The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had several villains over the years, some very big names in comics and some more obscure. Early villains were mostly the heroes’ main villains, from Obadiah Stane in Iron Man and Red Skull in Captain America: The Fist Avenger to Abomination in The Incredible Hulk and Loki in Thor and the first Avengers movie. As time went on, more famous villains arrived, from Killmonger and Ultron to Dormammu and Thanos. However, along the way, there were also more obscure villains, such as Yon-Rogg and a completely new version of Taskmaster. The best part about using underrated and obscure villains is that they usually can be changed and altered without people reacting too negatively, although Taskmaster was the exception to that rule.
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There are a lot of underrated Marvel villains in comic books that haven’t made their way to the big screen yet. From old-school Avengers and X-Men villains to a Spider-Man villain who deserves more respect, these Marvel Comics villains could be huge for the MCU.
7) Count Nefaria
Count Nefaria made his debut in The Avengers #13 (1964) by Stan Lee and Don Heck, making him one of the earliest enemies of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Born Luchino Nefaria, he is a wealthy Italian aristocrat and the head of the international crime syndicate known as the Maggia. Other than the appearance of The Hood in the Ironheart series and the villains Punisher has gunned down in his appearances, the actual crime families have not played a big role in the MCU.
With Kingpin likely finished after Daredevil’s cancellation, there is a big chance for crime families like the Maggia to play a role in future Spider-Man movies. Spider-Man fights two groups of villains. One group is the superpowered villains, the focus of all his movies so far. The other group is the crime bosses, like Kingpin, Tombstone, Hammerhead, and more. Count Nefaria mixes those two villain types into one, and if a Spider-Man movie adapts the “Gang War” storyline, Nefaria could be a great addition.
6) Nightmare
Nightmare made his debut in Strange Tales #110 (1963) by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. This was the same issue that Doctor Strange debuted in, which makes Nightmare the oldest enemy of the former Sorcerer Supreme in Marvel Comics. However, over the years, Strange has become more associated with villains like Dormammu and Baron Mordo, although Nightmare is an underrated villain who deserves a lot more respect. In his first appearance, Nightmare trapped a patient in a nightmare, and Strange had to go in to save him.
Nightmare is the demon ruler of the Dream Dimension, and he feeds on the psychic/dream energy of individuals. He can’t die as long as beings can still dream. He also has a black, horned stallion called Dreamstalker. Nightmare was rumored to be in the first Doctor Strange film, but Marvel shot it down, and he still hasn’t appeared yet in the MCU. If Doctor Strange gets another movie in the future, Nightmare should be who he fights, and his time is long overdue.
5) Arcade
Arcade might be a weird fit for a movie, but if Marvel plans to have new Disney+ shows built around mutant teams, there might not be anyone better to take center stage as the main villain in a season of something like the New Mutants. Arcade made his first appearance in Marvel Team-Up #65 (1977) by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. He has no superpowers, but he is a genius engineer and assassin who killed his own wealthy father as a young man and then built what he calls Murderworld.
Murderworld is a lethal amusement park deathtrap that he sells to paying clients. Enemies of the X-Men, Spider-Man, and more have paid Arcade to use Murderworld to trap the heroes inside and hope that it kills them. Arcade then makes $1 million per target. His most notorious moment came when he kidnapped 16 teenage heroes in Avengers Arena (2012-2013) and sent them into Murderworld, where several of them didn’t come out of the amusement park alive. Having an MCU movie or streaming series set around the idea of a deathtrap would make for interesting storytelling.
4) Omega Red
It is hard to believe that with all the movies featuring Wolverine, Omega Red has still never appeared in the MCU. Omega Red debuted in X-Men #4 (1991) by John Byrne and Jim Lee. His real name is Arkady Gregorivich Rossovich, and he is a former subject of a Soviet super-soldier program who became a cyborg assassin. He has retractable carbonadium coil implants, which were the USSR’s failed attempt to recreate adamantium. He has deadly mutant powers as well.
Omega Red can release a Death Spore that is lethal to humans since it drains them of their life force, making Omega Red a life-force-draining vampire of sorts. The twist is that he has to keep draining people of their life force because the carbonadium poisoned him, and he will die if he doesn’t. He does have an enhanced healing factor to help him in fights, but it doesn’t stop the poison effects in his body. Omega Red would be perfect in any movie featuring Wolverine, but he could also be a great villain to fight X-Force or Deadpool.
3) Mister Negative
Somehow, Mister Negative still hasn’t appeared in any of the Spider-Man movies, and out of all the Spider-Man villains who haven’t shown up yet, he is the one who deserves it the most. It is also always interesting to consider that Mister Negative is a relatively recent Spider-Man villain, making his debut in Free Comic Book Day: Amazing Spider-Man #1 (2007) by Dan Slott and Phil Jimenez. He was the most important new villain introduced in the “Brand New Day” reboot of the Spider-Man titles.
Mister Negative is a former gang member who stole the identity of a Fujian immigrant named Martin Li. He was then experimented on by my crime boss, Silvermane, alongside Cloak and Dagger. While Cloak received Darkforce powers and Dagger got Lightforce powers, he got a mixture of the two. He is also a complex villain with a dual personality. As Martin Li, he built a shelter to help the homeless and can cure people of diseases with a touch. As Mister Negative, he corrupts anyone he touches. Sooner or later, the MCU has to bring Mister Negative to life in a movie.
2) Molecule Man
Molecule Man is another very old-school villain in Marvel Comics, debuting in Fantastic Four #20 (1963) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. In his early appearances, Owen Reece was a powerful but minor villain who could manipulate molecules and fought the Fantastic Four more than once. However, it wasn’t until the first Secret Wars miniseries that he learned how powerful he really was. Doctor Doom revealed that he had a self-imposed mental block on his power levels, and after that, Molecule Man became one of the most overpowered beings in Marvel Comics.
In fact, it was Molecule Man who was responsible for holding Battleworld together in 2015’s “Secret Wars,” and not Doctor Doom. Molecule Man has also proven to be powerful enough to stand up to cosmic beings like the Beyonder, and it was Molecule Man who killed the Beyonders’ race as a living bomb that created the new Battleworld in the 2015 “Secret Wars” storyline. He is an incredibly interesting character too, because he prefers to be left alone and not be a hero or a villain, but is usually pulled into action whether he likes it or not.
1) Korvac
The most powerful Avengers villain in history is the man known as Korvac. He debuted in Giant-Size Defenders #3 (1974) by Steve Gerber and Jim Starlin. He is a man named Michael Korvac from the 31st century who was fused with a computer core as punishment and then used his new powers to absorb Galactus’s Power Cosmic to give him immense power. He became nearly omnipotent with energy projection, matter manipulation, teleportation, and space-time control.
Korvac then wanted to be a hero, and he went over the line in “The Korvac Saga,” a storyline that played out in The Avengers #167-168 and The Avengers#170-177 (1977-1978) by Jim Shooter, David Michelinie, George Pérez, and David Wenzel. He was so powerful that he killed almost every member of the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy. It took his girlfriend’s horror at what he had become to make him resurrect all the heroes and end his own life. Having a self-proclaimed messiah hiding among the humans with this much power could change the course of the MCU.
I’d personally love to see villains like Omega Red and Molecule Man make their MCU debuts, but what underrated villains do you want to see in an upcoming movie? Let us know your picks in the comments below.
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