The MCU spent many a film building up the tension and placing all the pieces for the
ultimate cinematic crossover story; Avengers Infinity War, in which the mad titan Thanos
But with Avengers 4 on the horizon, many suspect that the thrilling conclusion to Thanos’
reign of terror will end with the super villain being incapacitated, in some way or another.
Meaning, who will take Thanos’ place in phase 4 of the MCU?
Who will be the big bad that will stir things up and threaten to wipe out our favourite
heroes?
Well today, we’re counting down the other baddies from the Marvel universe that our
heroes, and you, should be shaking in your boots about, with our list of the top 10 Super
Villains who are a bigger threat than Thanos!
And hey, the infinity gauntlet is pretty hard to top, all things considered, so we tried
our best to put together a group of evil-doers that could give the mad titan a run for his
money.
Let’s get to it!
10 The Skrulls The Skrulls seem like the most obvious threat
heading into Phase 4 of the MCU.
In case you’ve been out of the loop, the Skrulls, who are a shape shifting race of
aliens, are making their debut in the upcoming Captain Marvel movie, and find their way onto
Earth.
This has led to speculation that the MCU will be gearing up to tell the 2008 Secret Invasion
storyline from the comics, in which the Skrulls has quietly embarked on a long term invasion
of Earth by replacing various characters with Skrull agents, the latter having shape shifting
to look like the former.
The Skrulls, according to Brian Michael Bendis who penned the storyline for Marvel, believe
that Earth is religiously and rightfully theirs.
And considering the beef between the Skrulls and the Kree, you can imagine this conflict
will play out nicely in Captain Marvel’s film.
But the extent of the Skrull influence will be determined based on what happens in that
movie, so who knows?
They may not have a powerful object like the infinity gauntlet, but the Skrull imposters
would surely make for some dramatic ‘who do you trust’ moments in the MCU.
9 Death For those of you who have read the Infinity
Gauntlet comic, the 1991 epic written by Jim Starlin and penciled by George Perez that
much of the third Avengers movie was based off of, you know that Death plays an important
role in Thanos’ story.
It was something that was left out of the Avengers Infinity War film.
In the comic, Death is the reason why Thanos does what he does; he’s motivated out of
the need to impress her, and it all escalates from there.
Thanos balances out the universe in an attempt to please her, and even out the number of
living beings.
In the film, she’s never mentioned.
So what if she were to make an appearance in the MCU?
The only thing is, Death doesn’t do her own dirty work.
Having a powerful entity like Death become a major player in the MCU would mean that
another character would likely be executing her desires, and quite frankly, there isn’t
anyone more capable or susceptible to that than Thanos.
While we don’t think it’s likely that Death will make an appearance in Avengers
4, who really knows what kinds of creative liberties Marvel studios might make down the
road, and if Thanos were to ever return after the conclusion of Avengers 4, having his beloved
Death influence him could be one way to make that happen.
8 The Living Tribunal There’s a theory kicking around on the interwebs
that Doctor Strange will come into contact with the Living Tribunal in the upcoming Avengers
4 film.
But let’s back track a moment.
The Living Tribunal is a cosmic entity that first appeared in Strange Tales issue 157
back in 1967, in which Doctor Strange had to prove to them within a limited amount of
time that Earth is worth saving.
The Living Tribunal oversees and maintains balance across all realities within the Marvel
multiverse, serving as a judge of sorts.
There’s nothing innately nefarious about the Living Tribunal, other than they are an
objective entity with a grander cosmic purpose.
And when that purpose conflicts what what’s going on in the MCU, that could stir up a
whole lot of conflict.
Now, if the Living Tribunal were to debut in Avengers 4, that could open up the door
for more influence from cosmic entities in the MCU.
Plus, if the rumours about the film are true, those being that the Living Tribunal wants
to reset the universe since Thanos has gone and goofed it up real bad, that sort of logic
could be rather threatening later on down the line.
7 Ikonn Ikonn is a much smaller character on this
list compared to our other numbers.
Known as the lord of illusions, Ikonn is a mystical entity that is often invoked by Sorcerers,
including our pal Stephen Strange.
How could Ikonn fit into the MCU?
Well, Doctor Strange has already used a spell in the MCU that in the comics is known as
The Images of Ikonn, which allowed him to create shadow clones of himself and numerous
arms.
Theoretically, if Strange’s magic in the MCU follows suit with the comics, he often
has to invoke a mystical being or force in order to properly conduct the spell, calling
upon their energy to execute it.
The Images of Ikonn is said to be one of the most powerful illusory spells in the Marvel
Universe, having the ability to make the illusions it creates a reality if the power behind the
spell is strong enough.
Extreme power over reality?
That could cause a whole lot of damage.
We think that if Ikonn were to make an appearance in the MCU, it’d be under similar circumstances
as Death; technically the source of the villainy, but not the one doing the dirty work.
6 Magus Magus is an older evil version of Adam Warlock.
But more on that in a sec.
Warlock, for those of you unfamiliar with the character, was first introduced in Fantastic
Four issue 66 in 1967, but as ‘Him’.
Later, in Marvel Premiere issue 1 in 1972, he would be known as Adam Warlock, a character
who is often paralleled to Jesus Christ, capable of manipulating cosmic energy.
He’s immortal, with his powers increasing each time he’s resurrected.
Later in the comics, he was able to use quantum magic, which manipulated quantum energy.
He’s also the guy in the Infinity Gauntlet comic who was the mastermind behind defeating
Thanos.
Dude is a smart fella.
Magus, on the other hand, is Warlock from the future, who travelled to the past in order
to ensure his own ‘creation’.
