Rhiteek Chatterjee
Marvel over the years has created some of the most dangerous villains who tormented the heroes endlessly. With powers such as manipulating matter and recreating the dead, creators from time and time again have proven their imaginative extents. This raises a question of the power each of the comic book universe holds. It’s always interesting to see the two rival series contest and prove their worth. Villains, in essence, represent their respective universes and are also the reasons why many choose to follow one comic book universe over the other.
For this, I have selected Marvel villains not only from their cinematic representations, but also the comic book. With that said, here is the list of the strongest and the best Marvel Super-villains of all time. Which is your favorite?
15. Mysterio
A part of the “Spider-verse”, Mysterio is relatively not as strong as others on this list. However, with his dexterity in special effects, illusion and hypnotism, Mysterio can be a deceptively hazardous villain of superheroes. There is not much to say about him though, as Myeterio isn’t the most powerful character. However, with his genius level intellect, his collusion with Lex Luthor can only make things worse for Supes.
14. William Stryker
William Stryker does not have any superpowers; he is just plain devilishly intelligent. Appearing first in 1982, Stryker is primarily a part of the X-verse. Thanks to the X-Men films, most know about his exploits and it’s not pretty. Stryker makes up the void of his “superpowers” through his genius-level intellect and military training. He possesses the “forearm” of the Sentinel Nimrod. Adding to this, he has advanced in psychological warfare and manipulation. In the ‘X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills’ storyline and in the motion picture X2 (2003), Stryker nearly killed-off the mutants; he will have no troubles in doing the same with other superheroes. Let’s just picture this: Colonel William Stryker teams up with Lex Luthor (the man who created the Supes-killing machine Doomsday) and create some crazier and bizarre version of a creature which well, may kill him-off.
13. Mystique
It’s a pity that Marvel doesn’t have strong and memorable female characters. However, Mystique is one which trumps all. Primarily a part of the X-Men comics, Mystique was created by Dave Cockrum and Chris Claremont. This cunning and sly villainess first appeared in 1978 and has since developed a persona of being one of the most dangerous femme fatales.
There are plenty of powerful characters in the comic book world. However, what beats power is intelligence, and there comes Mystique. The blue shape-shifter’s Shape-shifting, superhuman agility and reflexes, agelessness and accelerated healing factor. The seductress and mysterious women can easily fool the “Man of Steel” and trap him in the most innovative ways. The thought of Mystique planning a disastrous design to destroy and incinerate Metropolis, while he believes her to be beloved mother Martha, his love Lois or maybe trusted friend Batman is inconceivably unnerving. Her powers of mimicking voice, reproduce inorganic materials and con the most intelligent beings makes her one of most dangerous foes of the red-caped hero.
12. Dr Doom
Frankly speaking, the versions of Dr Doom in the despicable movies, ‘Fantastic Four’ (2005), its 2007 sequel and the 2015 reboot ‘Fantastic Four’ did nothing to portray him. Dr Doom is Marvel universe’s one of the most powerful and most villainous characters. Before he turned into the devil-incarnate, Victor Von Doom was scientific genius and a polymath. His creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby have amalgamated intelligence with superpowers and mystical powers.
Among all the supervillains on the list, Doom is the most meticulous and will go to any extents to figure out weaknesses of superheroes. It’s quite easy to picture the iniquitous Doom use his body and Kryptonite defeat the Man of Steel within seconds. He has no moral grounds what-so-ever and will break down superheroes both physically and mentally.
11. Adam Warlock
Debuting in ‘Fantastic Four’ in 1967, Adam Warlock’s powers are quite similar to that of Superman. The Stan Lee created character has superhuman strength, speed, durability, stamina, agility and the ability to manipulate cosmic energy for energy projection, flight and recuperation. This essentially means that even though Superman tears him apart, Warlock will regenerate in no time at all.
10. Loki
From the advent of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Loki played by Tom Huddleston has acquired a reputation of being a sarcastic and often villain. However, don’t let that fool you. The original nemesis of Thor, created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby is a god for his sake.
