Every Marvel Cinematic Universe Villain Ranked Worst To Best

4. Alexander Pierce - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Plan: To kill 20 million targets who could potentially stop HYDRA's rise to global dominance from within SHIELD.

Status: Deceased.

The Winter Soldier gets a lot of credit for its tone, and it's all well-earned thanks to the incredibly smart decision to go with a 1970s political intrigue infusion with All The President's Men veteran Robert Redford in a key role.

As Alexander Pierce, he's regal and dependable enough to justify how he rose to power within SHIELD, and once his grand scheme to use Project Insight to wipe out HYDRA's future enemies is revealed, he cleverly avoids snapping fully into a cartoonish political zealot.

He's far more than a dull stuffed shirt and owes his genetics to the same classical era of story-telling that the film heavily homages. He pulls a long-con not only on the characters he faces but also on the audience, purporting to be a nice guy and even remaining likeable when his true colours are revealed. He's complicated in the best way.