The Marvel Universe is a much darker place than the majority of projects within the Marvel Cinematic Universe show. While certain projects like What If and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness have showcased darker elements of this universe, there are many more devastating events and storylines within the pages of Marvel Comics.
Many of these darker stories are spurred on by characters with a complete lack of care or emotion about the consequences of their actions. While many heroes like Captain America believe in always doing right and are considered “white knight” characters, although even Captain America has had some darker moments. But there are also plenty of villains and even a few heroes whose belief systems approach outright nihilism.
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Not all Marvel movies are full of light-hearted jokes and heroism. Some, like the following, dive surprisingly deep into the darkness.
6 The Nihilist Order
Believe it or not, as part of a plan to defame Captain America once, Red Skull actually took on a new persona and created a religious cult of worshipers known as the Nihilist Order, bringing together a large group of people who he could teach the principles of nihilism. Despite Red Skull not seeming to believe in the principles, the Nihilist Order themselves seemed to be sincere in their beliefs.
Though they were never a major recurring set of characters after the single storyline they were involved in, the Nihilist Order was one of the perfect representations in Marvel Comics history of the nihilist beliefs. Red Skull utilized them to his own ends but many other characters, including the entirety of the Order, seemed to really hold true to the beliefs.
5 Ghost Rider
A character who deals with so much pain and suffering, it is unsurprising that Ghost Rider is generally a very subdued character, who believes in very little. Johnny Blaze was always presented as a dark specter of justice, but the evil that inspires his powers made it a lot harder for him to be presented as a true hero, though fans still want him in the MCU.
Ghost Rider, at least the Johnny Blaze version, literally inhabited a demon who gave him his powers. He was fairly resigned most of the time to being trapped with this curse, something that prompted him to remain committed to justice, but become one of the most brooding and nihilistic Marvel characters to be sure, his popularity in this form prompted Marvel to try out other dark comic characters.
4 Deadpool
It is difficult to call Deadpool a true nihilist, given that he is usually engaging in heroic works, but not only has he also had his fair share of villainous moments and usually seems not to care about the results of his actions or the way in which he treats people. Even some of his best friends like Blind Al and Hydra Bob have usually been more abused than befriended by Wade Wilson.
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Deadpool seems like an anti-hero, but in reality, with some of the actions he has taken over the years, he could easily be considered a villain.
Deadpool clearly has nihilistic tendencies, many of them probably stemming from the lack of care that other heroes show for him and the fact that he was cursed to be literally invincible, meaning he started to see that nothing would matter since he was doomed to live forever. This unfortunate incident has left Deadpool feeling like one of the most sociopathic and nihilistic characters in the Marvel Universe, bordering on turning from a hero into a villain.
3 Gorr The God Butcher
Despite the Christian Bale version of the character not getting a lot of time to shine in Thor: Love And Thunder, Gorr remains one of the most brutally nihilistic characters in the Marvel Pantheon. Originally being a member of an alien race that worshiped Gods, Gorr lost all faith in them when his family was abandoned by the Gods and all his people starved, including his daughter, making for a truly brutal origin.
Then, Gorr saw two Gods fall from the sky in a battle and killed the winner with a sword that was also a symbiote. The power of the sword enabled Gorr to ruthlessly begin slaughtering Gods across the universe, never caring for anything except ridding the universe of them. Not wanting or believing in anything except destruction, Gorr is surely a nihilist through and through.
2 Death
Death is actually a person within the confines of Marvel Comics, the representation of Death is a mysterious figure that multiple other nihilistic characters within the Marvel Universe have fallen in love with. This surely makes her one of the most nihilistic of all the characters within the pages of Marvel Comics.
Death seemingly cares about nothing, appearing to be more heroic or more evil at different times, sometimes punishing people and at other times simply watching them, fascinated by immortal characters like Deadpool. Appearing generally as a female creature, so they can be perceived by mortals, Death is a cosmic entity, completely immortal, and unsurprisingly pretty nihilistic.
1 Thanos
Thanos in the MCU was not much of a nihilist, but there were some major adaptions made from the comics for Josh Brolin’s version. Originally, when Jim Starlin created the character of Thanos, one of the defining traits of the Mad Titan was his nihilism, having conceived of the character while sitting in psychology classes.
Thanos truly believed throughout the comics that nothing really mattered, he frequently courted Death and collected the Infinity Stones to erase half of all life in the universe, just to impress her. It didn’t work, but Thanos cared about nothing and nobody except whatever goal he had in mind at the time, the supposed greater good Thanos worked towards in the MCU never existed in the mind of the Marvel Comics character.