Ranking: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Villains (may contain spoilers)

27. Malekith (Christopher Ecclestone) - Thor: The Dark World

This is just an example of a really poor and uninspired Marvel film, and quite frankly the villain here is a perfect example of what many consider to be Marvel's Achilles heel: weak villains. Not in terms of their powers or abilities - Malekith is quite powerful, or so the film would have us believe - but in terms of aesthetic design, his motivations, it's all just so...boring. Even worse is when they try to insert the character into the usual Marvel quips and humour, making him feel even less threatening. Not Ecclestone's fault, he does his best with the character, but this is possibly one of the worst comic book villains in recent memory.

26. Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) - Iron Man 3

I don't mind this performance or this character before the reveal. Pearce as Killian makes for an effective ball of sleaze, as a sort of rags-to-riches counterpart to Tony Stark. Unfortunately when the third act revelations come around and Killian becomes the big bad, the character becomes an utterly ridiculous and nauseating example of what not to do with a villain. The whole idea behind Killian as this super-powered megalomaniac menace with vaguely defined powers is just awful, holds back an otherwise quite entertaining film, and don't get me started on how Guy Pearce should never be allowed to dial it up to eleven.

25. Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) - Iron Man 2

In the briefest of comebacks, Rourke's bounce back into critical esteem as an actor was quite swiftly ended due to various factors which I won't go into here. It's interesting to note how a year before his performance in Iron Man 2 he also gave his career-best turn as the down-on-his luck The Wrestler which he should have won the Oscar for. Well, had this film been released a year earlier, this could've been his Norbit. Ivan Vanko is a character not without promise, an adversary to Stark with equivocal brains and smarts, and a somewhat sympathetic backstory. It's all wasted though on Rourke's ridiculously campy performance, although to be fair his accent sounds pretty good, and he has a few fun moments. It's odd that the better performance of his that year happened to be in The Expendables.

24. Nebula (Karen Gillan) - Guardians of the Galaxy

She worked much better as an antagonistic teammate to the Guardians in Vol. 2 but here she really makes for a particularly boring sort of villain. She's cold and delivers her lines coolly, she has some sort of fighting ability and can put herself back together when torn apart, but there's not much reason to be interested in her characterization.

23. Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) - Iron Man

The Iron Man series has had such a mixed bag with villains, and I think the main problem has been not knowing how to utilize the actors involved. Jeff Bridges is one of the best actors working today, and the film wastes him in a hopelessly generic and predictable 'greedy right-hand man' role. He tries his best to make up for the shortcomings of the role, and actually is watchable in the role, but this still stands as a terrible waste of a great actor in a bad role. I'll grant though that there are moments where he does show flashes of potential, but that's all on Bridges and not the character or writing behind that character.

22. Johann Schmidt / Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) - Captain America: The First Avenger

Just a typical Nazi, eeevvvvvillll sort of villain. I mean, it kind of works for the pulpy feel of the film, and makes for a sort of intimidating adversary to Cap, but in the end he's one of the most forgettable elements of the film despite his appearance and his actions.

21. Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) - Guardians of the Galaxy

Now Pace is given one of the most thankless roles in a film that's otherwise peppered with so much joy and humour to play around in, in that he has to play the stoic and menacing, humourless villain for the most part. To his credit he does this aspect of the character well, like Bridges and Weaving, and what sets his performance and character slightly apart from theirs is Ronan's reactions to Peter Quill in his final scene. In a way the whole film builds up to his incredulous reactions in thatscene, and it's golden to watch.

20. Korath (Djimon Hounsou) - Guardians of the Galaxy

Korath too is a thankless role, but thankfully Hounsou's one of those actors who can bring menace and an intrinsic bit of fun to a role no matter what. I like his anti-chemistry of sorts with Peter Quill, and he does help set up a few of the film's best jokes, namely 'Star Lord' 'FINALLY' and 'finger to the throat means DEATH'.

19. Emil Blonsky/Abomination (Tim Roth) - The Incredible Hulk

It's funny how often people forget about this being a MCU film, which is understandable seeing as it was made in a time when Edward Norton was still Hulk/Bruce Banner, there's a noticeable lack of universe-building within it, and also the previous Hulk film had been made just about 5 to 6 years previously. Emil Blonsky is a curious villain in that he's actually far more menacing and interesting before he becomes the Abomination. Roth is always good at playing slimy villains, and this is another fine example of it till the abominable abomination of the Abomination, who alongside that weird thing in Batman v.s. Superman shows that sometimes, CGI produces laughable villains.

