Becoming Marvel’s strongest villain isn’t easy. There are tons of scary enemies in the comic book world that strike fear everywhere. Let’s end the debate. These are the Marvel villains who rise above the others.
14. Knull
Knull is the eldritch god of darkness and the person who created the symbiotes. He has despised Celestials since they brought light into his kingdom and has always gone out of his way to destroy anything and everything they made.
The ancient being constantly underestimates those he considers beneath him and never battles using the full extent of his power, instead using his symbiotes to do his dirty work. His face is set in a constant sadistic smile, and if he doesn’t get what he wants, he is more than likely to throw a destructive temper tantrum (such as when the Silver Surfer refused to work for him).
Using his ability to manipulate the eldritch darkness that existed before him, he created All-Black, the Necrosword, all the symbiotes, several symbiote dragons and the Void Knight. He is truly immortal. He possesses superhuman strength, durability, and the ability to shapeshift (though he only seems to use this ability on his face).
Throughout his existence, Knull and his symbiotes have terrorised civilisations, extinguishing stars and smothering entire planets in eldritch darkness. When he finally invaded Earth, he had the symbiotes still loyal to him seize control of all the heroes who had come to face him. The combined efforts of Thor, Eddie Brock, and Dylan Brock eventually took him out for good.
Knull, who has yet to debut in the MCU, is one of the strongest villains in the Marvel Universe.
13. Ebony Maw
Ebony Maw is one of the most influential and dangerous members of the Black Order, a team of assassins who serve Thanos. He started as a member of the Butcher Squadron, actively observing Thanos to understand better why he operated the way he did.
He has an ability called the persuasive voice, which allows him to take hold of a person’s thoughts and have them obey him. In addition, he forms a psychic link with those he takes control of. He also possesses Telekinesis, teleportation and pyrokinesis.
He is an incredibly intelligent and skilled warrior who could hold his own against the martial artist Ferene.
12. Loki
The god of mischief hails from Asgard but was born initially as a Frost Giant in Jotunheim, adopted by Odin. As he and Thor grew up alongside each other, Loki became highly jealous of Thor, who the people of Asgard treated very differently, valuing his warrior strength over Loki’s skills with Sorcery. As a result, he caused many problems for the Asgardians and was banished and punished several times. However, his meddling eventually led to the formation of the Avengers.
As both a god and a Frost Giant, Loki possesses several abilities, including superhuman strength, durability and longevity, sorcery and even Allspeak. He is also an extremely skilled combatant with a genius-level intellect. Loki has been brought to life in the Marvel Cinematic Universe through Tom Hiddleston and has slowly become more of an anti-hero than a villain; however, the comic version of Loki has done some terrible things.
After sacrificing himself for the greater good (once again), Loki managed to manipulate the newly reborn version of himself. Eventually, it defeated him when he finally took control of his body. He has even caused the end of Asgard and once turned Thor into a frog. While not one of the most evil things he’s down, it was still cruel.
11. Magneto
Erik Magnus Lehnsherr is an extremely powerful mutant and will do anything to protect his species. When he was younger, he suffered at the hands of German forces and discovered his abilities at the cost of his daughter. As a result, the people around him began to fear and despise him, and this constant rejection soon led Erik on a quest to take over Earth so that mutants could exist as the dominant species.
He has been deemed the most powerful mutant alive, an Omega level compared to the Dark Phoenix (the evil version of Jean Grey under the influence of the Phoenix Force). He always wears a helmet to shield himself from potential psychic manipulation. He possesses Magnetokinesis, a type of telekinesis that allows him to manipulate metal and even a planet’s electromagnetic field. His powers have no measurable limitations.
Magneto is also an expert in several fields of science, including genetic engineering and mutation, and has designed several aircraft and spacecraft over the years that would make some of Marvel’s most brilliant minds proud.
10. Onslaught
This armoured form of sentient psionic energy was created through the combined consciousness of Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto. After Magneto removed the Adamantium from Wolverine’s bones, Professor X had finally had enough and shut down Magneto’s mind for good.
During the exchange, Magneto’s anger, lust for vengeance and grief merged with all the negative feelings Professor X had been repressing over the years and became a separate personality inside the telepath. The personality awakened after anti-mutant humans fought a young mutant outside the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.
Onslaught possesses the combined powers of Professor X, Magneto, Franklin Richards and Nate Grey, making him one of the most powerful beings in Marvel. During his tenure as a villain, he possessed several mutants and heroes before Nightcrawler finally defeated him.
