Every villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is climbing the Thanos mountain. The Mad Titan begins his big-screen journey on rocky footing, sending lackeys to do all the work for him, which blows up in his face. Once it comes time to put the gauntlet on and get to work, though, Thanos doesn’t miss a beat. He begins by destroying Xandar and laying waste to all of the Asgardians who escaped Ragnarok alive. With two Infinity Stones in his pocket, the rest of Avengers: Infinity War features him finishing his goal and wiping out half of life in the universe, a move that he considers merciful. After all, he’s saving all the beings he kills from a life full of pain and suffering.
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Thanos’ mission is easy to wrap one’s head around, but that doesn’t make him anything more than cruel. In fact, he reveals his true colors when his variant travels from 2014 to the future and realizes the universe isn’t accepting its fate. That attitude earns the Mad Titan a one-way ticket to the grave, which is how it should be, since there’s no coming back from what he did. Unfortunately, the successor to Thanos’ throne is on a different trajectory, one that could ruin their character if Marvel Studios isn’t careful.
The MCU’s Best Phase Four Villain Gives Thanos a Run for His Money
After Thanos is gone, the world tries to move on, but there are holes that need fixing. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier explores the displacement of people who return after spending five years as dust, while Hawkeye and WandaVision show how much losing time can affect people. 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever takes a less subtle approach, as the U.S. government enlists the help of a young scientist, Riri Williams, to aid its effort to discover vibranium outside of Wakanda to enhance security. All the underwater mining starts to irritate a kingdom, Talokan, that wants nothing more than to be left alone, and its people attack the surface dwellers.
Needing allies, Talokan’s leader, Namor, pays a visit to Queen Ramonda and Princess Shuri of Wakanda, as he believes they’ll be sympathetic to his cause. However, like the Mad Titan, Namor meets resistance and decides his best course of action is to declare war on anyone who doesn’t call the ocean home. Talokan’s attack on Wakanda leaves the country in shambles and without a queen, as Ramonda dies in the battle. Namor doesn’t even feel remorse, telling Shuri to bury her dead and prepare for the next fight. Villains that menacing don’t grow on trees, so one would think the MCU would do everything in its power to keep building Namor up as a bad guy. Instead, the franchise is taking a less-than-ideal approach.
Namor May Be About to Lose His Bad Guy Status
Namor doesn’t bring his A-game at the end of Wakanda Forever. Shuri gets the best of him using her technology, forcing him to yield and wave the white flag. There’s also a shift in attitude, with Namor coming to understand Wakanda and its people before he returns to rule his underwater kingdom. The next time the mutant returns will be in Avengers: Doomsday, and based on all of the available information, it doesn’t seem like he’s going to return to his old ways. Sure, he’s no goody-two-shoes, but he’s likely to be more of a friend than foe to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, especially once he lays his eyes on Sue Storm, who has a history with him in the comics.
Getting into a love triangle with two humans is a far way to fall for a villain who forces the most powerful nation in the world to bend the knee for a time. The only hope for Namor is the possibility that the MCU will borrow from his Secret Wars story, in which he leads a group of villains and anti-heroes who attempt to destroy other realities before they can return the favor. That would be a great way for Namor to have his villainous cake and eat it heroically, as he can hide behind the idea that he’s protecting Earth by sacrificing all the other ones. Sound familiar?
Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18, 2026.
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