Marvel’s D23 presentation yesterday gave us our first take a look at what seems to be the complete group headlining 2024’s Thunderbolts movie. Though it sports activities earlier MCU antagonists like Ghost from Ant-Man & the Wasp and Black Widow’s Taskmaster, it’s not precisely what you’d name “villainous”: from Falcon & Winter Soldier’s US Agent to Yelena Belova and Bucky Barnes, a lot of the roster are individuals who’ve been manipulated by the federal government of their nation, and Ghost solely turned to villainy to not die. It’s not a very evil group like how the Thunderbolts often are within the comics, and it’s much more shocking, given what Marvel’s carried out with its villains in the previous few years.

For a very long time, one of many prevailing criticisms towards the Marvel Cinematic Universe was that it wasn’t making good use of its villains. In the primary two Phases particularly, the unhealthy guys existed primarily as thematic foils to the heroes however have been painfully generic, sometimes elevated by whichever actor was bringing them to love. That tide progressively began to alter with Phase Three baddies, however solely actually grew to become a constant vibrant spot for the MCU as soon as villains like Daniel Bruhl’s Zemo, Michael Keaton’s Vulture, and Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger entered the fray.

And inside this present period of genuinely fascinating MCU villains, we’re seeing outdated villains who disappeared after their preliminary defeat pop up once more. Sometimes, this doesn’t actually quantity to a lot of something—what was the purpose of Ronan and Korrath in Captain Marvel past telling you they have been a part of the Kree military?—however the returning appearances have been price it. Shang-Chi lastly introduced within the Mandarin as performed by Tony Leung Chiu-wai, and made him a considerably extra difficult and fascinating villain who kinda ran away along with his personal son’s film. Divisive as Wanda Maximoff’s shift to villainy was in Doctor Strange within the Multiverse of Madness this previous summer time, Elizabeth Olsen actually does give it her all and seems to be one of the vital enjoyable antagonists in the entire enterprise. And extra lately, She-Hulk has marked the return of Tim Roth’s Abomination, who’s vastly mellowed out whereas in jail for over a decade and now simply desires to vibe.

To that finish, we wanna know within the feedback under which MCU baddies you’d wish to see come again once more. Whether they’re MIA or straight up lifeless doesn’t matter, anybody’s on the desk.

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