8. Arnim Zola
Appeared In: Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Agent Carter: Season 1. Despite not having a huge amount of screentime, Zola has had a massive impact on the MCU. From The Winter Soldier's revelation that he had been the one to successfully rebuild HYDRA within S.H.I.E.L.D. to teaming up with Johann Fennhoff to develop the brainwashing techniques that would help turn Bucky Barnes into an assassin, he's been an incredibly effective behind-the-scenes villain. While his consciousness was seemingly destroyed for good in the Captain America sequel, his comic counterpart has frequently survived worse, always coming back time and again. Zola is a genius, and it wouldn't be surprising at all to find out that he moved his consciousness again under the guise of being destroyed to once again act in secret. Seeing Zola take on his comic counterpart's robot form would be pretty cool, and countless fans have suggested that he could even form the basis for a screen adaptation of Marvel villain MODOK. Even if none of that comes to pass, hopefully future seasons of Agent Carter, Bucky or S.H.I.E.L.D.-related flashbacks, or other projects can show Zola in his heyday and give Toby Jones even more to do.
Geoff Cox
Contributor
Writer, film enthusiast, part-time gamer and watcher of (mostly) good television located on the fringe of Los Angeles, who now has his own website at www.highdefgeoff.com!
See more from
Geoff