TheMarvel Cinematic Universehad concluded Phase 4 and the release ofAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniawill kick off Phase 5. While reviews forAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniahave been mixed, one standout of the reviews is Jonathan Majors' performance as the villain Kang the Conqueror. This is certainly a good sign as Kang is set to be the primary villain across the upcoming wave of Marvel films now titled The Multiverse Saga. Kang will be the primary villain inAvengers: The Kang Dynastyset for release in 2025.
There are two common criticisms of the MCU: they’ve had a problem with villains andPhase 4 was a step downfrom the previous phases. While that is certainly up for debate among fans, Marvel has been making strives to fix their villain problems and Phase 4 introduced some of the best in the entire franchise. Now with so many heroes established, later entries could develop and flesh out the foes they faced. Phase 4 introduced fan favorites from the comics, put new spins on classic ideas and overall created some fantastic villains. With that in mind, these are the best villains of the MCU Phase 4, ranked.
7He Who Remains inLoki
Lokisurprised audiences by revealing the true man behind the curtain was the character He Who Remains played by Jonathan Majors, making his MCU debut a whole two years before his role inAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. He Who Remains is a variant of Kang the Conqueror, and inLoki,he serves as a sinister trickster god for the traditional trickster god Loki. He Who Remains has essentially been controlling the MCU this entire time and his death is the kick-off for the entire Multiverse Saga.
The biggest issue is, like many of the Marvel Disney+ shows, the series waits until the final episode to reveal the true villain, and they don’t have much time to truly leave an impact the way the films can, but He Who Remains' impact on the wider MCU and Majors performance makes him one that stands out.
6Scarlet Witch inDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Turning Avengers hero Scarlet Witch into a villain was certainly a controversial one, but a bold move nonetheless. Many audiences sawWandaVisionas a deeply nuanced take on the character so her turn into villainy inDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessfelt out of place while others saw WandaVision as the beginning of her villain origin story showing a sort of Rorschach test for how audiences can read a similar story two different ways.
Yet inDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, The Scarlet Witch is a terrifying villain. Director Sam Raimi is playing up the witch angle drawing parallels between theMCU andThe Wizard of Ozwith the Wicked Witch of the West. Elizabeth Olsen delivers an incredible performance and sells Wanda as a relatable but flawed person. It was a risky move to take a hero audiences had known for years and transform them into a full villain, but now the Scarlet Witch will stand as one of Marvel’s greatest heroes and villains.
5Intelligencia inShe-Hulk: Attorney at Law
The writers ofShe-Hulk: Attorney at Lawcertainly knew the audience that would hate their series from the start before they even saw a frame of the footage and they wisely decided to make them the major villains of the series. The cleverest thing is transforming Intelligencia from this secret cable of supervillain genius into a right-wing misogynistic internet troll site making them into both a joke and a sadly real-world threat many creatives, particularly women, must deal with on the internet.
Related:She-Hulk: A Series For People Who Are Done With the MCU (But Fans Too)
The reveal that these are just a bunch of sad men who hate women is both topical but also one that hopefully helps stripes these real-world hate traffickers and online misogynists of any power they think they have. Instead of being portrayed as the next HYDRA like they want to imagine, they are instead a bunch of losers playing dress up to make themselves feel better.
4Agatha Harkness inWandaVision
Kathryn Hahn spends much ofWandaVisionplaying Agnes the nosey neighbor who eventually reveals herself to be the witch Agatha Harkness. While traditionally an ally of various characters in the comics, the series' decision to turn her into a villain works incredibly well due toKathryn Hahn’s incredible performance. She can play the over-the-top sitcom version of the character, the sinister over-the-top villain, and also an antagonistic mentor.
Hahn’s performance was a breakout of the series and the character’s popularity grew so much that Marvel Studios is giving Agatha her own spin-off series titledAgatha: Coven of Chaos. Agatha Harkness is very much on a road similar to Loki, where she started as a villain but left such an impression she gets her own Disney+ series that might shift her into a more heroic figure.
3Green Goblin inSpider-Man: No Way Home
Spider-Man: No Way Homebrought various Spider-Man foes from other film incarnations that pre-date the MCU, but the stand-out villain was Norman Osborn aka The Green Goblin with Willem Dafoe reprising his role. While one might call it a cheat to use a villain from a previous franchise that was not an MCU creation, the filmmakers behindSpider-Man: No Way Homeput their unique spin on the Green Goblin.
Related:Spider-Man: No Way Home: Why Green Goblin Was the Perfect Villain for Tom Holland’s Peter Parker
They built off the dynamic established in the 2002 Tobey Maguire-led film and dug into the tragic nature of the dual personas of Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin. Norman Osborn is a very tragic figure looking for help, while the Green Goblin figure is one of the most downright evil and sinister villains in the MCU. He is cunning, merciless, and feels particularly evil tormenting a teenager. It had been 19 years since Dafoe last stepped into the costume, but it was like no time passed at all, and he did it so effortlessly that he cemented himself asTHE Green Goblin.
2Namor inBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever
Namor is one of the MCU’s most complicated characters, because while he is the central antagonist ofBlack Panther: Wakanda Foreverhe is not quite a villain. He is a ruler of a nation that is looking out for his people, and while his methods might seem extreme the movie sympathizes with him and gives audiences a peak into his backstory that sets him up as a potential ally for future MCU films. Tenoch Huerta Mejía adds incredible depth to the character and stands out as a born star, with audienceseagerly anticipating Namor’s returnto the MCU.
1Wenwu inShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
The standout villain of Phase 4, and one of the best in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, is Wenwu fromShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Casting legendary actor Tony Leung certainly brings an amount of gravitas and magnetic appeal, but the character is a well-written and fully three-dimensional character with a relatable motivation whose villainy is rooted in love. The idea of a villain who tried to turn his back on his evil ways, only to be pulled back in after losing the person he loves and pushing his children away makes him a tragic figure.
While Marvel Studios has certainly done “evil dad” figures in the past with Thanos and Ego, Wenwu’s dynamic with Shang-Chi and Xialing is a more nuanced dynamic between a father who loves his kids but also has pushed them away. It is a shame Wenwu died in his debut film, and while hopefully the character can appear in flashback scenes in the MCU past, his one feature film was a true standout.
