MCU: 10 Cosmic Villains For Phase 4
Lurking in the depths of space and beyond, there's more evil in the Marvel Cosmos.
Thanks to Thanos' most recent tyrannical jaunt through the MCU, we've been exposed to more of the universe than ever before, and shed light on the potential scale of the stories Marvel could tell in their movies. We've already seen historically integral locations for cosmic stories including Knowhere and Xandar, and we have also been given elements from other important races and characters from the Kree Empire to the cocoon of Adam Warlock.
With Captain Marvel in particular coming in the near future, more and more of the universe will be exposed and with that comes the opportunity for the fleshing out of Marvel's cosmic villain roster. James Gunn has already built a great foundation for the MCU cosmos in the Guardians of the Galaxy films. Gunn's machinations include tidbits such as Skrull language and an appearance from everyone's favourite telepathic space canine, Cosmo.
In order to carry these stories, there needs to be a believable villain that does justice to the size and scope of the narrative like Thanos did in Infinity War. Luckily, the source material is full of infernal beings who could cause havoc for our heroes.
10. The High Evolutionary
Herbert Edgar Wyndham/The High Evolutionary is a biologist obsessed with evolution, whose story began with him trying to rapidly evolve rats in his mother’s basement in London. It also didn’t help that he was a big fan of Mr. Sinister, the evil biologist who has plagued the X-Men for years.
He was given the blueprints to DNA and evolution by an Inhuman named Phaeder, and from this he is able to mess with the evolutionary path of creatures he experiments on. Herbert's powers include telekinesis, astral projection, and the ability to communicate with all manner of species and cybernetics.
In recent years the High Evolutionary has taken to exploring the evolution of different planets, flying through space in a metallic orb. One hero that Herbert seems fascinated by is Adam Warlock, who is set to join the MCU very soon. Adam even attempted to ask The High Evolutionary for assistance in stopping the Ultron-Phalanx who tried to assimilate the universe in Marvel Comics’ cosmic crossover event, Annihilation: Conquest.
It would make sense for Herbert to appear and want to dissect all of the Avengers as in the MCU metahumans are relatively unexplored scientifically. Herbert could slot into a role that pits him against Adam or he could even turn his attention to Vision's unique composition, if Vision is put back together in the coming films. Herbert could even be the one to rebuild him in his own, twisted image of evolutionary perfection.