18. Dr. Armin Zola (Toby Jones) - Captain America: The First Avenger

Zola gets basically nothing to do throughout The First Avenger, but we have the great character actor Toby Jones playing him. There's a skeevy and Wormtail-ish quality to him that makes him quite an interesting villain to watch even with his scant screentime, and I kind of wish the universe utilized him a bit more beyond just a cameo in The Winter Soldier.

17. Dormammu - Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange isn't a perfect film, and there's lots you can nitpick about it, but I do love the climax which fittingly involves Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange using his brains over brawn to combat the big bad. Dormamu is an intriguing villain who the film doesn't really utilize fully, but his purpose in this scene is pretty clever, an example of Marvel making good use of a limited character.

16. Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Another flimsy villain and perhaps a bit too knowingly coasting on Debicki's elegant screen presence, but to the film's credit they utilize her properly, if not well enough. The pompousness of Ayesha and her stuck-up golden crew is entertaining and a welcome diversion, and though it doesn't add up to much, I imagine we'll be seeing a bit more of her in later films.

15. Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) - Avengers: Age of Ultron

Can't wait to see this character have a bigger role in Black Panther. Serkis is always a guarantee of something interesting onscreen, whether as a mo-cap figure or in the flesh, and in a few minutes he makes for an entertainingly madcap, uncouth arms dealer. I'll reserve extended thoughts for when I inevitably cover Black Panther.

14. Brock Rumlow/Crossbones (Frank Grillo) -  Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Civil War

One of the villains I'm most annoyed they gave the short shrift to, since I found Grillo's Rumlow to be a rather effective, Jon Bernthal-esque thug and bully sort in The Winter Soldier, and in his short screentime in Civil War to be one of the most incisive and chilling characters, at the centre of one of the film's most effective setpieces. I only wish they'd utilized him a bit more.

13. Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Though I loved how Civil War turned him into an important part of its heart and soul with his camaraderie with Steve Rogers, I did like how he was used as the titular villain here. A wordless but incredibly powerful nemesis, I thought Marvel did the best possible thing here with the character by making him stay away from all the quips and humour, and instead going all in with him as the cold and silent killer. The performance by Stan isn't anything special (he'd reach greater heights in Civil War), but the way the film taps into Bucky's history with Steve, and the Winter Soldier's plight, is very intelligent storytelling.

12. Taserface (Chris Sullivan) - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

I have a soft spot for this minor scumbag who causes nothing but trouble for Yondu (Michael Rooker, who I considered putting on the list, but Mary Poppins was never really a villain). Taserface is probably the least intimidating villain on this list because of his name, yes he manages to mutiny against Yondu but that's more through dumb luck than anything, but I love that the film acknowledges his character ineffectualness. He makes a despicable but also hilarious villain in his limited screentime, and I do love his final scene a great deal.

11. Ultron (James Spader) - Avengers: Age of Ultron

Though the portrayal of the character ended up being perhaps too comical, disappointing many who expected something more serious and chilling in the figure of the maniacal android, Ultron ended up being a decent enough villain, though far removed from the true potential of the character. James Spader's perfectly deadpan voice is perfectly cast with the delusional grandeur and self-assurnace of the titular villain, and even if the film and depiction of the character is a bit lacklustre, it does pack a bit of a punch.

10. Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) - Doctor Strange

An example of a villain the writers didn't really give all that much thought or planning to, opting for a rather generic sort of villain down to the 'my family was murdered' backstory we've seen many a time before. That doesn't stop Kaecilius from being a pretty effective villain, and it's all down to Mads Mikkelsen, one of the most talented actors working today, who manages to be quite intimidating, but also rather humorous in his banterous interactions with Benedict Cumberbatch's Strange. And as some of the deleted scenes show, there was so much more potential for his character that was filmed.

9. Darren Cross / Yellowjacket (Corey Stoll) - Ant-Man

Fresh off House of Cards, Corey Stoll went from one of the most subtle, nuanced and heartbreaking portrayals of a political victim to a wry, sardonic egomaniac who's almost as self-aware as Frank Underwood. Darren Cross is perhaps the most indicative element of Edgar Wright's influence on the film, and one which perhaps somewhat clashes with the film's more breezy overall tone. The thing is, I've kind of grown to really adore the film, faults and all, and I think Stoll's approach to the role is very entertaining, albeit a bit jarring. Cross is an effective adversary to the understated charms of our hero Hank Pym, and Scott Lang, he's a hateable villain you want to see get his just desserts, and overall I just enjoyed this portrayal and writing of the character, even if it had perhaps just a bit more potential than was mined out of the role.

