Every villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is guilty of crimes against humanity in some form, but they aren’t all equally as despicable. Certain adversaries, such as the Scarlet Witch and Loki, come across as remarkably sympathetic, yet others are sinister through and through. From Kingpin to Thanos, the most hateable MCU villains come from all over the franchise, taking their wicked deeds from one world to the next. Without a doubt, these 10 bad guys are the worst of the worst.
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Wilson Fisk/Kingpin
Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio), also known as Kingpin, first appeared on-screen in Netflix’s Daredevil series, which ran from 2015 to 2018. D’Onofrio reprised his role in the 2021 Disney+ show Hawkeye, marking the character’s MCU debut. Although Fisk’s tragic upbringing being abused by his father may attract some sympathy, he’s become a truly awful human. Fisk’s endless quest for power has compromised any morals he may have, as his reprehensible actions include murder, bombings, and organized crime activities. Even though his ex-protรฉgรฉe Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) supposedly shot him dead in Hawkeye‘s finale, Fisk survived his wounds and came back like always does. Kingpin’s refusal to ever stay down makes him all the more detestable. He will show up in Daredevil: Born Again to once again contend with Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox).
Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger
The primary villain of 2008’s Iron Man, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) also went by the name Iron Monger. Obadiah was Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) former business partner, and was secretly working with the Ten Rings organization in an attempt to eliminate the entrepreneur who eventually became Iron Man. Obadiah’s links to terrorism, along with his cartoonishly evil personality, make him an easy villain to hate.
Darren Cross/Yellowjacket/M.O.D.O.K
Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) first appeared in the MCU in 2015’s Ant-Man. Having previously worked under Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), Darren later became obsessed with quantum technology. He intended to sell weapons to HYDRA and the Ten Rings after taking over as the CEO of Pym Technologies, but instead donned his Yellowjacket suit to fight against Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and his cohorts. Getting sucked into the Quantum Realm severely disfigured Darren, and thus, he became M.O.D.O.K., appearing in 2023’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Like Obadiah, Darren acted like a stereotypical evil mastermind who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
Aldrich Killian
Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) is madness personified. The main villain of Iron Man 3 founded Advanced Idea Mechanics and thought it best to achieve his goals by creating human suicide bombs derived from his Extremis program. Killian’s villain origin story involves being rejected by Tony Stark as a young researcher who struggled with various disabilities growing up, but that doesn’t excuse his antagonistic actions. Killian’s other deeds prior to his death include the kidnappings of Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and then-President of the United States Matthew Ellis (William Sadler).
Arishem
Debuting on-screen in 2021’s Eternals, Arishem exists as the Prime Celestial. He created the Deviants to aid in the births of Celestials, and later made the Eternals to protect worlds against them after the Deviants went rogue. In the film, Arishem serves as a god-like figure, insisting that the Emergence of Tiamut โ a world-ending event โ must happen on Earth. Thankfully, the Eternals put a stop to Arishem’s plan and saved the planet. Arishem’s maliciousness stems from his act of hiding the Eternals’ true purpose from them and his belief that a single Celestial is worth more than billions of humans.
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Kang the Conqueror
Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) and his many variants were once meant to become the MCU’s next big bad. The character debuted in the Disney+ series Loki before taking on a bigger villain role in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Exceptionally dangerous due to his self-obsession and hunger for power, Kang led a crusade to rule every reality in the Multiverse, much like the empire he established in the Quantum Realm. There’s no telling what level of havoc he would have wreaked had his storyline continued.
The High Evolutionary
Hardly anyone can sympathize with an animal abuser, and the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) is no exception. Featuring in 2023’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the villain conducted genetic experiments on various life forms with the goal of creating a utopian civilization occupied by perfect species. The High Evolutionary’s test subjects included Rocket the racoon (Bradley Cooper), Lylla the otter (Lina Cardellini), Teefs the walrus (Asim Chaudhry), and Floor the rabbit (Mikaela Hoover). Countless others were horrifically abused and killed under his supervision. The High Evolutionary’s complete lack of compassion toward animals and his sinister ideology set him apart from the majority of MCU bad guys.
Thanos
Although plenty of MCU viewers believe that Thanos (Josh Brolin) had logic on his side when he eliminated half of the universe with a snap of his fingers, that argument strays far from reality. Put simply, the Mad Titan committed the most enormous genocide in history. Thanos’ “solution” to overpopulation and a dearth of resources was shortsighted, as he did not account for the fact that the universe’s population would one day reach the same number again. And of course, Thanos held no regard for the suffering the mass-killing event would inflict on the survivors. Thanos never cared about the perseverance of all worlds, he merely wanted to play god. On top of everything else, Thanos severely mistreated his own daughters Gamora (Zoe Saldaรฑa) and Nebula (Karen Gillan), sacrificing the former’s life and physically torturing the latter.
Red Skull
Johann Schmidt, aka Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), was introduced in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger as the leader of HYDRA, who acted as a covert branch of Nazi Germany during World War II. In an effort to become an immortal leader, Schmidt used the Super Soldier serum on himself, bringing about his transformation into Red Skull. The villain also sought to use the Tesseract to complete his plan for world domination, making him a figure as dangerous and despicable as Adolf Hitler.
Dreykov
It’s hard to imagine worse than a man who abducts girls and turns them into chemically subjugated killers. General Dreykov (Ray Winstone) forced this reality on millions of young women, including his own daughter, Antonia aka Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko). The villain of 2021’s Black Widow once had adopted sisters Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), as well as their mother, Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz), under his control. Even though they and the other Red Room assassins were eventually liberated, nothing could erase all of the trauma they endured.