Marvel Comics has way better villains than most fans ever give credit for. While everyone knows top tier villains like Doctor Doom, Green Goblin, Red Skull, Magneto, Ultron, Apocalypse, Galactus, and the like, there’s an entire thriving ecosystem of bad guys underneath them. They have battled the greatest heroes around and worked with the best of the worst, and have starred in stories that have helped spread their legend throughout the Marvel Universe. There are loads of underrated villains out there, but some of the feats they’ve performed have proven that they could be at the top of the heap, villains who can face off against the most formidable heroes out there.
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These are the villains who could easily become big bads with just a little bit of work and the right story. They’ve proven their threats against the heroes numerous times and they have the feats to prove it. These seven criminally underrated Marvel villains have done some amazing things, proving they’re more than meets than the eye.
7) Kraven the Hunter
“Kraven’s Last Hunt” was massively influential, and showed that the villain was always one of Spider-Man’s greatest foes. Kraven the Hunter decided to prove to everyone that he was superior to the Wall-Crawler and he did that by leading him into a trap, savagely beating him, and burying him alive. Then the hunter put on the hero’s costume and went out to fight crime in his stead. It was the ultimate power move, with Kraven showing that he always could have destroyed his enemy. Satisfied with his victory, he ended his life.
6) Electro
New Avengers (Vol. 1) has its share of problems, but it showed how powerful Electro could really be. The longtime B-list Spider-Man villain’s electricity powers have grown in leaps and bounds over the years and a secret contingent of Skrulls hired him to destroy the power system of the supervillain prison the Raft. This might not seem like that much of a feat, since he can control electricity, but the Raft was designed to hold people like him and negate his powers if he showed up. His ability to get in and take out the system showed how much better his control has gotten and remains one of his greatest feats.
5) Nimrod
The Krakoa Era redefined the X-Men, and gave an old villain a new chance to show exactly what they were made of. Nimrod was the ultimate Sentinel, usually sent from the future in order to destroy the mutant race in the present. However, the Orchis Initiative was able to create one in the present day and it became the greatest threat to the X-Men and the mutant nation of Krakoa. In the story Inferno, Nimrod and Omega Sentinel ended up battling Xavier and Magneto in a no hold barred battle. While the mutants were able to hold their own for a time, the mutant killing machine was able to take them both down, killing them before the day was done.
4) Bastion
Bastion was the new mystery villain that showed up after “Onslaught”. He was the head of the Operation: Zero Tolerance organization and was building his forces up for a strike. He waited until the X-Men were out of the country and on their way back to attack. Bastion sent his Prime Sentinels after the Blackbird the group were flying home, blowing them out of the sky and taking them prisoner. Meanwhile, he descended on the X-Mansion, using codes he had stolen from Xavier to get through its defenses and take it over, downloading every bit of info he didn’t have and then releasing feeder nanites to eat everything down to the hard wood in the mansion. It had been destroyed many times over the years, but no one left it like a lifeless husk like Bastion did.
3) Mikhail Rasputin
Colossus and Magik are the two most famous Rasputin siblings, but there’s a third who is arguably more powerful than both of them. Mikhail Rasputin has reality altering powers and can move through dimensions. He was a Russian cosmonaut who pulled himself into another world, getting involved in the affairs of the natives in the worst way possible. The X-Men also went to that world accidentally and saved him, bringing back to Earth. However, a Morlock attack led to a disaster in the tunnels led to him opening a portal big enough to take all of the deformed mutants through, even though it looked like they died when the ceiling collapsed on them. He was able to transport hundreds of individuals to another dimension and keep them alive for years.
2) Mad Thinker
Reed Richards is the smartest superhero around, and many villains have tried to outsmart him over the years. One of the most underrated has always been the Mad Thinker, a supergenius who was constantly in Reed’s shadow. However, when Richards wanted someone to check his math when he tried to make Isaac Asimov’s idea of “psychohistory” from Foundation a reality and work to predict the actions of the superhero community, he only went to one person. Mad Thinker was the one Mister Fantastic went to, not Iron Man, not Hank Pym, not even Black Panther or Black Bolt. That’s a major feat in and of itself.
1) The Hood
The Hood became a big deal in the mid ’00s, leading the B and C-list villains of New York City. He was a great criminal, made all the better by his magic cloak that allowed him to teleport and transform into a powerful demon, and was a thorn in the New Avengers’ side. He ended up fighting alongside Norman Osborn during “Dark Reign”, working with the Cabal and leading the Initiative, and would lose when Osborn did. He eventually hatched a scheme to get his hands on the Infinity Gauntlet, and was able to defeat everyone who held an Infinity Stone and then kicked the Avengers around until they figured out a way to get them from him. He showed that he was an A-lister with this one, a better villain than he gets credit for.
What’s your favorite underrated Marvel villain? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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