9. Kang the Conqueror
Several people have taken on the alias of Kang the Conqueror, and many alternate versions of the character interact with one another. Still, the original Kang has always been Nathaniel Richard, a descendent of Reed Richards or Dr Doom.
Originally hailing from the relatively peaceful Earth-6311, Nathaniel Richards was born in the 30th century in a reality where humanity never suffered through the dark ages. As a teenager, he briefly encountered a future version of himself and swore he would never become Kang the Conqueror, instead taking on the identity of Iron Lad. Unfortunately for Nathaniel, that path to becoming Kang was inevitable.
Bored of his own time, he soon stumbled upon a time machine belonging to Doom and decided to travel back to ancient Egypt, where he became the Pharoah Rama-Tut. After the Fantastic Four destroyed his reign as Pharaoh, he tried to return to his own home. Still, he found himself in a decimated 40th century, from which he would eventually obtain his iconic armour. He quickly conquered the new world, but while ruling over it, he often thought back to modern Earth-616 and all the heroes there, desperately wishing to defeat them.
Due to his many time-travelling adventures, Kang possesses a superior-level intellect and is politically savvy. Moreover, thanks to his advanced weaponry, he is a very skilled combatant with an indomitable will, able to take on several heroes at once.
Kang always goes back in time to ensure that the younger version of himself will always go on the path to becoming Kang the Conqueror. Considering that Kang is one of the strongest villains in the Marvel Universe, his debut in the MCU signals a huge shift in power in the cinematic universe.
8. Ultron
Initially created by Hank Pym, Ultron rebelled against his creator, making Pym forget that he’d ever made him. Instead, he immediately began improving his design, upgrading himself several times.
Every time Ultron is defeated, he comes back somehow as a new and improved version of himself, even more bent on beating the Avengers. He’s gone through so many upgrades over the years that people have lost track. After merging with Hank Pym, he gained a cyborg body, having both robot and organic properties. His constant upgrades have given him great power, including super strength, tractor beams, techno forming and the ability to enter other planes of existence, which he achieved after getting his hands on Pym Particles.
The worst things he has ever done include wiping out millions while merging with Hank Pym In the name of the Avengers and taking over several cities. One of the worst was Slovenia, which he took command of before destroying it in three hours. The battle of Sokovia in Avengers: Age of Ultron was based on this event.
7. Ego the Living Planet
Ego was created by the cosmic being known as the Stranger. When a star went nova, destroying the twin planets orbiting it, the Stranger took all the life from the two planets and merged it to form Ego and Alter Ego, living planets that he planned to one day pit against each other to see who had become the strongest.
Ego can manipulate and alter his surface to his liking. In addition, his psionic powers allow him to create beings, read the minds, and scan the structures of many different characters. He can also move through space using the propulsion unit installed by Galactus and awaken consciousness on other planets.
Kurt Russell portrayed him in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
6. The Scarlet Witch
Wanda Maximoff is the twin sister of Pietro Maximoff (a.k.a. Quicksilver) and one of the apparent children of the mutant Magneto. When she was born, she became a conduit of chaos magic, which allowed her to become an incredibly powerful sorceress later in life.
After Magneto saved her and her brother, they joined the Brotherhood of Evil but quickly left due to a disagreement with Magneto about the way he ran things. She joined the Avengers, received training from fellow witch Agatha Harkness and found an archnemesis in the demon Chthon, the possessor of the Dark Hold before Wanda.
During her time with the Avengers, she fell in love with Vision and married him. Against his wishes, Wanda used her magic to impregnate herself with twin sons. Unfortunately, the spell used to create the boys was broken, and they were erased from existence instead. Unfortunately, this happened around the same time that Vision was dismantled.
She is an insanely powerful individual and one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel universe. Wanda has an extensive amount of power outside of her ability to wield and manipulate chaos magic. She can do anything from conjuring force fields to raising the dead and changing the weather. The trauma of losing her boys and husband led her to try to take on the Avengers twice, reshape reality so that she could be with her boys, and rid the world of most of the mutant population.
For the longest time, fans have argued that Scarlet Witch is the strongest villain / anti-hero / hero in the Marvel Universe.
5. Apocalypse
En Sabah Nur was born in ancient Egypt and was the first mutant in the second generation of mutant kind. His clan abandoned him at birth due to his appearance, and he was raised as a nomadic warrior. The Celestials recruited him as Apocalypse and enhanced him by boosting his power to a god-like level.
