Marvel Cinematic Universe villains are iconic, and the role they play within the film, and subsequent films, is as important as the heroes themselves. Some of them are obviously stronger than others (Thanos packs a mean punch, but Dormammu is cosmic). But, their villainy is up for debate. Is it that they’re compelling characters or effective as a villain? This take is all about measuring their villainy, their success in being bad. Were they particularly murderous? Was their final plan menacing? Did they have malicious intentions?

So here it is, the list of the most evil and bad villains in the MCU, ranked by villainy. (Beware, there are obvious spoilers for the MCU movies, so if you’re not caught up, best to skip this one.)

8 Dormammu - Doctor Strange (2016)

The first Doctor Strange film seems to get lost in the consciousness of the MCU‌. Especially the main villain behind the curtain, Dormammu. We don’t see Dormammu until the end of the film, and he’s only defeated by Strange using the Time Stone to trick him into a bargain. But, Dormammu’s plans and aspirations were always evil. He sought to bring the Dark Dimension to Earth in his ultimate conquest to control the multiverse. That’s about as evil as it comes, but because he never escaped the Dark Dimension, his evil plan is not nearly as bad others on this list.

7 Loki - The Avengers (2012)

Loki first appeared as the villain in Thor, but his plan in that wasn’t terribly evil, as much as it was ‌angry and mischievous. But, in The Avengers, Loki was straight up evil. He willfully took the scepter with direction from Thanos to take over and enslave Earth. Using the scepter, he killed scores of SHIELD agents; he took over the minds of Hawkeye and Dr. Selvig, among many others. There were countless casualties during the battle of New York, thanks to Loki’s work. And though he was defeated by Hulk, and captured by the Avengers, Loki never gave up on his villainous goal.

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6 Killmonger - Black Panther (2018)

Erik Killmonger is bad. He’s a devastated, angry, and broken man. A life ripped away from him, set him on a path for revenge. It filled his life with violence, killing hundreds of people in combat. And yet, there are elements of his intention that make some sense. In his own way, he was fighting against oppression. He just chose the path of violence. He killed without hesitation, and never once batted an eye. He never stepped back from his mission, never doubted it once, and only lost because of a single moment of T’Challa getting the best of him. He would have killed everyone in his way without blinking an eye.

5 Thanos - Infinity War (2018)

There are reasonable arguments out there that Thanos snapping away half of all living things in the universe wasn’t all that bad. For a moment, even Steve Rogers feels like it might be ok, when he mentioned seeing whales in the Hudson to Natasha in Avengers: Endgame. But, remove logic out of the equation; erasing half of all living things in existence is very, very bad. Thanos kills an astronomical number of beings on his way to collecting the stones, before wiping out half the universe. Again, very bad.

Related:

Moon Knight’s Arthur Harrow vs. Thanos: How Do the MCU Villains Compare?

4 Ultron - Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Tony Stark envisioned Ultron as an antithesis to evil, a balance to an algorithm that was incorruptible. Unfortunately, that all backfired, and he became the opposite of what Tony Stark and Bruce Banner hoped for. Saddled with some serious “daddy issues,” Ultron set out to destroy all life on Earth that wasn’t a machine. It’s a story told time and time again, but it worked to establish Ultron as a swiftly evolving menace to the world and The Avengers. It took the creation of Vision as the ironic twist that his destruction would be his demise. Destroying all humans on the planet by way of dropping Sokovia onto it is extremely bad.

3 Hela - Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

You may not think of Hela a lot when you think about Thor: Ragnarok; after all, it has some of the best Thor movie moments in it from the entire franchise. However, Hela is a delightful villain. Oozing charisma, sarcasm, and malice simultaneously, she was a treat to behold on screen. She carried some “daddy issues” too, and demonstrated through flashbacks and story on screen, that she was extremely evil - as the Goddess of Death would likely be. She slaughtered the Valkyries; she murdered hundreds - if not thousands - of Asgardians during her conquest, and would have laid waste to Asgard to rule. It took Surtur and Ragnarok to end her reign of terror.

2 Scarlet Witch - Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

We’re still unsure how the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will impact the future of the MCU, and what the actions that Scarlet Witch will have, but we can safely say that she was extremely evil. It was no longer Wanda in this movie. She had become and fully embraced the Scarlet Witch persona and powers. And by doing so, in a desperate motive to be with her children (who in the 616 universe, don’t actually exist), will kill anyone in her way. And she didn’t just kill them. She slaughtered people in brutal fashion. If you only evaluated Scarlet Witch on her murders of The Illuminati, you could give her an “A” for violence and villainy. But, her warpath continued. If Wanda had been unchecked, there’s no telling how much evil she could have spread across the multiverse.

1 Thanos - Avengers: Endgame (2019)

You may be wondering how Thanos can be on a list twice - and hold on to that thought. The Thanos from Avengers: Endgame is far more evil than the Thanos from all previous films. Whatever events happened to Thanos between 2014 (when Thanos in Endgame is from) to 2018, when Infinity War takes place, was enough to somewhat soften the Mad Titan. 2018 Thanos had a rationale for his actions, firm on only half the universe being wiped out. But, Thanos in 2014, that travels to the future, is different. He’s angry and filled with hatred for the Avengers. Believing that leaving half the universe alive was a mistake, because the living half couldn’t move past it, he was dead-set on resetting the universe in his vision. He was willing to kill each and every Avenger on his path to universal reset, and he would have killed all of his army along with them. 2014 Thanos is, and was the most villainous character we’ve witnessed in the MCU… so far.