The Marvel Cinematic Universe has introduced several famous comic book villains into the movies, but in many cases, they are in movies that have nothing to do with their origins in the books. In some cases, there were villains who perfectly matched up with the heroes they fought in the MCU, with perfect examples being Red Skull fighting Captain America in Captain America: The First Avenger and Loki in Thor. However, there are other movies in the MCU where the main villain never got to fight the hero with whom they were most connected, or at least the heroes against whom they debuted for the first time.
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Here is a look at seven MCU villains who never fought their original Marvel nemesis. On a side note, Mandarin is not included here, as Iron Man fought a fake Mandarin in Iron Man 3, although he never faced the real one, who appeared in Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
7) Ultron Never Got to Fight Hank Pym
The MCU had no choice but to change Ultron’s origin story somewhat when he was introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron. That is because, in the MCU, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) was an older man, no longer operating as Ant-Man, and was more aligned with SHIELD, while never working with the Avengers. Instead, the MCU changed things up to have Tony Stark and Bruce Banner create Ultron. This means Ultron never had a chance to fight his “father” in the MCU, even though they were always connected in the comics. Ultron has always been an Avengers villain, so the MCU got that right, but without Pym, it was different.
6) Red Hulk Didn’t fight Hulk
To be perfectly clear, Hulk and General Thunderbolt Ross did have plenty of battles, as it was Ross who was targeting Hulk in The Incredible Hulk when he turned Emil Blonsky into Abomination. However, when General Ross became the President of the United States (which never happened in the comics) and finally turned into Red Hulk, he never had a chance to battle his archenemy, The Hulk. Instead, he fought the new Captain America, which made a lot of sense, but it took away the fans’ chance to see Red Hulk and Hulk throwing fists.
5) The Leader Also Didn’t fight Hulk
While Red Hulk not fighting Hulk was disappointing, it at least made sense from a storyline point of view. However, it made no sense for Leader to make his return and not have anything to do with the Hulk. The Leader made his debut in The Incredible Hulk, and he was a minor villain there, but he wasn’t the Leader yet. However, his betrayal of Bruce Banner in that movie turned him into the Leader, and he never faced Hulk again. Leader and Hulk were always a perfect match since Leader used his brain to battle Hulk’s brawn, but it never happened in the movies, with Leader instead just working behind the scenes with Red Hulk.
4) Kang Didn’t Meet The Fantastic Four OR The Avengers
Kang made his Marvel Comics debut in the pages of Fantastic Four as Rama Tut. He then made his second appearance in The Avengers as Kang the Conqueror. Kang appeared twice in the MCU, and neither time was against the Avengers or Fantastic Four. Of course, Kang Dynasty was supposed to be an Avengers movie, but changes behind the scenes stopped that from happening. Instead, Ant-Man beat Kang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. That was embarrassing, but then Kang’s next appearance was against Loki, and Sylvia killed that variant. Kang died twice in the MCU and never faced the Avengers once.
3) MODOK Never Fought Captain America
Another major villain who appeared in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was MODOK. However, not only was this not the real MODOK from comics, but it wasn’t against the hero with whom MODOK was most associated. In Marvel Comics, MODOK is a major villain of Captain America, the leader of AIM, and a constant thorn in his side. However, in the movies, he wasn’t anything like MODOK from the comics. Instead, this was Darren Cross, the villain from the first Ant-Man movie, placed in a MODOK armor to help him survive.
2) Ronan the Accuser Never Fought the Fantastic Four
To be completely transparent,m Ronan the Accuser is most associated with the cosmic Marvel Universe, and this has put him in conflict with the Guardians of the Galaxy more than once. He was also fighting alongside the Guardians in the Annihilation Wave, so his appearance as the main villain in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie made a lot of sense. However, the modern-day Guardians of the Galaxy didn’t even debut in Marvel Comics until the Annihilation Wave. Ronan, on the other hand, debuted in 1967 in Fantastic Four #65, and he followed up as part of the Kree-Skrull War in the Avengers comics.
1) Cassandra Nova Never Fought Professor X
Cassandra Nova showed up as the main villain in Deadpool & Wolverine, and the movie set it up so that the villains in this film came from different Earths in the multiverse, thanks to the TVA. This allowed everyone from Blade and Elektra to the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and Gambit to show up for the big battle. However, the main villain was Cassandra Nova, which makes sense because of her power levels. She is the twin sister of Professor X, whom Xavier tried to kill while they were still in the womb. She ended up growing up wanting revenge against her brother, but in the MCU, she never had the chance to fight her brother in a movie.
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