Updated October 21, 2022 47.5K votes 6.0K voters 298.9K views
Over 6.0K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of 23 Terrifying Villains Who Haven't Shown Up In The MCU, But Could
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Vote up the Marvel Comics villains you most want to see throw down in the MCU.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Each and every year, Marvel adds new films and TV shows to its slate, bringing with them countless new superheroes who fans once thought would never make it onto the big screen. Inevitably, along with these heroes come a bevy of supervillains, some of whom even end up being more popular than their designated protagonist. So far, the MCU has dropped some terrific and terrifying bad guys, like Loki, the Red Skull, and the Kingpin. However, that hasn’t satisfied the thirst that fans have for well-portrayed evil, and they’re still cranking out MCU villain wish lists of all the characters they still want to see.
The future of the MCU may be murky, but there is no shortage of material for the studio to work with, especially if the Multiverse opens the door for non-MCU Marvel movies. From Kang the Conqueror to Mephisto, there are literally hundreds of Marvel villains who haven’t shown up in the movies yet, although some are clearly of a higher quality than others. Still, with over 70 years of publishing history backing them up, the MCU is sure to find enough quality baddies to keep their film franchises going for at least a few dozen more years.
Taskmaster is one of the most fun villains in comics. He’s blessed with “photographic reflexes,” which allow him to memorize and instantly replicate the movements of any other individual, especially their fighting techniques. That, along with his massive collection of superhero footage, means he’s got the best moves of Captain America, Daredevil, Spider-Man, and more locked within his brain.
Not only can he mimic their abilities, but he also knows how to perfectly counter them as a result. Taskmaster is one of the most formidable hand-to-hand fighters in the MCU and, as a bonus, his skull mask is just objectively cool.
One of the most controversial plot points in the MCU was the reveal that Ben Kingsley’s portrayal of the Mandarin in Iron Man 3 was not actually the Mandarin, but rather a character played by character actor Trevor Slattery.
The real Mandarin is actually quite a powerful villain, aided by 10 mystic alien rings that grant him myriad diverse powers. The Mandarin has fought Iron Man to a standstill on numerous occasions, and many fans want to see the two go at it for real on the big screen. A special direct-to-video one-shot feature, All Hail the King released with Thor: The Dark World, hinted that there was actually a real Mandarin out there, so he could appear at any time.
No Marvel villain has seen their in-comic profile grow more than Otto Octavius, better known as Doctor Octopus. Dock Ock pulled off the rarest of feats by actually defeating his long-time foe, Spider-Man, switching bodies with the hero and watching his enemy die in his own withered body.
Ock set out to become the Superior Spider-Man (and almost succeeded), but he eventually returned to his own body as the Superior Octopus. All of these personas mean that the MCU has a few different ways it can deal with Octavius, but he’s near certain to show up inone way or another.
Kang the Conqueror is a particularly terrifying villain, because he’s a master of time. Kang freely floats around the timestream, collecting weapons and technology from far flung futures while conquering developing civilizations in the past. Kang can never really be defeated, since his time-meddling has left countless versions of himself in various time periods throughout history, each with the ability to travel time themselves.
This might actually be important if and when Kang comes to the MCU, since the matter of whether his rights belong with the Fantastic Four or the Avengers is a bit murky. Marvel may end up needing to use one of Kang’s aliases instead, like Immortus or the Scarlet Centurion.
In a way, the Red Hulk has already appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Well, his alter ego has, at least. Despite his bulky appearance, the Red Hulk is actually aged war hawk General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross. General Ross can usually be found hunting down the regular Hulk, but he eventually decided to fight fire with fire and turn himself into a gigantic rage monster.
Red Hulk was quite the antagonist for awhile, but he eventually joined the Avengers and has been on the side of good. Unlike the green version, Red Hulk retains his intelligence when he transforms, making him even more threatening.
Now that Spider-Man has officially joined the MCU, it has unlocked a bevy of bad guys from his rogues gallery. Not only would Spidey’s primary antagonist, Norman Osborn, make an excellent villain for a Homecoming sequel in his Green Goblin persona, but the character would bring with him a huge storyline potential.
Osborn was the big bad of the entire Marvel universe for awhile during Dark Reign, an arc in which he effectively took over S.H.I.E.L.D. for a number of years. In modern comic book history, Osborn has been significantly more terrifying without the Goblin mask on than with it.