Magus rules a religious empire known as the Universal Church of Truth, and his whole mission
is to manipulate Warlock into the actions that will eventually led to him becoming his
future self, which causes Warlock to try to alter the future and destroy Magus’ timeline
in an attempt to cease his existence.
Magus came to be when after Warlock wore the Infinity Gauntlet, he expelled good and evil
from his soul which took on a corporeal form, with the evil half becoming Magus.
When Warlock is eventually integrated into the MCU, surely Magus will eventually be explored,
especially if the character gets his own film or becomes one of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
5 Mephisto Mephisto is yet another character who was
involved in Thanos’ story in Infinity Gauntlet that never made the cut in the MCU, although
he did make an appearance in the 2007 Ghost Rider movie.
But let’s just ignore that for now.
Mephisto is a character inspired by Mephistopheles, a demon from Faust legend.
Mephisto is kind of like Satan if you boil it down.
His whole schtick is to tempt characters and acquire souls, but can only do so by forming
a pact with the victim; the whole deal with the devil trope.
He’s an extremely powerful immortal entity with magic powers that he gained through manipulation.
Whenever his physical form is destroyed, he’s regenerate and reform.
During Infinity Gauntlet when Thanos had acquired all of the gems, Mephisto pledged his allegiance
to the Mad Titan, watching carefully from the side lines.
His intellect is perhaps his most dangerous quality.
And he has a long history with multiple characters in the Marvel Universe, including Spider-Man,
so he would be a character that could easily be translated up on the big screen if Marvel
Studios chose to go in that direction.
4 Cyttorak Cyttorak is another mystical being.
He’s a part of the same club as Ikonn, the Octessence, and has proven himself to be the
most powerful of the group after he made a little wager; who was the best at enslaving
all of humanity via enchanted artefacts?
Yeah, doesn’t sound like an overly friendly or compassionate being, right?
And it’s not completely implausible for Cyttorak to be introduced into the MCU either.
If you recall during Infinity War during the battle on Titan between Thanos, Iron Man,
Doctor Strange.
Spider-Man, and a handful of the Guardians, Doctor Strange whipped out a spell in which
he used red bands of energy to hold Thanos down.
That spell is known as the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak.
All and all, extremely powerful mystical being who loves power and is totally down with killing
off humans?
Yeah, kind of fits the villain bill there, eh?
3 Dormammu Doctor Strange may have put Dormammu in his
place during his 2016 feature film, but don’t be fooled; Dormammu’s capable of a lot more
than what we briefly saw on screen, and there’s a darn good reason why the Ancient One was
so shook about him.
Dormammu first appeared in Strange Tales issue 126 back in 1964.
Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Dormammu was eventually established as the ruler of
an alternate dimension known as the Dark Dimension, and is (ma-lev-a-lent) malevolent in nature.
Composed of mystical energy, Dormammu uses that energy to achieve basically anything
he wants, from energy projection, matter manipulation, possession, necromancy, creating demons, the
list goes on.
And he has many a follower, too, and thanks to the Doctor Strange movie, we have an idea
of what those followers are capable of.
According to Strange, he is a threat to the life of the universe itself, and at full power
no one could stand against him.
We’ve only scratched the surface with Dormammu in the MCU, so it wouldn’t be surprising
if he made another appearance sometime in the future to cause a ruckus.
2 Galactus Galactus was first introduced into the Marvel
Universe back in 1966, in issue 48 of the Fantastic Four.
He was Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s attempt at introducing a villain that broke away from
the super villain archetype; a god like figure who needs to feed by draining planets of their
energy, and doesn’t follow and code of judgement or morality in doing so.
It’s all to fulfill his hunger.
In my opinion, the natural progression in the MCU, and to one up their game after Thanos,
would be to introduce Galactus.
Thanos’ whole MO in the MCU is that he wants to balance out the universe, otherwise we’ll
deplete its resources faster than we can continue to grow them.
In theory, his cause makes sense, but in execution, that’s where he’s a real SOB.
Moving from Thanos to a character like Galactus, who devours worlds simply to fulfill his hunger,
would be an intriguing move.
Marvel Studios likes to play with the moral ambiguity of its villains thus far, even if
it is a subtle way.
Galactus would push this exploration even further, since he redefines what exactly an
evil-doer is.
Also, dude eats who planets.
Might not be the infinity gauntlet, but DAMN, he sure as hell is intimidating.
1 The Phoenix Force Now that the X-Men will be integrated into
the MCU, you can bet your butt that somewhere down the line the Phoenix Force will pop up
and make a big ol mess of Jean Grey’s life.
First appearing in Uncanny X-Men issue 101 back in 1976, the Phoenix Force is an entity
that bonds with an individual; it’s immortal and immutable manifestation of the universal
force of life and passion, a child of the universe, and the nexus of all psionic energy
that exists across the realities of the multiverse.
So yeah, there’s a lot going on there.
It has the power to cut and re-grow and part of the universe, and destroy it, and at times,
its proven to be outright gluttonous.
And it’s one of the most central storylines within the X-Men narratives.
While Jean Grey being possessed by the Phoenix is likely a long way out in terms of when
or if it’ll pop up in the MCU, the damage that the Phoenix Force could cause will surely
surpass the trouble of what its appearance in the original X-Men franchise resulted in.
There we have it friends!
So, what are your thoughts?
Who do you think is a bigger threat than Thanos?
Who should be the next big bad set up to cause mayhem and distress in the MCU?
Give us a shout in those comments below and let us know what you think.
If you dug this video, spread the love!
Hit that like button