Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1031724-20161023204704/@comment-30304582-20161024075500

I agree with you when you say that the villains aren't actually lame, although perhaps we have quite an unpopular opinion especially considering how many people say the weakest points of the MCU films include the villains every film has, and how all the films so far have been a let-down. Perhaps it's because in a sense the villains aren't really fleshed out that much, many of which short-lived. This is not to say that them being short-lived is a bad thing. I absolutely loved the character of Zemo, on how he came up with such a plan that would bring down the Avengers from within, something very unique because all of the villains so far have posed as external threats.



The problem here with all the hate on the villains is that the running time of MCU films are what leads to the limits on the character development of the villains. The thing with Loki, who has graced several movies already, is that he is not a one-off villain, so we can see his character develop through the different films he's in. Thanos, on the other hand, is being built up as a formidable foe, again a recurring character, even if we haven't seen how diabolical he is. Yet. In a 2-hour film, the story has to be laid out first, and it becomes quite problematic when there is that need to choose on whether the film should focus on 1.) the heroes, 2.) the baddies, or 3.) strike a balance. The third I have seen in several MCU films already, but then again that's my opinion.



Although I have to disagree with you a little when you say that it doesn't really matter how the villain is developed in the story as long as there's a fight scene. The problem with that is that if the character of the villain isn't too well-developed it might tend to be formulaic, as in: Here comes the hero - oh no, a problem! - epic fight scene. Sure it's also true that there are a lot of ways to kill of villains, but yeah it would be better if the motivations of the villains, or how they came to be evil are shown. Then again, as I've said, limited running times, unless we want to have 4 or more hour MCU films, which as a fan of the MCU is actually fine with me, however we also have to consider that the MCU films are being released for families as well, and letting a kid stay put in a cinema for more than 2 hours would be problematic.



Whether or not Thanos will want to collect the Infinity Stones to impress or 'court death', which they have been theorizing to be Hela, we are still to find out as Infinity War comes nearer. At the end of the day it can't be an MCU film without a villain so we can expect a lot more to come, and hopefully the variety that we've seen through the years will remain.