In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there is a wide range of antagonists. Some of these seem straight-up villainous, such as Thanos, and despite their motivations and reasoning, it’s hard to believe that they have the moral high ground. However, many of the antagonists are more complicated than that. Some, like Bucky Barnes, are more like victims, and others, even if they’re pretty bad, do make some interesting points.
This doesn’t mean that these antagonists were completely right or that their actions were totally justified, but it does mean that they sometimes had logic and even ethics to where they were coming from.
Zemo Seeking The Destruction Of The Avengers
Zemo in the films is a bit confusing at this point because how he was portrayed in Captain America: Civil War is different from how he was portrayed in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. He is much more slippery now, but his motivations in Civil War seemed to be mainly centered around dealing with the trauma of losing his wife and son.
Overall, the entire thing was misguided and a bit confusing, but there is some shred of humanity there. He was also right in the fact that the Avengers aren't always heroes and did a lot of collateral damage.
Kaecilius Trying To Reunite With His Family
Kaecilius, played by Mads Mikkelsen, isn’t often talked about as much as some of the other villains on this list. Doctor Strange as a film was surrounded by some controversy relating to whitewashing so it's not discussed a ton and Kaecilius was also a one-off villain.
However, his motivations for exploring the Dark Dimension are somewhat sympathetic as he was trying to bring back his dead wife and child. Also, seeing as how the Ancient One had also messed with the dimension, it made her seem hypocritical.
Bucky Was A Victim Not A Villain
Overall, there are two main antagonists in the MCU that start off seeming like villains but are revealed to be victims themselves. Bucky is the first one of these. Bucky was tortured and brainwashed and turned into a weapon that had no real autonomy.
He had the moral high ground because he was a trauma victim, but, despite things not being his fault, he did still try to make amends as he is a good person.
Hela Pointing Out Odin's Hypocrisy
Hela is definitely one of the franchise's more fun and exciting villains, and being played by Cate Blanchett definitely added to the appeal for fans. While Hela might be the goddess of death who doesn’t really feel remorse for war and destruction, she was right to point out the hypocrisy of Odin and the Asgardians in general.
Odin used Hela to wage war across the Nine Realms, and he basically raised her to be the villain she was. This doesn't mean her actions were okay, but she was raised to act in these ways only to be told to stop and that she was wrong.
Ultron Seeing The Destruction Humanity Caused
Ultron is just one of many villains in the MCU that started because of something Tony Stark did. However, while some of these, like Aldrich Killian, were a bit overdramatic in blaming Iron Man, Ultron was more directly Tony’s fault. Ultron became something Tony couldn’t have predicted, and his programming to be a defender and protector of humanity got re-written when he saw the violence humans committed.
While his decision to destroy humanity was clearly deeply wrong and misguided, he believed he was following the directive of what he was made to do.
Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver Seeing The Dangers Of Tony Stark
Many fans have been upset with Scarlet Witch’s character in the MCU because the character’s Jewish and Romani origins were erased, so people felt having her work with HYDRA was going way too far. However, even in the MCU, it’s easy to see why these two siblings wanted to work against Tony Stark.
They saw the death that his weapons caused, and they lost their own parents because of one of his weapons. Their story does illustrate the issues with the military-industrial complex that Iron Man represents.
Laufey Isn’t More Villainous Than The Asgardians
The Thor movies are told from the perspective of Thor and the Asgardians, so they were always going to come across as the heroes. They are the victors in the story, so it’s almost as if they get to write history to make themselves seem better.
However, Laufey and the frost giants don’t seem all that much more villainous now that audiences know the history of Odin and Hela’s destruction on the Nine Realms. This isn’t to say he’s a good hero, but things are more complex than they used to seem.
Ghost Was Not Really A Villain At All
Just like Bucky, Ghost, whose real name is Ava Starr, is an antagonist who turns out to not be a villain at all but someone who is a victim. The reason she is trying to get Quantum Energy and seems to be thwarting everything that Ant-Man and his allies are trying to do isn’t that she’s a bad person, it’s because she is in great pain and is slowly dying.
In the end, she is healed and goes into hiding, and she no longer functions as a villain in the story.
Nebula Trying Her Best To Survive
Nebula is another rather tragic antagonist who isn't a complete villain. While she does have more direct control over some things than Ghost and Bucky, she’s also a victim.
She was abused and traumatized by Thanos, so it makes sense that she spent her life believing what he told her and wanting to make him happy. It’s hard not to sympathize with her reasoning, and in the end, she does leave Thanos anyway. Nebula also has her own heroic moments.
Killmonger’s Anger About Racial Inequality
One of the main antagonists that people talk about having some very valid points is Killmonger. In many ways, his plea to have Wakanda help other Black people in the rest of the world made sense, and his anger at the Wakandans also made sense given that he was left in the real world to suffer despite being Wakandan royalty.
While a lot of his ideology is justifiable, he also did some things that are hard to forgive, like killing his own lover in cold blood and wanting to wage war. His motivations were just throughout though.