In Honor of Loki Season 2- Top 10 Marvel Villains Ranked

 

 

Finally! – A new season of Marvel’s anticipated series, Loki, returns to Disney + for its second season. On July 31, 2023, Disney released its newest trailer as we continue to follow the demigod as he attempts to stop the alterations of the timeline. The finale of season one sparked some suggested introductions of the character Kang the Conqueror when “He Who Remains” appears and warns Loki and Sylvie that if he dies, other versions of him will conjure up. Sylvie, mad with revenge, does not adhere to “He Who Remain’s” warnings; she pushes Loki back into the portal and kills him with a brutal stab to the chest.

The timeline is altered by the time Loki returns through the portal. During his last breath, “He Who Remains” responds to Sylvie’s gesture with a wink and smile and says, “See You Soon.” -Chills! When Loki goes to warn Mobius and B-15, no one remembers him. Loki Season 2 is set to premiere on Disney + on October 6, 2023. In light of celebrating a new season, I’ve compiled a list of my top favorite villains in the Marvel Universe. Here are the Top 10 Marvel Villians Ranked.

10. Namor

Recently introduced to the MCU class of supervillains and Namor did not come to play around. The Sub-Mariner, played by Tenoch Huerta Mejía, is the hybrid mutant (half-human, half-Atlantean Prince) leader of the Talokan community and protector of his people. We are introduced to Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, a powerful leader with much strength, winged ankles to fly, and supernatural speed. Wakanda and Atlantis are two mighty nations that both have their own Vibranium.

However, Namor does not want anyone to possess it and becomes irate when he feels his community may be threatened by civilization once they almost encounter the opportunity to find Vibranium in the ocean. Namor seeks an alliance with Wakanda, but they refuse to wag a war, and Namor is not pleased. He breaks into Wakanda, floods their community, and kills Queen Ramonda. This is what placed him on the list. While Namor may feel he is a hero for wanting to protect his community, he has villain tendencies. Namor will do whatever it takes, even if that means killing others to get what he wants. 

 

9. Hela

As the firstborn child of Odin, Hela is a murderous goddess of death who wants to take her rightful throne over Asgard. Cate Blanchett does a great job of channeling the devilish and powerful executioner. Hela fought alongside Odin as his right hand and servant; however, her desires began to exceed his. Hela became ruthless, killing anyone who wouldn’t kneel on the throne of Asgard.

Odin wanted peace, but Hela wanted power. Hela began attacking those who opposed her theories, including her father. Odin then decided to imprison Hela and banished her to the Hel realm. Hela tries to escape killing all Valkyries (female Asgardians), but Odin successfully recaptures and reimprisons Hela and erases her from Asgardian history.

Odin then dies of old age, and Hela escapes again from the Hel realm. Hela insists that her newly found brother, Loki, and Thor, bows down to her (as seen in Thor: Ragnorak). They refuse and are defeated by Hela, who now takes the throne of Asgard. Hela’s murderous spree continues, destroying Asgard’s army and Odin’s murals and creating her own army, the Berserkers. Though in the long run, Hela is eventually defeated, she does not go down without a fight! What villain gets stabbed and sent down a river only to return for one more round? Hela refused to take no for an answer.

8. High Evolutionary

The High Evolutionary was a Geneticist and menace to society, literally. A founder of the Orgocorp and a true antagonist in the film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. This robotic scientist aimed to turn animals into more intelligent, stronger, and eventually perfect humanlike beings to create a Utopia. He is the creator of our favorite trash-talking superhero, Rocket the Racoon.

What started as a scientific project creating Subject 89P13 (Rocket) became a quest for ultimate control. Through testing and torture, The High Evolutionary imprisoned lower-life animals for their entire lifetimes and discarded them once they served their purpose. He was indeed a villain with inhumane practices. He became too knowledgeable for his own good and played God, killing off complete civilizations and starting over as if their lives meant nothing to him, and they indeed did not. The High Evolutionary lacks empathy and is very prideful, which inevitably causes his downfall. 

