Villains are just as central to a story as the lead characters themselves. It seems the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) knows as much. Hence, it has been careful to craft villains with layered backstories that explain their motivation to unleash evil. Not to mention, some of them even look better than their comic counterparts.
And while some of these villains may not be as powerful as they think they are, the MCU has also been careful to make sure they as relatable to audiences as possible. As a result, they tend to suffer from problems that everyone can understand.
Whiplash
Ivan Antonovich Vanko (Mickey Rourke) a.k.a. Whiplash appears in Iron Man 2. For him, the motivation to seek revenge against Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is simple. A long time ago, his father, Anton (Eugene Lazarev) had worked with Tony’s father, Howard (John Slattery) on the arc reactor. But then, Howard gets him deported and Ivan’s family falls on hard times. Despite this, he pursues physics and becomes determined to bring Tony and Stark Industries down, especially after his father pointed out that he would have been the CEO of Stark Industries.
Justin Hammer
Admittedly, Iron Man 2 is not the most successful film from the Iron Man franchise, but it does a good job of giving fans more insight into Tony’s evolution from an arrogant playboy to someone who cares more deeply about those around him. As the arrogant playboy, Tony definitely attracted the ire of Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), Tony’s business rival. Basically, Justin just wants his business to have the same success as Stark Industries, so he wanted pertinent information on the Iron Man suit and arc reactor technology. He also became determined to gain favor with the U.S. military.
Darren Cross
MCU fans were introduced to Darren (Corey Stoll) in the 2015 film Ant-Man. He started out as a protégé of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and in a sense, he was looking for approval from Hank. While speaking with Mom Does Reviews, Stoll confirmed as much saying, “He’s trying to buff himself to impress this Father figure and it’s exactly the opposite of what a Father figure wants.”
Later on, Darren also gets greedy, ousting Hank from his own company as he tries to replicate the Pym Particles and sell them for as much money as possible.
Thanos
Thanos (Josh Brolin) is among the powerful villains in the MCU. Sure, he may look different than everyone else (he’s big and purple) but his reason for snapping half of the world into existence is, in some ways, rooted in reality. In Thanos's view, the universe is overpopulated, thereby taking a toll on the supply of resources. Hence, in his view, the population had to be reduced to improve the quality of life. That said, the problem with Thanos’ argument is that he could have devoted his life to finding ways to creating more resources instead.
Obadiah Stane
Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) was a prominent figure in MCU’s Iron Man and for good reason. Obadiah had been Howard Stark’s longtime business partner. When he died, Obadiah served as Stark’s Industries’ interim CEO, essentially keeping the seat warm for Tony. As he stayed with the company, Obadiah grew to believe that he himself could be the company’s future. The only problem was Tony was in his way. This is precisely why Obadiah went to great lengths to kill Tony. At the same time, he also desperately tried to copy his Iron Man technology.
Aldrich Killian
Iron Man 3 sees Tony take on another deranged businessman. This time, it’s Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), a man who has found a way to exploit terrorism so that his own organization could make more money. He did so by introducing the world to a supposed terrorist known as the Mandarin, a character that’s expected to feature heavily in the upcoming Shang-Chi film. Early on in the film though, viewers get a glimpse of Aldrich’s motivation for targeting Tony. When he was younger, he tried to get support from Tony, but Tony ignored him instead. This struck a nerve.
Hela
As the goddess of death, people may think that there’s anything about Hela (Catherine Blanchett) that’s relatable. Certainly, no one is capable of taming a gigantic wolf. And no one can singlehandedly trigger the destruction of an entire country.
That said, one might also remember that Hela’s motivation for all her evil deeds is rather easy to understand. When she was younger, Hela was heavily favored by her father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins). Over time though, they didn’t see eye to eye and then she was banished by him. Odin then favored his son Thor (Chris Hemsworth), leading to Hela’s revenge.
Mysterio
Even in the Spider-Man movies, Tony’s enemies appear and try to seek revenge one way or another. Case in point is Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal) who appears in Spider-Man: Far From Home. In the movie, he takes on the superhero identity of Mysterio who pretends to rid the world of evil. As it turns out though, Quentin is nothing but a disgruntled former Stark Industries employee who just wants to achieve the same level of fame and notoriety as his old boss. That was pretty much his motivation for creating an elaborate spectacle where Mysterio can show off his fighting skills.
Killmonger
Since the release of MCU’s Black Panther, much praise has been said about the film’s main antagonist, Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan). Basically, Erik feels like Wakanda’s royal family has wronged him his entire life, having left him to survive all by himself in the outside world. That’s because he has always known he has a claim to Wakanda’s throne even if they’ve never heard of him before. His rage ultimately propels him to set in motion a sequence of events that would bring him to Wakanda. He takes the throne after dueling with T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman).
Loki
Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is one villain who has practically been around since the beginning. Over the years, Loki has done some nasty things, such as making Thor (Chris Hemsworth) believe that their father has died and that he banished Thor from Asgard prior to his demise. Not to mention, Loki was also responsible for a certain alien invasion in The Avengers. What many may not realize, however, is that Loki had done all this simply because he was jealous of Thor. More importantly, he wanted attention and affection from their father.