The top 20 Marvel Cinematic Universe villains, ranked from worst to best

tom hiddleston loki the dark world

The biggest problem with the Marvel Cinematic Universe is its villains.

"Black Panther" has been praised for having one of the best villains in the universe (and in movie history). Loki, who fluctuates loyalty so often it's hard to keep up, is another great example.

But many of the other villains aren't exactly compelling. There's not much there in terms of the motives, goals, and overall, a lot of them don't feel like a genuine threat to our heroes. But that doesn't mean that all of these MCU villains are bad: they're just forgettable, even in some of the best movies to date including "Iron Man 3," "Ant-Man," and "Captain America: Civil War."

Still, there are a few gems in there, and we took a look at the top 20 to give you a sense of which were the best.

This list doesn't include all villains in the MCU: just major ones with some very special exceptions (Jeff Goldblum). It also excludes Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes and Nebula, who are good now and it was kind of obvious they would be eventually.

Here's our ranking of the MCU villains, from worst to best:

20. Thanos, “Guardians of the Galaxy” and end credit scenes in "The Avengers" and "Avengers: Age of Ultron"

We still don’t know that much about Thanos, besides the fact he’s had multiple redesigns and has been played by several actors. But so far, he’s been mediocre: he’s not as menacing as character like Red Skull and his connection to the heroes: being Nebula and Gamora’s father - isn’t nearly as powerful as Ego’s connection to Starlord or Thor’s connection to Loki. We’ll know more about whether he’s a good villain or not after “Avengers: Infinity War.”

19. Emil Blonsky/Abomination, “The Incredible Hulk”

Remember when Ed Norton was the Hulk? Tim Roth played the Abomination, and it wasn’t bad, but he was pretty much only there to help Hulk destroy as many buildings as possible.

18. Whiplash, "Iron Man 2"

Mickey Rourke was having quite the moment when “Iron Man 2” came out, being nominated for a best actor Oscar for his role in "The Wrestler." In the marketing and trailers, his character, Whiplash, seemed menacing, creepy, and a major threat. But he was just kind of there. The movie is bad, his character is lame, and Rourke’s lack of enthusiasm didn’t help — especially compared to Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer.

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