Ranking Every Major MCU Villain From Worst To Best
4. Alexander Pierce (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)
Alexander Pierce is high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. official, a respected member of the World Security Council, a friend of Nick Fury's, and a secret Hydra agent intent on bringing down the governments of the world. That last part, though, doesn't come into play until Pierce has already won the trust of Steve Rogers... and the audience.
Like Jeff Bridges before him, Robert Redford plays a villain masquerading as a nice guy - someone who is (or becomes) a close confidant of the hero, then ends up stabbing him in the back when the truth is revealed. Like Bridges, Redford has the acting chops to make his character truly likable before the other shoe drops, and even more than Bridges, Redford is a venerated acting legend in whom the audience wants to believe.
Even when Pierce is revealed, he doesn't just turn into a villain. He's still a warm, reserved, and even avuncular man, just one who will kill to get what he wants - and what he wants happens to be total global domination. He's complicated.