Every MCU Villain Ranked Weakest To Strongest

From Thanos and Loki to Red Skull and Ultron, who are the strongest villains in the MCU?

By Aidan Whatman /

The MCU has been home to many great villains, both big and small. From charismatic arms dealers to gods, from radical titans to indescribable monsters, the franchise has packed a lot of power into its many films and TV shows.

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Everyone knows the classics - from Thanos to Loki, Iron Monger to Red Skull, etc. - but looking at the roster begs the question: which MCU antagonist is the strongest of them all?

For the following list, focus will be put on the franchise's primary and secondary villains over the last 20+ films, taking a look at how they each square up to one another. This list will not take into consideration the comics from which the MCU gets its inspiration, instead focussing solely on what we see in the films.

With that in mind, let's take a trip down memory lane and remember all the baddies that our favourite heroes have faced through the years. Here is every major MCU villain ranked weakest to strongest. Major spoilers throughout.

30. Justin Hammer, Arnim Zola, Alexander Pierce, Helmut Zemo, Sonny Burch

Most of the villains in the MCU have something going for them, and though this group of bad guys are just ordinary people at the end of the day, they do make up for their lack of physicality elsewhere.

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Justin Hammer was able to use his conniving manipulation to cause trouble for Iron Man (even if he was a terrible inventor); Arnim Zola helped found HYDRA and used his intellect to infiltrate SHIELD; Alexander Pierce almost killed millions with Project Insight, in hopes of leading HYDRA to greatness; Helmut Zemo broke up the Avengers thanks to his thirst for vengeance; and Sonny Burch was cold and able to act as a solid obstacle to Ant-Man's latest mission.

None of these character would last long in a fight, but they're clever enough to find ways to still be a decent threat.

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