The 10 Most Powerful and Deadly Marvel Villains To Ever Exist
Throughout their history, Marvel Comics has created some of the most well-known heroes in history. Spider-Man. Wolverine. Captain America. Thor. And I could go on. Their heroes have transcended comic books since the years they were born.
But what about their villains? What about the Marvel villains?
Alongside their heroes, the company has a catalog of villains that many can only dream of. And each of their villains is capable of reigning down destruction with the best of them. Of all the villains at their disposal, who are the best (worst)?
Good question.
Here are the 10 most powerful Marvel villains ever.
10. Annihilus
Before the Annihilation storyline, I would never have put Annihilus on this list. After all, before that story, all Annihilus amounted to was being a bug on the windshield of the Fantastic-car. After that story, however, things changed…and changed in a big way.
During the Annihilation event, Annihilus led an entire fleet of ships out of the Negative Zone. Once free from the Negative Zone, Annihilus and his ships began destroying and bringing entire planets under their power.
But that’s not all.
Due to his insect body, he has superhuman strength, speed, stamina, reflexes,
9. Red Skull
An enemy as old as Captain America, Red Skull is certainly deserving to be here.
The Red Skull grew up inside the Nazi Regime. He was trained and taken in by Hitler to be one of the most ruthless offerings the Nazi’s had. He’s intelligent beyond reason and has an indomitable will to go with it.
Red Skull has been responsible for some of the best stories in Captain America’s long history. This isn’t because he’s easy to write or that he’s fun to draw. No, this is because he’s the exact opposite of everything Steve Rogers stands for.
8. Green Goblin
Of all Spider-Man’s enemies, and there a lot, none are as important as the Green Goblin. Throughout the course of their long history, he has thrown Gwen Stacy from the Brooklyn Bridge, impregnated that same character, bonded with the Carnage Symbiote, created Life Model Decoys of Peter’s parents, unmasked Spider-Man, and more.
Green Goblin is everything that Spider-Man doesn’t stand for. He’s vile, ruthless, conniving, despicable, and murderous. In his world, nothing is off limits. He can and will do anything to his enemy for his own benefit. Green Goblin is one of the best Marvel villains because he possesses all the qualities that a villain should be defined by.
7. Loki
Before the MCU, Loki was an afterthought in the world of Marvel Comics. After the MCU, and more specifically Tom Hiddleston’s performance, Loki has become as important as any of the Marvel villains on this list.
Like many other Marvel villains, Loki demands power and respect. Unlike many other villains, he’s got the ability and chutzpah to back it up. As a being from another world, he has control of magic and sorcery that very few will ever have. Because of this, he and his brother, Thor, have found their way on opposing ideals more than once.
6. Dark Phoenix
The once proud and integral member of the X-Men, Dark Phoenix has, over the years, become one of their greatest enemies. Not only does she possess all the power that Jean Grey had, only heightened, she is also able to fly into the deepest depths of space and manipulate matter in an unparalleled way.
The Dark Phoenix is one of the most famous Marvel villains. She first appeared in Chris Claremont’s groundbreaking Phoenix Saga run and has been a mainstay in Marvel Comics since. This is so much to the point that the sheer volume of times she’s died has become a running joke for fans all over the world.
5. Kang
Kang is dangerous not because he can time travel. Kang is dangerous because of what he does after he time travels.
Take Apocalypse for example.
Kang knew that a mutant was going to be born thousands of years before it happened. Because of this, he traveled back in time and attempted to coerce the young mutant into serving him. He knew that with Apocalypse by his side, nothing could stop him. Fortunately, this didn’t work out for him but that’s not the point.
Kang is primarily considered an Avengers enemy that doesn’t mean he sticks to the Avengers. Because he can time travel, Kang is more than capable of going toe-to-toe with anyone in Marvel. More impressively, he has an arsenal of supplies from the future. For example, his armor gives him super strength and makes him practically invulnerable.
4. Apocalypse
Don’t let his terrible outing in X-Men Apocalypse tarnish your opinion of him. He is one bad mutant.
Apocalypse is considered one of, if not the first mutant to ever have existed. As such, he’s thousands of years old. In his lifetime, he has seen the worst that humanity has to offer. He’s watched wars, disease, and famine
As one of the first mutants, his power set is incredible. He can regenerate himself, change his size, possesses super strength, is able to shapeshift, has near invulnerability, can connect with technology, and is incredibly intelligent.
Make no mistake, each of these on their own is impressive. Blended together you have a mutant as bad as Shaft.
3. Thanos
Just watch any of the last 10 years of Marvel movies and you’ll see how important Thanos is as a Marvel villain.
Thanos has been at the center of some of the most important storylines in history. Of them, the Infinity Gauntlet is the most well-known. Alone he’s as strong and intelligent as any being in Marvel, but when he wields the Infinity Gauntlet, he’s near invincible.
But that isn’t what makes him a lock for this list. What makes him a lock for this list is that his understanding of the way the Universe works is unrivaled. As such, when he puts his mind to something, there aren’t too many who can stop him.
2. Magneto
Magneto has been the foil to Charles Xavier and the X-Men since they both debuted back in 1963. While Xavier and his X-Men want peace and harmony between mutants and human, Magneto wants mutant superiority. Magneto desires nothing more than to punish those who do him and his fellow mutants harm.
What’s interesting about the two parties is that both want to create a world without prejudice and discrimination. Unfortunately, Magneto, wants it to happen through a fierce dictatorship that sees mutants control the humans.
Magneto is one of the more interesting Marvel villains. What makes him so interesting is that his thought process isn’t wrong, species and races should be able to live in harmony. It’s how he goes about achieving what he wants that’s wrong.
1. Dr. Doom
Dr. Doom is the antithesis to Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four. The two, Richards and Doom have spent most of their adult lives at odds with one another. Both possess brilliant minds and both are by-products of their work.
Due to his work, Reed and his friends sat aboard a rocket ship that was bombarded by cosmic rays. As a result, each of the four, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm, were given extraordinary powers. Similarly, Victor Von Doom’s life changed after his own experiment blew up in his face.
Doom wants nothing more than to a) prove he’s better than Reed Richards and b) rule the world. It’s both that make him one of the best Marvel villains in history.
Cheers,
Joel