Many cultures have worshipped him as a god throughout the centuries. To prolong his lifespan, Apocalypse would seek out powerful mutants he could use as host bodies and lie in a regenerative slumber while guarded by his descendants. He has superhuman strength, reflexes, durability, and psionic manipulation, which gifted him with telekinesis and telepathy. He also has super-genius intelligence and possesses the ability to manipulate celestial energy.
To help him during his tenure as a villain, Apocalypse created the four horsemen from four powerful mutants, the likes of which would bring about the destruction and eventual end of the earth. However, the worst was when he turned Angel, a founding X-Men and the team’s beacon of hope, into the Horseman Death and one of the most dangerous enemies the X-Men had ever faced at the time.
4. Magus
Magus was born from the evil inside of Adam Warlock and to oppose Thanos, the Champion of Death, as the Avatar of Life (a title that he didn’t hold for too long).
Thanks to his unique biology, he can manipulate energy, which grants him the ability to become a cosmic sorcerer. His sorcery allows him to shape-shift and absorb the life force of different characters. He can also manipulate time and reality, has access to cosmic power, and has enslaved an entire universe, forcing everyone to follow a new religion of which he was the head.
Ask anyone; Magnus is definitely one of the most powerful villains in the Marvel Universe.
3. The Mad Titan Thanos
When Thanos was born, his mother tried to get rid of him, driven mad when she first laid eyes on the hideous baby. Soon after this, the Cosmic Ghost Rider intervened and tried to raise Thanos, hoping that his influence would change the future of the Titan. Unfortunately, his efforts were fruitless, and he became the thing that would inspire Thanos’ bloodlust in adulthood.
As a teen, he fell defeated several Titans, including his mother, as he tried to discover why he was born the way he was. As he got older, Thanos began to do everything in his power to earn the affection of Death, even destroy his entire planet.
Thanks to his Eternal and Titan biology, his ability to synthesize cosmic energy, and the many bionic amplifications he performed on himself, Thanos became so powerful that he was eventually deemed a Category 1 Life Ender. He possesses godlike strength, superhuman agility, and reflexes. In addition, he becomes virtually indestructible when wielding the Infinity Gauntlet and Infinity Stones, which provide him with incredible amounts of power on their own.
Is Thanos really dead in the MCU? We’ll have to wait and see. Personally, we don’t think we’ve seen the last of Thanos, especially since he is one of the strongest villains in Marvel.
2. Doctor Doom
Dr Victor Von Doom is the Monarch and Supreme Leader of the Kingdom of Latveria. When he was younger, he was scarred, and now he wears an iron mask and armour to hide his face. Not only is Doom one of the most brilliant minds on earth, but he is also a mighty sorcerer, making him a potential candidate for the title of Sorcerer Supreme, able to go against even Doctor Strange.
As a young boy, Doom swore vengeance against Mephisto, whom he believed was responsible for his mother’s demise. He and Reed Richards were peers at university and often pranked each other. He became obsessed with developing the machine that would allow him to free his mother from Mephisto’s clutches and ignored Richards when he pointed out miscalculations in his invention. The experiment exploded on Doom, forever scarring his face and causing him to be expelled.
From then on, Doom blamed Richards for his mistake and swore vengeance against him. Doom has done several truly horrible things throughout his reign. Still, two of the most evil acts he ever committed were when he shamelessly ended his childhood love to obtain greater power than he possessed and when he threw Reed and his son Franklin (an innocent child, no less) into hell.
Another character that has yet to appear in the MCU, Doctor Doom is definitely one of the strongest villains in the Marvel Universe.
So, who is the strongest Marvel villain?
1. Molecule Man
Owen Reece started as an unassuming character. However, his desperate need for recognition led to him becoming one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel universe. After accidentally poking a hole in the Beyonder’s universe, he was empowered with the energy of it.
In actuality, the Beyonders caused the Accident as a “bomb” that would destroy the universe if he were ever vanquished. So they planned to wipe out every version of him simultaneously to see what would happen. He is capable of matter manipulation, which allows him to control and transform all forms of matter and energy as he wishes. He uses a steel rod to focus his powers entirely.
He is connected to all his alternate selves and has near omnipotence in the multiverse. Of all the Marvel villains, he tops the list of the most powerful and strongest.
Loved our strongest Marvel villains list? Check out our 45 most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe list.
