5 Iconic Avengers Villains Who Could be The MCU’s Next Big Bad (After Doom)

The next big bad in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Doctor Doom, and he will lead the way in both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. However, once that second movie ends, the entire MCU franchise will allegedly see the world rebooted, and there will be a new focus with the X-Men, while the Wakandans and the cosmic Marvel universe will mostly replace the Avengers. This doesn’t mean the Avengers are not going away, and they are likely to still be around, but in smaller roles. That said, the biggest question is who the big bad after Doctor Doom will be, and the Avengers comics themselves have a lot of options of who could show up next. And these 5 candidates could be perfect for the next MCU big bad.

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5) Korvac

Korvac is powerful enough to be a big bad, but he isn’t really someone who can go over multiple movies like Thanos did in the first two MCU phases. However, unlike Thanos, Michael Korvac is pretty much a godlike being. His first appearance was in Giant-Size Defenders #3, but his first main storyline was in Avengers Vol. 1 #167-177 and he actually killed entire Avengers team.

Korvac was an interesting villain since he wanted to change the world and make it a better place by force and by stripping everyone of their individual freedom. However, he wasn’t sure if he was a hero or a villain in his own story. In more recent storylines, Korvac returned, still wanting to turn the universe into his own vision, and this time he was more antagonistic, with Iron Man forced to stop him alone. Korvac is a one-movie villain, but could be the most dangerous the MCU has ever seen.

4) Mephisto

Everyone predicted that Mephisto was going to appear in several properties, starting with WandaVision. However, he finally arrived in the most shocking place as he showed up in Ironheart on Disney+. It was Mephisto instead of Dormammu who gave The Hood his cloak, and it was Mephisto who said that he had made deals with almost every successful person on the planet.

This makes a strong case for Mephisto being a big bad unlike any other. If Mephisto made deals with successful superheroes (and it is likely he did make a deal with Howard Stark, and maybe even Tony Stark in the past), it would throw things into turmoil. Mephisto could also be the being who helps pull strings to make the X-Men’s life a living hell, just for the fun of it. He could also mess with Spider-Man, and is the one big bad likely unbeatable in the end.

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3) Onslaught

There are rumors of an Avengers vs. X-Men adaptation, but the crossover between those two teams might need to lead to Onslaught. However, the story would need to end in a very different way because Avengers: Secret Wars is rebooting everything, and there is no reason it should happen again with Onslaught. Of course, Onslaught is a creature that formed from the anger of Magneto and frustration or Professor X.

At first, Onslaught wanted to save mutants from the humans who wanted them destroyed, but the creature soon learned that mutants were just as hateful and bad, and decided the best course was to eliminate all humans and mutants. It ended with the Avengers and Fantastic Four dead (actually banished to a new Earth) and Onslaught is a big bad that would be even deadlier than Doctor Doom.

2) Norman Osborn

Norman Osborn hasn’t showed up in the MCU yet at all, although an alternate version did arrive in Spider-Man: No Way Home. It seems interesting that no one has mentioned Osborn, although for technical reasons, it is because Sony holds the rights to the character, despite him having as much to do with the Avengers and Iron Man this century than Spider-Man.

Norman took control after Secret Invasion and shut down SHIELD to replace it with HAMMER. He then created the Dark Avengers, made several heroes as fugitives, and ended up leading two Avengers-level crossovers with Dark Reign and Siege. If the MCU needs someone to step up and become an evil man trying to control heroes like the X-Men, Norman Osborn is a great choice.

1) Annihilus

The one Marvel Comics villain that almost everyone believes will be the next big bad in the MCU is none other than Annihilus. For years, Annihilus was a Fantastic Four villain since it was the First Family of Marvel who opened up the portal to the Negative Zone and introduced this world to Annihilus’s attention. However, this led him to become a threat for the entire Marvel Universe. This was the Annihilation Wave.

While not always an Avengers enemy, Annihilus is a cosmic level villain, and since the MCU is said to focus more on the cosmos in the next phase, especially with Nova’s eventual arrival, he makes the most sense. It would take everyone, from the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and more to stop Annihilus if he arrives with the army he had in the comics, and he could be a perfect Avengers big bad in the MCU.

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