The Norse mythology based character possesses mystical powers of astral projection, energy blasts, flight, illusion casting, inter-dimensional teleportation and shapeshifting telepathy. Well, that’s just his metaphysical supremacies. Clark Kent’s alter ego has a tough time dealing with villainous with equal strength, and how will he handle manipulative deceivers? From time and time again, the adopted son of Odin has betrayed and deceived his Norse counterparts. He turned the Avengers against each other in ‘Marvel’s The Avengers’ (2012) and will have no trouble in doing the same with the Justice League. His exploits of brain and pure strength can easily destroy the son of Krypton.
9. Purple Man
For those unacquainted with Purple Man, tune into ‘Marvel’s Jessica Jones’. Played by David Tennant, Purple Man might not be able to beat superheroes in mere strength, but the truth is that, he doesn’t even need super-strength. Purple Man or Kilgrave is a skilled manipulator, has high-level intellect, mind control and can regenerate. Now, his manipulative power has quite a many perks. Purple Man can produce special pheromones which essentially mean that superheroes will kill themselves if Purple Man wishes to. Bad uh?
8. Onslaught
Onslaught is a sentient psionic entity created from the consciousness of two of the most powerful mutants – Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto. Well, if that doesn’t make him dangerous, I don’t know what will. First appearing in ‘X-Men vol. 2’, Onslaught took birth during a battle between the X-Men and Acolytes. Professor Xavier used his telepathic powers to shut down Magneto’s mind, thus rendering him catatonic. Onslaught’s situation was later expanded in the crossover series where the darkest chamber of Magneto’s mind merged with Xavier’s subconscious and activated his own darker nature. This grew into a separate persona of its own. This sounds just satanic.
His powers basically derive from Xavier and Magneto. Onslaught’s powers, in X-Men terms are at “Omega Level”. In his form of Xavier’s subconscious, he acquired a wide variety of abilities. This included immeasurable strength, incredible resistance and endurance. Now, his psionic powers are limitless and have the ability to surpass even that of Xavier in his best potential. In some versions, Onslaught has been seen to have god-like abilities. Well, with him possessing such gigantic powers, other superheroes look just paltry and will easily be defeated.
7. Mephisto
Mephisto is a demon. He is the epitome of pure and adulterated evil. Introduced in the Silver Surfer series by Stan Lee and John Buscema, the red tinted rogue character has superhuman physical strength, intelligence, immortality, all raised to a different level by magic. British author Mike Conroy has described the character as “…the tempter who could offer the endlessly soul-tormented Silver Surfer the world, even dangling the Surfer’s off-limits long-distance lover in front of him.”
A part of the Thor series, the alias of Lucifer, Mephisto is a tremendously powerful and immortal demonic entity who manipulate anything organic and inorganic. The character is indestructible and there is nothing that any superhero can do to torment him. If he chooses to take-over the villainous world in Metropolis, all superheroes can do is watch their hometown burn in hell and wait for his own doom.
6. Molecule Man
Owen Reece aka Molecule Man is a part of the Fantastic Four Universe, and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Through the route of time, Molecule Man has transformed into a reluctant hero more than an abashed villain. However, this character can go to extremes to bring down the red-briefed DC superhero. What sets this one apart is its conception as the supervillain. Unlike others on this list, his powers are not predominant – he was a lab technician. His power was a freak accident at a lab when he unintentionally opened up a wormhole to another dimension, and this wormhole caused cosmic radiation to leak into our universe, and so he gained the ability to manipulate molecules using only his mind.
As his name suggests, Molecule Man mentally manipulate molecules, which allows him create force fields, energy beams, and hyperspace portals. Later, already perilous powers were augmented when the writers went crazy and introduced the power warping reality itself on a multiversal scale. His humongous magnitude of power has also been recognized by Doctor Doom and Reed Richards where they called the Molecule Man a “multiversal composite entity: a single creature that manifests fractions of its entire being in each universe of the Marvel Multiverse.” Well, that essentially means that he can counter any attack of the superheroes.
