Across over twenty films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, each film has introduced at least one villain. In some, there have been entire groups of villains introduced for Marvel superheroes to battle. As a result, it can lead to villains of different stories as well as qualities. There are plenty of irredeemable and truly evil villains meant only for the audiences to root against.
Meanwhile, some of the best villains that the MCU has introduced are the ones with understandable motives. They may be going about things in the worst of ways, but their reasoning are somewhat justifiable, or their backstories are heartbreaking, making the audience feel sympathy for them.
Updated on December 4th, 2022 by Melody MacReady: Just within 2022 alone, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has introduced a multitude of new villains across the movies, Disney+ shows, and specials including Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Some of these villains prove themselves to be more than the basic antagonist for the heroes, some are thought-provoking and add themselves to the list of sympathetic villains. Now is also a good time to look back and reflect on other villains from previous phases and add them to the list. It just shows how massive the mythos of the MCU is when movies such as Wakanda Forever and Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness put just as much effort into the villains as they do the heroes.
Ghost
Ant-Man And The Wasp (2018)
There is a reason to feel sorry for Ghost, as she's an unstable being in a constantly fluctuating state unable to touch anyone without a special suit. That side of the character could have been explored more to make her even more sympathetic than she already is.
Unfortunately, for every scene that makes the viewer feel sympathy, there is another where she commits atrocities that dwindle her likability. There is a balancing act to making a villain sympathetic but sadly, Ant-Man And The Wasp often fumbles at that balance. There is, however, room for improvement with the character returning as a Thunderbolt in the future of the MCU.
Kaecilius
Doctor Strange (2016)
Kaecilius (played masterfully by Mads Mikkelsen) was a gifted sorcerer much like Doctor Strange. However, as with many baddies, a tragic past led to power corrupting Kaecilius thus transforming him into a villain. Kaecilius seeks to merge the realm of Earth with the Dark Dimension where there is no time thus there is no death.
After losing his family, it isn't hard to see why such a promise from the evil Dormammu swayed him. Death and time can scare people, and he believes that nobody should suffer the losses he did. Sadly, he pursued that using dark magic to kill and destroy thanks to an empty promise by an evil entity.
Taskmaster
Black Widow (2021)
Despite the somewhat controversial changes made to Taskmaster, what happened to Antonia Dreykov was horrific. She was a little girl when Natasha Romanoff triggered the explosion that was supposed to kill her and her father, but both survived, and Antonia was heavily scarred by the incident.
Rather than be a good father and help her heal, Dreykov simply saw her as a tool. So instead, she was brainwashed to become the ultimate assassin for the Red Room. No emotion, no control, and no love from her own father make her story one of the darkest and most twisted thus far.
Najma
Ms. Marvel (2022)
This leader of the Clandestines wanted nothing more than to return to her home dimension known as Noor. She spent decades on Earth witnessing the cruelty of mankind which leaves her in a bitter state, willing to kill anyone in her path to get home and even denounce her own son.
It's just unfortunate that the Ms. Marvel series as a whole seemed to struggle with focusing on a villain. So Najma, while a fascinating take on a villain who even learns from her mistakes, ends up being such a small part of season 1.
Whiplash
Iron Man 2 (2010)
In many ways, Whiplash AKA Ivan Vanko in Iron Man 2 was a victim of his father as well. While his father Anton was taken off the Arc Reactor project for good reasons, it led to him instilling hatred for the Stark family into his own son. When Anton died in poverty while Stark was a celebrity superhero, it's difficult to blame him for wanting payback.
Ivan Vanko does show a bit of heart though, as he also happens to be a lover of birds and treats them with much care and respect. That said, what Whiplash is willing to do to get his revenge is monstrous.
Thanos
The Infinity Saga (2008-2019)
Unlike his comic book counterpart, Thanos believes he is helping the universe with his hunt for Infinity Stones. After his race went extinct and his home world became a desolate wasteland, he had an epiphany that the universe was overpopulated with too few resources.
Thanos does have a reason to worry, as resource exhaustion is a very real threat. However, rather than try to come up with a solution to more resources, he defaults to genocide and wipes out half the population of the universe. The loss of his people truly turned him into a monster, especially his younger self as shown in Avengers: Endgame where he enjoyed the idea of murdering the Avengers.
Baron Zemo
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Helmut Zemo showcases the aftermath of the superhero battles that audiences cheer over. All that destruction has consequences and collateral damage: Zemo's family is one of them. The battle against Ultron in Sokovia led to Zemo losing his entire family in the rubble.
As a result, Baron Zemo now has a hatred for superheroes, particularly those with powers, and it's hard to blame him for that. So he tried to destroy the Avengers from the inside out, making them kill each other in Captain America: Civil War. Fans agreed that he went out of line, but he had a point, hence why he returned as one of the MCU's best anti-heroes in The Falcon And The Winter Soldier.
