You’d never guess it from the way they look on screen, but some of Marvel’s most dastardly
villains are actually pretty good looking - once you get underneath all the makeup,
CGI and prosthetics, that is.
Here are some of the Marvel movie villains who are gorgeous in real life.
Korath
Djimon Hounsou is probably best known for his work in films like Amistad, Gladiator,
In America and Blood Diamond - two of which earned him Academy Award nominations for Best
Supporting Actor.
Before he became such a renowned actor, though, he got his start as an international model
after being discovered in Paris by the fashion house Thierry Mugler.
Soon after making a splash on the runway, Hounsou moved to America and started landing
screen roles that capitalized on his staggering good looks and considerable thespian talents.
For his appearance as Korath the Pursuer in Guardians of the Galaxy, however, contact
lenses, a prosthetic headpiece and some armored costumery took much of the focus away from
his looks.
Guardians hasn’t been the only movie to do this, either.
For DC’s Aquaman, Hounsou has been given a reptilian exterior as the Fisherman King
that bears virtually no resemblance to his real-life appearance.
Algrim/Kurse
Lost fans will no doubt recognize Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as the drug kingpin who survived
in the tail section of Flight 815, only to succumb to the show’s terrifying smoke monster.
In Thor: The Dark World, however, the actor was very hard to make out beneath both of
the costumes he wore throughout the film.
His first look, as Algrim, had him wearing a bleached wig and white eyebrows while sporting
bright blue contact lenses.
Once he transformed into the monster Kurse, his appearance was completely concealed beneath
a hulking spiky bodice and bony headpiece.
The Dark World wasn't the last comic-based movie to cover him up entirely, either; he
was just as difficult to make out underneath all the costuming and makeup needed for his
turn as Killer Croc in Suicide Squad.
The Other
Another actor whose appearance was completely obscured in the MCU is Alexis Denisof, who
portrayed The Other in The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy.
To fully become the grotesque servant of Thanos, Denisof was plastered with a blue and purple
make-up regime, covered with a wiry face mask and then dressed in a hooded cloak.
“Lower your tone!”
In real life, though, Denisof is a real looker.
With dishwater blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and a pearly white smile, the recent
Emmy nominee could just as easily have landed a role as Captain America's long lost brother.
Ebony Maw
You'd have a hard time picking Ebony Maw’s actor out of a line-up if you didn’t already
know who he was.
As Maw, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor sported a broad expanse in place of a nose, along with speckled
grey skin and wispy white hair.
“You are trespassing in this city and on this planet.”
“That means get lost ,Squidward!”
“He exhausts me.”
In reality, though, Vaughan-Lawlor has brown hair, fair skin, and - of course - an actual
nose.
The actor has made appearances on the small screen in shows such as Peaky Blinders, Love/Hate
and The Secret Agent.
For Infinity War, Vaughan-Lawlor, who claims to have dressed up as Maw while auditioning
for the film, filmed his scenes using a CGI mocap suit.
He has also admitted that his son in particular enjoyed the results of his on-screen transformation,
telling The Independent that:
"He thinks [it] is funny because I look so ugly."
Azazel
It may go without saying, but X-Men: First Class actor Jason Flemyng doesn’t actually
have the same fiery red skin, greasy black mane, sharp-spaded tail or teleportation skills
of his on-screen alter ego Azazel.
Instead, the actor has reddish blonde hair, blue eyes and caucasian skin.
Luckily for him, his eyebrows don't rise to a menacing point either - nor does he bear
the same facial scars as the character.
Unfortunately, that meant that he had to endure a daily makeup regimen to get into character.
When he found out he wouldn't be involved in the film's sequel, Days of Future Past,
Flemyng was somewhat comforted that he wouldn’t have to submit to the intense makeover process
again.
He told MovieWeb:
"Initially I was gutted, but then, I remembered I had to get up at two in the morning, I had
to be painted red and be slightly out of focus and posed a lot, and that was sort of it.
Now I don't have to do that."
Nebula
Nowadays, Nebula is fighting for the good guys after making peace with her sister Gamora
in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
She did start out as a villain, though.
“You were going to kill my father?”
“You dare to oppose me?”
“You see what he has turned me into.
You kill him, I will help you destroy a thousand planets.”
