10 Villains Who Need To Appear In MCU Phase 4

How do you possibly top Thanos? This is how!

by Andrew Pollard
Doctor Doom
Marvel Comics

With Marvel Studios having stolen the show (again!) at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, fans now have an idea of what to expect from Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This ever-expanding shared cinematic realm will span both the silver screen and the small screen in Phase 4 - Black Widow, The Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ring Rings, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Thor: Love and Thunder covering the big-screen bases, and then The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Loki, and Hawkeye fleshing out Phase 4 as part of the upcoming Disney+ on-demand streaming service.

Now while we know what movies and shows will be a part of Phase 4, there are still a whole load of blanks to fill as to which villains will be appearing in this next step of the MCU.

We know that Scarlett Johansson's Natasha will be butting heads with Taskmaster in 2020's Black Widow, Simu Liu's Shang-Chi will face off against The Mandarin, and the Falcon and Winter Soldier pairing will battle Baron Zemo, but the rest of Phase 4's bad guys 'n' gals are open to speculation.

Taking a look at the world of Marvel Comics, then, here are ten villains who will hopefully have a role to play in Phase 4 over the next few years.

10. Mephisto

Doctor Doom
Marvel Comics

With Doctor Strange’s second solo outing promising to veer in a horror direction, what says dark and sinister more than the devil himself!

Well, the Marvel Comics’ version of the devil, of course. That devious and manipulative sort being Mephisto.

Marvel’s embodiment of Satan, Mephisto is pure, unadulterated evil and has caused all kinds of headaches for some of Marvel’s finest since he first reared his charismatic head back in 1968.

Largely viewed as a Doctor Strange villain, 2021’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness could be the perfect platform to have Mephisto step out of the shadows and make his presence known in the MCU.

This immortal and magical being is simply out to decimate the Marvel Universe and have plenty of sh*ts ‘n’ giggles in the process.

For example, after the comic book Civil War arc saw Spider-Man’s secret identity as Peter Parker made public, that tragically led to Aunt May being shot and killed. What did Mephisto do after this? Why, he spotted an opportunity and offered to bring May back if Peter was prepared to sacrifice his marriage to Mary Jane.

Parker did so, reality was rewritten so Peter and MJ never got married, and May was back and living. The reason for Mephisto doing this, well, that was because he couldn't turn down the chance to cause all kinds of emotional angst for Spider-Man.

If Marvel Studios is serious and committed to exploring the darker corners of the MCU, Mephisto is a no-brainer to rear his head at some point in the near future.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.