8. Trevor Slattery/The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) - Iron Man 3

Like so much of Iron Man 3, an aspect of the film that half attains greatness, only to flounder with the final stretch. And to be fair, I do like the twist involving the Mandarin for the comedic payoff. Like so many Marvel films though, looking for laughs costs the film dearly in other regards, in this case the chance for a truly great villain. Up till that point, Kingsley's Mandarin is an insanely creepy, unnerving and deranged figure who seems like he might not only be a worthy match for Iron Man, but for all the Avengers if they were to use him again. When he's revealed to be just a hapless actor, it's quite hilarious, but afterwards leaves a gaping hole in the film, and we are left wanting for a satisfying conclusion, without a satisfying villain to finish things off.

7. Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The Winter Soldier is in many ways a conspiracy thriller, and Redford's Alexander Pierce is one of the many enigmas at its centre. I really, really like this villain, as it's not the usual sort of grandstanding, power-hungry bad guy, more of just a man who thinks he's doing the right thing, in a very twisted way. The character gives the film an added degree of respectability as a worthy film in the genre of conspiracy thrillers,

6. Ego (Kurt Russell) - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

In hindsight, it was perhaps glaringly obvious that Kurt Russell was going to be playing the villain in Vol. 2. Regardless, I think the reveal was very well executed, the interviews etc. never gave anything away, and Russell was an extremely charismatic presence for the first half of the film, making his despicable revelations and actions in the second half all the more troubling and effective. I liked the twist on the usual motivations of villains to rule over the universe, as more of a displeasure and disappointment with it than a wish to conquer anything.

5. Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) - Iron Man 2

Rockwell Rockwell-ing it up as usual, and doing it better than anybody else. Though I wonder whether there was more to the character than just being a pain in the ass to Tony Stark, since as a shady arms dealer there's surely more dark material to be mined, he works just fine as a comedic side villain. He's by far the best part of the film, and I would not actually mind seeing more of Mr Hammer in the future.

4. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) - The Avengers

The period between 2011 - 2013 was one of arguably overexposure for Tom Hiddleston and Loki, to the extent that Hiddleston's subsequent cinematic work has been a bit underwhelming in that it's hard to see past him as Loki sometimes (a problem rectified by his sterling work in The Night Manager). Anyway, with that cast aside, despite being so prominently featured, Loki's still managed to be one of the most consistent elements of the MCU. He's worked well as both a pseudo-comrade like in Thor 2, or as a straightforward villain like in The Avengers, where he perfectly fulfils the role of the smug bastard you want to see get his just desserts. I do hope though that they'll find a different take to his character in Ragnorak.

3. Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl) - Captain America: Civil War

The most underpowered of all the Marvel villains, but the only one who's so far managed to successfully disassemble the Avengers. All at the hands of a footsoldier with vengeance on his mind. Zemo's not the most intimidating or imposing villain ever, and the film plays perfectly into this by having Zemo be such a sly, unassuming villain who unleashes his wrath in very small, subdued intervals. The character is taken on such an interesting journey from being a hateful villain to a surprisingly sympathetic one when the truth is revealed, and I hope Civil War wasn't the end of Zemo's story.

2. Adrian Toomes/Vulture (Michael Keaton) - Spider-Man: Homecoming

Just watched Homecoming today, and I'm really impressed with how director Jon Watts took one of my least favourite Spider-Man villains and made him into such a compelling figure. I really hope Keaton returns in the future to the role, as he absolutely kills it. Toomes' motivations are really well-sketched, he has a certain familial warmth to his villainy that's quite unnerving, and some third act revelations about his character, instead of hindering him, actually make him all the more menacing. There's one scene where Keaton, sans suit, creeps the hell out of the audience. A great villain, and he could very well rise to the top.

1. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) - Thor

Though I'm not a huge fan of the Thor films overall, I do love what they do with Loki in the first Thor film. They took a relatively unknown actor and gave him a role that seems ripe for one-note diabolical antics, but instead crafts such a heartbreaking villain, an adopted son who feels betrayed and estranged from his family, and whose motivations for being evil are so sympathetically drawn. He's the bad guy, undoubtedly, but there's a reason why some have considered Loki to be the true star of Thor's films: he's such an interesting and dynamic character. Once again, here's looking forward to what they do with him in Ragnorak.