Every New Menacing Villain Appearing In Marvel Phase 4 Movies
Marvel has kept their cards pretty close to the chest concerning what we can expect from Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As the events of Avengers: Endgame basically put the MCU as fans knew it in a blender, speculation runs rampant. Who will sail through space? What heroes will rise to prominence? Will we finally get a decent Fantastic Four movie?
No heroic saga is complete without a villain. The MCU has suffered no lack of baddies thus far, and Phase Four promises to continue that trend. Today, we're taking a look at every new villain coming our way in Phase Four of the MCU. We'll start with confirmed bad guys, then move onto some of the more plausible rumors about who our heroes will be facing off against. Thanos, Killmonger, Hela — they've set a fine precedent of villainy in the MCU thus far. Here are the characters set to succeed them.
Taskmaster
One of the few Phase Four villains we've gotten a decent glimpse of is Black Widow's Taskmaster, AKA Anthony Masters. As a boy, Masters discovered he possessed a unique ability: He can replicate any physical action once he has observed it. Empowered by these "photographic reflexes," Taskmaster turns to a life of crime and becomes extremely wealthy.
Despite his comforts, Taskmaster grows unsatisfied. Looking to expand his reach, he opens a school where he shapes other villains into lean, mean, good-guy-busting machines. As he is able to replicate the fighting style of any hero, he provides his pupils with uniquely individualized training. He isn't just a bad guy on his own — he pretty much manufactures arch-nemeses.
Taskmaster's abilities prove enormously dangerous in the heat of battle, as he can predict his foes' next moves and stay several steps ahead. He should prove an interesting foe for Natasha in Black Widow, given her own skills with subterfuge adaptation. Will she be able to fool the man who's made his living off mimicking others? Or will Taskmaster's adaptability prove to be the super-spy's downfall?
The Deviants
Eternals was a bit of a surprise announcement — they're not exactly a high-profile super-team. Then again, Guardians of the Galaxy was a massive success, and Iron Man used to be a C-list hero before becoming the MCU's poster boy. Why shouldn't a race of immortal, cosmic beings with fabulous taste in leotards become Marvel's next big thing?
Who will menace the titular Eternals? Two words: the Deviants. Genetic offshoots of the Eternals, they were driven into hiding after an attempted rebellion against the Celestials, the godlike alien creators of both groups.
Even though the Eternals themselves have not been mentioned in the MCU, we have actually seen a few Deviants. The shapeshifting Skrull race, central to Captain Marvel, are descended from the original Deviants. Even the big purple meanie himself, Thanos, has some Deviant genetics.
We're not yet sure which specific characters will be villains in Eternals — many Deviants have come and gone over the years. But whether it's Stranglehold, Queen Vira, Ereshkigal, or any other Deviant who ends up on screen, we're sure to be in for a wild ride.
The Mandarin
Admittedly, fans have sort of encountered the Mandarin already. Marvel pulled the rug out from underneath us in Iron Man 3 by portraying Ben Kingsley as the classic villain, only to reveal him as an actor named Trevor Slattery. He was, we learn, only ever hired to play the growling baddie — he's not actually into the whole death-to-Tony-Stark thing.
That wasn't the end for the Mandarin, however. Fans will be getting the real deal in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, with Tony Leung Chiu-wai set to portray the actual, no-fooling Mandarin.
The Mandarin is both intellectually and physically formidable, but the biggest threat he poses comes from the ten rings he wears. Crafted from the remains of a crashed alien spaceship, each ring grants him a different ability. And these are some serious abilities: He can manipulate atoms, create bolts of lightning, and summon oppressive darkness through the rings. How Shang-Chi will handle such a formidable threat remains to be seen, but it's certain to be an unmissable showdown.
Morbius
Now, Morbius isn't "officially" part of the MCU. However, the trailer for the film shows off Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes, AKA the Vulture, villain of Spider-Man: Homecoming. Morbius might not be a direct part of the MCU, but it is connected to it in a way that matters. Fans will just have to wait and see how strong that connections ends up being.
