Along with the iconic superheroes that fans love to cheer for, the MCU has delivered some great villains they love to hate. While Loki was one of the few standouts in the early days of the MCU, more interesting villains like John Walker, Killmonger, and, of course, Thanos have proved Marvel can deliver great bad guys as well.
When it comes to the villains, most of the attention is paid to the big names who threaten the world and face off with the Avengers. However, there are some notable under-the-radar villains who largely go unnoticed. These baddies don’t step into the spotlight and some might not even look at them as villains, but they have also done their share of evil deeds.
Raza
The fact that Raza was the first established villain in the MCU should earn him at least a little bit of respect. It is also interesting that Raza is one of the more real-world villains who has appeared in the franchise as he is a terrorist using Stark Industries weapons for his own personal war.
Not only does Raza capture Tony Stark, but he also is largely responsible for setting him on his path to becoming Iron Man. He is shown to be a ruthless man who is willing to wipe out entire villages of innocent people and his real-world feel makes him quite unsettling.
Justin Hammer
It is quite easy to dismiss Justin Hammer as a villain. He is funnier than he is intimidating and is often made to look like a fool. He is also pushed aside to make room for the bigger threat of Ivan Vanko.
But behind his goofy dancing and his spray tan, Hammer has a malicious quality to him. After seeing Vanko nearly kill Tony Stark, Hammer was willing to stage a prison break of a clearly dangerous man who wants to kill his competitor all so he can stop looking like second-best to Stark.
Mitchell Carson
Mitchell Carson is introduced in the flashback prologue of Ant-Man and immediately establishes himself as a jerk. He insults Hank Pym for having lost his wife on a mission years ago. While that is pretty awful, he turns out to be worse than that.
He is later revealed to be one of the nefarious people trying to purchase Darren Cross’s new shrinking particles and that he is working with Hydra. In fact, it is hinted that he is actually still out there and may be armed with some of those particles.
Bill Foster
In the comics, Bill Foster is a hero known as Goliath, who can grow in size. Just as in the comics, Bill is shown to be a former colleague of Hank Pym’s and his past as Goliath is also hinted at.
However, Bill and Hank have some unpleasant history with each other in Ant-Man and the Wasp. It is eventually revealed that Bill is helping the villainous Ghost gain access to the Quantum Realm. Though Bill seems to be doing it for selfless reasons, the fact that he captured the heroes and put them in danger many times is sort of just ignored.
Tinkerer
Michael Keaton’s Vulture makes for a great villain in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but he is not the one who made those fancy flying wings of his. That is the work of one of his minions known as Tinkerer.
As with her comic book persona, Tinkerer is a villain who specializes in building gadgets and weapons for various villains. While he might not be Spider-Man’s most iconic foe, he is responsible for creating a lot of trouble for him. Tinkerer is basically a black-market arms manufacturer, and unlike Vulture, he appears to get away in the end.
Senator Stern
Senator Stern is another character who initially seems more like an unpleasant antagonist rather than a real villain. In Iron Man 2, he is the senator who spearheads the move to get the Iron Man tech taken away from Tony Stark which immediately makes the audience hate him.
However, in a fun twist, Senator Stern reappears in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and turns out to be a secret Hydra agent. It wasn’t just that he was another attention-craving politician, he was actually an evil spy looking to ensure Iron Man wasn’t around to stop them.
W’Kabi
The world-building of Wakanda was one of the most interesting aspects of Black Panther, as it introduced many different tribes and characters. W’Kabi was one character who didn’t get enough screen time but made a pretty abrupt turn into villainy.
He is introduced as a close friend and ally to T’Challa. But as soon as T’Challa fails to kill Klaue, W’Kabi is ready to side with Killmonger who wants to kill T’Challa. W’Kabi even appears to be willing to kill his partner, Okoye, before coming to his senses.
Vice President Rodriguez
The villainous plot in Iron Man 3 is a very complicated one that involves super soldiers and a fake Mandarin. It all culminates in Aldrich Killian kidnapping the president. This involves yet another twist and a pretty wild betrayal, as it turns out the Vice President of the United States was in on the scheme as well.
It appears V.P. Rodriguez was offered a way to help his daughter in exchange for letting the President be burned alive on national television by a fake terrorist.
Arnim Zola
Though he was just a henchman in Captain America: The First Avenger, Arnim Zola established himself as one of the smartest MCU heroes. He was the man who helped harness the power of the Tesseract to make weapons. Without him, Red Skull would have been nothing.
Once captured, he became an informant rather easily. But it turns out Zola was not just some follower with no ambition of his own. He managed to rebuild Hydra within S.H.I.E.L.D. which is quite an impressive and evil feat. The fact that he is also responsible for turning Bucky into the Winter Soldier just adds to his villainy.
Odin
Odin is one of the most powerful beings in the universe, and apart from some issues with his sons, he was always regarded as a hero. He ruled over Asgard with kindness and compassion for his people and even protected Midgard from destruction.
However, in Thor: Ragnarok, Hela exposes how Odin became the ruler of the Nine Realms and it is decidedly unheroic. He used Hela to conquer everyone, killing countless people in the process. Though he became a better king over time, he forced his rule on people through fear and intimidation.
