10 Least Terrifying MCU Villains

6. Yellowjacket

As I€™ve argued in other pieces on here, one of the least narratively interesting ways of creating a supervillain is to make them basically the same as the hero but stick them in a slightly differently coloured costume and make them cackle maniacally every so often. It takes absolutely no imagination, and you can end up with a pretty underwhelming fight which boils down to who can take more punches; a pure spectacle rather than a device for advancing character or plot meaningfully. Conceptually, lining up two adversaries who have roughly the same capabilities, strengths and weaknesses is a bit dim, not least because it€™s happened so many times now that the audience just knows that it€™ll be either a flash of inspiration, cunning or derring-do which saves our hero, or a massive and intensely unsatisfying deus ex machina which got hinted at about 20 minutes ago. Not that derring-do is necessarily bad; it€™s just that once you€™re in the end game, you€™re keeping an eye out for where and when the derring-do is going to enter the frame, rather than enjoying the actual face-off. This is more a principled stand against a narrative device than anything personal against Yellowjacket himself - he is but Ant-Man felt like the last of many, many nails in that particular coffin.
Contributor
Contributor

Holding midfielder; can get forward. Decent engine.