Xu Wenwu

Because I’m pretty sure that he was going to be one of the main characters in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty if Jonathan Majors didn’t get fire at all.

My top 3 favorites

🥇): Green Goblin (No Way Home)

🥈): Wen Wu (Shang Chi)

🥉): Namor (Black Panther 2)

Is it because he not that famous, the COVID-19, or both?

Let me start by saying that I love villains. Whether they are live action or animated, they are always a delight. And MCU villains, by the nature of being based on the comics, bring certain expectations to the audience that other genres may not necessarily have. But I want to talk about how Marvel Studios chooses their villains, because I’m strangely fascinated by it.

Some villains, such as Red Skull, Loki, Mandarin and other archenemies of the Avengers side of the universe, you would've expected to appear sometime in the MCU. And yet, they were mostly dispersed between phases. Loki and Red Skull appeared in Phase One along with the Abomination and Ross, and Phase Two had a version of the Mandarin and Ultron, and Phase Three gave us Zemo, but Phase Four got characters like Taskmaster and Green Goblin, with Phase Five having MODOK, the Hood, Kingpin and several others. So the recognizable villains have either been sparse or have been pushed to the Multiverse Saga.

What makes it more interesting is the kinds of characters they choose instead of having the iconic villains. Take for example, the Iron Man Trilogy, where 1 has Iron Monger (a good starter villain), 2 has Whiplash (a minor antagonist in the comics, but with sprinkles of Crimson Dynamo to add more abilities and story) and 3 got Aldrich Killian (a character who had the shortest lifespan of the three in the comics, but here gets superpowers and leadership of AIM no less). Glad Ant-Man didn’t repeat the formula, since they already had the bald start villain and the henchman in the comics main bad guy.

There’s also the minor villain in the comics turned big bad of a movie or show. Guys like Arthur Harrow, Kaecilius, the aforementioned Aldrich Killian, or even minor antagonists like Sonny Burch. But hey, it could’ve been worse, like Dreykov, an original character that was just a mention in The Avengers, that turned into the big bad of Black Widow.

Sure, some of these end up being composites of other villains, but it doesn’t help when James Gunn makes a character that is indeed recognizable as a silly villain, and turns him into a threatening planet sized enemy and into an interesting father for Peter, or Markus and McFeely turn Zemo from dad’s little cosplayer into the grief stricken destroyer of the Avengers.

What’s funnier to me is Good turned bad characters and vice versa. Here we have Nebula, Alexander Pierce, Talos, Agatha Harkness,Bill Foster, or the entire Black Widow family. I'm not considering Scarlet Witch, because she flip flops a lot in publishing. What makes this such an enigma is that there are several villains in Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, and others’ Rogues’ Galleries or Friend Groups to have to change them.

One thing I do respect though is the distillation of the villains. Both Black Panther and Spider-Man’s movie villains have this approach. Namor, Killmonger, Vulture and Mysterio’s backstories and looks are changed, but at their core are the same. Namor hates the surface world, Killmonger has vendetta towards the crown for what they did to his family, Vulture is resentful for his business venture failing, and Mysterio is an attention seeking diva.

And despite all of that, I do want to commend the artist and costume designers who created these villains. I love most of them, even if the characters are one note, especially since they bring the imaginative spirit from the comics, such as Kaecilius’ eye shadow or Killmonger’s Vegetta outfit. And some of these characters have been given more time to shine in the comics thanks to the limelight. Malekith and Killmonger being prime examples of this, and of course Loki’s redesign and attitude change can be blamed on his MCU popularity.

Suffice to say, I have a love-hate relationship with these characters. I can only hope Kang and his gang of Multiverse Saga misfits can continue improving the formula, and that we get more people interested in the characters.

I'd love to know what you think about these villains, if you have any thoughts!

Hopefully in Shang Chi 2. He one of the best Villians in the MCU.

So I was dreaming in a crazy way that Wenwu along with the Ten Rings (both artifacts and organization) would fight against the Masters of the Mystic Arts in order to capture America Chavez so he can use her power to find a version of his wife alive so he can be with her.

Yet both Doctor Strange and Wong tried to stop Wenwu to get her

Who do you think is the best villain in the MCU to date?

Not talking about favorites or Loki (since he technically reformed and was redeemed so he’s no longer a villain).

The MCU has brought us some of the best villains in superhero movie history (such as Hela, Ego, Killmonger, and Thanos) but I think the best villain in the MCU so far would have to be, (and you are free to disagree):

Xu Wenwu/The Mandarin. He was portrayed brilliantly and as a megalomaniacal sociopath but with a conscience and regret.

But what are your thoughts?

Loki's costume designer had mentioned that the slippers worn by He Who Remains were of Genghis Khan himself.