7. The Scarlet Witch a.k.a Wanda Maximoff 

Like almost every Marvel villain, Wanda Maximoff’s life did not turn out as she had hoped. Wanda is a result of grief and somewhat revenge. Wanda Maximoff, sister to Peter Maximoff, life took an unexpected turn when their parents were killed by weapons created by Tony Stark. Though this would not turn her into a villain just yet, grief fueled her. They later teamed together to defeat Ultron as one of the good guys and Avengers.

Wanda moves on by creating her own perfect world and family free from trauma. Through her control, she realizes that she kept an entire community captive. After discovering her downfalls, she lets her family go and begins studying dark magic, hoping to create another perfect reality with her children in another universe. This begins her quest for total power turning Wanda into The Scarlet Witch, played by Elizabeth Olsen. The Scarlet Witch is known to manipulate others and cause chaos wherever the lands, which we see in Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness. 

6. Red Skull

The backstory behind The Red Skull is depressing, but it gives you a glimpse into why he is the way he is. Hugo Weaving portrays Johann Schmidt, who spent his early years as an orphan. In his later years, he became the leader of the HYDRA during World War II (a Nazi Organization).

The Red Skull was a very abusive and manipulative leader whose only objective was to control the world. Still, he was defeated by Captain America (Captain America: The First Avenger), or so we thought. Upon his “death,” the Red Skull actually ended up in Vormir, where he became the protector of the soul stone. As the villain he is, he allows Thanos to use Gamora as a sacrifice in trade for the stone, a soul for a soul. Upon the transfer, Red Skull was freed of his curse as soul protector and back to planning his world domination.

5. Kang The Conqueror

Kang The Conqueror, portrayed by Jonathan Majors, was a 31st-century scientist, who christopher columbus his way to discovering the multiverse. Eventually, different variants of him found those same multiverses and joined forces. Not every variant agreed with one another and eventually waged war against each other. In response, the Dynasty of Kings was created. However, with time, their corruption caused a chain reaction of events.

The 31st-century Kang predicted an end to the multiverse if the Kangs continued their domination, so he sought to destroy every variant leaving him as the ultimate Kang. In a grand scheme for power, Kang destroyed several multiverses, including many versions of the Avengers, until he was stopped and exiled to the Quantum realm. However, this does not stop Kang, and an alternate version of Kang reappears as “He Who Remains,” believed to be of the same variant.

He Who Remains is the leader of the Time Variance Authority (TVA) and has sole control of the multiverse. Kang is too clever for his own good, and the multi-variants prove him to be unstoppable. When you think he is destroyed, there goes another variant goes on the same mission as the previous one. Unlike Loki and Wanda, Kang has always wanted control and ultimate power. His lack of empathy and manipulation in the film Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. 

False Appearances

Jane Van Dyne (The Wasp) and Kang are stranded in the quantum realm.Kang presents himself as a kind but lost trapped traveler and convinced The Wasp to help restart his chair. It is not until after she is successful that she realizes how treacherous he truly is. with one touch of his chair, The Wasp is able to see his evil acts. Kang will stop at nothing to complete what he set out to do, even if that means lying, manipulating, and destroying everything in his sight. – A true villain. 

4. Xu Wenwu

Similar to The Scarlet Witch, Xu Wenwu is motivated by grief. This is a common theme amongst Marvel’s villains. Founder of the Ten Rings and its organization, The Mandarin, played by Tony Leung, becomes immortal. While on a quest for the realm of Ta Lo, he falls madly in love with Ying Li, its guardian. The two love birds settled down and had two children. In the Film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Wenwu’s love story ends swiftly. His wife is murdered by a previous gang seeking revenge. In response, Wenwu grabs his ten rings off the shelf and murders that very gang in front of Shang-Chi.

