Top Five Villains (Marvel)

Even though the MCU has already worked through a lot of villains, it remains a weak area for them.  While the heroes are, for me, almost uniformly wonderful, the baddies aren’t guaranteed hits – it can be hard to find a compelling motivation or a truly formidable threat.  Still, when they’re “on” with their villains (especially in the TV shows,) they tend to be pretty darn on, so let’s take a look at my favorites (spoilers.)

Loki

This one’s a no-brainer for me.  True, his appearances in the franchise have had some diminishing returns, but pound for pound, I’d say it’s hard to beat his glorious mind games in the original Thor.  Every time I thought I knew what his plan was in this movie, he completely flipped it, but his motivations still made full logical sense.  Fantastic cunning – I love it.

The Winter Soldier

Okay, so this is a bit of a cheat – the Winter Soldier is totally Team Cap now, and as I like to say, he was always more of a weapon than a villain – but I’m counting him anyway.  From his cool look to his eerie calm to his astounding fighting prowess, he’s just awesome.  The Winter Soldier scene where he ambushes Cap, Black Widow, and Sam in the car might be my favorite fight of the whole franchise – that shot of him flipping onto the roof of the moving car?  Forget about it.

Dottie Underwood

Unhinged but ruthlessly efficient – a winning combination.  Dottie is a great, incredibly-warped picture of what a pre-SHIELD Natasha might have been like, and the answer is dangerous as all get out.  I love the spacey vibe and demented smile she sports right up to the moment when she’s kicking you in the throat.  Dottie is terrific in all her off-putting glory, especially when Peggy and co. are forced to reluctantly team up with her for a short time in season 2.

Kilgrave

The creepiest villain, hands down.  Kilgrave absolutely makes my skin crawl.  To date, Jessica Jones is the only Marvel property I’ve seen where I’ve been unable to watch it and then leave the house after dark, ‘cause Kilgrave freaks me out that much.  His powers, both horrendously violating and holding the potential for such catastrophic harm, are bad enough, but when you throw in the fact that he’s a superpowered stalker making our heroine’s life a living hell?  Yeesh.  I shudder just thinking about it.

Mariah Dillard

Great villain, especially in the way she outpaces Cottonmouth in the Villainous Cousins department – not what I would’ve expected after the pilot!  Mariah is dangerous because she’s so smart and slick.  She knows just how to play things to swing the pendulum her way, and she’s more of a wildcard than Cottonmouth due to how strongly she believes in her own justification.