Ranking Every Major MCU Villain From Worst To Best
11. Whiplash/Ivan Vanko (Iron Man 2)
The underrated Iron Man 2 was a well-constructed film that feasibly portrayed what would happen to Tony Stark after making his secret identity public at the end of the first film. Unfortunately, very little of that quality came from Mickey Rourke, who was expected to steal the show following an Academy Award nomination for The Wrestler.
Rourke plays Ivan Vanko, a Russian inventor whose father worked with the Starks and who sees Tony as robbing the Vankos of their glory. He's recruited by Justin Hammer, a business rival of Tony's who wants to destroy the billionaire. Despite Rourke's interesting affectations and the fact that the actor clearly wanted to deliver, Vanko ended up as the less interesting of the film's two bad guys.
The entire experience left a sour taste in Rourke's mouth. The actor later said that he "wanted to bring some other layers and colors" to Vanko, but Marvel was more interested in "a one-dimensional bad guy." He claimed most of his footage was cut from the movie.
Whatever Marvel's reasoning, there's no doubt that Vanko, while entertaining, could have been more.