The Marvel Cinematic Universe’S Movie Villain Problem

The Avengers: Age of Ultron‘s bank-busting run in theaters only further proves that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become one of the top juggernaut’s in entertainment business, on both movie and TV screens. But even as films like The Avengers, Guardians of The Galaxy and Captain America: The Winter Soldier have thrilled audiences with superhero adventure, there’s been one point of general criticism that hasn’t gone away: villains in the MCU tend to be underwhelming.

Now Avengers 2 is finding itself hit with similar criticisms, despite having a fan-favorite foe (Ultron) played by a unique, fan-favorite actor (James Spader). So why is Marvel Studios having such a hard time putting great baddies on the big screen? We breakdown the situation, as well as what Marvel could do in order to correct it.

Here is the list of MCU villains in order of their first appearance onscreen. NOTE: While “big bads” are the main focus of this discussion, we’ve included a lot of the “little bads” as well.

Ten Rings – Obidiah Stane / Iron Monger (Iron Man)
Gen. “Thunderbolt” Ross  – Abomination (Incredible Hulk)
Justin Hammer  – Whiplash (Iron Man 2)
Loki  – Frost Giants  – Destroyer (Thor)
Red Skull – Arnim Zola – Old Hydra (Captain America: TFA)
Chitauri – The Other – Thanos (The Avengers)
Aldrich Killian / “The Mandarin”  – Extremis Soldiers – A.I.M.  (Iron Man 3)
Malekith – Kurse – Dark Elves (Thor: TDW)
Winter Soldier – Alexander Pierce – New Hydra (Captain America: TWS)
Ronan The Accuser – Nebula (Guardians of the Galaxy)
Baron von Stucker – Ultron – Ultron Legion (Avengers: AoU)

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