Highlights
- Marvel's MCU has made significant improvements in writing and character development for their villains, with Thanos being considered one of the best villains in cinematic history.
- Former villains such as Red Skull and Scarlet Witch could potentially make a return to the MCU in future projects.
- These returning villains offer exciting opportunities for exploration and expansion of the MCU, both in terms of character development and potential storylines.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a wide franchise, having over a decade of history in many movies and TV shows that have taken place in the shared universe, meaning there are more forgotten characters in this franchise than there are total characters in other major movie franchises. One of the problems that the MCU has taken criticism for over the years has been the quality of writing and character development put into their villainous characters.
8 Best MCU Movies For A Video Game Adaptation
From Ant-Man to Captain Marvel, there are countless MCU movies that deserve their own video game adaptation.
As such, Marvel has responded more recently with some much-improved evildoers, and their pièce de résistance in Thanos is considered by many to be one of the best villains in cinema history. However, there are a variety of former villains from their previous properties who aren’t currently scheduled to come back, but who could still manage a return to the screen down the line.
10 Red Skull
One of the few Phase One villains that could return to the MCU, Red Skull was seemingly killed at the conclusion of Captain America: The First Avenger. But he later reappeared, having been teleported by the power of the Tesseract to a faraway place, and forced to guard the soul stone from future seekers of the infinity powers.
While his brief return in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame was thrilling, there has been no information about what happened to Red Skull following the removal of the Soul Stone from the current MCU timeline. With no Infinity Stones left to guard, Red Skull may well have finally died, never to return. But between What If? episodes and the potential for the villain to reappear in another way, there is a lot of easy territory to explore with such an insane villain returning to a modern MCU Earth.
9 Abomination
A character who has made some surprising reappearances in the recent MCU, Abomination first appeared in Phase One, in The Incredible Hulk. This film remained largely disconnected from the rest of the MCU for a long time, but more recently, Tim Roth returned as the Abomination first in Shang-Chi and later in She-Hulk.
While the strange ending for this show prompts some slight confusion over the ending for the character, it is entirely possible that he could still make a future appearance given the unresolved post-credits scene in She-Hulk. Roth’s version of the character took on a much less villainous role in She-Hulk, but this could change again in the future, or he could return to a more heroic role.
8 Justin Hammer
A villain who made his single appearance and hasn’t even been mentioned since, Justin Hammer played a villainous role in Iron Man 2, a highly underrated MCU sequel, played by Sam Rockwell. While Hammer wasn’t a very successful villain, and his only battle in the MCU was solely with heroes who have passed on since he was incarcerated, it is not impossible for him to make a return somewhere down the road.
Every Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie, Ranked By Rotten Tomatoes
The MCU has built up a lengthy catalog of movies, but which are the best and worst among them? We consulted Rotten Tomatoes to find out.
Rockwell is a massively popular actor, whose stock has only gone up since the last time he played Justin Hammer. Bringing the character back, after escaping or being released from jail, either as a reformed inventor or remaining as troublesome as before, could be a great move for the MCU villain roster. This could particularly work if Hammer was to reappear in an Iron Man-related project like Ironheart or the upcoming Armor Wars.
7 Vulture
One of the characters with the strangest histories in his live-action appearances, Michael Keaton capably brought the Vulture character to life as a relatable and re-watchable villain in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but what happened to him after that film became something of a head-scratcher. Instead of his next film appearance being in the MCU, it was in Morbius.
During Doctor Strange’s spell in No Way Home, some sort of unintended consequence accidentally led to Adrian Toomes appearing in a prison in the world of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe involving other Spider-Man characters. Having previously worked with Scorpion, Shocker, and Tinkerer, Toomes having a meeting with Morbius certainly teased a possible Sinister Six team in the future, albeit split across universes currently.
