The Final Trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has just dropped and this looks like one hell of an exciting film! In addition to the new trailer, which you can check out below, Wakanda Forever is introducing quite a few new characters and concepts into The MCU. With the movie’s release fast approaching, it seemed like a good idea to give you all a much better look at two of the new characters making their MCU debut in the film: Namor The Submariner and Riri William a.k.a. Iron Heart. In this article, we dive into how these exciting new characters affect the world of Wakanda, as well as the rest of The MCU. But first, watch the new trailer, right here:
As we’ll get into later in the article, to bring the character of Namor and his world to life, South American culture and mythology were huge influences for the filmmakers when it came to costumes, set design and more in the new film. Something you can see on display in the beautiful image below. Them gorgeous cover for this month’s issue of the excellent Empire Magazine, features (from left to right) Queen Ramonda, Shuri, and Namor.
NAMOR: THE SUBMARINER
Namor is one of Marvel’s oldest characters. Often featured in comics fighting alongside Captain America in WWII. He’s basically Marvel’s Aquaman, if Aquaman were a massive asshole who blurred the line between hero and villain.
Namor from a recent issue of Avengers
Like Aquaman, Namor is usually portrayed as the King of Atlantis. However, in Wakanda Forvever, while Atlantis still exists, Namor (played by Tenoch Huerta) will be the king of a different lost undersea kingdom called Talocan from Aztec mythology. This change takes nothing from the character, while adding a whole lot of potential. The filmmakers have created the opportunity for Namor himself, set design, costumes, VFX, and more to be inspired by Mesoamerican and South American mythology. From what we’ve seen in trailers and photos released from the film. The costume design and visuals for Namor, his people, and his kingdom, have looked spectacular. Wakanda was so richly and beautifully brought to life for these films, so it’s only appropriate that they attempt to do the same thing with Wakanda and Black Panther’s South American, antagonistic, counterpart. This has the added benefit of helping Namor stand out against the already successful and well established big screen version of Aquaman over at DC. We’ve already had a very successful Aquaman film with it’s own unique visual language, and by adding these beautiful flares to Namor’s world, it helps differentiate the two characters.
Namor
Namor and T’Challa arguably have one of, if not, the greatest rivalries in The Marvel Universe. The characters have a long history of animosity and bad blood, which is just another reason it’s a shame that we won’t see T’Challa appear in this film.
Until recently, it was unclear if one major part of Namor’s backstory would be translated into The MCU. However, it was recently revealed by Namor himself, actor Tenoch Huerta, that like his comic book counterpart, the Namor of The MCU is a Mutant. In the comics, Namor has often been referred to as one of “the first mutants”. His mother was Atlantean and his father was human, who passed the X-Gene on to him. Atlantean’s are already born with enhanced abilities from evolving at the ocean depths. The combination of his Atlantean heritage and his mutation, make Namor extremely powerful character with abilities far beyond those of normal Atlanteans. Namor is without question one of the heavy hitters of The Marvel Universe. Anybody who can go one on one with The Hulk is not to be taken lightly.
RIRI WILLIAMS: IRON HEART
Namor isn’t the only new character to make their debut in Wakanda Forever, Riri Williams a.k.a. Iron Heart (played by Dominique Thorne)will also apppear in the film, with her own Disney+ show to follow. A much more recent addition to The Marvel Universe, the character was created by Brian Michael Bendis in the pages of Invincible Iron Man. Riri is a teenage prodigy and a genius on par with Tony Stark or Shuri. While attending MIT, she reverse engineered the Iron Man armor and build her own armor out of materials taken from the MIT campus. She’s mentored by characters like Pepper and goes on to team up with other young heroes like Kamala Kahn’s Ms Marvel and Miles Morales.
