TheMarvelCinematic Universe has grown tremendously in size sincethe MCU timelinefirst began withIron Manin 2008. With more movies and television shows each year, more and more villains are being explored. Some are more memorable than others, of course, and the MCU’s track-record for truly great villains hasn’t always been the best, but when they do have a good villain, they end up being very good.
SomeMCU villains are memorable for their quotes, while others are known for their sheer power. Not every villain in the MCU is complex, either, seeking nothing more than world domination. Still, some villains are a bit more complex and the road they took to become villains has a little bit more to it than usual.Here are 10 MCU villains that have the most complicated backstories.
10Scarlet Witch
First Appeared In Avengers: Age Of Ultron
Scarlet Witch has one of the most complex origins of becoming a villain in the MCU simply becauseshe started out as an antagonist to the Avengers before becoming an Avenger herselfinAvengers: Age of Ultron. After that, she remained a hero for several MCU projects and throughAvengers: Endgame. After the Infinity Saga, though, Wanda’s turn into the Scarlet Witch only took two different MCU projects to actually happen.
Wanda’s turn into Scarlet Witch was largely due to the grief she felt after numerous losses in her life.
It wasn’t untilDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessthat she truly gave into becoming the Scarlet Witch, though her actions inWandaVisionbegan her down that path. Wanda’s turn into Scarlet Witch was largely due to the grief she felt after numerous losses in her life, finally succumbing to it after losing her children. When she fully embraced her villain side, Scarlet Witch was terrifying.
9MODOK
First Appeared In Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania (But Also Ant-Man)
If anything, MODOK is a truly grotesque villain in the MCU. He was a secondary villain during the events ofAnt-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania, but that wasn’t the first time he had appeared in an MCU film. He was previously a completely different villain, Yellowjacket, inAnt-Man, whose motivations weren’t the most complex. After turning into MODOK, the character’s new villain origin ended up being a bit more complex than before.
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During the events ofAnt-Man, Scott Lang shrunk Yellowjacket down to a sub-atomic level, which ended up trapping Darren Cross in the Quantum Realm. His unique appearance was the result of shrinking down while the Yellowjacket suit wasn’t stable enough, keeping his head larger and fusing to his body.Kang the Conqueror eventually found him and helped him become the villain known as MODOK.
8Ultron
Though Ultron’s final goal inAvengers: Age of Ultronveered into generic, destroying-the-world territory, he does raise some interesting philosophical points. On top of that, how he came to be is a result of complex decisions by both Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. Because of the nature of his “birth” as an AI,Ultron was essentially a child that quickly learned about humanity and decided to change it for the better to suit his ideals.His mannerisms and relationship to Tony Stark make him even more complicated.
Ultron was the first instance of Vibranium being used in the MCU prior to it playing a much more significant role, beginning withBlack Panther.
Ultron’s relationship to Vision is also incredibly interesting, given that Vision was first created as the final “body” Ultron would go into, the perfect being. With Ultron returning to theVision Questseries, Ultron has the chance to become an even more complex character, exploring his link to Vision instead of Tony Stark.
7Thanos
First Appeared In The Avengers
Most universal big bads only seek things like power or domination, but Thanos isn’t quite the same, which helped make him arguably the best villain the MCU has ever seen. Thanos' motivations are driven by the need to become the ultimate big bad in the universe.He just believes it is his divine mission to balance everything out, which leads to him wanting to wipe out half of the entire universe.
Thanos acted in the background for most of the Infinity Saga before his true grand entrance inAvengers: Infinity War. This is where his ideals and motivations become truly clear, making him much more complex than many might not initially realize. He might not have been created as a result of AI, magic, or microscopic worlds, but Thanos' reasons for what he is doing is a bit more complicated, and complex, than most of the villains in the MCU.
6Kang
First Appeared In Loki Season 1
Kang was positioned as the next big bad of the MCU following Thanos, but was unfortunately pushed out of the picture for a variety of reasons. Still, the nature of who Kang is, makes his story much more complicated than most other villains.Kang is a multiversal being who has manipulated timelines to better suit his desires and plans for power. Because of this, he has seen timelines come and go, playing with them to his and his variants' content.
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The most interesting and complicated part of Kang is the sheer number of his variants that all come together and become the Council of Kangs, manipulating timelines and multiverses to their will. Kill Kang and there is an essentially infinite number ready to replace him. Despite all that, Kang the Conqueror ended up being defeated by Ant-Man and plans for him in the MCU went away with him.
