Over the six years since Avengers: Endgame opened in theaters, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has introduced a multitude of new villains. Following in the footsteps of Thanos (Josh Brolin) is no easy task, but some of the franchise’s post-Endgame antagonists are genuinely great. Wanda Maximoff/the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn), Norman Osborn/Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), and the Void (Lewis Pullman) are just a few of the standout villains appearing in the MCU in recent years. At the same time, not all of the newer evildoers have lived up to expectations. The Multiverse Saga isn’t devoid of failures, and some of its biggest letdowns have come in the form of poorly written villains.
Before Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) takes center stage as the MCU’s next big bad in Avengers: Doomsday, it’s worth remembering the franchise’s least compelling villains in the last five years. Ranked from bad to worse, the following five MCU characters are the most disappointing villains since Avengers: Endgame.
5) Arthur Harrow
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One of Moon Knight‘s few weak spots is its villain. In the Disney+ series, Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) serves as the antagonist to Marc Spector/Moon Knight (Oscar Isaac), seeking to unleash the ruthless Egyptian goddess Ammit (Saba Mubarak) on the world. Although established as a devout worshiper of Ammit and a power-hungry individual, Harrow’s motivations are never fully developed. His involvement in Moon Knight predominantly involves random appearances with a sinister and mysterious demeanor. Harrow’s lack of depth is especially apparent when compared to the Moon Knight, whose numerous alters wonderfully contribute to his layered persona. Far from a memorable villain, Harrow is an unfortunate waste of a fantastic actor.
4) Galactus
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Galactus (Ralph Ineson) was a highly anticipated villain ahead of his MCU debut in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but he did not live up to the hype. The otherworldly being is enormous and menacing whenever on screen, though he’s also a painfully boring character. For most of the movie, Galactus does little more than stand still and look intimidating. Furthermore, The Fantastic Four: First Steps never thoroughly explores his motivations for consuming planets and pursuing Franklin Richards.
When Galactus finally arrives to destroy Earth during the final battle, he just stumbles around awkwardly until the Fantastic Four defeat him by pushing him through a portal. Galactus is a surprising letdown because his ominous presence appeared to suggest some meaningful stakes in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Yet, the villain’s loss at the end of the film was never in doubt. As a result, Glactus ends up a forgettable antagonist who functions as a plot device rather than a three-dimensional character.
3) Karli Morgenthau
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In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman) leads the Flag Smashers, who decry society’s neglect of those who survived Thanos’s Snap and seek to return the world to its status during the five years before the Blip brought everyone back. Karli’s turmoil is easy to sympathize with; however, she’s not fleshed out enough to compel one to care about her that much. It doesn’t help that the Flag Smashers always feel like a minor side plot in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which heavily focuses on Sam Wilson’s (Anthony Mackie) journey to becoming Captain America and Bucky Barnes’s (Sebastian Stan) reflection on his troubled past. Thus, not much of the show is dedicated to Karli’s development. Her anticlimactic death at the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier solidifies her as a disappointing antagonist.
2) Dar-Benn
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Due to her bafflingly little screen time in The Marvels, Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) is the second-worst MCU villain since Avengers: Endgame. The Kree warrior had a lot of potential, given her hatred of Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) for apparently causing a civil war on her homeworld. Having survived the war and her planet’s devastation, Dar-Benn embarks on a quest for revenge that should have been a lot more interesting than it is.
The villain’s scenes in The Marvels are few and far between, and they hardly characterize her as more than a vengeful combatant. Desperately in need of more complexity, Dar-Benn is relegated to the sidelines for the majority of The Marvels‘ short run time. The movie still succeeds thanks to the fun dynamic between Carol, Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), and Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), but the absence of a compelling villain is discouraging.
1) Kang the Conqueror
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It’s safe to say that Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) was a colossal failure for Marvel. Initially built up as the successor to Thanos and the lead villain of the now-defunct Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, Kang looked primed to become the MCU’s next big bad following his debut in Loki in 2021. But two years later, Majors was convicted of assaulting and harassing his ex-girlfriend, prompting Marvel Studios to fire him. Instead of recasting Kang, Marvel moved on from the character entirely, rendering the multiversal villain’s storyline all but meaningless in the MCU’s future.
The franchise committed an earlier error by making Kang the antagonist of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and having him lose to the main heroes without killing anyone important. Majors’ actions and the MCU’s mishandling of Kang proved to be his downfall. Kang’s promising start in the MCU crashed and burned both quickly and spectacularly, cementing him as the worst villain since Avengers: Endgame.
Which post-Avengers: Endgame MCU villains do you think are the worst? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!