Loki
The Infinity Saga (2008-2019)
Loki is the God Of Mischief but he is often misunderstood: his villainy came as a result of his neglectful father Odin. Odin not only treated Thor better their entire lives, but he also lied to Loki since the day he came to Asgard. Loki was an adopted Frost Giant raised to be Asgardian, intended to at least partially be a bargaining chip with them.
This, combined with always living behind the once-cocky and arrogant Thor's shadow for centuries, turned him bitter. Fans sympathized with Loki, which led to a long character arc of him regaining his love for his adoptive family, and transforming into a reluctant hero. The character even warranted a Disney+ spin-off series of his own.
Namor
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
It's easy to understand Namor's plight in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; not only was his people's original home conquered and corrupted by foreigners but he's also spent over five hundred years seeing the oceans become more and more polluted by the people he already despised.
All Namor cares about is the safety of his people, and he is willing to kill anyone in his way to guarantee that safety. The MCU portrayal, while still going about things in a poor way such as starting a war with Wakanda, is much more likable and reasonable than his comic book counterpart but at the same time, he made Wakanda regret their actions with just his own power.
The Winter Soldier
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Currently, Bucky Barnes is known as a beloved hero as well as an Avenger. However, Bucky spent decades as the mysterious assassin known simply as the Winter Soldier, an agent of HYDRA. Tortured and experimented on, Bucky was stripped of his former life and memory to become a super-soldier.
Of course, this is tragic from multiple angles since he was Captain America's best friend turned into a HYDRA agent and forced to fight him in the aptly titled Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Also, when Bucky regained his memory, he also retained everything he did as the Winter Soldier, forcing him to remember the innocent lives he took for HYDRA.
The Scarlet Witch
The Multiverse Saga (2021-2022)
As much as fans admired her as an Avenger, Wanda Maximoff was destined to turn to the dark side, especially after the death of Vision in Avengers: Infinity War. Wanda's full transformation into the Scarlet Witch in WandaVision is a showcase of how grief can turn someone into a completely different person if not carefully managed.
With godlike power, she did not manage it well and ended up turning herself into a multiversal threat that became so powerful that Doctor Strange had to go full-on Sam Raimi in Multiverse Of Madness to defeat her using the demonic powers of the Darkhold. In the end, she did not seek control over the Multiverse; she just wanted a family again, but she became a villain as a result.
Killmonger
Black Panther (2018)
Wakanda seemed like the perfect place, but it was run by imperfect people, such as King T'Chaka who murdered his own brother to protect his kingdom. However, he left his own nephew Erik alone, which sent the boy on a long journey to get revenge in Black Panther, kill his own family in Wakanda, and usurp the throne from T'Challa.
He wanted to make Wakanda the conquering nation of Earth. Sadly, this made Erik into the similar monster he claimed to be fighting against. His hatred had turned him into a murderer known as Killmonger, who just wanted to punish the world because it took everything from him.
Gorr The God Butcher
Thor: Love And Thunder (2022)
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If anybody had a right to be angry at the gods, it was Gorr. His family and his people all died for nothing and the god his people worshiped simply laughed about it with the glimpse at the gods shown at Omnipotence City, Gorr may have not been entirely wrong.
Gorr became one of the best villains Thor has faced, with some fans claiming Gorr to be the best aspect of Thor: Love And Thunder. Christian Bale nails the sadness of Gorr, giving a strong performance that outshines everyone in the fourth film. He's even willing to risk being slowly killed by the Necrosword to get his vengeance on the gods that betrayed him.
Vulture
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Similar to Zemo, Adrian Toomes in Spider-Man: Homecoming was the victim of the heroes: he ran the cleanup crew trying to scrub the mess that the Avengers made during the Battle Of New York. Unfortunately, he and his entire crew were disbanded by Tony Stark's Department Of Damage Control, leading to him being out of a job without a single cent of compensation.
All Toomes wants to do is keep his family happy, so out of anger, he decides to don a mask and become the Vulture, who takes any technology from the aftermath of superhero battles to create weapons to sell. Like all villains, he used his gifts the wrong way, but he shows more humanity, even keeping Spider-Man's identity a secret as a payment for saving his life. This is one of many reasons why Vulture is considered an iconic Spider-Man villain.
Xu Wenwu
Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (2021)
In Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, Marvel fans were introduced to the real Mandarin, an immortal warrior named Xu Wenwu. At first, he appears to be a heartless warlord leading the Ten Rings army in conquering the world with the help of ten mystical rings on his arms. Throughout Shang-Chi, it's revealed that he reformed as a family man, becoming a good father and husband.
That is until his past caught up with him, which turned him back into the leader of the Ten Rings. However, he is not the terrorist he used to be but instead just wants to reunite himself and his children with his wife again, even if that means killing the innocent. In the end, his love for his family came through for the better, allowing him to sacrifice himself to save Shang-Chi.