A brief glance at the Iron Heart armor from the new trailer
She was shown briefly in the 1st trailer for Wakanda Forever, working alongside Shuri in her lab. There are a few quick shots in this new trailer, showing her working own her suit and flying into battle. Considering that the character is from Chicago in the comics, I suspect she’ll have begun working with Shuri through one of the Wakanda Outreach Programs T’Challa implemented at the end of the first Black Panther. Below we have the best look yet at the Iron Heart armor Riri will be wearing in the movie. Like a lot of superhero movie/TV reveals, this one came from promotional material for toys connected to the movie. You’d be surprised how often we get our first look at major comic book characters on film through toy advertisements.
Here’s Marvel’s official synopsis for Wakanda Forever: In Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M’Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba), fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death. As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda. Introducing Tenoch Huerta as , king of a hidden undersea nation, the film also stars Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena and Alex Livanalli.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters November 11th
Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter @PJWrightWBM, Instagram @worldsbestmedia2017, and our Facebook Page, Worlds Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews for the podcast, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!
At this point, I’m sure most of you know that actor Chadwick Boseman tragically passed away a few days ago at the age of 43, after a long bout with colon cancer. Everyone processes death and grief differently, but following the death of a celebrity that I like, I’m usually surprised and I think something like “Well, that really unfortunate. I’m sorry to see them go“. But on the rare occasions, there are celebrity deaths that genuinely upset me. Unfortunately, Chadwick Boseman’s death has been one of them. The last time I felt something real after the passing another of a public figure like this was when Robin Williams died. I’m in my mid-30s and I feel like, to a lot of people in my generation, Robin Williams was a real cultural icon growing up. Williams starred in some of the most important films of my formative years. The fact that Chadwick Boseman, whose career was almost just getting started, can hit me as hard as the death of an icon and legend like Robin Williams speaks to exactly how special Chadwick Boseman really was.
Obviously, I’m a massive comic book fan and I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One of the characters I most wanted to see on the big screen was Black Panther, he’s always been one of Marvel’s most interesting and compelling characters. Even though he has cool superhuman abilities and bad ass tech at his disposal, he isn’t fascinating because of his extraordinary powers. In fact, he’s one of the relatively weaker Avengers, at least when it comes to his power set. But like Batman in the DC Universe, Black Panther is arguably the most dangerous man alive in the Marvel Universe. Black Panther, or King T’Challa, is unique among other superheroes. Not only does he protects the world as an Avenger (and often the leader of The Avengers at that), but he’s also a king, who rules the most technologically advanced society on the planet. He’s a genius on par with Tony Stark or Bruce Banner. He’s the guy who would make the tough calls when the shit really hit the fan. However, there was always an innate compassion and humanity to the character that added a whole additional layer of heroic depth.
Marvel found the perfect actor to embody this character in Chadwick Boseman. The actor perfectly portrayed T’Challa’s brilliance as a tactician and warrior. He was regal and he carried himself with all of the strength and dignity that was necessary to bring this incredible figure to life. Boseman has already given us so much from this character to look back on and enjoy. I was extremely excited to see what he and Marvel were going to do with the character next.
Of course, Chadwick Boseman’s performance as Black Panther had a whole other meaning to millions of people around the world, that I can never understand. It cannot be understated how culturally important Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther was to people of color all over the world. There had never been a superhero movie like Black Panther, with a black lead, an almost entirely black cast , and a black crew behind the camera. I’ve heard so many people say that both Chadwick Boseman and King T’Challa were both role models to so many children around the world. I believe with all my heart that stories give people hope, they show them what they can be, and what they can achieve. With the wrong actor it might not have worked, but Chadwick Boseman was simply the man for the job. Clearly, off screen he was a man of incredible character and integrity. He radiated confidence, poise, grace, and humility. Through his incredible talent he was able to play characters as different as Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, James Brown, and King T’Challa. It was nothing short of extraordinary that he brought so many important figures from black culture to life, even the fictional ones. The tragedy of his death is that Chadwick Boseman was just getting started. He was one of the greats in the making. More importantly, he seemed like a genuinely wonderful human being and the world is a little less bright without him in it. I think we can take solace in the fact that, in his all too short time on Earth, he touched billions of lives for the better. How few people can say that? To do all of it while he was fighting cancer showed his indomitable courage. The worst of this disease hit him during his time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but he still gave us one of the most memorable characters, in a series of films with dozens of iconic characters. He truly stood out among the pack. To do all of this, while going through what he did, is incredibly brave. Chadwick Boseman showed us all how stories can change the world. That will be his legacy. Wakanda forever.
