For someone who was meant to pose a threat to the God of Thunder himself, Thor, Malekith was a really weak-ass villain. He was portrayed to the best of Christopher Eccleston's abilities as an actor but, even then, it wasn't enough to compensate for the lack of power the character possessed. Without the Aether, Malekith was getting bested in battle by Thor's mother, Frigga, until his henchman, Kurse, intervened - so how were we expected to see him as a credible threat to Thor? Even with the Aether (which we'll get to later), he wasn't doing anything remotely destructive enough to harm Thor. To an extent, the point extends to other villains. Really, Aldrich Killian should never have been much of a threat to Iron Man. All Iron Man really had to do to defeat him - or at least avoid being hurt by him - was keep to the sky and blast him from range. In order to make us genuinely feel as though the heroes are under threat and make the movies more exciting and unpredictable, the villains need to be more powerful than this.
