The 2023 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Award for Best Villain

A number of beloved franchises earned big-screen installments throughout 2023, and while we might not have gotten universe-destroying threats like the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Thanos, movies over the past year got inventive with the motivations for their nefarious threats. Even if the ultimate goals of cinematic antagonists weren't to outright destroy the world, big-screen stories showed a variety of inspired origins igniting destructive paths across theater screens all year, much to the delight of audiences. From A.I., to personal scores to settle, to "saving" a multiverse, the most compelling threats of the year had unsettling and relatable justifications for their madness. Of all the menacing character seen in movies this year, though, only one can win the 2023 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Award.

And the winner for the 2023 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Award for Best Villain is…  

The High Evolutionary from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3!

The MCU as a whole, and the Guardians of the Galaxy films specifically, are notorious for having villain problems. The first two films saw our ragtag heroes facing off against Ronan the Accuser and Ego the Living Planet, respectively, both of whom had plans for destruction and global domination. For filmmaker James Gunn's sendoff to the characters, it makes perfect sense that he leaned into his strengths as an emotionally-driven storyteller, with The High Evolutionary's objectives being much more specific — and thus much more chilling.

The High Evolutionary's objective was pretty simple: to optimize a variety of species that can achieve their full potential, in order to establish an entirely harmonious society on Counter-Earth. In that sense, his goal echoed those of Thanos, the MCU's most complex and compelling villain thus far, as both moviegoers and characters could empathize with the concept of such a peaceful society. As is that nature with all villains, though, it's not that his ultimately goal was inherently treacherous, so much as it was his focus on the destination, making for a ruthless journey to justify his means.    

Heightening the unease of The High Evolutionary and his agenda, making for an even stronger emotional resonance with audiences, is the reveal of his connection to Rocket, the standout character of the Guardians series. Ever since we met him in the first movie, we knew Rocket had a tragic backstory in which he was experimented on ruthlessly by unknown figures, leaving him not only with physical pain, but also emotional scars. While audiences had accepted this backstory without needing an explanation for his origins, Vol. 3's reveal that The High Evolutionary was responsible for Rocket's trauma immediately shot him up the list of the MCU's most hated figures.

Not only did the movie establish this connection between the two, but it also showcased how Rocket wasn't alone in the torture he endured, as a few other animals also suffered at The High Evolutionary's hand. Even though Rocket felt as though he had found a family, these connections only hurt him in the end, when The High Evolutionary was able to thoughtlessly kill them when they slowed down his seemingly benevolent mission. With writer/director Gunn being vegan himself, his sendoff to the characters he helped establish as beloved heroes was his most personal story to date, managing to inject the real-life themes of the suffering animals are subjected to for a greater good. 

The High Evolutionary helps spotlight the biggest strengths of the MCU, which are stories that are grounded more in complex and emotional journeys, as opposed to merely offering wanton destruction. This is why, in a year full of unsettling threats to various franchies, Iwuji's unnerving take on the iconic Marvel character made him the Best Villain of 2023.

The nominees for the 2023 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Award for Best Villain are:

• Dante (Jason Momoa, Fast X)
• Gabriel (Esai Morales, Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part One)
• The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) — WINNER
• Miguel O'Hara / Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse)
• Super-Fly (Ice Cube, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem)