It’s that time if year again! When we take stock and look at the best and worst serialized storytelling streamed, stolen, and broadcast to our TVs, tablet, laptops, and God knows what else. There were a lot of great shows in 2022, and in article, I’ll be going over my favorites, enjoy!
The Boys (Amazon Prime)
Hands down, my favorite series of the year goes to Amazon Prime’s The Boys. This surprisingly layered show works on multiple levels. What makes the series a cut above the rest (as well as the best show on television, in my opinion), is how the show is executed with excellence at every level. On the surface, there’s the insanity, graphic violence, shocking gross out moments, and depravity that the show revels in. It’s not for everybody. There’s a scene early on in the Season 3 premiere, that is unlike anything I have ever seen committed to screen. It was utterly insane. Almost as if the creators were saying to the audience “Hey, we know it’s been awhile, but in case you forgot what kind of show you’re watching… Check this out!”. It seemed to proudly announce, The Boys are BACK and no punches will be pulled!
The series works as a superheroes deconstructed, as well as a commentary on our current cultural obsession with them. On a whole other level, The Boys is a brilliant social and political satire, lampooning both sides of the social and political spectrum with equal opportunity. However, none of that would work if The Boys didn’t have some of the best storytelling and characters on TV. The writing is truly phenomenal, with amazing performances, from a cast that’s absolutely stacked with talent. It all comes together to create something very special.
In the world of The Boys, nothing is black-and-white. Every single character feels fleshed out and real. There are at least four or five actors on this show, if not more, who give Emmy worthy performances. However, Season 3 had a few particular standouts who blew the roof off ever time they were on screen. Unsurprisingly, two of those standout performances belong to Anthony Starr as Homelander and Karl Urban as Butcher. Both actors continue to add layers to these complex characters with their extraordinary performances. Both Butcher and Homelander are guilty of fairly vile behavior, yet the show somehow makes you feel sympathy for them. That is no mean feet. Their dynamic continues to be the backbone of the series and things are poised to only get more interesting from here.
The prize for third MVP of the season has to go to new cast member Jensen Ackles, joining the show as Soldier Boy. As the show’s twisted version of Captain America, he was a great character who fundamentally shook up the status quo of the series, the first Supe we’ve seen to genuinely rival Homelander in power. As both an antagonist and reluctant ally, Soldier Boy was a true wild card. After 15 seasons playing Dean Winchester on Supernatural, Jensen Ackles showed us that he is not a one trick pony. Giving a complex, fascinating performance, as a complicated character who worked as both friend and foe. Soldier Boy was a kind of character we’ve never quite seen before on the show. He was the perfect shake up that the series needed and I hope we see Ackles return for future seasons. This was the best season of The Boys yet, coming off of the first 2 spectacular seasons. With Season 4 on the way, The Boys has established itself as the best show currently on television.
Arcane (Netflix)
A long list of wildly entertaining and groundbreaking animated shows have emerged over the last 30 years. After just one season, Netflix’s Arcane has already solidified it self as one of the very best. Arcane has so much going for it that it’s hard to know exactly where to begin. The beautiful animation is genuinely unique, every character is complex and interesting. One of the many things I loved about Arcane is how it doesn’t operate within the context of heroes and villains. The so-called “good guys” struggle with their inner demons and mistakes from their past. Conversely, just as you’re about to right off a “villain” as irredeemable, they display unexpected kindness, compassion, and humanity. Arcane is even further enhanced by it’s stellar voice cast, almost every actor here crushes it in their respective roles. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the fight scenes. The fights on this show fucking rule. The fight sequences aren’t just beautifully choreographed and thrilling, they also have a purpose in the story and give us better insight into the characters involved (Plus, they just look so damn cool). Even if you’re not a fan of animation, I say, give this show try, because Arcane is an absolute MUST WATCH.
The Sandman (Netflix)
After years in development Hell and numerous attempts at possible movies and TV series, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman finally got an on screen adaptation. It was worth the wait. However, what’s downright miraculous how damn good the show really is. Neil Gaiman himself was very hands on during the creative process and the production, so he approached this adaptation as if he was writing The Sandman story for the first time, instead of 30 years ago. Gaiman said that if he was writing The Sandman comic book series today, instead of the 90’s, this is more or less what it would look like. But don’t let that scare you if you’re a diehard fan, this is still very much The Sandman that we know and love. The result is show with the characters stories and you know and love, with some minor tweaks as the story transitions mediums from a comic book to a TV series.
Almost all of the changes made are for the better, even improving upon certain storylines and characters that didn’t work for me in the comics. Tom Sturridge IS Morpheus. He perfectly embodies the character and without him the series wouldn’t work. The rest of the cast kills it as well, with fan favorites like Lucifer, The Corinthian, Mathew The Raven and Hob Gadling all making memorable appearances. Despite the changes, this was still a shockingly accurate adaptation of the classic award-winning comic book series. With Netflix, having recently announced that the series will be returning for Season 2, if the show stays on its current course, some of the best Sandman stories are about to be brought to life on screen.