6 Scorpion
Though never appearing in his true villainous form, Mac Gargan was a potential buyer of Vulture’s technology in Spider-Man: Homecoming, who was intrigued at the time by the possibility that Vulture may know the identity of Spider-Man. This hasn’t come to anything yet, but the possibility of Gargan returning in another installment of the Spider-Man franchise down the line cannot be ruled out.
The 30 Best Spider-Man Villains of All Time, Ranked
From Kingpin to the Green Goblin, these fantastic Marvel villains have given Spider-Man plenty to think about over the years.
Scorpion is an underrated Spidey villain, and if there was a Sinister Six team to be formed in the MCU, he would likely be a strong candidate. However, there would need to be additional work put into his story, as Gargan’s character appeared without his suit and in quite a one-dimensional form in his only appearance to date.
5 Zemo
One of the more charismatic and beloved MCU villains to date, Zemo has already managed to turn himself into more of an anti-heroic character over his appearances in Captain America: Civil War and The Falcon And The Winter Soldier miniseries on Disney Plus. Unusually though, considering his popularity thus far, he has not been announced for any upcoming projects.
Fans were expecting to see Zemo either appearing in the upcoming fourth Captain America installment or possibly in the Thunderbolts film that is set to feature a team of former supervillains from the history of the MCU. With Zemo appearing in neither of these projects, the future of Daniel Bruhl’s version of the character is looking uncertain.
4 Mordo
One of the stranger villains in the MCU, Mordo was actually a heroic character who helped Doctor Strange throughout his first MCU outing, only to turn evil and decide that he should kill magic users across the world in the post-credits scene. While he appeared again in the sequel, it was an alternate universe version of the character, and the only mention of the prime-MCU universe Mordo was brief.
Marvel: 10 MCU Characters Who Will Probably Never Return
The MCU has featured a vast array of characters in its dozens of movies, but audiences have probably seen the last of these familiar faces.
Doctor Strange did mention that his former ally had turned on him and tried to kill him when speaking to the alternate universe Mordo, but if there was a confrontation between the two, it happened off-screen. Mordo could yet appear in the likely Doctor Strange threequel, but there has been no mention of him appearing in any future MCU project in a major way of late.
3 Dormammu
Another, much more malignant presence from the first Doctor Strange film, the entire final act of that MCU project involved Strange using the time stone to convince Dormammu not to invade the Earth. Though he was successful, it was only his manipulation of the time stone that enabled him to even shove Dormammu away from the planet, showing how much more respect Dormammu deserved.
This means that nobody in the MCU has yet tested their power against this huge force, and it is unknown if anyone can actually defeat him. In Marvel Comics, Dormammu has a niece, named Clea, the same character that Charlize Theron was playing when she appeared in the Doctor Strange And The Multiverse Of Madness post-credits scene, so it is not impossible that Doctor Strange will meet Dormammu again soon.
2 Surtur
Another character who has not truly been tested yet in the MCU, Surtur is the demon who was supposed to bring about the end of Asgard and eventually did so when released by Thor and Loki. Surtur seemingly killed their sister Hela as a result of his release, while the other Asgardians came as refugees to live on Earth, but Surtur could easily return.
There is no reason to believe thus far that Surtur had any ambitions beyond the destruction and rule of Asgard but eventually such a powerful creature is likely to turn towards more conquests. Whether Surtur eventually comes to a fight with Thor himself or another hero, it is likely that this humongous creature cannot be allowed to rampage across the universe forever.
1 Scarlet Witch
One of the few examples throughout the MCU of a hero turning towards the villainous side, Wanda Maximoff gave in to the power of the Scarlet Witch entirely and committed a number of atrocities across the multiverse in the Doctor Strange sequel, ending with a possible death for the character. However, her fate has not yet been confirmed, and the popularity of the character throughout Phase 4 makes it unlikely she will stay gone.
Wanda is a hugely powerful character, containing a truly rich comic book history that Marvel may want to continue exploring, especially with the X-Men on their way to the MCU. Though not confirmed for any upcoming projects, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Wanda return to the screen soon.