A basic-ish summary of every MCU movie villain and antagonist for those who aren’t into the MCU like I am.
(Not counting shows because I’m not THAT insane. Also Spoilers, but you probably don’t care if you’ve either seen some of these films or have no intention on watching them.)
PHASE 1 (Not a lot of good villains here I’m afraid)
Iron Man’s Iron Monger- The first of many to steal Tony’s tech and your average ‘corrupt businessman’ who was like Tony’s co-worker/surrogate dad-mentor. Also happens to be The Dude. Kind of not impressive for the first canonical MCU villain.
Incredible Hulk’s General Ross and Abomination– The best example as to why the MCU isn’t as pro-military as you may think. (And later was dumb enough to think he’d have any power over the Avengers). The other one is your basic ‘villain with powers equal to the hero’ who ends up becoming one of the better characters in She-Hulk.
Iron Man 2’s Whiplash and Justin Hammer–I honestly haven’t seen this movie, but basically it’s another ‘guy who steals Tony’s tech’ and has whips, but not the fun kind. Also some dude who I think is meant to be the discount version of Tony Stark (and is played by an actor whose voice you might recognize as one of Dreamworks Animation’s best furry icons.)
Thor– Thor’s trickster brother who is the first of the most memorable villains…. And one of many ‘Tumblr Sexy Men.’ Comes off as smarter than Thor (and you might like to know what he’s SUPPOSED to look like if you have a thing for giant men in Marvel’s ‘What if”). Honestly I think Thor is the more attractive brother.
Captain America’s Red Skull–The head of a fictional branch of one of the most hated political parties in history so yes you should immediately hate him…. Also I’m angry because THAT is how you could pull off an accurate book version of the Phantom of the Opera with make up.
Avengers’ Loki–Loki again, but at least they picked a good villain for the big crossover. Screws with everyone’s heads for most of the film and tries opening a portal to space with a ‘totally not going to be important later on’ scepter and cube. Honestly his defeat at the hands of the Hulk made me laugh so hard that it’s still funny years later.
PHASE 2 (Slightly better, but mostly ehh...)