villains we’ve seen in Marvel movies, Apocalypse is the one we wish we’d see again.
He didn’t quite live up to his comic book hype in X-Men: Apocalypse, which is partially why the film got so many bad fan reviews. People wanted to see him on a more epic scale, but he just didn’t look that intimidating. With Kevin Fiege keen to bring the X-Men into the MCU, perhaps this is the perfect opportunity for a new-look Apocalypse to become one of the big recurring villains – like Thanos in Phase 1.
Sabretooth
Those of you who have only watched Marvel movies and TV shows will wonder why Sabretooth is on this list. He’s never really featured as a “main” villain in films or shows, usually being one of the background villains that Wolverine fights in the X-Men. Granted, we saw a lot of Sabretooth in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie – but most of us have blanked that out of our brains for good!
As a result, a large portion of Marvel fans don’t know how crazy this villain is! He’s a mutant with regenerative healing and razor-sharp claws, making him a direct antagonist to Wolverine. In the comics, he’s truly depicted as a psychopath. This guy goes on murderous rampages and becomes a serious serial killer. He’s one of the most brutal villains of all time – so it’s perfect that he’s matched with the most savage Marvel hero ever!
Doctor Octopus
Few villains are as recognisably iconic as Doctor Octopus. He’s arguably Spider-Man’s greatest foe, given that he created the Sinister Six and got many of Spidey’s biggest villains to band together against him. There’s a complexity to Doctor Octopus that makes him an endearing villain to fans as well. This is wonderfully shown in the original Spider-Man movie and the Playstation 4 game.
Otto Octavius is a genius who befriends Peter Parker and works with him to develop a cure for his degenerative disease. It’s actually quite sad in the games, and you start to feel for Otto. Unfortunately, the “cure” is to give himself an exo-skeleton with many arms, though this does something to his brain and turns him crazy. It’s an intriguing backstory, and we just love the way this character looks. He’s up there with Venom in terms of visuals – and that’s probably why you see so many collectable figures of Doctor Octopus as well.
Dark Phoenix
This is the only villain on this list that’s also technically a hero. Well, the Dark Phoenix is a corrupted form of The Phoenix Force. The X-Men lovers among you will know that this is a cosmic entity intrinsically connected to Jean Grey. It gives her insane powers to eat entire suns and planets, making her the strongest player in the Marvel comic universe.
Unfortunately, The Phoenix Force gets corrupted and turns Jean into the Dark Phoenix. You see this in one of the latter X-Men movies, though it doesn’t show the true scale of Jean’s potential to destroy. She’s capable of wiping out entire solar systems, and the worst part is that The Phoenix Force keeps returning to her. If you’ve never read the Dark Phoenix Saga, it’s well worth a look to give you true appreciation of this “villain”. Like all of the X-Men villains on this list, we hold out hope to see a different reincarnation of Dark Phoenix in the MCU.
Doctor Doom
Remember how pumped everyone was when Robert Downey Jr got revealed as the new Dr. Doom in the MCU? It was an insane play from the movie executives, but it’s absolutely genius. Doctor Doom is arguably the best Marvel villain ever made. In many ways, he’s similar to Tony Stark in that he’s a tech genius with enough arrogance to fill a room. The difference is that he takes his genius and arrogance too far. Dr. Doom is often at the centre of masterful evil plans designed to foil the Marvel heroes and usually gain something for himself.
We even see him fighting alongside the heroes during times of need, only to try and get something out of it. He’s the ruler of a country, possesses cosmic powers, dabbles with magic and leaves no stone unturned when searching for ways to become more powerful. As well as this, he happens to have one of the coolest and most iconic costumes ever – which makes us psyched to see him in the upcoming Avengers movies.
Before you say anything, we know a lot of great villains didn’t make this list. Some honourable mentions include Annhilus, Galactus, Carnage, Green Goblin, Ultron, Loki, Red Skull and Kang. Out of the villains on our list, which is your favourite? Also, let us know if there’s a particular villain you think deserves a spot on this list and why.