10 Reasons X-Men Film Franchise Is Better Than The MCU

5. The Villains Are Actually Compelling

Loki is Marvel's best villain to date - charming, conflicted, cunning and loquacious, he's like a lank-haired Shakespeare character, in horns. But Tom Hiddleston's Cheshire Cat-grinned space Viking aside, the MCU has been bereft of truly villainous villains. Obadiah Stane, Red Skull, Whiplash, Malekith, Ronan the Accuser, Ultron - all have been examples of why even great actors can't enliven a villain if their basic motivation is unclear, or missing altogether. The nadir came with Iron Man 3, in which the twist was that the actually mysterious and charismatic baddie - Ben Kingsley Mandarin - was just a front for the usually reliable Guy Pearce's inexplicably boring Aldrich Killian. In the X-Men movies, as much attention is paid to the bad guy as is paid to the heroes. X2's William Stryker, First Class's Sebastian Shaw and Days Of Future Past's Bolivar Trask are compelling grotesques - all are eugenics advocates and fascists - but the real focus has always been on the battle between Prof X and his team and the damaged, troubled Magneto, Mystique and their crew. These are not just 2D bad guys - they're sympathetic monsters with captivating backstories.