15 Greatest Captain America Villains of All Time, Ranked
If there’s one superhero that’s always been iconic and one of the poster boys of Marvel Comics for nearly a hundred years, it’s Captain America. Originally conceived as a patriotic character meant for the wartime period of the 1940s, Captain America has become more than just an American icon because he has also been one of the most influential superheroes of all time due to his bravery, compassion, and penchant for never giving up.
In that regard, Steve Rogers has become one of the greatest Avengers of all time, even though he doesn’t have the powers and abilities of the other Avengers members. Of course, because of his career as a superhero, Captain America has come across some of the most famous villains that the world of Marvel Comics has seen. So, in that regard, let’s look at the greatest Captain America Villains of all time.
15. The Power Broker
The Power Broker was born Curtis Jackson, a man without any superpowers. However, he relied on his supreme intellect to eventually become the leader of The Corporation, which was an international company that was involved in many different illegal activities all over the world. In that regard, he became one of the world’s most powerful and influential men.
One of the things that the Power Broker did was to create superhumans, including John Walker, who also became a famous Captain America villain. In that regard, Jackson also gained his superpowers by allowing himself to get experimented on. The original Power Broker died but was replaced by Power Broker II. In the MCU, the Power Broker is none other than Sharon Carter, who became a villain after the events of the Blip.
14. The Flag-Smasher
While we do know that ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ has a group of superpowered villains called the Flag-Smashers, the comic book world has its version of the Flag-Smasher, who is just one character in the form of Karl Morgenthau, who became a costumed villain that has extreme political beliefs. In the comics, he committed various acts of violence that he believed were meant to unite the world.
So, in a sense, the Flag-Smasher tends to have a twisted ideology that makes him dangerous enough for the entire world. Though he didn’t have any superpowers, he was a powerful and cunning villain that used his intelligence and extremist nature to hurt innocent people with terrorist attacks that aligned with his extremist beliefs. And he eventually became the head of the ULTIMATUM, a major terrorist group that operated internationally.
13. US Agent
Born an ordinary person named John Walker, he was originally a villain called the Super-Patriot, who became part of a ploy meant to make Steve Rogers look bad to the general public. However, he has since become a US Agent who is more of an anti-hero than an actual villain. Nevertheless, in the comics, he has proven himself an enemy to Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson several times.
Walker’s life was similar to how it was portrayed in ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,’ wherein he was supposed to be the new Captain America after Rogers stepped down. However, because of his volatile nature, he became an enemy to Steve Rogers, who defeated him and retook the Captain America mantle. Walker eventually became US Agent when he continued to work as a hero, albeit one that didn’t have the same moral compass that Rogers had.
12. Batroc
Even though a lot of the Captain America villains we’ve seen tend to be very cool, Batroc can be quite silly. He was described and portrayed to be very French in terms of his personality and allegiance. We can understand this because the earlier Captain America comic book storylines were overly patriotic as well. But while he may be silly, Batroc was a strong fighter and a master of savate.
Despite how silly he may be, Batroc showcased his formidable fighting skills in numerous skirmishes with Captain America. He has always been a formidable foe that has been able to fight on par with the likes of Iron Fist and Gambit. And he eventually became the leader of his group of supervillains called Batroc’s Brigade.
11. MODOK
Of course, we have another silly-looking supervillain, MODOK, who has always been one of the most recurring villains in Marvel Comics because he has clashed with numerous heroes and even the entire Avengers group. We also saw his MCU debut in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.’ But while he looks silly, he is an incredibly dangerous foe due to his genius approach.
MODOK may not look the part, but he knows how to make things troublesome for Captain America and the other superheroes that he has battled throughout his history as a character. He was born out of an experiment that turned him into a supercomputer with the ability to develop the best strategies on the fly. And coupled with the fact that he had a twisted and evil personality, his genius intellect only made MODOK more dangerous.
10. Baron Blood
As mentioned, some of the earliest Captain America storylines included foes and villains that were created during the wartime period of the 40s. While Baron Blood made his debut decades after World War II, he still fits the description of a character that was a product of WWII patriotism because he was created to be a Nazi vampire. Vampires are already dangerous as they are, but Nazi vampires are even more dangerous due to their mentality.
In that regard, Baron Blood allied with Germany in many conflicts against Captain America. They fought during the events of WWII in the comics. Namor eventually killed him. However, he eventually returned to the modern-day version of Marvel Comics as he continued to serve as a villain to Cap and his allies after allying himself with vampires and other Nazi/Hydra-allied villains.
9. Doctor Faustus
While we know that there was once a character that was good enough to kill Steve Rogers (more on that later), Doctor Faustus was the man behind the entire scheme. He may not be the strongest character, but he was a brilliant psychiatrist that has tried to control the minds of huge populations time and time again. He first became a villain to Cap back in the 60s when he tried to brainwash the hero.
In that regard, we know how dangerous Faustus is as he can mess with Cap’s head even though he may not be able to defeat him in a straight-up fight. He was so dangerous in the comics that he once manipulated Sharon Carter into committing suicide. In that regard, he has always been someone that could singlehandedly turn around an entire battle due to his ability to brainwash people.
