10 Worst MCU Villains Of 2021

As well as Kevin Fiege and Marvel Studios have built the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the heroes that have populated it since 2008, there has always been a perceived problem with its villains. Certainly in the early days of the franchise, they just couldn’t seem to get many antagonists right.

While there aren’t many heroes who appeared in just one film, the majority of villains did just that, allowing them only a fraction of the screen time and development that their rivals enjoyed. Though there are a handful of exceptions to this trend, the problem has persisted.

Phase Three saw a definite incline in the quality of these villains, with the likes of Vulture, Hela, Killmonger, and Thanos, but unfortunately, Phase Four has already seen its fair share of antagonists that just couldn’t become fan favourites.

Some didn’t have compelling motivations for what they were doing, some couldn’t live up to their counterpart from the source material, and some failed to give anyone any reason to care about them at all. Phase Four has been good to the MCU so far, but it has still struggled in the bag guy department.

For the majority of Hawkeye, it was the Tracksuit Mafia that were the key antagonists. They hijacked the black market auction, they tried to kill Clint and Kate several times, and as they operated underneath Fisk and Maya, they did much of the dirty work. One member that stood out from the rest of the group, or at least was supposed to, was Kazi.

He was almost treated as an equal to Maya, as he was William Lopez’s number 2, and according to Clint knew more about the operation than anyone. However, he had the potential to be so much more than just another member of the Mafia.

In the comics, Kazi is a hired assassin with a tragic and deeply disturbing backstory. He goes by the name of the Clown, befriends an unknowing Kate, kills Grills, and is killed himself trying to fulfil the contract he had to murder Clint Barton. This would have made him a far more intriguing character.

Instead, all he really added to the show was name-dropping Uncle before the big Kingpin reveal, and turning against Maya’s father, keeping fans of the Matt Fraction comics waiting for an evolution of his character that never came.