Every Netflix Marvel Villain Ranked Worst To Best

Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes is the highest rated Luke Cage villain on this list and that is down to Mahershala Ali. Stokes was not a man of action; he was high enough up the chain to have people to do things for him. He ruled through his words and with Ali's measured delivery, they stole the show every time.

Stokes didn't just find himself at the head of the Stokes crime family. He was a business man and his vulture-like watch over Harlem's Paradise is just one of the ways this meticulous character maintained his dominating presence. Cornell was in the know even if you didn't know it.

Stokes' premature death was his biggest flaw - dying at the hands of his cousin, Mariah, mid-way through Luke Cage's first season. It was a move that seemed to serve the story, giving rise to Mariah Dillard as the future crime lord of Harlem but in doing so, it eliminated a character with so much potential.

Despite being in only a few episodes, Stokes' high ranking on this list is a testament to his memorability. Had Stokes not have underestimated Mariah, he might have stuck around for a little longer. In Episode 1, Cornell notes, "everybody wants to be king." Maybe he should've listened to himself and watched his own back a bit more.