“Reed Richards: T’Challa, if this doesn’t work… If we fail, then that will mean this is the end, and… Black Panther: And then I will see you on the other side, my friend. Trust me. Death is just a different kind of journey… To the land that I am King.” – Secret Wars #7 (2015)
Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @PJWrightWBM or type Worlds Best Media into the search bar, you can also like and follow us on our Facebook page; World’s Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!
I haven’t been a big fan of the Academy Awards for years now, but I must admit I was very excited when Black Panther received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. This is the first time a comic book film, a superhero film has been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Even though I don’t consider the Oscars to be the standard by which excellence in film should necessarily be judged, it’s still a great feeling of validation to a lifelong comic book fan. Not to mention that it’s all too rare to see a big budget superhero film with a predominantly black cast that, as put so well by Marc Bernardin in his Entertainment Weekly cover story, Black Panther is a movie about celebrating “Excellence”. Which is all too rare. This movie’s cultural impact cannot be understated. Even putting all of that aside, Black Panther is just a great fucking movie that absolutely deserves this recognition.
The cast of Black Panther after their win for Best Ensemble Cast at The Screen Actors Guild Awards.
So, With Black Panther nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, on this episode we wanted to acknowledge that historic accomplishment as well as talk about other comic book films that deserved Oscar noms. We also discuss some of the upcoming DC films, like Birds of Prey. To top it all off, we try to figure out (if you could pick ANY character from ANY comic book universe) who would have the best chance in a face off against Thanos with The Infinity Gauntlet! All this and so much more on this episode of “The World’s Best Podcast”! Enjoy! Listen here or subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes:
It first started around The Avengers. We had Loki light up the screen as one of cinema’s great big bads. Then Iron Man 3 came along with Aldrich Killian and “The Mandarin” (Which I actually thought was a smart way to deal with a potentially problematic villain). Maleketh in Thor: The Dark World was the nail in the coffin. The internet declared: “MARVEL HAS BAD VILLAINS!” Villains like Ronan The Accuser from Guardians of The Galaxy sealed the deal: Marvel has one dimensional, forgettable villains.
After seeing Marvel’s excellent new film, Black Panther, with two very different, but fantastic in different ways. I got to thinking about the villains in PHASE 3 and not only doe each film in Phase 3 has at least 1 great villain, but I’d like to argue that the entire premise that Marvel has weak villains is BULLSHIT!
But I’ll get back to that… First of BIG SPOILERS FOR ALL MCU FILMS SO FAR INCLUDING BLACK PANTHER! Like I said, Black Panther has two great villains. First, there’s Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaw who we first saw in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Klaw is the “fun” villain. He’s got his awesome laser canon arm, blowing shit up. He’s laughing, having a good time. This is a guy who knows how to enjoy being an arms dealer in a world of aliens, gods, and superheroes. I often hate when villains “chew the scenery”, but when it’s done well like Serkis does here, it’s a blast to watch.
Then we have Michael B. Jordan as Eric Killmonger. I love Michael B. Jordan, so I was psyched when he was cast in Black Panther, but he’s so likable I just didn’t see him as a villain. He’s the type of guy I saw more as a hero than a villain. Man, was I wrong. Killmonger in this movie is NOT. FUCKING. AROUND. He’s a vicious, focused, terrifying motherfuker.
The scene when he faces T’Challa in The Falls for The Throne, you get the sense that T’Challa doesn’t really know what he’s dealing with. This is a man on a fucking mission. It was here where Killmonger reminded me of another great Phase 3 Marvel villain: Zemo. Zemo is the villain in Captain America: Civil War. He’s easy to forget because there’s so much dramatic eye catching stuff in that film. Zemo, like Killmonger when he faces T’Challa is just a man, not a god. But in Civil War, Zemo wins. He breaks The Avengers. The beauty of it, is what breaks The Avengers apart is the truth that Zemo exposes, their own lies and their own actions. Daniel Bruhl plays it perfectly. A grim man, on a grim mission.
On the Cosmic side of things we have the excellent Cate Blanchett as the best Thor villain, Hela (because at this point is Loki even really a villain?). She was charismatic, funny at times and she made you see a much darker side of Odin. I also think she could be the most powerful Marvel villain we’ve seen so far. I do not think we’ve seen the last of her, either. We don’t really see her die and in the comics one of the reasons Thanos is trying to assemble the Infinity Gauntlet is to impress the “thing” he loves, Death. In the comics, there’s an actual female personification of Death that Thanos is madly in love with. I think instead of trying to introduce a new character into an already massive cast, they’ll make Hela the object of Thanos’ affection. She kinda, sorta, basically is Death anyway. So that’s my theory.
Staying on the Cosmic side of the MCU, there’s Peter Quill’s extremely shitty father, Ego The Living Planet. Played perfectly by Kurt Russell, he never actually lies to Peter. He definitely omits very important facts, but he never outright lies. He’s the perfect space Dad! Except for the fact that he gave Peter’s mom a brain tumor. That’s a deal breaker. Before this big reveal, there are several smaller bad guys in the movie, but Kurt Russell is so disarming I found myself wondering who the hell the main villain for the movie was. So it’s real sucker punch when he reveals he planted the tumor that killed Peter’s mom. Tim Cuff, one of the site contributors thought Ego was his favorite MCU Villain. And what comic book fan didn’t love seeing the big face on The Planet when Rocket and Yondu are in orbit. Speaking of Yondu… FUCK! That’s the most heart breaking death we’ve seen in the MCU so far. “He may have been your father, boy. But I was your Daddy.” Goddammit it gets me every time!
Then we have my personal favorite from Phase 3 and maybe the whole MCU, Adrian Toomes (they never actually called him The Vuture in the movie) played by the absolutely fucking legendary Michael Keaton. The film opens days after the Chitauri Invasion, Toomes is a blue collar contractor and he and his crew are contracted by the city to help clean up the Chitauri tech left over from the invasion of New York, but are fucked over by the government and Stark Industries when they create a government division to handle these things called “Damage Control”. Keaton almost steals the whole movie. He’s super menacing, but clearing he’s a normal, loving, husband and father. He’s kind of the anti-Tony Stark, he has the high tech Vulture suits he uses for heists, he’s blue collar, Tony’s silver spoon.
Man, the scene Peter shows up at Liz’s to pick he up for the dance and Toomes, who we now realize is Liz’s dad, is my favorite sequence in the movie. In the car on the way to the dance, the way Keaton plays Toomes slowly realizing this kid is Spider-Man is phenomenal. Keaton is so fucking good in this role, I hope he pops up in future movies.
What makes a fantastic villain is that they think they’re the hero of the own story. That seems to be a common trend here with the Phase 3 villains. Several of the villains I’ve listed are ones that we easily sympathize with. Or maybe even think are right? When you find yourself siding with a villain more than the hero, an interesting story is being told. Killmonger, Zemo, Toomes, and even Hela to an extent all have very legitimate reasons for their actions.
Now the only outlier in Phase 3 is Doctor Strange. A very good movie, a solid origin flick, but the villain, Kaicillius, is pretty bland. It’s its cool seeing Strange facing down Dormammu in the final act, he’s more of a force of nature than a villain.
So, with the exception of Doctor Strange, it think I’ve made a pretty solid argument that the Marvel Phases 3 villains are pretty great. But I also said that I didn’t think Marvel even had a villain problem in the first place. So let’s quickly go through Phase 1 & 2 and it’s villains. I’m going to rate the quality of the villains themselves, NOT the movies:
PHASE ONE
Iron Man
The one that started it all. In more ways than one. It started the unfortunate “villain just being an evil version of the hero” trend. But it’s not a total loss, Jeff Bridges is fun in the role. The irony is that he’s more menacing as Obadiah Stane than he is when he’s in the Iron Monger suit. Also, what the fuck is his endgame once he gets the suit on? I also give them a bit more credit with this being their first film and they’re still finding their footing.
Villain: Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger
Grade: C+
The Incredible Hulk
The lost, red headed step child of the MCU. Here we have The Abomination and General Ross. When it come to Ross, his reasoning for hating the Hulk/Banner so much is, here’s a badass military man who’s always in control and has never been afraid of a damn thing in his life. Then he’s there for the birth of The Hulk, an unstoppable monster that makes him completely helpless. For the first time in his life, he felt fear and The Hulk put it there. He want’s to kill the thing that put fear into him. He’s terrified of The Hulk and that’s why he hunts him with such vigor. He’s like Ahab, kind of. Ross of course pops up like a shit that just wont flush in Civil War.
Then there’s Tim Roth’s Abomination. There’s something to be said for seeing The Hulk just tear it the fuck up against his most monstrous and physically powerful adversary. Their fight through Harlem is fun, CGI madness. Like Ross, Emil Blonsky has the unique motivation of a military man. A man past his physical prime, who knows if he had the physical ability he had 20 years ago with the skills and tactical knowledge he’s learned since, he’d be a force to be reckoned with. Which leads to the series of events that turn him into The Abomination. He tries to become something like Captain America, but he turns himself into a monster instead. It’s important to remember that in the MCU the secret to creating super soldiers like Captain America died with the scientist who invented the procedure. People have been trying to perfect it for decades but . Captain America was the only real success, usually People end up with something more like the abomination. I actually think these are 2 pretty underrated and interesting villains .
Once Hulk beats The Abomination into submission, alive and unconscious, he just takes off! What the fuck were they gonna do if he woke up? It’s not like they have a prison cell designed to hold something like The Abomination just on hand, because I think they have a half hour TOPS before this fucking thing wakes up! They don’t make it clear here, but in the comic, unlike The Hulk, he doesn’t change back to a man. He’s a giant fucking death monster permanently (something tells me he’ll be cool with it). Then again maybe Ross does have something ready to go because he had JUST captured The Hulk. This is a dangerous fucking situation is all I’m saying!
There are actually several other interesting loose ends in this movie. Like how the post credit scene with Ross and Stark in the bar at the end of the film doesn’t make sense, because in the larger context of the MCU because they were still trying to figure out what the MCU would be. But they retconned it in the Marvel One-Shot “The Consultant”.
Then there’s Tim Blake Nelson as Dr. Samuel Sterns who was helping Bruce to find a cure. He helps Blonsky make the final transformation into The Abomination. During the procedure he get a cut on the head and the Hulk’s blood drips into the wound. From there his head begins to bubble and grow.
Clearly this was meant to set up Hulk villain, The Leader. In the comics, Sterns’ transformation makes him super intelligent and he ends up looking something like this:
We never see hide nor hair from this guy again anywhere in the MCU so presumably he’s out there up to no good. Or he got hit by a bus…
Villain: General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross
Grade: B+
Villain: Emil Blonsky/ The Abomination
Grade: B-
Iron Man 2
Everybody shits on this movie, but I like it a lot. I agree Mickey Rourke is another shitty “evil version of the hero” villain. He’s actually the least interesting villain in that category. But Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer FUCKING. RULES. He is so fucking fun to watch in this movie. Here’s a guy who desperately wants to be Tony Stark, but just can’t quite pull it off. When it comes to villains, he saves this flick.
Villain: Ivan Vanko/Whiplash
Grade: D+
Villain: Justin Hammer
Grade: A-
Captain America: The First Avenger
When people first started talking about the “MCU Villain Problem”, I was like do you have fucking amnesia?! What about The Red Skull? They absolutely nail him. THIS is The Red Skull of the comics. Plus, Hugo Weaving playing Werner Herzog playing The Red Skull? Fucking genius ( This is true by the way, Weaving largely based The Red Skull on Herzog). The make-up effects are fantastic. This is a great Marvel villain, people. Also, to this day I’m certain he didn’t actually die at the and of the movie. He’s holding the Tesseract, The Space Stone, I just think he was transported across the galaxy and I’ve been waiting to see him return since. I’ve heard the Hugo Weaving isn’t too keen on reprising the role, but he’s already covered in The Red Skull make up, I’m sure there are plenty of great actors to fill his shoes. I could see them maybe bringing him back in Avengers: Infinity War, so we shall see
Villain: The Red Skull
Grade: A
Thor/ The Avengers
I’m going to skip right over Thor and Avengers because we all know Loki is the man.
Villain: Loki
Grade: A+
PHASE 2
Iron Man 3
Here’s Marvel’s first big standalone after The Avenger and they were scared people wouldn’t want to see the heroes apart now that we’d see the best of the best. They were wrong to be worried. This was a huge hit for Marvel. Unlike many people, I don’t hate “The Mandarin Twist”. Which was, as I said before a clever solution to a potentially problematic villain. The Mandarin was nothing but a pathetic rip off of the much better DC villain Ras Al Ghul. It’s hard to argue that Ben Kingsley is a great in the role. He sells the idea of The Mandarin as a terrorist and then is really fun to watch when we realize he’s just a drug addled British actor. For The Mandarin purists out there the last Marvel One-Shot “All Hail The King” should help to alleviate the pain.
Villain: The Mandarin
Grade: Guy Pierce – C-/ Ben Kingsley – B-
Thor: The Dark World
Malekith is the real lowest of the low. The blandest, most uninteresting Marvel villain in the MCU’s weakest film. It’ a shame because Christopher Eccelston played one of the most terrifying villains of all time as Raymond Calitri in Gone in Sixty Seconds (That’s kind of an inside joke, which I shouldn’t do). Fortunately there’s nowhere to go but up for both the MCU and the Thor movies. This is BY FAR the worst Marvel villain from any of the films.
Villain: Malekith The Accursed
Grade: D+
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
I’m reluctant consider The Winter Soldier a villain in this film because he’s kind of more of a victim than anything else. Yes, he does some terrible things, but when I think of this film I don’t think of him as a villain. He’s Bucky, a hero in his own right and Cap’s friend turned brainwashed assassin. Ultimately he’s a very scary and effective human weapon for HYDRA. The fact that there are this many layers to the “villain” of the film speaks to how good both the movie and the character are.
Then we have the great Robert Redford who’s excellent as Alexander Pierce, one of the heads of HYDRA. Having one of the great American actors play a HYDRA agent who has infiltrated the highest levels of SHIELD is so fucking cool. This a role he could have easily phoned in, but he puts in a fantastic performance. Like all great villains, at certain points he kind of has you seeing where he’s coming from. I think this film is the moment when the geeks truly inherited the earth, when with his dying breath Robert Redford whispers “Hall Hydra“.
We also have Rumlow AKA CROSSBONES as a solid piece of shit, soldier villain. Who we get to see again as Crossbones in Civil War. I think he’s the perfect muscle in this film to the brain that is Alexander Pierce.
Villain: The Winter Soldier
Grade: A-
Villain: Alexander Pierce
Grade: B+
Villain: Brock Rumlow AKA Crossbones
Grade:B-
Guardians of the Galaxy
Here we have another pretty generic space villain. Very one dimensional. He wants to kill everyone on the planet Xandar because the Kree…something… ancient blood feud… something, something. Don’t get me wrong, Ronan is NOT a very good villain, but I kind of like him. He’s got a cool look. He’s light years better than Malekith, the last generics space villain we got. And call me out for drinking the Marvel Koolaid, but I love when he has to go get chewed out by Thanos. The whole thing had a very Darth Vader and The Emperor feel. Always a plus
Villain: Ronan The Accuser
Grade: C+ (That’s probably too high a score, but I like this guy for some reason)
Ant-Man
Ant-Man continues the classic Marvel problem of the villain being an evil version of the hero. We also have the reverse Iron Man with the young buck trying to take the company away from old Michael Douglass’s Hank Pym. In Iron Man it was the older guy trying to steal the company. A lot of been there, done that here. Sure, the Yellowjacket suit is cool and Ant-Man has one of the best third acts of any Marvel film, but this just ain’t gonna cut it villain-wise.
Villain: Darren Cross AKA Yellowjacket
Grade: C
Avengers: Age of Ultron
“There are no strings on me…” – Ultron
I wanted to save this for last, even though technically Ant-Man came out after this film. I think Ultron is by far the most underrated villain in the MCU. James Spader plays him perfectly as this twisted reflection of Tony Stark. His “birth” scene, when he reveals himself to The Avengers in that Frankenstein’s Monster version of Stark’s drones, is creepy and memorable in the best ways. He’s a legitimate threat to the Avengers, which can be difficult. To be fair he should have been more of a “HOLY FUCK, HOW ARE WE GOING TO BEAT THIS UNSTOPPABLE BADASS WHO’S 10 STEPS AHEAD OF US?!!” Villain. But I think what we got really worked. Ultron isn’t Skynet. He’s not a cold, unfeeling machine. He wants to be human, but his emotions are all fucked up. He doesn’t understand why people can’t see what he’s trying to do for them.
To Ultron, Earth NEEDS an extinction level event so the surviving humans will become stronger. As Ulron says to the twins “As soon as the Earth settles, God throws a stone and believe me he’s winding up.” I think he’s talking about Thanos here. I don’t think he knew specifically what it was, but he new something big and bad was heading our way and we weren’t ready (I just wanna say other sites have been talking about similar ideas, but I’ve had this theory for awhile now). I also think it’s fascinating that he’s always talking about God, Faith, and Religion. I find it so fascinating and would love to know why Wheadon chose to have theology on the mind of a powerful A.I. so much. Besides the Red Skull and The Vulture, this is the villain I would most like to see return in a Marvel film. In addition to being one of my favorite scenes in the MCU, when Vision and the very last Ultron drone have that great conversation about humanity at the end of Age of Ultron. Ultron comes at Vision and Vision destroys him in blinding light using the Mind Stone in his head. OR DID HE?! Check out the scene here:
Earlier in the film, Vision does say earlier “I don’t want to kill Ultron. He’s unique.” Maybe Vision has some of Ultron’s code tucked away somewhere for safe keeping. As we all, know from the comics, Ultron always comes back…
Villain: Ultron
Grade: A
So out of the 16 villains from PHASES 1 & 2 analyzed and graded here, 10 were at least a B- or higher. Of course, that’s just my personal analysis. I didn’t even get into the villains from the Netflix shows. You throw in villains like Kingpin, Killgrave, and Cottonmouth and the debate is OVER. BOOM.
I’d also like to point out that I’ve always said Marvel has the best heroes (with the exception of Batman) and DC has the best villains. Up until recently, Ive been a big DCEU defender in fact. But so far, Warner Bros., in one way or another (directly or indirectly) have managed to royally fuck up their 3 best villains: Lex Luthor, The Joker, and Darkseid. So, who really has the villain problem, hmm?
So there we have it, I’ve made my case. I hope I changed some hearts and minds. But you guys are the Judge in the end. Let me know what you think. I am right? Dead wrong? A complete idiot?.. well, we all know that last one’s true anyway. Let me know in the comments below or on our Facebook page World’s Best Media.
World’s Best Media 