8 MCU Villains Who Are Totally Underrated

Sam Rockwell, along with Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, Timothy Olyphant and Hugh Jackman, was on Jon Favreau’s Iron Man shortlist before Robert Downey Jnr was given the role. While no one could say RDJ was the wrong choice, at least we got to see Rockwell strut his stuff as Justin Hammer in the sequel.

He’s arguably the most inept villain the MCU has ever had; his Iron Man prototypes fail, Whiplash is able to easily manipulate him to take over his project, and his mega powerful ‘ex wife’ weapon is an absolute dud. However, in terms of entertainment value he’s one of the best the MCU villains ever.

He’s not particularly threatening, imposing or even that crucial to the plot; Whiplash does the legwork in all three categories there. But while Mickey Rourke’s mumbling villain was a disappointment, Hammer shone in his brief moments.

A smarmy blagger with a hollow inside, Hammer typified ‘all the gear and no idea’. Even his palms, constantly stained a Trumpian orange with fake tan, added to his image as a phony shyster.

As far as achieving his goals goes, he was terrible. But in the hall of MCU heroes, there’s no one quite like Justin Hammer.