Morbius began as Dr. Michael Morbius, a biochemist who becomes a monster in his efforts to cure his rare blood disorder. He is granted all manner of superhuman abilities typically associated with vampires: superhuman strength and speed, near invulnerability, and echolocation. He also develops a thirst for human blood and a grotesquely bat-like face — but he has none of a vampire's mystical weaknesses to crucifixes, garlic, or holy water. Though Morbius started out as a vampiric foe of Spider-Man, he has become more of an antihero in modern stories. What this means for his movie and his possible place in the MCU remains to be seen.
Carnage
Carnage, who makes made a brief appearance in Venom, is allegedly going to be a much bigger part of the action in Venom 2. Now, there's no solid indication that the Venom films are connected to the MCU. But given the fact that Morbius and Venom share a universe, and Sony's deliberate deployment of Spider-Man in Morbius' marketing, it's worth considering Carnage as an upcoming MCU villain.
Woody Harrelson plays Cletus Kasady, the man who becomes Carnage. He's a perfect for Kasady, given his history of hard-bitten roles, as the character is remarkably dark. As a child, Kasady's life was marked by violence and murder. Eventually, he becomes a serial killer — and then he comes across a mysterious alien symbiote. The symbiote bonds with Kasady, transforming him into Carnage. Kasady's bond with the symbiote is far stronger than Eddie Brock's with Venom, making him a far more powerful, effective, and sadistic force of destruction. His origin will have to change a bit, considering how Venom tweaked the symbiote, but his unhinged personality seems likely to stay intact.
Shriek
Shriek, set to be played by Naomie Harris in Venom 2, wears many hats. She's Carnage's love interest, a powerful mutant, and an enemy of Spider-Man. Her origin story might be changed for Venom 2, as Sony might not want to introduce mutants in the Venom storyline. However, her involvement does seem to indicate that Venom 2 will see some sort of adaptation of the "Maximum Carnage" comic arc. In it, Shriek and Carnage create an entire brood of symbiotes in an attempt to conquer and destroy New York City.
Shriek is able to manipulate sound, a power she wields with devastating prowess. Using hypersonic frequencies, she is even able to alter someone's state of mind towards fear, anger, and despair . During the "Maximum Carnage" event, she amplifies this power and uses it to drive thousands of civilians to violently attack one another. Shriek can also fly and unleash powerful sonic shockwaves. Carnage and Shriek might be too much for Eddie Brock to handle — maybe he'll need a little help from his friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
RUMORED: Nightmare
Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness will allegedly take the MCU into the realm of horror. With director Sam Raimi of Drag Me to Hell and The Evil Dead fame involved, that should come as no surprise. All signs point to one of the central villains of the film being Nightmare, a powerful demon who has been one of Doctor Strange's most prominent foes for decades.
Nightmare is extraordinarily powerful: He is classified as a "Class Three" demon, putting him in the same league as characters like Dormammu, the big bad at the end of the first Doctor Strange film. A "Fear Lord," Nightmare controls a terrifying part of the Dream Dimension called the Nightmare World, where he feeds off human psychic energy. He can completely incapacitate powerful heroes, and even use his influence to dominate and control others.
Nightmare would be an extremely powerful force to unleash on the MCU. Not only would he be a formidable foe for Doctor Strange, it's easy to imagine him stepping into an ongoing antagonist role, similar to Loki. He's big, he's bad, he's coming for you in your sleep. Now that's MCU baddie material.
RUMORED: Druig
We know that Druig will be part of The Eternals, and that Barry Keoghan is stepping into the role. We also know that Druig will likely be a villain, as he is one of the group's classic foes. However, we're still calling it a rumor because we know so little about Eternals at this time — it's possible Marvel will pull a bait-and-switch on us since this is a lesser-known property of theirs.
If Druig does wind up being a villain, he will be a formidable one. Druig is not actually a Deviant, but an Eternal, long-lived and enormously powerful. His abilities are vast and varied: telekinesis, flight, telepathy, matter transformation, and illusion are all within his wheelhouse. On top of that, he is a ruthless, highly intelligent schemer. In the comics, he actually rules the fictional country of Vorozheika with an iron fist.
