MCU: 8 Villains Who Could Be The Next Big Bad
5. The Mandarin
The Mandarin is one of Iron Man's greatest ever enemies, yet thanks to the infamous Trevor Slattery twist, the character was criminally underused in Iron Man 3.
In Marvel One-Shot: All Hail The King (as well as a deleted scene from Ant Man), the Ten Rings terrorist group is revealed to exist within the MCU, and were not happy with Slattery's impersonation their leader, The (real) Mandarin.
His power comes from the ten rings, one worn on each finger, with each granting a different ability to the villain. While this concept is very similar to the Infinity Stones, The Mandarin is human and cannot threaten the entire universe in the same way Thanos can.
The threat to the people of Earth would be no less, however, allowing the Guardians of the Galaxy to head back into space while The Avengers continue the fight at home.
Due to his past encounter with who he thought was The Mandarin, Tony Stark would be central to this story, possibly triggering the PTSD we saw in Iron Man 3. This is assuming that Stark is still around for this however, which of course is not guaranteed. If not he could still have a vital part to play in the story arc, acting in a similar role to Agent Coulsen in Avengers Assemble, helping unite the newer Avengers such as Doctor Strange, Black Panther, and Captain Marvel.