As much as audiences cheer for heroes like Iron Man and Superman, the superhero genre would not be nearly as exciting were it not for the supervillains. With the genre showing no signs of slowing down, fans have seen some truly iconic bad guys hit the big screen over the years as well as some lesser-known villains who have proven themselves as formidable foes.
Some villains in these stories rely more on their intelligence and evilness to fight the heroes, but there are also those bigger threats that rely on incredible power. These cinematic supervillains were more than a match for the good guys and a threat to anyone who stood in their way.
Updated on January 9th, 2022 by Kayleigh Banks: With the MCU now making tv shows and DC also releasing several new movies this year, including Black Adam and The Flash, a plethora of supervillains are about to be added to the superhero genre.
Although no one knows for sure who the antagonist will be in The Flash, the Black Adam trailer hinted that Sabbac is going to be the film's main villain. The audience might not have seen his full potential yet, but the comics have shown the world that Sabbac is not an individual to be trifled with since he has demonic superpowers. Although some might not believe he is the most powerful supervillain, he could certainly prove to be stronger than some of the other MCU and DC antagonists.
Agatha Harkness
Although Agatha Harkness is one of WandaVision's best and most likable characters, there's no doubt that she could have become a dangerous supervillain if Wanda didn't outsmart her. As one of the few people who had attained an unfathomable amount of power from the Darkhold, Agatha was seen to have many abilities that demonstrated her strength.
Not only was she able to create illusions and enchantments to manipulate Wanda and the residents of Westview, but she was could also control their minds too. When the truth about her identity came to light, the viewers then discovered that she could absorb and harness other people's energy to help strengthen her powers. If Wanda had been defeated, the heroes of the MCU would have been in a lot of trouble.
Ultron
Despite being one of the most beloved members of the Avengers, Tony Stark had a knack for creating his own worst enemies. In the case of Ultron, that was quite literally as Stark combined the Mind Stone with his artificial intelligence program to create what was meant to be a peace-keeping robot.
Unfortunately, Ultron determined peace meant the eradication of humans. He was able to build his own army of robots in a matter of days, take over the internet, and create a world-ending bomb out of vibranium. And whenever he was destroyed, he simply transferred his consciousness into another robot.
Zod
Some fans see Superman as a bit of an uninteresting hero because he is so powerful and seemingly unstoppable to his enemies. That is also what made General Zod such a threatening villain as he was just like Superman only he saw human life as worthless.
The version of Zod in Superman II is a fan favorite, but he is even more intimidating in Man of Steel. He comes to Earth looking to destroy it a rebuild it as a new Krypton and when Superman stops him, he simply decides he will kill every human on the planet as payback. His destructive battle with Superman shows just how dangerous it is when a villain can match Superman's powers.
Doomsday
One of the toughest enemies that Superman and the Justice League ever faced, Doomsday was a villain that took a lot of great effort to defeat due to its sheer power and intensity. While Zack Snyder confirmed that it wasn't the real Doomsday, this mutated version of the Kryptonian creature caused a lot of chaos and destruction with its thermal and electro-blasts.
What made it an even tougher foe was the fact that it also had regeneration abilities and would feed off of sources of energy to help itself grow (which, in turn, led it to evolve to protect itself from harm). Since it was also responsible for the death of Superman, who many considered invulnerable, Doomsday could have certainly torn the world apart.
Max Lord
In many ways, Max Lord feels like the main character of Wonder Woman 1984 as his story is the most interesting in the movie. After discovering an ancient artifact that can grant wishes, he makes the twisted yet clever decision to wish for the powers of the Dreamstone allowing him to make any wish come true.
Lord is still a human so he has more weaknesses than the other villains, but the fact that he can make anything he wants a reality means that he is pretty much unstoppable.
Loki
Loki began his journey in the MCU as the less impressive brother of Thor, who just wanted to make his father proud. However, when he became the villain that all the Avengers had to assemble against, it became clear that he was more powerful than he'd been given credit for.
Loki is a god, which makes him almost invincible and grants him all sorts of helpful magical powers. On top of all that, he is also very clever and can outsmart the heroes. It is very dangerous when the villain is also the smartest person in the room.
Magneto
Within the world of the X-Men movies, there are mutants with powers that range from very lame to god-like. Magneto belongs in the latter category (which is bad news as he is one of the mutants who believes his species is superior and should eradicate the humans).
