The new era of Marvel films has been a lot of fun. But the thing I’ve been disappointed with the most has been its treatment of villains. Think back on some of the great superhero movies we’ve had in the past. Its heroes have been that much more heroic because of the wonderful villains that have been faced. Superman II (1980) had General Zod. Batman (1989) and The Dark Knight both had Joker. Spider-Man 2 had Doctor Octopus. X-Men had Magneto. The Marvel Studios movies today seem to just drop villains in and hope they will excel based on their own merit. They don’t. Where are our 4 star villains? I don’t mean someone truly evil or insane. Just someone who acts as the protagonist, but is an actual fully fleshed out character.
Captain America was SO heroic, but does anyone remember the threatening menace and power of Red Skull?
What about Iron Man 3? On my second viewing of it, I enjoyed it more than the first. But still, the Mandarin (whichever incarnation you choose to see) is just a blip on the villain radar. The movie was more about Tony’s suits falling apart like a bunch of Legos.
Iron Man 2’s big villain was Vanko. Or was it Whiplash? Everyone refers to him as Whiplash but I don’t remember Vanko being referred to as such, nor can I see any sort of resemblance with the rather obscure villain in the comics. Either way, I just see another 1 star villain. It’s great that they got Mickey Rourke, but he doesn’t do much except mumble some stuff about a bird and making God bleed.
However, I will concede and give 3 stars to Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer. This “puppeteer” was the real villain of Iron Man 2. He has this huge presence of his own making that he is trying to maintain just to get out of the shadow of Tony Stark. He wants to be popular. He wants to be loved by the masses. He has a ton of money, just like Stark. And he doesn’t get why Stark is always the hero. It’s not in his nature to think of others and he assumes that everyone thinks this way. He is too wrapped up in himself and in his desperation for success to worry about anybody else. He thinks that breaking the law is something that everyone who has money does to achieve their goals. And he certainly can’t be villainous if everyone is doing it. He would never murder someone. He would agree that it’s tragic when people are killed, but if he doesn’t witness it then why should he concern himself over it – even if it was as a result from a direct order to his subordinates. This villain is what keeps Iron Man 2 floating more than it should.
The first Iron Man gives us Iron Monger (derived from a throwaway line from Jeff Bridges’ character). The presence of a bald bearded Jeff Bridges is heavy. His intimidation of Pepper at his office, and Tony at the mansion, is very strong - and discovering that this fatherly guardian with the voice of reason is the very one who sold Tony to terrorists even BEFORE he was Iron Man is pretty traumatic. But I just summed up all of his villainous aspects in one (run on) sentence. He gets 2 stars for at least not being a blip.
Abomination was the villain in The Incredible Hulk. It was taken again from a character’s throwaway line. Okay. I can’t say that. Tim Blake Nelson’s delivery of that line was a gleefully fantastic moment, and I still have my fingers crossed that he’ll show up in a future Hulk movie as The Leader. We’ll see. But primarily, the villain went by Blonsky. The Incredible Hulk was a different movie in that I felt the villain overshadowed the hero in terms of depth. By the end of the movie, Blonsky was a monster – quite literally. But at the beginning, he was working for the government with no other motive than to complete his mission. His transformation from mercenary, to super soldier, to monster was just wonderful. Blonsky doesn’t want to rule the world. He doesn’t have a mad passion to kill and destroy. His villainy comes from his own insecurities about himself. He was once a warrior and a soldier in his prime. He still seems himself this way, but he knows that he’s getting too old. He’s in his 40s. He is losing his identity. He sees this weakling scientist, Banner, holding this power that he doesn’t even want or need. He agrees to undergo a makeshift supersoldier process a la Captain America with a formula scrapped together since the original was lost in the 40s. Where else does he have to go in his life? Why not? And it WORKS! He is a HUNTER again! He doesn’t hate the Hulk. He doesn’t hate humanity. All he wants is to prove himself a warrior once again, and so he pits himself (body, mind, and ego) all up against the Hulk. And every bone in his body is shattered. Now, the challenge of the Hulk is too great for him to let go. He was beaten and humiliated. Maybe it’s the botched supersoldier serum that is driving him mad. Or maybe it’s the red haze of his own ego. But now, he can’t focus on anything else than to become like the Hulk and put him in his place. And if civilians have to die – well, that’s just the casualties of war, isn’t it? Tim Roth as Blonsky/Abomination was fantastic. And even though the end was just like the end of Iron Man (CGI Iron Man fights bigger CGI Iron Man – CGI Hulk fights bigger CGI Hulk), as a villain, Blonsky gets 3 stars.