Druig's characters could take many paths within the MCU. Will he be a villainous family member, like Killmonger and Loki? Perhaps a grandiose ruler, like Hela? Or maybe he'll be something entirely new — just like the Eternals themselves.
RUMORED: John Walker
The MCU television shows coming to Disney+ will be closely tied to the plot lines of the films, meaning fans will have a lot to keep track of if they want to understand Phase Four. The first show to see release will be The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, starring Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan. We know that Zemo (who first appeared in Captain America: Civil War) will be a central villain of that series, but he might not be alone: John Walker, aka U.S. Agent might just join him in antagonism.
Walker was created in the 1980s to serve as a dark reflection of Captain America's idealism. Where Captain America personifies all the positive traits of being American, U.S. Agent is patriotism taken to ugly, violent extremes of nationalism, xenophobia, and callousness. He was the anxieties of the Cold War personified, but global shifts haven't made him any less potent of a character. Though Walker has changed his ways over the years, ending up a good guy, he certainly didn't debut that way, and seems likely to serve as one of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's electrifying villains.
RUMORED: Gorr, The God Butcher
Thor: Love and Thunder will be the final film of Marvel's Phase Four. Standing in Thor's way will be ... someone. We don't yet know the character, but we do know who the villain will be played by: The one and only Christian Bale. Most of the evidence indicates that Bale will play Gorr, the God Butcher.
Gorr is an alien from an impoverished planet. After losing his loved ones and suffering through too many bouts of starvation to count, he arrives at the conclusion that there are no gods. He is shocked, then, to discover two gods engaged in battle. Gods are entirely real, it turns out — and they did nothing as he and his family starved. From that day on, he makes it his goal to destroy as many gods as he can find.
Gorr would be a great foe for Thor. His weapon, All-Black the Necrosword, could be a formidable match for Stormbreaker and/or Mjolnir, and his backstory is enormously compelling. In an era of the MCU bursting with Eternals, Sorcerers Supreme, and Asgardian gods, throwing a nonbeliever like Gorr into the mix could make for an incredible movie.
RUMORED: Scarlet Witch
Wanda Maximoff, AKA Scarlet Witch gets to truly unleash her powers in Avengers: Endgame when she nearly pulls Thanos apart at the seams. If rumors are to be believed, that moment of rage might foreshadow something even bigger: A turn towards outright villainy.
To understand the idea of Wanda as a bad guy, we turn to Marvel's "House of M" storyline. In this story, it is revealed that Scarlet Witch is even more powerful than she seems. When several other characters (Professor X, Wolverine, etc.) decide that she must be killed in order to safeguard the world, she unleashes the full extent of her powers, reshaping history and reality as we know it. Mutant powers are erased, leaving a select few (like Magneto) in charge of everything. She isn't just magical — she's borderline divine. Reality is, essentially, her sandbox.
Wanda could be changing into a major villain. Upcoming Disney+ series WandaVision and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness offer ample room for such a transformation. She could, in fact, become a nigh-unstoppable foe if the MCU takes her as far as the comics did.
RUMORED: Justice Peace and the Time Variance Authority
Loki might have started out villainous, but the MCU has done a pretty solid job of twisting him into a hero by the end of Phase Three. Which Loki we'll get in the Loki Disney+ series remains to be seen, since it will most likely follow the rogue timeline Loki created by stealing the Tesseract in Avengers: Endgame. However, some small details hint at who Loki will be up against in that series: the Time Variance Authority.
The TVA is essentially a group of time-traveling police who seek to stop those who would screw up the multiverse's timeline. The Loki spot revealed during the Super Bowl showed Loki as a prisoner of the TVA, so we know they'll at least be a part of the series. This brings us to Owen Wilson.
Wilson has been cast as an unknown role in Loki, and the rumor mill has pegged him as Justice Peace. Though Peace takes himself very seriously (he is genetically incapable of humor and lying), he is often played for laughs. Wilson's comedic experience, paired with Hiddleston's charm, could work perfectly. Someone has to keep the timelines straight — why not make it the dude on a golden motorbike from an Earth of the far future?