4 Marvel Villains That Could Be the MCU Horror Movie Answer to Clayface

Clayface is the latest chapter in the DCU and so far, it’s been a hit with critics and was pretty successful at the box office in its first weekend. The movie didn’t break any records, like Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but word of mouth on just how great the movie is should help it continue to profit in the weeks ahead. Clayface is something very special. It takes a classic DC villain and tells his story in a way, going heavy on the body horror. In a lot of ways, it’s not a superhero movie at all (or, in this case, a supervillain movie) but a comic book movie. James Gunn is a comic fan and he wants to show the world what comic stories are capable of. The MCU has never had anything like Clayface, but here’s the thing: it can.

One of the problems with the MCU is that it’s never really used the Marvel Universe as well as it could have. Sure, there are some excellent movies and the characters have become icons with the general audience, but this massive audience’s view of superheroes is limited by Marvel Studios and the way it tells stories. The DCU is using Clayface to show you can do something new and Marvel can follow suit by using these four Marvel villains.

4) Carnage

This one is a complete no-brainer. Carnage is one of Spider-Man’s deadliest villains and you can do something very similar with Carnage to what was done with Matt Hagen in Clayface, even if it doesn’t seem like you can. Carnage is Cletus Kasady, a serial killer bonded to a symbiote. The bond was formed when he was in prison, when his new cellmate was Eddie Brock. The symbiote came to rescue Eddie, leaving a piece of itself behind, which bonded with Cletus, creating the symbiotic psychopath we all know and hate.

Carnage has made an appearance in the Sony movies; you can say that since we saw his origin, we can’t really do a Clayface with him. However, it’s honestly super easy. You can have a piece of Carnage left behind after one of his attacks and have it bond with a survivor. The movie could be about the person struggling against this monster growing inside of him. It would be a movie that no one expected and it would give Marvel a chance to do body horror with the symbiote.

3) Sin

Red Skull is one of Marvel’s most irredeemable villains. The Nazi is Captain America’s greatest enemy and the two have been battling for decades. The Nazi leader eventually had a daughter, Cynthia. She was taught by Mother Night to be the perfect daughter for her racist monster father, becoming Sin. Sin ended up joining her father’s battle against Captain America, working closely with Crossbones. She’s even taken her father’s place as Red Skull, which is why you can use the character in a movie like this.

So, let’s say in the MCU, Cynthia didn’t know who her father was. She’s just a normal orphan until a mysterious woman comes to her, a nun of all people, telling her about her father and the destiny he had planned for her, one that would make her the greatest hero in the planet’s history. The movie would be about Cynthia falling further and further into darkness, led there by Mother Night, eventually carving the skin off her face and becoming the MCU’s new Red Skull. A movie that gives us the transformation of Cynthia into Sin would be brilliant and would show fans that the MCU was willing to change.

2) Omega Red

Omega Red is one of the X-Men’s deadliest villains. He’s basically the Soviet version of Wolverine and that’s what would make a movie about him work so well. Arkady Rossovich was a Russian mutant who ended up developing a death factor. His body exuded an aura of death, one that acted like numerous diseases on those around him. Anyone near him would be infected by this aura, growing weaker and weaker. Meanwhile, their suffering strengthens Red, giving him greater strength, agility, and durability. He was chosen for the Soviet answer to Weapon X, his physical abilities enhanced, and the carbonadium tentacles implanted in his arms.

An Omega Red movie could start out in his childhood, showing how difficult his early life was. Suddenly, the people around him start dying, no one knows what’s going on. The Soviet authorities come and take Arkady, telling him the truth about what happened and lying about making him better. The rest of the movie could be the horrors of what they did to, taking him from a scared, hungry boy to the killing machine he’s become. It could be amazing.

1) The Shadow King

The Shadow King is the scariest being in the Marvel Multiverse. It is the summation of all the darkness in the multiverse, a being made of the purest evil: that which lives in the minds of the living. Eventually, the multiversal being decided that it wanted a physical body and two hundred years ago, it possessed the powerful young telepath Amahl Farouk. Since then, the two of them have been trying to take control of every mind in existence, with the boundless power of the Astral Plane on his side.

A Shadow King movie would focus on Amahl. Imagine having the sum total of evil inside of you. You can make it so he doesn’t know at first and begins having blackouts where he does horrific things with his mental powers, causing people to do the worst things imaginable, before waking up somewhere he doesn’t recognize, his memory filled with images of torment. The whole point of the movie would be the slow burn realization of what he’s become, with the ending being him embracing its darkness. Now, tell me that’s a movie you don’t want to see? That’s the kind of potential that the Shadow King brings to the table.

What Marvel villains do you think could pull off a Clayface-style horror movie? Am I right in my choices or do I not know what I’m talking about? Sound off in the comment section below.

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