Stranger Things 4 (Netflix)
It’s safe to say that this was the best season of Stranger Things yet. The mythology moved forward in a major way. Stranger Things got a horrifying villain in Vecna, and the characters and story are left perfectly positioned at the end of the season to wrap up the series with a bang in Stranger Things 5.
This season has some fantastic characters, both new and familiar. Without spoiling anything, if one of the characters dies, you genuinely feel the emotional impact, where lesser series can come off as cheap. Let’s no forget the already iconic scene as Max and the rest of the gang desperately try to save her, all set to Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (Deal With God)”. Great stuff, a real chef’s kiss.
Peacemaker (HBO Max)
James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad has become is one of my favorite films over the last couple of years. It’s arguably the best film in The DCEU. Now, I love John Cena and he’s fucking great in The Suicide Squad, but to be honest I was less than enthusiastic when I heard Peacemaker was getting his own spin-off series on HBO Max. It seemed like an odd choice to expand on the character. Boy, was I wrong. In James Gunn we trust, my friends.
Peacemaker is a home run that has no business being as good as it is. I always say, there’s no such thing as a bad character, just bad writers, and Peacemaker is a perfect example of that. John Cena elevates the seemingly violent sociopath, into a deeply broken man, struggling with guilt and deep emotional turmoil. The series is surprisingly complex, shifting between hilarious and heartbreaking with ease. Coupled with the magic touch of James Gunn, and one of the best TV show opening intro sequences ever, and Peacemaker is yet another contender for the best superhero show on television.
Other FavoritesFrom 2022:
The Umbrella Academy (Netflix)
Reacher (Amazon Prime)
Young Justice: Phantoms (HBO Max)
His Dark Materials (HBO/HBO Max)
Interview with The Vampire (AMC)
Moon Knight/She-Hulk (TIE) Disney+
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!
*EDITOR’S NOTE: A lot of interesting content was revealed at this year’s COMIC-CON, so I’ll be updating this page with new content over the next several days.
Its that time of year and Comic-Con is upon us once again! This the venue where audiences get a sneak peek at some of the most exciting and anticipated projects in the superhero, sci-fi, and fantasy genres. There were quite a few notable announcements, trailers, and first looks, so let’s dive right in!
MARVEL STUDIOS
After The Infinity Saga came to a close, fans have been eager to see where The MCU would go next. The head of Marvel Studios, Kevin Fiege, did not disappoint. As we’re heading towards the end of Phase 4, Marvel debuted the films and Disney+ shows that would make up not only Phase 5, but Phase 6 as well!
As you’ll notice, not all of the films and TV shows that make up Phase 6 have been revealed. Some of these projects could hidden beceause even their title would spoil certain surprises that Marvel has in store. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see some of those spots taken up by sequels for characters like Shang-Chi and Doctor Strange or even an X-Men related project. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a film about the main Marvel Universe version of The Illuminati or even a Doctor Doom solo movie. We’ll have to wait and see. Like The Infinity Saga before it, Phases 4, 5, and 6 will collectively make up…
Culminating in not one, but TWO Avengers films, with monumentally exciting titles…
Exciting stuff, but there’s more MCU where that came from…
She-Hulk: Attorney At Law
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania
The 3rd installment in the Ant-Man franchise marks the beginning of Marvel’s Phase 5. The big news in this movie is Jonathan Majors appearing as Kang The Conqueror. When we met He Who Remains, a much nicer variant of Kang, in Loki Season 1, we were warned that his variant’s are dangerous to put it mildly. When it comes to The Avengers’ the greatest foes, three names top the list: Thanos, Ultron, and Kang. Considering that the next Avengers movie is called Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, you get the idea that Kang is as bad and as dangerous as they come. Jonathan Majors did a fantastic job of playing a variant of Kang in Loki Season One so I’m very excited to see what he does with a much more malevolent version of the character in this film. Below Marvel revealed an exciting poster for the upcoming movie, where you get a good look at not only Ant-Man and The Wasp, but Kang The Conqueror in his traditional comic book attire, along with Scott Lang’s daughter Cassie as her superhero alter ego, Stature.
Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3
While some of the Guardians of The Galaxy panel is available to watch on YouTube, the brief teaser James Gunn cut together for the audience in Hall H , hasn’t made it’s way online yet. However, there were some cool reveals, it was officially confirmed that the film’s villain will be The High Evolutionary. The character will be played by Chukwudi Iwuji. Earlier this year, Iwuji played Clemson Murn in the spectacular “Peacemaker” series. He made a hell of the entrance by taking a page out of Tom Hiddleston’s playbook and showing up for the panel in character and costume.
Chukwudi Iwuji on stage in Hall H as The High Evolutionary.
