7) Kaecilius
Much has been said before about the relative quality of the villains of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the likes of Loki in Thor and, er, Loki in The Avengers are beloved, other antagonists – like Darren Cross from Ant-Man or Whiplash from Iron Man 2 – are fairly mediocre ‘reverse of the good guy’ types with little to no backstory. With a fantastic villainous actor like Mads Mikkelsen on board, there was the hope that Doctor Strange’s villain would be one of the better ones. So is he?
Well, in the result he’s much the same as most other Marvel antagonists. As a rogue student of The Ancient One, he recalls those examples we mentioned as another bad guy who has the same powers as the hero. We know that he wants to bring Dormammu to Earth because he believes that he will be granted eternal life, but we don’t really know why he wants such a thing. There is a hint that he truly believes the whole world would benefit from Dormammu’s coming, but the interesting angle that he might see himself as the hero is left unfortunately unexplored.
That said, Mikkelsen gives a good performance and the cracking skin around the eyes makes him a visually memorable villain.
