There are some pretty evil villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Whether it's Thanos (Josh Brolin) annihilating half of life in the universe or Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) revealing the secret identity of Peter Parker (Tom Holland) to the world, Marvel's villains are perfect enemies for their respective heroes. When it comes to original takes on famous villains like Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), they've also done a remarkable job reinventing them.
But what some general movie-goers may not realize is that while the antagonists featured in the MCU are pretty dastardly,some of their comic-book counterparts are far worse and have done things miles more evil. This list will focus on villains who are far more evil in the comic books than their MCU counterparts. Both versions are effective for their respective mediums, but the comic books make them far more loathsome and despicable than the MCU ever dared to.
10 Quentin Beck/Mysterio
First Comic Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #2 (1963)
Image via Marvel Studios
While the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Mysterio may have done some pretty messed up stuff, like letting young Peter get hit by a train, the Master of Illusions in Marvel Comics has done far more terrifying acts. Many may have been hurt during the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, but Mysterio in the books is responsible for many deaths.
Across the many Marvel Comics timelines, Quentin Beck has done some pretty messed-up things. In the "Old Man Logan" story, he used his illusionary powers to trick the iconic Wolverine into slaughtering his fellow X-Men.He even gaslit Spider-Man into thinking that he caused the death of an innocent civilian, which really screwed with his mind. Mysterio loves playing mind games with his enemies, and while the MCU briefly touched on it, its version of the villain was still pretty tame.
Spider-Man: Far from Home
Release Date July 2, 2019
CastTom Holland , Jake Gyllenhaal , Samuel L. Jackson , Marisa Tomei , Jon Favreau , Zendaya , Jacob Batalon , Tony Revolori , Angourie Rice , Remy Hii , Martin Starr , JB Smoove , Jorge Lendeborg Jr. , Cobie Smulders , Numan Acar , Zach Barack , Zoha Rahman , Yasmin Mwanza , Joshua Sinclair-Evans , Tyler Luke Cunningham , Sebastián Viveros , Toni Garrn , Peter Billingsley , Clare Dunne , Nicholas Gleaves , Claire Rushbrook , J.K. Simmons , Dawn Michelle King , Jeroen van Koningsbrugge , Michael de Roos , Jan-Paul Buijs , Sergio Pierattini , Anjana Vasan , Brian Law , Evelyn Mok , Tatiana Lunardon , Giada Benedetti , Lukáš Bech , Alessandro Giuggioli , Petr Opava , Giuseppe Andriolo , Pat Kiernan
Runtime 129 Minutes
Writers Erik Sommers , Chris McKenna
9 Loki Laufeyson
First Comic Appearance: Venus #6 (1949)
Image via Marvel Studios
In the MCU, Loki Laufeyson (Tom Hiddleston) is a pretty tricky individual. However, he soon undergoes a significant transformation and even receives quite the redemption at the end of his storyline in Avengers: Infinity War and later during the second season of Loki. This mischievous but ultimately selfless character is a far cry from the type of person his comic book self is.
In the "Ultimate" universe, for example, Loki turned the entire world against Thor, causing everyone—even the team he called family—to turn against and attack him. In the main timeline, he also ripped Lady Sif's soul from her body, placing it in a woman near death and taking the Asgardian warrior's form for himself. During this event, Loki killed Thor's grandfather and caused all manner of havoc. The MCU's Loki is a trickster, but the comics' version is an outright psychopath.
Release Date June 9, 2021
Seasons 2
8 Bullseye
First Comic Appearance: Daredevil #131 (1975)
Image via Netflix
In the third series of the smash-hit series Daredevil, Bullseye (Wilson Bethel) enters the fray and causes some havoc. But as any comic fan knows, the Bullseye in the Marvel Comics world is horrifically terrible and has done some truly evil acts, to the point where some consider him one of the deadliest villains in the whole Marvel universe.
Not only has he killed the likes of Daredevil, Elektra and Karen Page, but Bullseye is so nasty that most of the Marvel universe's villain catalog doesn't trust him one bit. There's one thing every Marvel reader knows: if this bad guy isn't killing for work, he simply kills for fun. Bullseye takes intense pleasure in murdering people, especially innocents who have no business in his or his allies' or enemies' businesses.
Release Date April 10, 2015
Creator Drew Goddard
Seasons 3
7 Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger
First Comic Appearance: Iron Man #163 (1982)
Image via Marvel Studios
When he debuts as the villain of the MCU's first film, Iron Man, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) simply wants to kill Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) so he can take over Stark Industries and continue producing weapons of war. Even with such a boring motivation, Obadiah is still a pretty crappy dude, but he has nothing on the comic book Stane.
In the pages of Marvel Comics, Stane has been evil from a very young age. Once, as a child, when he was facing another child at chess, he murdered the kid's dog to distract him from the game. Stane has a terrible moral compass, which fits his alter-ego, the criminal Iron Monger. But killing a dog just to win a chess match? That's all one needs to know to understand that the Marvel Comics' version of Obadiah Stane is evil for the sake of it.
Release Date May 2, 2008
Runtime 126 minutes
Writers Mark Fergus , Hawk Ostby , Art Marcum , Matt Holloway , Stan Lee , Don Heck
6 Kang the Conqueror
First Comic Appearance: Avengers #8 (1964)
Image via Marvel Studios
Unfortunately for fans of this iconic Avengers villain, thanks to real-world drama, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) most likely will not be making a reappearance in the MCU any time soon (at least not in the way he once was going to). Thus, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the canonical last appearance of the powerful Kang the Conqueror, which means he truly has no legs when compared to his comic book counterpart.