The High Evolutionary is Doctor Herbert Wyndham, a geneticist who specializes in creating human/animal hybrids. Rocket has been frequently referred to as the central character in Vol.3., so going on some sort of journey of self discovery to find his ”creator” or ”father”, makes a lot of sense. Many fans have speculated that The High Evolutionary would be revealed to be Rocket’s creator. This reveal seems to have confirmed this running fan theory.
Daredevil: Born Again
Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio return as Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk in the first 18 Episode Disney+ series. Notably, Fiege referred to this as the show’s “First Season”, implying that this isn’t a one off, like WandaVision, for example. Born Again refers to one of Daredevil’s most iconic stories, however Season 3 of the Netflix Daredevil series was largely an adaptation of this classic Born Again storyline. Even if the Netflix shows aren’t completely considered canon in The MCU, I doubt Marvel would rehash a story that we’ve, mostly, already seen, canon or not. Especially with Cox and D’Onofrio returning. If i had to guess, I’d say this is probably a Civil War or Age of Ultron situation, adaptations in name only and vastly different from the source material. I think that’s the most likely situation with Daredevil: Born Again. Out of all the projects revealed at COMIC CON this year, this is the one I’m most excited about.
In this video, IGN does a great job of explaining what Daredevil’s future in The MCU looks like. Check it out:
DC ENTERTAINMENT
The Sandman
Neil Gaiman, the celebrated author and creator of The Sandman comic series that the new show’s based on, breaks down the trailer in the video below.
SHAZAM: Fury of The Gods
Black Adam
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!
We have a couple of pretty cool trailers this week, with the new trailer for Season 3 of AmazonPrime’s The Boys, as well as our first look at the upcoming MCU Disney+ series, She-Hulk: Attorney At Law! Both trailers a very exciting for their own reasons, but check them out below and then we’ll get into some interesting details about these upcoming shows…
The Boys: Season 3
At this point, what more is there to say about The Boys? We already know the show is fantastic and I have no doubt that the new season will deliver just as much, if not more, than the previous seasons. I love seeing Homelander beginning to seriously go off the deep end. It looks like Maeve is beginning to proactively work against Vought a bit more, which is interesting. It seems like Hughie has some level of authority over Butcher now. Which led the great line from Mallory (their old boss) to Butcher ”You’ve even started taking Hugh Campbell’s orders without strangling him.”.
However, there was one thing problem I had that was on display in the trailer. In the comics, The Boys using something similar to Compound-V to level the playing field against the supes, is introduced fairly early in the series. So I didn’t really like M.M.’s sanctimonious “you’ve become the thing you hate! Blah, blah, blah“ schtick. If you’re going up against enemies with the power of gods, a move like this seems inevitable. So hopefully, that’s not a major subplot and this becomes a tool that The Boys use on a semi-regular basis when they need it .
Then, of course, the other big deal in Season 3 that has a lot of people excited, is Jensen Ackles joining the cast as Soldier Boy. We see much more of him in this new trailer and goddammit, he looks pretty damn cool. I feel like he’s going to be the wild card of the season. He’s the X factor. He doesn’t seem to be towing the Vought company line, but he doesn’t seem like a guy who’d necessarily become a straight up ally to Butcher and The Boys either. So it will be really interesting to see how his character is used and how his story plays out over the season. Ackles is a talented actor with a lot of range and I think he’s going to get a lot of attention with this role. The premiere can’t get here soon enough!
The Boys Season 3 begins streaming on PrimeVideo June 3rd.
She-Hulk: Attorney At Law
While I’ve always liked the character of Bruce Banner’s cousin, Jennifer Walters, I was surprised how much I loved the trailer for She-Hulk: Attorney At Law. The tone feels exactly right for a show like this and I thought She-Hulk’s character design really worked (I’ll get to the CGI/VFX in a minuet).
Let’s not forget some of the interesting familiar faces who show up in the trailer. It’s great to see Tim Roth back as Emil Blonsky a.k.a. The Abomination. We last saw him in Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings, taking on Wong in a superhuman cage fighting tournament and it appears as if he’s been, at least a little bit, rehabilitated. Because after the fight in Shang-Chi, in the locker room he and Wong are clearly friends. Wong then opens a portal and walks through with The Abomination into a room that appears to be the same one that we see Tim Roth being kept in, in this new trailer.
Of course, I’ll take any excuse to see Mark Ruffalo pop up as Bruce Banner/The Hulk (some of you may disagree, but I love that he’s still in Professor Hulk-mode). Not to mention the persistent rumors that this is where we’ll see Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil again after his official re-introduction into the main MCU in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Considering that Matt Murdock is a lawyer and this series is dealing with the creation of a superhuman law division, it makes a lot of sense for the character to make an appearance.
Something important to keep in mind when watching this trailer, is how on projects like this, the visual effects are continuing to be worked on and perfected up to the last moment. So while some of the She-Hulk rendering may not have been pitch perfect, the special effects wizards working on the show have literally months to perfect the process. I have no doubt that when the show premieres, we will have an impressive looking She-Hulk.
She-Hulk: Attorney At Law premieres on Disney+ August 13th.
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!
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 