10 Most Useless MCU Villains So Far
Why did Thanos even bother with his Black Order?
There have been some truly showstopping villains introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe over the years. The likes of Thanos, Erik Killmonger, and Loki head the list, but joining them at the top are others like Wenwu, Norman Osborn, and even Gorr the God Butcher regardless of Love and Thunder’s disappointment on the whole.
However, in spite of these names, the MCU is arguably more infamous for creating lackluster villains in the face of properly developed heroes. Among these, some have just been poorly written and one-dimensional - Malekith immediately jumps to mind here - but others have just been plain useless.
They may not have been terrible characters in their own right, though some absolutely were, but for one reason or another they were never able to make any real impact on the MCU. Fans will always assume that the villain will ultimately lose, but most are at least able to pose some sort of threat, or at least come close to what they are trying to achieve.
From jealous villains that were unable to walk the walk, to those that went about their plans in completely the wrong way, or even didn’t really do anything, there have been several villains that may as well not have even been there at all.
10. Baron Von Strucker
After the Avengers defeated Loki in the Battle of New York, the two Infinity Stones the God of Mischief carried were taken from him. The Tesseract was sent to Asgard with Thor, while the Scepter stayed in the custody of S.H.I.E.L.D. This, though no one knew it at the time, meant that it was the property of H.Y.D.R.A.
Put in charge of the weapon, and overseeing the experiments conducted on the likes of the Maximoff twins was Baron von Strucker. Though you could say he was successful in this, in that he tapped into Wanda’s powers and gave Pietro super speed, he didn’t even come close to understanding the extent of the power he had on his hands.
Despite being one of the heads of H.Y.D.R.A., when Strucker was tracked down by the Avengers he did nothing but surrender. Though facing Earth’s Mightiest Heroes isn’t something anyone would want to do, what happened to his loyalty? What happened to "cut off one head and two more shall take its place"?
The villain joined the list of secondary characters fleetingly used before being disposed of unceremoniously when Ultron dashed his head against a wall. He left the MCU without really making any impact. Particularly as it was revealed retrospectively that Wanda’s powers were within her all along, he didn’t really do anything.