Horrifyingly, this dastardly villain turned all of Washington to dust, leading to thousands of innocent people dying. This act alone depicts how little Kang truly cares about human life. He's also partly responsible for the creation of one of the most dangerous X-Men villains, the mighty Apocalypse. When comparing the live-action and illustrated versions of the Conqueror, the MCU's take on Kang doesn't even seem that bad.
Release Date February 17, 2023
Runtime 135 minutes
Writers jeff loveness
5 Ultron
First Comic Appearance: Avengers #54 (1968)
Image via Marvel Studios
Some may argue that both iterations of Ultron arelines of code and pure logic with no humanity, which could consider them to not be "evil" in a standard sense. However, they still perform incredibly evil acts, regardless of whether they're intending to be evil or not. While Ultron (James Spader) in the films attempted to drop a city onto the planet as a meteor, the one found in literature has done far worse.
In the comic storyline that inspired his Marvel movie, Ultron takes over the entire planet before going on a universal conquest spree, pretty much turning every living being into himself. This rogue AI also conquered multiple races and civilizations across the galaxy, making him an absolutely genocidal warlord at some points. Ultron might be stoic and devoid of morals, but that only makes him more dangerous.
First Comic Appearance: Captain America #168 (1973)
Image via Marvel Studios
One of the biggest differences in the two iterations of Baron Zemo is how long he's lived. In the comic books, he takes a serum called Compound X that allows him to live as long as Captain America. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Zemo has become something of a fan favorite, thanks to his appearance in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. But if his fans could see his source material, they'd think twice about having so much love for this guy.
After Steve Rogers died in the "Civil War" comic book storyline, Bucky Barnes took over as the hero to continue the legacy. All was well and good for a bit until Zemo decided to step in and ruin it by exposing Bucky's identity to the world, including his past as an assassin. Not to mention, the Baron comes from a family of the worst villains of all time: Nazis. Moreover, Zemo has actually had several victories in the comics, making him as evil as he is near-infallible.
Release Date March 19, 2021
CastAnthony Mackie , Sebastian Stan , Wyatt Russell , Erin Kellyman , Daniel Brühl , Emily VanCamp , Danny Ramirez , Adepero Oduye , Dani Deetté , Indya Bussey , Desmond Chiam , Renes Rivera , Tyler Dean Flores , Cle Bennett , Noah Mills , Carl Lumbly , Amy Aquino , Chase River McGhee , Aaron Haynes , Gordon Danniels , Alphie Hyorth , georges st-pierre , Gabrielle Byndloss , Elijah Richardson , Florence Kasumba , Neal Kodinsky , Veronica Falcón , Tyler Merritt , Charles Black , Janeshia Adams-Ginyard , Zola Williams , Demi Castro , Ken Takemoto
Seasons 1
3 Johann Shmidt/Red Skull
First Comic Appearance: Captain America Comics #7 (1941)
Image via Marvel Studios
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) is already depicted as a pretty terrible Nazi for Captain America (Chris Evans) to face in Captain America: The First Avenger. His goals regarding the mystical Tesseract also give him a mad scientist quality, which further adds layers to his characterization. But there was never a chance that Marvel Studios could fully adapt the character from the books.
In short, Red Skull is depicted as a man with absolutely zero redeeming qualities and has been consistently committing horrific acts since the early days of World War II. Many consider him far worse than the average Nazi, which should be more than enough for most. For example, during one memorable storyline, the iconic X-Men villain Magneto discovers that the mutants of Genosha are being captured and taken to a "re-education camp" by Red Skull. Even in the modern age, the man is trying to commit World War II-esque acts.
Release Date July 22, 2011
Runtime 124 Minutes
Writers Christopher Markus , Stephen McFeely , Joe Simon , Jack Kirby
2 Thanos
First Comic Appearance: Iron Man #55 (1972)
Image via Marvel Studios
In the movie universe, Thanos is already considered a pretty horrible being, given that he murdered half of the entire universe. However, one of the things that makes him so compelling is the motives behind his actions. Thanos truly only wants what's best for the universe, albeit in a twisted way. This is not the case with comic book Thanos.
The thought of all the terrible things Thanos has done in the books is bone-chilling.
When it comes to snapping away half of the universe, the Marvel Comics version simply wants to court Lady Death herself. He murders billions to impress Death; somehow, the different intentions make his actions feel so much worse. Thanos has also courted women from multiple planets over the years, birthing many children. But, eventually, the Mad Titan went back and murdered every single past lover and the children they had together. He also murdered both of his parents and fully dissected his mom. The thought of all the terrible things Thanos has done in the books is bone-chilling.
1 The Green Goblin
First Comic Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #14 (1964)
Image via Sony Pictures Releasing
The MCU's Spidey had a traumatic time with the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), with the villainbrutally murdering Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) in Spider-Man: No Way Home. It's, by far, the worst thing that has ever happened to the Marvel Studios iteration of Spider-Man and had audiences in tears. However, this action is absolutely nothing compared to the horrors the Green Goblin has brought in the comics.
The Golin beat and tortured Peter to try and make him his heir, buried Aunt May alive (somehow worse than just killing her) and later faked her death, murdered both Gwen Stacy and Ben Reilly, turned Peter's girlfriend Carlie into a Goblin minion, killed Peter and Mary Jane's newborn baby,and so much more. Norman Osborn is, without a doubt, the most badass Spider-Man villain, not to mention the most wicked, cruel, and ruthless foe in the entire comic book multiverse.
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