8. Taskmaster
Regarding some of the strongest assassins in the entire Marvel Comics universe, we can’t forget about Taskmaster. He is one of the greatest operatives in the world because he knows how to track people down and has the unique ability to mimic any fighting skills. This made him so dangerous as a villain after he defected from SHIELD. And while he wasn’t exactly a villain because he was mostly portrayed as an anti-hero, he ended up going up against Captain America numerous times.
Taskmaster’s identity as an anti-hero has always been one of the things that make him a unique character. There are times when his motivations seem to be very understandable in certain situations. But while that may be true, he has crossed paths with Cap numerous times and gave the hero a tough battle every single time they fought.
7. Crossbones
Even though he was a relatively new addition to Captain America’s lineup of villains, Crossbones made a huge splash early in his career as a villain. He was trained by none other than Taskmaster, who himself is one of the best fighters in Marvel. And he eventually became one of the best mercenaries in the world.
There are a lot of different mercenaries in the world of Marvel, but Crossbones stood out due to how strong of a fighter he is and how he had a set of weapons that were quite unique. As such, he fought Captain America numerous times and gave him some of the hardest fights we’ve ever witnessed. And the thing is that Crossbones actually killed Steve Rogers in one comic book storyline, proving that he is a villain no one should ever mess with.
6. Baron Strucker
Hydra has always been a thorn in the side of Captain America and even the entire Avengers group. One of the villains that served as the leader of this organization was Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, who founded the group back in the 1800s. He became associated with Adolf Hitler during World War II and was the man who brought Red Skull into Hydra. That means that he was one of the greatest masterminds in the world of comic books.
Of course, the reason why Strucker has been around for a long time was the fact that he was near-immortal after obtaining the Satan Claw, which was an artifact that gave him superhuman strength as well. This allowed him to become one of the toughest villains in the history of the Captain America comics.
5. Arnim Zola
Yes, Arnim Zola was never the most visually appealing villain ever because he seemed quite ugly. But while that may be true, he still is one of the deadliest villains in the history of comic books, as he was always a thorn in the side of Captain America. He comes in the form of a giant TV screen with arms and legs. And he became such when he transferred his consciousness into this body.
Originally a Hydra scientist, Zola orchestrated evil schemes throughout history as he even created Dimension Z, an alternate universe where Steve Rogers raised Zola’s son but lost both him and Sharon Carter to Zola’s weapon. In that regard, we know how dangerous Zola is as he has always been a scientific genius that can think of the worst ways to kill Captain America.
4. Winter Soldier
No Captain America villain hits Steve Rogers right at the heart harder than the Winter Soldier. That’s because this man was actually Bucky Barnes in the 40s when they fought in WWII together. However, he mysteriously disappeared. That was when it was revealed that he had been turned into a Soviet assassin known as the Winter Soldier.
He was unleashed during the modern day to become a villain to his former friend, Steve Rogers. The Winter Soldier became an unstoppable fighting machine with Captain America’s strength and a trained assassin’s brutality. Eventually, his memory was restored as this turned Buck Barnes into more of an anti-hero character. Nevertheless, as the deadly Winter Soldier, he dished out physical and emotional pain to Steve Rogers.
3. Hydra Captain America
One of the storylines in Secret Empire that fans loved was the fact that Steve Rogers had been a secret agent for Hydra the entire time. While this was a controversial decision on the part of Marvel, it was eventually revealed that this version of Captain America was not the Steve Rogers we know and love.
A fragment of the Cosmic Cube restored the real Steve Rogers, and that was when he was brought in to defeat his dark version. Hydra Captain America had all of the original version’s powers and abilities. Nevertheless, the real Cap defeated the evil Cap to restore sanity to reality again.
2. Baron Zemo
Originally, Baron Zemo was an Avengers villain. However, he had gone through several versions of himself and eventually became more of a Captain America villain. Baron Helmut Zemo became a prominent member of Hydra and went on to lead it. And it was through this that he became one of the most notorious Captain America villains in history.
Wearing his signature purple mask, Zemo became nearly immortal when he slowed his aging process using Compound X. While he was never the strongest fighter, he was a great tactician that could manipulate people into doing things for him. He was a fighter but more of a mastermind than anything. And we did see this in ‘Captain America: Civil War,’ wherein he manipulated Tony Stark into going to war with Captain America.
1. Red Skull
Throughout Captain America’s history as a character, no villain has ever exceeded Red Skull’s threat level to the American hero because he has always been the greatest rival in Steve Rogers’ life. He was the original Captain America villain when he was created as a wartime villain allied with Nazi Germany. And he immediately became the complete opposite of Captain America regarding his appearance and beliefs.
Ever since he first appeared, the Red Skull became one of the most consistent villains in the Captain America comic books as he sought to enslave and murder entire populations. He was always a threat to the entire world due to his Nazi beliefs and crazy ideologies. But Cap always found a way to defeat him no matter what the Red Skull did.
Who is your favorite Captain America villain? Let us know in the comments!
