Across 15 years of MCU history, there have been countless close calls as the beacons of all that is good and just go toe-to-toe with the diabolical forces of evil. Although the heroes always prevail, it hasn’t always been a washout from start to finish; there were certainly times that the bad guys had us sweating profusely. Maybe they were outnumbered, overpowered, or simply met their match in an individual who knew all their weaknesses, but some do-gooders struggled against particular foes.
And isn’t that the fun of it all? When it doesn’t look so good for the heroes but somehow, some way, they managed to pull it back? That isn’t to say there weren’t times that a whole theater full of patrons collectively held their breath or we were on the edge of our seats in the comfort of our own homes. The MCU has countless formidable villains, some of whom have played a huge part in humbling our Avengers, Defenders, and friendly neighborhood Spider-Men.
The Hand (The Defenders)
First appearing in Marvel’s Daredevil series, which originally belonged to Netflix then migrated over to Disney Plus, Yami no te (or “the Hand”) are a clan of ancient and powerful ninjas who seek to gain immortality. The Hand originated in K’un-Lun, from where its five members (the five “fingers” of the “Hand”) — Alexandra Reid, Madame Gao, Bakuto, Murakami, and Sowande — were banished.
Alexandra Reid, the central antagonist of The Defenders series, was the most dominant of all the Hand leaders, which made her a formidable threat against Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist. After resurrecting Elektra, Reid used the fallen anti-hero’s corpse as a vessel for the Black Sky, the Hand’s most deadly weapon. In the end, Reid was murdered by Elektra, who came to her senses and took over as leader of the Hand, but that doesn’t mean Matt Murdock didn’t come close to dying by her blade.
Kilgrave (Jessica Jones)
Although The Defenders’ solo shows don’t technically count as being part of the MCU, we’ll include them anyways, especially as it’s only a matter of time before a crossover allows The Avengers and The Defenders to finally meet. In Jessica Jones‘ first season, David Tennant’s Kilgrave is a constant, looming danger to Jones and those closest to her.
Presumed dead, Kilgrave returns to exact revenge on Jessica for leaving him to die, so he targets her greatest weakness — her friends. He feeds Malcom’s (Jones’ neighbor) drug addiction to coerce him into stalking Jessica’s every move, then comes close to killing Trish Walker (Jones’ best friend) outright. He murders both of his parents in cold blood and takes university student Hope Shlottman hostage, sexually assaulting her and eventually pushing her to commit suicide. Jones certainly met her match with Kilgrave, whom she eventually (and barely) outsmarted.
Dreykov (Black Widow)
He might not seem all that intimidating by himself, but General Dreykov had total control over the Red Room candidates, therefore he could command and utilize all of the Black Widow trainees. He also brainwashes his own daughter, turning her into the highly intelligent killing machine known as Taskmaster. Using an army of Black Widows, Dreykov sought to brainwash Natasha Romanoff to “finally come out of the shadows” and achieve world dominion, eventually… which is what most supervillains strive for.
While working to amass his army, Dreykov is confronted by Romanoff, who destroyed his entire base and the Red Room facilities, though not without coming close to defeat at the hands of his Black Widows. Yelena Belova causes a helicopter explosion that kills Dreykov, although she too almost lost her life in the process.
Hela (Thor: Ragnarok)
When it was announced that Cate Blanchett would be portraying a Marvel villain, the whole world came to a stand-still. When it was confirmed that she had landed the role of Hela in Thor: Ragnarok, everyone lost their minds. Thor’s half-sister and the Goddess of Death, it didn’t take Hela long to prove herself as a force to be reckoned with. We see in a flashback that Hela had wiped out all the Valkyries besides Valkyrie herself, who had adopted the name Scrapper-142 in Ragnarok.
It was the moment that Hela shattered Mjölnir with minimal effort that we knew for absolute certain that she was capable of annihilating Asgard. Although Hela was ultimately struck down by Thor’s lightning, the God of Thunder needed to reach maximum power to even lay a hand on her, and he didn’t even kill her. It was the wrath of Surtur’s Twilight Sword that defeated Hela, so if it weren’t for the lord of Muspelheim, Thor wouldn’t have bested her.
Thanos (Avengers: Endgame)
It became increasingly clear that Thanos would cause the Avengers a lot of trouble when he wiped out half the world’s population in Avengers: Infinity War. From the events that transpire in Avengers: Endgame, we learn from Doctor Strange that there was only one possible outcome of 14,000,605 futures where the Avengers defeated Thanos, and unfortunately, Iron Man needed to die.
Now, when we consider all the other battles where Thanos faced several superheroes at once and the fact that he wins (according to Strange’s premonitions) every single time, that’s extremely high stakes. There’s no doubt that Endgame had us in absolute shambles, and as far as Infinity War goes, Thanos technically ‘won’ by succeeding to snap half the world from existence. He’s without a doubt the Avengers most fearsome adversary.
Ego (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2)
We found ourselves facing a rather unconventional villain in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Although audiences could have never predicted that Ego would turn out to be Peter Quill’s biological father, it did cause the Guardians a heap of trouble. Star-Lord had an emotional attachment to Ego, which made it easier to trust him and harder to kill him. It also forced the Guardians into a moral dilemma, wherein they knew that Ego was inherently evil, but wanted to respect Quill’s wishes for a relationship with his absent father. There’s also the small, insignificant matter of Ego being a literal planet.
There are endless perks that come with embodying (and by extension, controlling) an entire planet and also being a Celestial, a primordial race of entities with vast cosmic power. The Guardians were faced with a practically immortal entity with superhuman strength, durability, and cosmic energy manipulation. Ego is only destroyed when the Guardians attack his brain, his “true” form. Had Quill not snapped out of his hypnotic trance, Earth as we know it would have been eradicated.
Green Goblin (Spider-Man: No Way Home)
We know the backstory by now; Uncle Ben is killed and Aunt May is left with solo custody of Peter Parker, whom we know to be Spider-Man. But what happens when you flip the script and target Aunt May, instead? In No Way Home, we see Willem Dafoe return as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin to confront Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, but simultaneously crosses paths with his native Spider-Man, played by Tobey Maguire.
When the Goblin takes over Osborn’s mind, he murders Aunt May, which forces Spider-Man to reconsider what kind of superhero he wants to be. It also makes the conflict between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin entirely personal. In the end, vengeance almost consumes Peter, as he comes within an inch of taking Osborn’s life, but the other Spider-Men (Maguire and Garfield) talk him out of it. If Peter had succeeded in murdering Osborn, would the Green Goblin have technically won?
Scarlet Witch (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness)
She never set out to be a villain, the cruel world around her molded her into one. Following the events of WandaVision in which Wanda chooses to destroy Westview and her idyllic family with Vision, the Scarlet Witch is left mourning her husband and children, Billy and Tommy. She seeks America Chavez’ ability to open portals to different realities, hoping to find herself a permanent future with an otherworldly version of Vision and the boys.
She is ultimately consumed by her greed, and even managed to murder all members of the Illuminati, including Mr. Fantastic, Captain Carter, and Professor X. Once Strange had learned of Wanda’s sheer power, plus the fact that she singlehandedly destroyed Kamar-Taj, it becomes increasingly evident that Strange will struggle to defeat her, and he has to risk life and limb to put an end to her plans. Wanda also comes extremely close to killing Chavez on numerous occasions.