While the ability to control metal might seem like a neat trick, the movies have shown just how applicable it can be for someone as destructive as Magneto. Weapons ranging from bullets to Wolverine's claws are useless against him. Also, Magneto has honed his powers to the point that he can lift bridges and buildings at will and can even extract iron from blood if there is enough of it.
Ikaris
Although he is portrayed as a hero in the comics, some Marvel fans were taken by surprise when they discovered that Ikaris was actually the main antagonist of the Eternals. Compared by many to be the Superman of the MCU, Ikaris ended up proving to be a major threat as he was determined to make sure that the world was destroyed in order for the Emergence to occur.
While Ikaris did show some loyalty to the other Eternals, he had no qualms in betraying them once he realized they were trying to avert their mission and unleashed the full potential of his powers on them. So not only did he use his superhuman abilities against them, but he also used his optical energy blasts to make sure that he caused maximum damage. He certainly was capable of murder and would have likely killed them all if it wasn't for his attachment to Sersei.
Galactus
Galactus is one of the most popular villains in Marvel comics and for good reason. He is a gigantic cosmic being who travels through space looking for new planets for him to consume.
The character got his long-awaited big-screen debut in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The fact that the movie decided to depict him as a giant space cloud was one of the most disappointing character designs in comic book movies. Even still, it's hard to deny his power since he still eats entire planets for his meals. Hopefully, the MCU can soon do the character justice.
Apocalypse
Apocalypse is established as the first mutant ever so it makes sense that he also has some impressive powers to go along with a reputation like that. Once he is awoken from his centuries-long sleep, he is seen telekinetically lifting the rubble from his tomb, teleporting, and learning about the universe simply by touching a television. And that's just him getting started.
He is the only villain who was strong enough to take on the entire X-Men team single-handedly which is no small feat. He can also augment the power in other mutants, control people around the world, and reduce cities to dust.
Hela
Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, is known as one of the most powerful weapons in the MCU and the comics. Within seconds of revealing herself, Hela crushes the mighty hammer with one hand. Immediately, she establishes herself as one of the MCU's most powerful villains.
Hela starts out that strong, but when she returns to Asgard, her powers continue to grow. She draws her power from Asgard, making her insanely strong and impossible to kill. In fact, the only way she can be defeated is by destroying Asgard itself.
Darkseid
Although his full potential hadn't been fully explored in the live film adaptations, many DC fans would agree that Darkseid is not a person they would like to meet in a fight. With him on a mission to get the Anti-Life Equation, Darkseid has proven to be a relentless and violent villain after he had torn apart thousands of worlds to achieve his goal.
From what the audiences saw in Zack Snyder's Justice League, they got a brief glimpse of what this future could have looked like had he succeeded. Not only did he seem to have taken over the world and wiped out the majority of humanity, but Darkseid had also managed to get control over Superman too. With such powerful allies and a strong army under his way, he would have been unstoppable.
Ego
After learning that Peter Quill's father is not a human from Earth, Ego arrives to reveal himself as his true dad. While it makes for a momentary happy reunion, Ego soon reveals himself to be much more nefarious than he seems as well as infinitely more powerful.
The truth is that Ego is actually a living planet, and he has the ability to create just about anything that he can think up. His powers are so great that he has found a way to spread himself to every corner of the universe and take over literally everything that has ever existed.
Thanos
Who is the most powerful Marvel villain? When thinking of how powerful a supervillain is, it is not just about the special powers that they have, but what sort of evil they can accomplish. In that regard, it's hard to deny that Thanos is the most powerful of them all.
The Mad Titan is a formidable warrior who manages to kill Loki and defeat Hulk within the first few minutes of Avengers: Infinity War. His most impressive powers, indeed, come from the Infinity Stones, but he was also powerful enough to collect all the stones while the mightiest heroes in the universe tried to stop him. And the fact that he was then able to wipe out half of the universe is hard for any villain to outdo.
Arishem The Judge
He might not have had much screentime in the Eternals as the other characters but that doesn't mean that Arishem's presence wasn't felt throughout. As the creator of the Eternals (and a leader of the Celestials), Arishem was the driving force behind the Emergence and would use the superheroes to do his bidding.
Unlike the Eternals, Arishem did not have any qualms about destroying the Earth and had revealed that he had already destroyed numerous worlds to create more Celestials. The audience later learned that he had an insurmountable amount of power and was capable of teleportation, telepathy, and could wipe the Eternals memories when he wanted (which helped him to maintain order). He is certainly one of the villains the MCU heroes would have a tough time defeating.