FEATURE
15 Best Marvel Movie Villains
Every great superhero needs a supervillain. It’ s comic book 101, the true test of greatness behind every caped crusader in( and outside of) the universe. Pixar’ s The Incredibles( 2004) even understood this step, identifying a dichotomy that’ s crucial to the whole idea of being“ super” in the first place. Without The Joker and Kingpin keeping them busy, heroes like Batman and Daredevil would simply be guys who like to dress up and beat people down at night— a lot less cool to watch, all things considered. Recipes for a distinct villain are tough to uncover, as most tend to fall towards the same mixture of vengeance and power-hungry potential. World domination is typically high on the list, as is an appreciation for supernatural ability and unhinged inhibition. Hell, some of them aren’ t even gifted, save for skilled diplomacy and connections with the right people. Both Marvel Studios and 20th Century Fox have dealt with the pressures of turning cliché into fully formed depth, and sometimes, fans have been quite quick in pointing out botched attempts( Iron Man 2’ s Ivan Vanko). Fortunately, there are far more success stories than bodacious belly-flops, and this praise extends not only to Fox and Marvel, but Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man series as well. Here are Screen Rant’ s 15 Best Marvel Movie Villains. 15. ELECTRO The Amazing Spider-Man 2 really took a beating in 2014. The piled on subplots, unnecessary introductions, and utterly wasted villains( Green Goblin, Rhino) all took away from could’ ve( or should’ ve) been a straightforward battle between Spider-Man( Andrew Garfield) and lite up loser Electro( Jamie Foxx). Instead, Sony apparently felt the shocking super villain was too weak to carry an entire narrative, and elected to break the camel’ s cinematic back instead. Despite this, Foxx does a pretty decent job playing a guy who can’ t even get a fair shake in his own fi lm. Introduced as a nobody with awkward manners and a comb over that’ s a super power in it of itself, Max Dillon( Foxx) is a pathetic case. Idolizing Spidey for saving his life, the lonely scientist develops an obsession that curtails when he’ s accidentally transformed into an electricity-wielding weirdo. Suddenly at odds with his former hero, Electro easily takes the cake as the most sympathetic of Marvel movie baddies. Poor dude winds up dead without a second’ s reflection, leaving his only merit in being a distinct( if mishandled) take on the supervillain persona. 14. BOLIVAR TRASK As the instigator behind X-Men: Days of Future Past( 2014), Bolivar Trask is far and away the least imposing villain to crack the list. Played with calculated contempt by Peter Dinklage, it is a role that spawns evil from the
22 | BOOM
misguided attempts of boardroom problem solving. Trask sees mutants as nothing more than a threat to mankind, and as such, develops a killer robot initiative to keep the peace. Flash forward a few decades, and the inventor’ s Sentinel program has not only done it’ s job, but incurred the wrath of a Terminator-like dystopia. Foregoing the original portrayal of Trask in 2006’ s The Last Stand( confusing timelines strike again), Dinklage delivers a man caught in his own warped sense of righteousness. Few things are more frightening or honest than outright bigotry, and this is something director Bryan Singer fully exploits in his iteration of the character. As such, Trask presented the X- Men with a foe they couldn’ t simply defeat through super strength. 13. MYSTIQUE Mystique has gone through quite the journey in her six X- Men outings. Initially portrayed by mantrap Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, the transformative mutant is a skilled femme fatale of acrobatic proportions, able to slip through any security system in the world and wreak havoc at a moment’ s notice. Far from the most powerful enemy of the uncanny crew, Mystique is instead the ultimate deceptor, infi ltrating the X-Men on several occasions while instigating a political struggle in the process( poor Senator Kelly). Granted, she didn’ t speak much in the fi rst three fi lms, but that soon changed when Jennifer Lawrence was brought in for X- Men: First Class( 2011). As a younger, idealized take on the character, Lawrence enhanced the tragedy behind Mystique, from her early days with Xavier to her ultimate realization of mankind’ s bigoted ways. In this regard, Mystique is a villain who knows better, but is still compelled to make the wrong decisions. By the time we get to X2( 2003) and The Last Stand( 2006), her callous heart proves colder than her blue complexion. Professor X has got to be supremely disappointed. 12. IRON MONGER Jealousy manifests with Obadiah Stane( Jeff Bridges), former acting CEO of Stark Industries and father fi gure to Tony Stark( Robert Downey, Jr.). As the MCU’ s inaugural villain in 2008’ s Iron Man, Stane is a guy who exploited the legacy of the late great Howard while pedaling weapons of mass destruction to the highest bidder. This power trip became a bit tougher to maintain when Tony came of age and took over the company, forging a two-faced resentment that culminated in a planned assassination attempt. As we all know, that plan went south in a big way, and Tony would create the Iron Man suit as a result, forcing Stane to regroup with a far more sinister plan at hand. When the monstrosity that is Iron Monger eventually shows up, it