For all the praise — deserved, over the top, and everywhere in between — that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has received since its inception, one aspect of the decade-plus spanning franchise that has been the subject of rather intense scrutiny has been the quality and consistency of the MCU’s villains.
In the 13-year history (and counting) of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the franchise’s “iconic” — or at the very least, widely appreciated — villains can be counted on one hand: Loki, Killmonger, Thanos, and Vulture are the usual suspects in that regard.
As the MCU expands, though, so does the portfolio of villains they’re able to unleash, which is bound to lead to more beloved bad guys in the coming years. But which villains would we most like to see, particularly of the A-list variety? Let’s dive into how we hope the future of the MCU’s dark side plays out.
Kang the Conqueror
Perhaps the most obvious entry on this list, the introduction of Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror — who was confirmed to appear in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania — may come sooner than we think, as the time-traveling supervillain could be having a heavy influence on the events of Loki, what with the whole statue in his honor that sits in the lobby of the Time Variance Authority HQ.
Thunderbolts
While not as locked in as Kang the Conqueror, the birth of U.S. Agent and the incredible unveiling of Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier suggests that the MCU is building toward their own version of the Suicide Squad, whether that comes in the form of the Dark Avengers or the Thunderbolts.
Mephisto
All WandaVision jokes aside, the Marvel Cinematic Universe feels like it’s preparing itself to embrace its darker side with projects such as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Moon Knight, and Blade on the way. And with the franchise leaning into its demons — literally — Mephisto is the perfect villain to anchor that Hell-on-Earth conflict that seems to be coming for Doctor Strange and the like.
Doctor Doom
The Fantastic Four is coming, this much we know. And while Marvel didn’t confirm the release date in their recent sizzle reel, the official press release from Disney did categorize everything teased in the video as a Phase 4 film. And with the Fantastic Four, of course, comes Victor von Doom, inarguably one of Marvel’s most famed supervillains. Given the Fantastic Four’s status as Marvel’s first family, Marvel Studios faces an interesting decision when it comes to when they choose to introduce Doctor Doom, who was featured in both of the previous two Fantastic Four film franchises.
Galactus
Although it likely won’t happen until Phase 5, another Thanos-level threat is going to make their way to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And they don’t come much bigger than Galactus. Debuting in 1966, Galactus is, originally, a Fantastic Four villain, thus providing a logical bridge to the character’s introduction given the aforementioned and impending arrival of Marvel’s First Family.
Perhaps the strongest argument for Galactus being used as the MCU’s next “big bad”, though, is his power set. Literally known as “The Devourer of Worlds”, Galactus is one of the few villains in the Marvel universe that would represent a greater threat than the Mad Tita was.
Kraven the Hunter
If you were to poll a group of 1,000 Spider-Man fans about which iconic Spidey villain they’d like to see in live-action that’s yet to be done, odds are the winner would be Kraven the Hunter, the nemesis at the center of one of the most iconic Spider-Man stories of all-time, Kraven’s Last Hunt.
The problem when it comes to Spidey foes, however, is that the future of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man largely remains in limbo until fans get their hands on December’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, which could very well result in the version of the character sequestered into Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters alongside Jared Leto‘s Morbius and Tom Hardy‘s Venom. Aaron Taylor-Johnson has signed a multi-picture deal to play Kraven in a solo movie for Sony, so it remains to be seen if he’ll be able to cross over into the official Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Mister Sinister
For nearly twenty years, Magneto stood as the preeminent opponent to the cinematic X-Men. And while both Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender’s iteration of the character were elite comic book movie villains, they also inherently stood in the way of the franchise exploring other villainous options. Prior to the Disney acquisition, Fox was quite obviously considering using Mister Sinister in future films, as the character was teased in the X-Men: Apocalypse post-credits scene.
With the X-Men mutants certain to be a massive factor in Phase 5 and beyond, Marvel Studios will likely deploy multiple X-Men villains, and hopefully Mister Sinister will be one of them.
Magneto
Of all the names on this list — other than the ones already confirmed by Marvel Studios — Magneto is, far and away, the most likely to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the future, as you simply do not introduce the Mutants and the X-Men without bringing Magneto, perhaps Marvel’s most iconic villain, along with them.
This time around, though, adapting Magneto to the big screen presents a bigger challenge, as it’ll be difficult to sync Erik Lehnsherr’s Nazi Germany origins with the current MCU timeline, which currently finds itself in the year 2023 — although the newly introduced element of time travel makes these narrative leaps far more manageable. A greater challenge may be living up to Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen’s iconic performances that are still fairly fresh in audiences’ minds, but that didn’t stop Tom Holland from becoming a fan-favorite Spider-Man.
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