Highlights
- The Cabal is a notorious supervillain team in the Marvel Comics universe that causes chaos and is made up of intelligent villains like Red Skull, Loki, and Namor.
- Each member of the Cabal has unique abilities and motivations, such as Arnim Zola's knowledge of genetics, Kingpin's control over organized crime, and Emma Frost's telepathy and shape-shifting abilities.
- Notable members include Doctor Doom, who seeks to improve humanity through conquest, and Thanos, who desires to stand against the heroic Illuminati and worship Mistress Death. These villains have made appearances in various Marvel films.
Marvel Comics has introduced a series of great supervillain teams over the years that make trouble for its scores of superhero teams. One of the most infamous is the Cabal. It's a secret group of criminal masterminds that work together to wreak havoc throughout the Marvel Comics universe.
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Over the years, the roster has featured some of the biggest villains already introduced in the MCU, such as Red Skull, Loki, and Namor. This group of supremely intelligent villains and anti-heroes was formed in the Dark Reign storyline specifically to provide a counterbalance to the heroic version of the Illuminati.
10 Arnim Zola
A biochemist during World War II, Arnim Zola was hired by Red Skull due to his knowledge of genetics and his study of deviant science. Zola has found a way to escape death several times by transporting his mind into an android body. He also achieved enough power to rule his own dimension featuring many of his creations despite the fact he has no known superpowers.
Zola appeared in the MCU in both Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In The First Avenger, he is a human working for Red Skull while his consciousness appears in a computer in The Winter Soldier.
9 Kingpin
Despite having no actual superpowers, Wilson Fisk is one of the most crucial players in The Cabal and the entire Marvel universe. The Kingpin has created problems for multiple heroes including Spider-Man, Daredevil, and The Punisher. Always wearing a white or black suit, Wilson Fisk proclaimed himself the kingpin of crime.
He was known for controlling organized crime along the East Coast, especially in New York City, with an iron fist. Marvel has brought him to screen several times including the 2003 Daredevil film and the Netflix television series. He made his MCU debut in Hawkeye and is expected to appear again in Echo.
8 Emma Frost
Introduced as one of the main villains of the X-Men, Emma Frost served as the White Queen of the Hellfire Club before joining the Cabal. Frost is a powerful mutant telepath that also has the ability to transform into an organic diamond. She's also a gifted teacher which helps when she's on the side of good and working at Xavier's School for Gifted Children. However, she spends most of her time as a villain.
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Much like the rest of the X-Men, Emma Frost has not been introduced into the MCU, however, she did appear in X-Men: First Class working with Sebastian Shaw. She then teamed up with Magneto to appear in X-Men: Days of Future Past.
7 Doctor Doom
The big bad of The Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom joins up with The Cabal much in the same way his arch nemesis, Reed Richards, joined the Illuminati. Victor Von Doom is a brilliant, once handsome, scientist whose face was scarred during the explosion that created The Fantastic Four. Von Doom serves as the monarch of Latveria but wants to improve humanity through conquest.
Dr. Doom not only masters science but sorcery as well. While his main battles have been with The Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom has also battled the Silver Surfer and the Illuminati throughout Marvel's history.
6 Red Skull
Red Skull leads the villainous organization known as HYDRA. Johann Schmidt started as a proud Nazi general before becoming even more of an embodiment of evil and fear. He went from being a human to the ruthless Red Skull and was known for fighting Captain America.
He's one of the strongest villains to join the Cabal and has shown up at many points in time in the Marvel Universe. In the MCU, Red Skull was the main villain of Captain America: The First Avenger and reappeared in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame guarding the soul stone.
5 Sin
Red Skull wasn't the only member of his family to join the Cabal. His daughter, Sin, also joined the villainous organization. Sin was aged at an accelerated rate, so she could be useful to her father. Sin took part in both the Sisters of Hate and Red Menace groups as well.
In the Civil War comics storyline, Sin and Crossbones were responsible for the death of Captain America. However, she did not make an appearance in the MCU film, Captain America: Civil War.
4 Namor
Essentially the Aquaman of the Marvel Universe, Namor the Sub-Mariner rules the undersea kingdom of Atlantis. One of Marvel's oldest published characters, Namor has been both a hero and a villain over the years but sided with the villainous Cabal against the Illuminati.
Namor had a falling out with the Illuminati and worked with Loki to form the Cabal. He made his MCU debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as one of the many Marvel villains whose motivations make sense even if his methods do not.
3 Magneto
One of the most powerful and recognizable mutants on planet Earth, Magento has served as the primary antagonist for the X-Men. His friendly yet adversarial relationship with Professor Charles Xavier makes sense as the pair have similar, ultimately peaceful goals. However, Xavier wants to reach that level through coalition while Magneto prefers conquest.
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As shown in Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Professor Xavier is a member of the Illuminati in the MCU, so it makes sense that Magneto would join the Cabal to stand against Xavier. While Magneto hasn't appeared in the MCU, he has appeared in every X-Men teamup film released since 2000.
2 Loki
The God of Mischief was critical in the creation of the original version of The Cabal. He formed the team to battle the Illuminati. The stepbrother of Thor, Loki was abducted from his home planet by Odin and raised as if he were Odin's son. Eventually, Loki betrayed his home planet in an effort to gain Odin's approval and take over Asgard.
Loki has been one of the most popular characters in the entire MCU. He has appeared in three Thor films, three Avengers films, and two seasons of his Disney+ series.
1 Thanos
The Mad Titan wasn't just hellbent on wiping out half the universe, he also wanted to stand with the Cabal against the Illuminati. As an Eternal with a deviant gene, Thanos was extremely powerful and difficult to beat in hand-to-hand combat. He also loved and worshiped Mistress Death.
Thanos was also the Big Bad of the Infinity Sage in the MCU. Making his first appearance in the end credits scene of Avengers, he kept sending his minions until finally deciding to seek out the Infinity stones himself, leading to a massive battle between his forces and the Avengers.