Wenwu would eventually train his own son to be a killer and send him to find the gang’s leader. However, Shang-chi never returns, and Wenwu is now all alone until he eventually tracks down his children and the pendant gifted by their mother. In a quest to save his wife (who is already deceased), Wenwu plans to burn down the village after doing so. His children Shang-Chi and Xialing attempt to stop him, but not even his children can get in the way. Ultimately, it wasn’t his wife who summoned him to save her but the Dweller in Darkness, using Wenwu’s grief as an opportunity to escape. This only stops Wenwu from trying once he finally figures it out.

Though he is the antagonist in the film, he still has a soft side for his children, and it shows. However, that was only revealed when he realized he couldn’t return his wife. This means his last act before death was only because he couldn’t get what he truly wanted, which is sad.

3. Killmonger 

Erik Killmonger (N’Jadaka), played by Michael B. Jordan, has to be one of my favorite villains. Not solely on his looks but simply because he was one of those villains you could relate to in the 2018 film Back Panther. Killmonger is a witness to the murder of his father, Prince N’Jobu, who sought to end suffrage within his community after witnessing the atrocities of African Americans. His brother T’Chaka, King of Wakanda, killed his father after he stole Vibranium to use outside of Wakanda.

This is the arc of Killmongers revenge. Orphaned at a young age, Killmonger set out to travel to Wakanda and take his rightful heir to the throne as King. He spent time as a Navy Seal and black ops, gaining skills and training for the big day. Killmonger then steals original African Artifacts from a British museum containing Vibranium and kills its workers in the process. He eventually kills his partner in crime, Klaue. Killmonger reaches Wakanda, convinces his way in and dual for the thrown, and wins!

He throws T’Challa into the waterfall and kills Zuri in the process. Immediately after Killmonger is crowned King and gains the Black Panther’s supernatural ability, he orders the herb garden to be burned down. He then orders Wakadan arms to be sent throughout the world. Thankfully, his plan did not work; T’Challa was saved by the Jabari tribe, and peace was restored. However, you can’t help but understand Killmongers anger and rage for revenge. His efforts to finish his father’s doings were in the right place, but how he went about it was all wrong. 

2. Loki 

Loki is considered everyone’s favorite anti-hero. Tom Hiddleston does a brilliant job bringing this character to life. Loki Laufeyson is the adoptive son of Odin, The King of Asgard, and the brother of Thor and Hela. Loki lived a life of Mischief, hanging in the shadows of Thor. He fought for the acceptance of Odin and felt like Odin disapproved of him. It is not until Loki is confronted with the truth that he is, in fact, adopted that he commences his rampage.

Loki attempts to kill his brother and commit genocide against his own people (the frost giant) to prove his loyalty to his father, and all are unsuccessful. Loki is one of the good/bad villains. I know that sounds extremely odd, but it always seemed as if Loki constantly needed acceptance. There is a point where Loki joins forces with his brother Thor to defeat their sister Hela as she attempts to ruth over Asgard and eventually the world.

However, this is also the same being who joined forces with Thanos and tried to conquer Earth. Loki’s personality is multi-faceted, and we can see the progression through Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Ragnorak, and in Loki, the television series. There are neverending sides to Loki that either make you love or hate him but most enjoy his wit. That is what makes him the likable villain or anti-hero.

1. Thanos 

The man that successfully altered time. Thanos, impressively played by Josh Brolin, is MCU’s top villain in my book. As a titan warlord, Thanos claimed that the universe was overpopulated and needed to be regulated by wiping out half of the civilization. Thanos is manipulative and robust and has leadership qualities in all the wrong scenarios. He controlled groups known as the Black Order, the Chitauri, and the Sakaarans.

Thanos was a force of nature and managed to collect all six infinity stones, sacrificing his daughter, Gamora. He killed anyone who sat in his way and showed no mercy to those who would fight against him. A simple snap of his fingers would cause the MCU’s most climatic cinematic scene of all time when half of its population ceased to exist. The blip in the timeline would cause a 5-year gap before the Avengers and the Multiverse eventually defeat him. It required several MCU groups to join forces to beat Thanos! That will go down in villain history. 

I know you may not agree with my list’s order, but we all can agree and say that these villains are staples in the Marvel universe.