Who do we have left? Oh yes. Loki. I’m not going to say much about him because I don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t seen Thor 2 yet. But I will say this. In the first Thor, Loki was a fantastic 3 star villain. All he wanted was to prove his worth to his father – in hopes that he could rule. He maintained this 3 star status in the Avengers, partly because of his history with Thor. When you look back at the devastation in Avengers, Loki’s motives and manipulations all stem from the simple fact that he just wants a world of his own to rule. If he won’t be allowed Asgard, then why not the far inferior Earth? It’s primitive. And pointless in the eyes of Odin. And of all the stinking worlds that he has his mind set on, Thor has decided to proclaim himself protector of this one. Or maybe, Loki subconsciously picked this one BECAUSE of his brother. His brother who has everything – looks, strength, an actual Asgardian bloodline. His brother who keeps showing him love and forgiveness and makes it so hard for him to hate – and thus he resents him further because of it. In Thor 2 we have Malekith and Kurse who are both 1 star blips. But all is forgiven thanks to Loki’s elevation to a 4 star villain.
He begins as a caged rat, imprisoned by his own father for doing nothing. He didn’t invade Asgard. He broke some rules and ran away, but how many times has Thor done that now? And wouldn’t you run away if you just found out you were adopted and lied to? All he wanted was for his father to love him more than Thor, but how can that possibly happen now that he isn’t even his real son? Loki is hurt. He knows now that he has frost giant blood and thinks that maybe he should just stop trying. Maybe he was bad from the beginning. He never considers the fact that Odin saw him as a baby and loved him as his own blood from that very moment. And so in the first Thor film a couple Asgardian soldiers died and he took off. He wreaked some havoc on a world (Earth) that Odin couldn’t care less about. But now Thor has grabbed him, brought him back to his father, and tattled on him – throwing a hissy-fit over an insignificant world. And Loki finds himself in prison – on a time out. All of this character depth he has carried over into this one, and he just keeps going. In Thor 2 we get to see lots more of Loki. By the end, he is a 4 star villain. He is a full fledged character. He is someone deserving of a Comic Con fanbase.
Captain America was SO heroic, but does anyone remember the threatening menace and power of Red Skull?
What about Iron Man 3? On my second viewing of it, I enjoyed it more than the first. But still, the Mandarin (whichever incarnation you choose to see) is just a blip on the villain radar. The movie was more about Tony’s suits falling apart like a bunch of Legos.
Iron Man 2’s big villain was Vanko. Or was it Whiplash? Everyone refers to him as Whiplash but I don’t remember Vanko being referred to as such, nor can I see any sort of resemblance with the rather obscure villain in the comics. Either way, I just see another 1 star villain. It’s great that they got Mickey Rourke, but he doesn’t do much except mumble some stuff about a bird and making God bleed.
However, I will concede and give 3 stars to Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer. This “puppeteer” was the real villain of Iron Man 2. He has this huge presence of his own making that he is trying to maintain just to get out of the shadow of Tony Stark. He wants to be popular. He wants to be loved by the masses. He has a ton of money, just like Stark. And he doesn’t get why Stark is always the hero. It’s not in his nature to think of others and he assumes that everyone thinks this way. He is too wrapped up in himself and in his desperation for success to worry about anybody else. He thinks that breaking the law is something that everyone who has money does to achieve their goals. And he certainly can’t be villainous if everyone is doing it. He would never murder someone. He would agree that it’s tragic when people are killed, but if he doesn’t witness it then why should he concern himself over it – even if it was as a result from a direct order to his subordinates. This villain is what keeps Iron Man 2 floating more than it should.
The first Iron Man gives us Iron Monger (derived from a throwaway line from Jeff Bridges’ character). The presence of a bald bearded Jeff Bridges is heavy. His intimidation of Pepper at his office, and Tony at the mansion, is very strong - and discovering that this fatherly guardian with the voice of reason is the very one who sold Tony to terrorists even BEFORE he was Iron Man is pretty traumatic. But I just summed up all of his villainous aspects in one (run on) sentence. He gets 2 stars for at least not being a blip.