In Shang-Chi, it was hinted that Genghis Khan was actually Mandarin (Wenwu).

That means He Who Remains actually posseses Mandarin's slippers.

Noting consequential, just a fun detail.

7. Flag-Smasher - The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was good as a whole but Karli Morgenthau was the one character who felt underdeveloped and they had a perfectly complex antagonist with John Walker's decent from Captain America to U.S. Agent

6. Infinity Ultron - What If...? started as a fun series of episodic stories and I think it worked better that way. Ultron doesn't get introduced until the end of episode 7 and the fiinal episodes just show him as a genocidal maniac with no character , not even the Iron Man like humor that made him memorable in the films

5. General Dreykov - Black Widow was a good spy film that allowed us to see Natasha Romanoff's life and family outside of the Avengers. General Dreykov is a despicably slimy villain with all the depth of a one-off James Bond villain however based on the structure and feel of the film I think that was intentional

4. He Who Remains - This has more to do with the impact on the future than the villain himself. Loki was impressive and funny the whole way through but it took to much time building up the mystery of the Time-Keepers as the villains that when they revealed it to be someone else that they only had 40 minutes to work with him and the only reason we are excited is because he is a variant of Kang the Conqueror

3. Agatha Harkness - This is mainly down to performance as Katheryn Hahn is clearly having the time of her life playing both the quirky neighbor Agnes as well as the insane Wicked Witch-esque Agatha Harkness and her spin off has the chance to give her some proper development.

2. Ikaris - One of the most complex villains in the MCU as he is only doing what he has devoted his 7000 year life to and can't accept the idea that it was wrong. Ikaris doesn't want to kill everyone on Earth he just knows it will be a byproduct of the Emergence and as far as he's concerned one planet is not worth saving for sake of a thousand planets being created.

1. Mandarin - This is a former villain who became a family man and when his wife died he went back to the only other life he knew. His motivation throughout the film was centered on bringing the family he once had and ruined because he refused to accept the fact that his wife is dead probably partly because he was immortal

Who is the most complex antagonist in Phase 4 so far? I say the Mandarin and Ikaris

I would love to see an Eternals Disney Plus Series. It would great to see other exploits of the Eternals throughout the 7000 years. It would be a fun way to see more of the history of the MCU.

Possible characters they could meet along the way:

Xu Wenwu

A Black Panther

A Black Knight

Young Odin

Thanos

The Ancient One

Or any other ancient heroes or villains

We do know Salma Hayek (Ajak) has signed on for multiple projects

• Gilgamesh- Give him his comic-accurate costume and have a solo-adventure in the present.

• Winter Guard- Continue Red Guardian's story and introduce the Russian Avengers.

• Pet Avengers- Bring on Lockjaw, Morris, Croki and Goose.

• Nebula- Show her being emotionally secure and a badass. Have Rocket as her love interest.

• The Mandarin- Show Wenwu's past, fighting the Hand and other threats, making him an Anti-Villain.

• Ghost Riders- Have Robbie Reyes and Johnny Blaze as Twin Protagonists and show the beginning of the formation of Midnight Suns.

Since it was confirmed that the Mandarin will be the main villain in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, there has been speculation that a certain character from Iron Man 3 may pop up in the movie.

Well, I can now confirm that Ben Kingsley does indeed reprise his role as Trevor Slattery in the movie, as Brett Metter is listed as his stunt double on IMDb:

Brett Metter - IMDb

By the end of Phase 4 we will have fully entered the next saga of the MCU and have completed 6 different solo character arcs each with their own "big bad" (This is referring to the villain who had the most impact on the story of the protagonist throughout trilogy even if they die before the end or redeem themselves)

1. Iron Man - Mandarin

2. Thor - Loki

3. Captain America - Red Skull

4. Avengers - Thanos

5. Spider-Man - Mysterio

6. Ant-Man - Hank Pym (i know he is not a antagonist but Pym's arrogance and hubris is what caused Yellowjacket to go insane and caused Ghost to lose her father and gain her powers which HYDRA used to their advantage)

7. Guardians of the Galaxy - Thanos (Ego is the arch nemesis of Star-Lord but since it is a team franchise I chose the villain with a personal effect on almost every member of the team

Is anyone expecting these comics? If yes, when do you think they'll be released alongside their comic collections?

Continuing the "Scene Discussion" is the One-Shot, featuring what happened to Trevor Slattery after Iron Man 3, where he is broken out of prison by the Ten Rings to be brought to the real Mandarin.

Let's discuss! How do you feel about this? Do you expect to see this story continue, possibly in Shang-Chi? What are your hopes for the real Mandarin?

Leave your thoughts on this down below, and make sure to leave any suggestions of scenes that you would like to discuss in future posts.