MCU: 5 Best & 5 Worst Villains So Far

by Jack Otway

1. Whiplash

Iron Man 2 Whiplash
Marvel Studios

Okay, so if you think Thor: The Dark World is one of the worst MCU films, you could argue Iron Man 2 makes that look like an Oscar-worthy picture. Because Marvel’s third-ever movie, and second starring Tony Stark, was a damp squib and its villain, Whiplash, is underwhelming despite the bang-on casting of Mickey Rourke in the role.

It was still early days, but Marvel deserve the flak they get for this instalment. Rourke pressed for Whiplash, real name Ivan Vanko, to get a really good backstory and, at the start of the film, it seemed like it was going to be another classic. The scene involving Whiplash taking on Iron Man at the Monte Carlo Grand Prix was genuinely brilliant and, given the emotional layering of Vanko, expectations from then on inevitable soured.

But the big problem is that Whiplash’s backstory was basically he hated the Starks because they weren’t too kind to his old man. Given we never see any of this on-screen, audiences struggle to sympathise and see any reasoning behind his lust for revenge. And that, in a nutshell, is why Rourke’s character was so underwhelming and the worst MCU villain of the lot.

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Sport and Film. I love them both. And I'm extremely lucky to write about two of my biggest passions in life. Most of the time, I'm at the Daily Express newspaper writing about football, tennis and F1. But, when I'm out of there, I let my imagination run wild and pen down my thoughts on the film series' I love. WhatCulture gives me the chance to write about the movie industry - an industry I really care about. And for that, I'm extremely grateful. And hope you, if you're reading this, enjoy what I think about stuff.