Abomination was the villain in The Incredible Hulk. It was taken again from a character’s throwaway line. Okay. I can’t say that. Tim Blake Nelson’s delivery of that line was a gleefully fantastic moment, and I still have my fingers crossed that he’ll show up in a future Hulk movie as The Leader. We’ll see. But primarily, the villain went by Blonsky. The Incredible Hulk was a different movie in that I felt the villain overshadowed the hero in terms of depth. By the end of the movie, Blonsky was a monster – quite literally. But at the beginning, he was working for the government with no other motive than to complete his mission. His transformation from mercenary, to super soldier, to monster was just wonderful. Blonsky doesn’t want to rule the world. He doesn’t have a mad passion to kill and destroy. His villainy comes from his own insecurities about himself. He was once a warrior and a soldier in his prime. He still seems himself this way, but he knows that he’s getting too old. He’s in his 40s. He is losing his identity. He sees this weakling scientist, Banner, holding this power that he doesn’t even want or need. He agrees to undergo a makeshift supersoldier process a la Captain America with a formula scrapped together since the original was lost in the 40s. Where else does he have to go in his life? Why not? And it WORKS! He is a HUNTER again! He doesn’t hate the Hulk. He doesn’t hate humanity. All he wants is to prove himself a warrior once again, and so he pits himself (body, mind, and ego) all up against the Hulk. And every bone in his body is shattered. Now, the challenge of the Hulk is too great for him to let go. He was beaten and humiliated. Maybe it’s the botched supersoldier serum that is driving him mad. Or maybe it’s the red haze of his own ego. But now, he can’t focus on anything else than to become like the Hulk and put him in his place. And if civilians have to die – well, that’s just the casualties of war, isn’t it? Tim Roth as Blonsky/Abomination was fantastic. And even though the end was just like the end of Iron Man (CGI Iron Man fights bigger CGI Iron Man – CGI Hulk fights bigger CGI Hulk), as a villain, Blonsky gets 3 stars.
Who do we have left? Oh yes. Loki. I’m not going to say much about him because I don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t seen Thor 2 yet. But I will say this. In the first Thor, Loki was a fantastic 3 star villain. All he wanted was to prove his worth to his father – in hopes that he could rule. He maintained this 3 star status in the Avengers, partly because of his history with Thor. When you look back at the devastation in Avengers, Loki’s motives and manipulations all stem from the simple fact that he just wants a world of his own to rule. If he won’t be allowed Asgard, then why not the far inferior Earth? It’s primitive. And pointless in the eyes of Odin. And of all the stinking worlds that he has his mind set on, Thor has decided to proclaim himself protector of this one. Or maybe, Loki subconsciously picked this one BECAUSE of his brother. His brother who has everything – looks, strength, an actual Asgardian bloodline. His brother who keeps showing him love and forgiveness and makes it so hard for him to hate – and thus he resents him further because of it. In Thor 2 we have Malekith and Kurse who are both 1 star blips. But all is forgiven thanks to Loki’s elevation to a 4 star villain.
He begins as a caged rat, imprisoned by his own father for doing nothing. He didn’t invade Asgard. He broke some rules and ran away, but how many times has Thor done that now? And wouldn’t you run away if you just found out you were adopted and lied to? All he wanted was for his father to love him more than Thor, but how can that possibly happen now that he isn’t even his real son? Loki is hurt. He knows now that he has frost giant blood and thinks that maybe he should just stop trying. Maybe he was bad from the beginning. He never considers the fact that Odin saw him as a baby and loved him as his own blood from that very moment. And so in the first Thor film a couple Asgardian soldiers died and he took off. He wreaked some havoc on a world (Earth) that Odin couldn’t care less about. But now Thor has grabbed him, brought him back to his father, and tattled on him – throwing a hissy-fit over an insignificant world. And Loki finds himself in prison – on a time out. All of this character depth he has carried over into this one, and he just keeps going. In Thor 2 we get to see lots more of Loki. By the end, he is a 4 star villain. He is a full fledged character. He is someone deserving of a Comic Con fanbase.
