2021 finally saw the launch of the MCU‘s Phase 4 — 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home was initially slated as its first entry, but was later reclassified as the final film of Phase 3. So far, we’ve had five productions — three TV series and two movies (not including the currently ongoing What If…?). And across those, the franchise has introduced a bunch of notable new villains. But who’s the best of the bunch? That’s what fans have been debating on Reddit.
Reddit user u/liveitupbrah posted on the r/MarvelStudios subreddit asking fans who their favorite villain was out of the following: Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) from WandaVision, Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman) from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) from Loki, General Dreykov (Ray Winstone) and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) from Black Widow and Wenwu (Tony Leung) and Death Dealer (Li Ching-Lin) from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Going by the responses, there’s one clear winner from this lot: Leung’s Wenwu AKA the real Mandarin (though he doesn’t like the name). “Wenwu is probably my favorite so far. He was a nuanced, very human antagonist,” said u/AmazingMrSaturn. U/501st-Soldier agreed, replying: “Seconded on Wenwu, Tony Leung did a great job of humanizing the character.” U/CRnaes described Shang-Chi’s dad as “absolutely outstanding, one of the most engaging and fascinating villains in the MCU.”
U/DifferenceFree7808 also went for Wenwu, but they’re waiting to see how Jonathan Majors fares as Kang the Conqueror. Many commenters praised Agatha as a firm runner-up to Wenwu, with u/LittleYellowFish1 describing her as “the most entertaining” of the bunch, while u/chanma50 said, “Kathryn Hahn kills it throughout.” As for the rest, some expressed disappointment with both Dreykov and Taskmaster, particularly the twist to the assassin’s identity, and also Karli, with u/antiform_prime claiming “there is nothing compelling” about her. As for Death Dealer, folks love his action sequences but agree he’s not given any characterization.
Significant MCU villains we’ve got coming up include the Deviants in Eternals and the Sinister Six in Spider-Man: No Way Home. But for now, it seems most fans believe that Wenwu is the best antagonist Phase 4 has to offer.