5The Winter Soldier
First Appeared in Captain America: The First Avenger
Not only does The Winter Soldier have one of the most complex and complicated origin stories,it is also incredibly tragic, making him one of the best villains the MCU has ever seen. Before he even became The Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes was best friends with Steve Rogers, who would go on to be Captain America. He “died” during the events ofCaptain America: The First Avenger, butHYDRA kept him alive, brainwashing him to be an assassin and keeping him on iceuntil a new mission came up.
Bucky never wanted world domination, or was born evil. He simply did not have a choice.
It took Bucky years to finally break free from being The Winter Soldier, largely due to his friendship with Steve, who was patient and helped him remember who he was. Bucky never wanted world domination, or was born evil. He simply did not have a choice. Still, there is always a chance that The Winter Soldier could still be lurking in there, adding to the complexity of the character.
4Agatha
First Appeared In WandaVision
On the surface, Agatha is pure evil.She steals other Witch’s magic, making herself stronger and virtually immortal, while killing them in the process. It isn’t until the end of Agatha All Along that she becomes a bit more complex with her son, her relationship with Death, and she was helpless to protect him from dying. Still, she is one of the few magic users in the MCU at the moment, making her a bit more complicated than most other villains that aren’t.
When she was first introduced inWandaVisionas Agnes, Agatha seemed like nothing more than a nosy neighbor. Of course that isn’t the case at all, as her real plan all along was to steal Scarlet Witch’s magic for herself. She might have always been evil, but she sometimes chooses to help others, like Billy and his continuous search for Tommy. With her dying inAgatha All Alongand becoming a ghost, there are even more opportunities to show her villain side.
3Ghost
First Appeared In Ant-Man and the Wasp
Ghost was first introduced in the MCU as the villain of Ant-Man and the Wasp. She was able to phase through objects as a result of a tragedy during her childhood following a quantum accident. She was dying, though, and wanted to absorb energy from the Quantum Realm in hopes that would save her. Ghost is interesting because she is shown to not have much control over her powers, wearing a suit to help her better control her powers.
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She never wanted to be a villain, but was rather a victim of a terrible tragedy that complicated her life and led her to do things to try and save it. Ghost will be featured in the upcoming film,Thunderbolts*so it will be interesting to see if the MCU continues to develop her as a villain or try and position her as more of an anti-hero alongside other members of the team.
2Loki
First Appeared In Thor
Loki’s journey through the MCU has been a long, tumultuous onethat saw the character as a villain, hero, anti-hero, villain again and even a hero again, and probably even more. InThor, he ended up sort of becoming a surprise villain before stepping into the main villain role for The Avengers. He remained a villain for a while after that, but eventually tried to help Thor and the rest of the universe by attempting to kill Thanos. He died for it, but his story in the MCU would not be over.
By the end ofLokiseason 2, he has become one of the most important heroes in MCU history, holding the entire multiverse together.
During the events ofAvengers: Endgame, the Loki from The Avengers was able to escape, causing a break in the timeline. All of the character development he had received since then was thrown out the window and this new timeline Loki had to start on his own path again. It’s a complicated story with a lot of moving parts, but it is immensely satisfying.
1Taskmaster
First Appeared In Black Widow
Much like Bucky and him turning into The Winter Soldier,Taskmaster was programmed to be a villain, taking away her agency in the process which is something theBlack Widowfilm deals a lot with. Before becoming Taskmaster, Antonia Dreykov, the daughter of General Dreykov who oversaw the Black Widow program, turning young girls into ruthless assassins. Antonia almost died during an assassination attempt on her father, but was just gravely injured.
Dreykov used that opportunity to turn her into the greatest weapon, controlling both her body and mind with a chip. It wasn’t until Taskmaster was exposed to the Red Dust that she was able to break free from the control. She is a tragic character that also didn’t have choice in what she was doing. Like Ghost, she will be inThunderbolts*, giving her character a chance to develop even more in theMCU.
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a multimedia superhero franchise that began in 2008 with Paramount’s Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. The franchise quickly grew in popularity, with Disney eventually buying out Marvel Entertainment in 2009. The MCU consists of dozens of movies and TV shows, most notably Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision, and Loki.