5. Amatsu-Mikaboshi
This creature just looks terrifying and is petrifying to the very core. Amatsu-Mikaboshi is one of mythological adaptations of Marvel. He is based on the “Mikaboshi” of Japanese mythology and is a nemesis of Thor. Amatsu-Mikaboshi’s powers are derived from the mythological character and possess powers immeasurable. Mikaboshi holds enormous supernatural power. He can use his mystical energy to alter his form and shape. In its incarnation as Mikaboshi, he is immortal and he can summon the undead, He can teleport between dimensions, and is m invulnerable to physical and energy attacks. Mikaboshi can either absorb or enthral any being he wishes. He is invincible. There seems to be no scenario in which any superhero can challenge this black creature of domination on equal grounds.
4. Galactus
He eats planets. Galactus is a cosmic entity and is one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel universe. Galactus was first created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, first appearing in ‘Fantastic Four’ issue 48. While the character was poorly introduced fans as CGI-infected cloud in the equally poor ‘Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer’ (2005), the god-like is a once-in-a-lifetime creation. Defined as “the physical, metamorphosed embodiment of a cosmos.” he can blur the line between immortality and death.
Galactus is capacitated with the power to utilise cosmic energy known as the “Power Cosmic” to execute mystic and supernatural feats, which includes telepathy, telekinesis, energy projection; size alteration; transmutation of matter; teleportation of objects across space, creation of force fields and inter-dimensional portals; creation of life, resurrection and manipulating souls. He can accomplish indescribable events such as simultaneously recreating dead worlds to the most-minute detail and destroying multiple solar systems. Driven by rage and evil, superheroes stands little chance against this ginormous being.
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3. Dormammu
“Dormammu, I’ve come to Bargain”. Immortalised by Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr Strange in ‘Dr Strange’ (2016), it’s unfortunate that “Kal-El” isn’t equipped with magical powers. Dormammu is a being from a different dimension where the laws of physics do not apply. A creation of pure mystical energy, he is indestructible. Adding to this, his diversions comprise of unpremeditated genocide and the enslavement of entire universes. Dormammu can easily turn the any superhero into a pile of dust with the snap of the finger.
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2. Apocalypse
The name literally means “great disaster” or “the end”. Need I say more? Apocalypse has been categorised as a “class 5 mutant” and is the very-first mutant. Also known as En Sabah Nur, he can match god with his abilities. . He has the capability to create matter from dust within seconds and vice-versa. In addition, he expand and augment the powers of other mutants. He is extremely deceitful and can manipulate any being on the planet.
Let’s make matters more terrifying. In the “Age of Apocalypse” storyline, the titular character resurrects ten years before Cable would arrive and witnesses the accidental death of Charles Xavier. He then attacks humanity and conquers Earth. In this new tyrannical universe, his son is Holocaust. It’s true that Kal-El is also quite indestructible, but he was severely thrashed (killed) by Doomsday and doesn’t stand much of a chance against Apocalypse. Also, Doomsday was first introduced in ‘Superman: The Man of Steel’ issue 17 which released in 1992, and Apocalypse first appeared in ‘X-Factor’ issue 5 which released in 1986. And with the names queerly similar, it suffices to say that the creature that killed Supes, was inspired by Apocalypse.
1. Thanos
Thanos is Marvel’s answer to DC’s Darkseid. Thanos feasts on death and well, that makes him slightly problematic for not just one superhero, but all of them together. Thanos, making his way into the MCU, enjoys superhuman strength, speed, durability, energy manipulation and telepathy telekinesis. Created by Mike Friedrich and Jim Starlin, and now represented by Josh Brolin on the big screen, elevates his superhuman status with the possession of Infinity Gauntlet. The Infinity Gauntlet lets the tyrannous super-villain take control over time, space, reality, power, mind and soul. With him reeling his way through the MCU series, superheroes like Iron-Man and Captain America can only hope that Thanos realizes the good trumps evil.
In the Infinity Gauntlet series of 1991, the Deviant Hybrid was able to master command a number of cosmic entities including Galactus and Eternity – who are literally the personification of reality and time. Thanos has the power erase half of all the sentient life in the universe with a snap of his fingers. What are Marvel superheroes going to do?
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