One of the hardest things to get right is how to make a great super-villain, and it
seems like filmmakers are just starting to get the hang of it.
There's a mind-blowing roster of classic comic book baddies who are going to be hitting theaters
over the next couple of years.
Skrulls are a nasty species of shapeshifting aliens that have existed since the early days
of Marvel comics.
In Captain Marvel, the most notable one will be Talos, played by Ben Mendelsohn.
In the comics, Talos is a relatively obscure character, albeit a vicious warrior.
He's certainly an unexpected choice for our first major Skrull character in the MCU.
His quality as a movie villain remains to be seen, but a word of caution for viewers
of Captain Marvel: whenever you're dealing with Skrulls, things are never what they seem.
“Who else?
Who else is a Skrull and where are they?”
“We are everywhere.
You will see.”
He may have died in the first Guardians of the Galaxy film, but Ronan the Accuser, the
fanatical Kree warlord, will play a role in the upcoming Captain Marvel.
Not only is it generally great to see Lee Pace return, it also makes a lot sense for
him to be here.
Captain Marvel is a prequel, and the Kree are heavily featured in Carol Danvers' origin.
Yet Ronan might not end up being an antagonist at all.
Throughout the comics, Ronan is devoted to doing what he feels is in the best interest
of the Kree.
Sometimes he's trying to eliminate Earth’s pesky superheroes, but sometimes he's teaming
up with them.
Basically, he's a total wild card.
“Tis the tinder on which you burn!”
Since the first trailer, fans have been tentatively optimistic about Mark Strong's casting as
a beefier-than-usual Doctor Sivana in the upcoming Shazam.
To the uninitiated, Doctor Sivana might seem like a checklist of the most generic villain
qualities throughout all of fiction were somehow given human form, mainly due to appearing
way back in 1939.
He's an evil bald doctor, and his actual catchphrase is, "Curses!"
The movie Sivana appears to resemble the recent New 52 design, where he’s more of a three-dimensional
human being than a cackling madman.
Although it would be really fun if Mark Strong went full maniacal villain, odds are good
that he's going to be playing Sivana pretty straight.
“No one can stop me this time!
Not even the world’s mightiest mortal, Captain Marvel!”
Without question, one of the scariest villains in superheroic history is Jean Grey's alter-ego,
Dark Phoenix.
Unfortunately, we haven't had a screen adaptation yet that has fully delivered on the potential
of that character.
In the comics, Jean bonds with an alien entity known as the Phoenix Force while on a mission
in space, which in time becomes malevolent and genocidal.
Eventually an entire army of aliens shows up to put Dark Phoenix down, and despite the
X-Men's attempts to save her, she dies in a spectacular final battle on the moon.
The movies are taking another shot at this iconic story with this summer's Dark Phoenix.
Will the character be able to rise from the ashes of her previous incarnations?
Depends on which version of the X-Men franchise shows up this summer — the good personality
or the evil one.
“All is revealed.”
Dark Phoenix herself isn't the only potentially epic X-Men baddie coming to the screen this
summer.
Perhaps even more intriguing is a supporting role that, at this stage, we know far less
about.
Jessica Chastain is going to appear in Dark Phoenix as… someone.
According to director Simon Kinberg, she is playing a new character partially inspired
by the Mastermind.
The Mastermind is an old C-List Marvel character with mind control powers who, in the comics,
was partially responsible for Phoenix turning bad.
This version of the character seems like it's going to be very different from the mustachioed
creep of the comics, not only because this version is a woman, but also because she's
apparently going to be an alien.
The filmmakers have been cagey about revealing much else, but there's still an entire universe
of possibilities for what could be going on with this character.
“You can’t begin to comprehend what you are.”
Played by Milla Jovovich, Nimue the Blood Queen is the Hellboy-verse's incarnation of
the Lady of the Lake.
Once a human protege of Merlin, her lust for power led her to betray Merlin.
Nimue later discovered the Ogdru Jahad, interdimensional space gods that empowered her to become the
strongest magic user in the world and a conduit through which they might someday be able to
enter it.
Also, she can turn into a dragon.
That's cool.
We'll see how much of this ends up on screen, but the trailer shows Hellboy wielding Excalibur,
and the promise of our favorite demon boy using a magic sword to fight a space dragon
witch is certainly enough to get us excited.
“Hellboy, your fall shall be like the fall of mountains.
I was before mountains.
I was in the beginning and I shall be forever.”
The typically cuddly Ewan McGregor has been cast as the Batman villain Roman Sionis, a.k.a.
Black Mask, in the Birds of Prey film.
From what we can see in the brief teaser trailer, however, he is suspiciously maskless.
In the comics, Sionis was a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne, who started desperately committing
crimes while wearing a black mask.
Bruce tried to get him to reform, but his fate was sealed when a flaming building collapsed
on him, and his mask permanently fused into his face.
From then on, he was an irredeemable criminal.
Based on what we've seen from preliminary plot synopses, it's looking more likely that
Sionis is going to be all bad from the beginning, and that's also exciting.
Current day Black Mask is not only terrifyingly cruel, but he also has a magic mask that hypnotizes
anyone who looks directly at it.
Considering Harley Quinn fought against black magic in Suicide Squad, it’s totally plausible
that this version of Black Mask might not just be a ruthless crime boss, but also a
master of mentalism.
“Don’t be nervous, kid.
But keep staring at me like that and I’ll cut your eyes out.”
The trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home introduced us to Jake Gyllenhaal playing a
character who is long overdue for a big screen debut: Mysterio.
Mysterio's main gimmick is that he commits crimes with the help of illusions, often holographic
projections.
At first glance, Gyllenhaal's portrayal looks like it might be a radical reinterpretation
of the character in the sense that he’s acting like a mystic superhero, but as is
often the case with ol' Fishbowl, there is probably some deception afoot.
In his first comic appearance, he frames Spider-Man for a string of robberies, and then presents
himself as a new superhero who will bring Spider-Man to justice.
“And now I will crush you once and for all!
HAHAHAHA!”
Wonder Woman 1984 will feature Kristen Wiig as Cheetah, one of Wonder Woman's longest-running
and most compelling foes.
Barbara Minerva was a knowledge-hungry archaeologist who befriended Diana Prince.
Minerva's obsession with ancient secrets led her to tracking down an evil plant deity named
Urzkartaga.
The deity cursed her by transforming her into a half-cheetah monster with a taste for human
flesh.
Minerva blamed Diana for not saving her as she promised, and the two have been enemies
ever since.
If properly executed, this has the potential to be a truly heartbreaking story and our
hopes are officially up.
“Blaming me changes nothing.”
“Don’t deny you cursed me, Diana.”
“You brought it on yourself.”
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