And although you wouldn't know it by looking at her, the actress portraying her is actually
quite striking in real life.
To get into character as Thanos' least favorite daughter, Karen Gillan donned metallic and
blue makeup, shaved off her hair, blacked out her eyes and had a few android body parts
added for good measure.
She told ScreenRant:
"It's really intense going through this makeup in the morning, but it's amazing!
I think it takes about four and a half hours now.
[...] But also it's so worth it, because I see bits of footage that we've shot and it's
just so amazing, it's so worth it."
Juggernaut
Ryan Reynolds' ruggedly handsome looks were covered up quite a bit for his leading role
as Wade Wilson in Deadpool - first with severe burn marks and then with his red and black
head-to-toe costuming - but he became truly unrecognizable as the villainous Juggernaut
in Deadpool 2.
The character was digitally rendered with CGI, but Reynolds also donned some mocap gear
to act out Juggernaut's facial expressions.
Director Tim Miller justified Reynolds' double duty as a matter of sheer convenience for
everyone.
He told CinemaBlend:
"It'd be like, 'Okay, let's just switch into Juggernaut mode, try this.'
As opposed to 'Let's bring in somebody, wait for them, call time,' all this.
It was a tight unit."
So even though Reynolds bears no resemblance to the hulking and helmeted muscleman, fans
might be able to notice a familiar expression or two buried beneath all that might and metal
- if they look closely enough.
Electro
Even before that tank of electric eels turns him lightning blue from head to toe, Jamie
Foxx's good looks are pretty well concealed in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
In the early stages of the film, he's shown as Max Dillon: a balding, buck-toothed and
bespectacled electrical engineer.
Foxx's usual charisma, head full of hair and otherwise handsome features are nowhere in
sight.
When he transforms into Electro, Foxx becomes hidden beneath luminescent skin and glowing
eyes.
To create the look, the actor was drenched in veiny prosthetics and blue makeup that
was later enhanced with digital effects.
Foxx has credited the makeover with informing his performance.
“I would just look in the mirror for hours, just looking.
With the blue contacts and everything, and then finally honing in with my manager Jamie
King, she’s like ‘Go, keep trying to find it, keep trying to find it,’ and we found
it.”
Toad
In 2000's X-Men, Ray Park disappears beneath a lime skin tone, a bright green spike hairdo
and a truly slimy smile.
But in reality, Park has dark blonde hair, grayish blue eyes and a bright white set of
teeth.
And although the amphibious bad guy with the perilous tongue was a significant transformation
to make, it was hardly Park's most image-obscuring role.
The year before he joined the X-Men universe, he starred as Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode
I: The Phantom Menace - although it might be tough to make him out beneath all those
horns and red and black demonic makeup.
He was even less visible in G.I.
Joe: Retaliation as the mute and helmeted ninja Snake Eyes.
All in all, X-Men actually turned out to be one of his more recognizable franchise roles.
Malekith
If you didn't care much for Malekith the Accursed in Thor: The Dark World, don't worry - the
actor playing him didn't either.
Christopher Eccleston has since admitted that he took the role as a paycheck gig, but that
the sheer amount of time he spent in the makeup chair ruined the experience for him.
He told The Express:
"The first couple of days it was about seven hours, eight hours [in make-up].
I think we got it down to six and a half.
[...] Marvel were dishonest to me.
Because they never, ever let me know that there'd be that amount of make-up."
Indeed, you'd be hard-pressed to recognize the renowned movie and T.V. star beneath all
the layers of prosthetics, headgear and shining, icy eyes.
In real life, he's got a far more muted eye color and short, salt-and-pepper hair.
Dormammu
It isn’t exactly MCU tradition for a titular hero to face off against himself, but that's
what happened in Doctor Strange.
“Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain.”
Benedict Cumberbatch played both the time-warping wizard and the Dark Dimensional uber-bad Dormammu,
via voice acting and some facial capture work.
Cumberbatch has claimed it was his idea to voice the villain in the movie.
He told CinemaBlend:
"I went, 'Look, if this is going to work, rather than being a big ghoulish monster,
if it's some kind of reflection of him - if it's something that he's giving that's coming
back at him in a really horrific way, that would be fun!”
Although Cumberbatch may be tall, that's about where the comparisons between his appearance
and Dormammu's end.