Every fan has a favorite villain. Generally, that villain has made an impact of sorts, whether it is destruction on a massive and amazing level, a backstory with which you can empathize, or someone who just wants to see the world burn. Some villains add more than their existence and an opposing force to a film they are in, if done correctly, they can be sympathized with, they can add depth, and even emotion. In film, no one seems to do this better than the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Here is the definitive list on villains that should return to the MCU.
10 Thanos
Marvel Studios
Aside from Josh Brolin absolutely crushing his role here, Thanos, at his heart and in the comics, is an Eternal. Indeed, Eternals’ introduction of Harry Styles into the MCU as Thanos’ brother Starfox confirmed this, not to mention the fact that Angelina Jolie’s Thena, in the comics, is Thanos’ cousin. While it doesn’t appear that Thanos was directly connected with the Eternals in the movie, there’s so much potential backstory and family history to explore. What’s more, Marvel’s most recent animated series What If…? brought both Thanos and Brolin back for a few episodes, signifying that the studio might not entirely be done with the character and actor.
9 Hela
Even as a murderous, envious, would-be queen of Asgard, Cate Blanchett is charming. The Academy Award-winning actress pulled off the role easily—and with style. While Hela seemed to have met a tragic end in Thor: Ragnarok, it’s arguably ambiguous: not only did she vanish in a flash of green light when she “died,” her ultimate fate was more or less off-screen. Asgardians, of course, are exceptionally strong beings, and as the Goddess of Death, who had survived in exile for all these years, surely Hela could have survived Ragnarok. Ultimately, from a narrative pespective, it would be amazing to see Valkyrie exact revenge on Hela, who was, after all, solely responsible for the death of her partner and team of legendary warriors.
8 Red Skull
After being defeated in Captain America: The First Avenger, the Red Skull was seemingly killed, but holding an item that was a shell for the Space Stone, the Tesseract, he was transported to Vormir. There he acts more like a guide, even going as far as saying he guides others to a power that he can never possess. In the comics, he represents Caps most prolific villain and is a constant Avengers-level threat. A superb example of this lays within the comic book series Tech On Avengers, where he takes Wanda’s House of M to the next level. Whereas she utters “No more mutants” he utters" No more powers" while he holds the broken, but still powerful Inifnity Stones. Having the MCU bring him back could present both Bucky and Sam with some great fodder for them to grow as heroes. Bucky was last seen tying up some loose Hydra ends, and no one represents Hydra more than Red Skull. For Sam, a bout against the ulgy red guy could help prove to himself that he is worthy of the shield, something that took all of The Falcon and the Winder Soldier for him to come to grips with.
7 Ultron
After Infinity Ultron was very much the main antagonist in What If…? it seems to leave viewers wanting a little bit more. His defeat of Thanos in the blink of an eye leaves one craving a rematch between the mechanical menace and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. After seeing a decapitated Ultron head in Spider-Man: Homecoming, it seems it could happen, and there is a lead-up. Disney is not making a secret out of assembling the Young Avengers., and one of the classic stories involving the ‘Next Avengers’ comes in the form of an animated movie where Ultron has taken over, and the new team must rely on each other, Iron Man, and Hulk to help stop the maniacal menace. Additionaly, when a movie is titled Age of Ultron, it should take place over a few years, and not a few days. That wasn’t beef that was aging, it was a movie!
6 Grandmaster
There can never be too much Jeff Goldblum. It’s like saying no thanks to extra helpings at Thanksgiving—it just doesn’t happen. The end of Thor: Ragnarok saw Grandmaster clapping and congratulating his former constituients on a revolution well done. Letting them know they played their part well, and that they should thank him for allowing them to play that part, after all it’s hard to overthrow someone if there is no one to overthrow. It would be nice to catch up with Grandmaster to see where he is now. Due to his lineage, he is likely still alive in the MCU. Grandmaster is a celestial afterall and certainly could survive a small planetary uprising.
5 Ayesha
Technically we just know the Adam Warlock will be involved in Guardians of the Galaxy 3, but Ayesha could still return. She was last seen, disheveled, in the post credits scene, she was being summoned by the Elders of her people, the Sovereign, and they were implied as being none to happy about her use of a ton of resources to invent a new type of creation pod to settle the intergalactic grudge between the Guardians and herself. It would be nice to see Ayesha filling the role of dejected heroine, at least in her own eyes. Seeing her use a powerful being such as Adam Warlock to fulfill her own grudge, and possibly the tool of her own demise, once he turns good, could be a fun arc to bring it full circle for our favorite galactic misfits.
4 Dormammu
Using time as a bargaining chip with the big bad will likely only be a temporary solution to his plans of taking over Strange’s dimension. In the comics Dormammu is usually banished back to his own domain instead of being killed or destoyed. While he certainly has had his bouts with others such as The Guardians of the Galaxy, Odin, and Spider-Man to name a few. It would be fitting for Dormammu to make a return to deal with Dr. Strange. He probably would not be happy that a rookie sorceror got the best of him, and while very little is known about the sequel as of yet, it could in fact happen as the film will deal more with the multiverse. While it does appear that Shuma-Gorath could be the big bad in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it wouldn’t be out of the question for Dormammu to make his presence known in this, or a future project.
3 Baron Zemo
Helmet Zemo is a charming villain. While it was sad that his actions killed king T’Chaka in Captain America: Civil War, as the film progressed you truly did understand his motivations. He was trying to do what he felt was right and destroy the Avengers who he deemed responsible for his family’s murder. It’s hard to argue that point. Aside from that, Zemo was really the first villain in the MCU to win. Yes, it could be said that he got caught, but he was going to kill himself in the end anyways. His actions directly crippled the Avengers and it was that chink in the armor that split up Cap and Iron Man, arguably leading the way for Thanos to later succeed in Infinity War. When last last seen, Zemo, was fresh off of busting a move and being escorted on his way to Wakanda to pay for his crimes against their people. It’s not plaing with house money to assume he could be seen again as we get closer to seeing the Thunderbolts assembled.
2 Vulture
Speaking of a villains motivation being their family, the poster child for that is Michael Keaton’s Vulture. The chilling car scene alone in Spider-Man: Homecoming is more than enough to want Keaton to reprise his role. After the events of No Way Home it is unlikely that Vulture would return in the MCM anytime soon, but we can still hope. We don’t have to wait to see him reprise the character overall however as he will be appearing in a few projects in Sony’s Spider-Verse starting with 2022’s Morbius. Maybe one day, if the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home are ever reversed, the question of if he does have a grudge against Peter can be answered. The post credit scene saw Vulture refusing to sell Peter out to Scorpion. Was this out of nobility for saving his life, or did he want to save the honor of a rematch with Spidey for himself.
1 The REAL Taskmaster
There was a lot of negative reaction towards the reveal in Black Widow that Antonia Dreykov was Taskmaster. Fortunately, there is another version of Taskmaster, Tony Masters. While Black Widow did a great job in adding depth to the adopted family aspect of Natasha’s life, it utterly failed by switching out one of Marvel’s most charastmatic and snarky villains for a teenage girl with no personailty The essence of this character is his personality, charm, and whit. It would be nice to see Tony emerge as the ultimate photographic reflexive foe. There is a little bit of hope here as in the film, Antonia is clearly stated to be in the ‘Taskmaster Protocol." Perhaps this protocol could be seen as having been developed by Tony Masters. Yelena could perhaps have an axe to grind with this program, as Taskmaster Protocol and the Black Widows are seemingly linked in the MCU.
