Jessica Jones: 10 Reasons Why Marvel's Films Simply Can't Compete
9. Villains Actually Get Developed
Here's a challenge: apart from Loki, try and name one truly memorable onscreen MCU villain (excluding what's been portrayed on Netflix obviously). It's okay to admit if you're struggling, since the film series still hasn't managed to find an antagonist that possesses both charisma and threat. Apart from Vincent D'onofrio's suitably unnerving performance as the Kingpin of Crime and David Tennant's sinister portrayal of the Purple Man, the MCU is yet to find a villain developed enough to really assert its complete dominance over the comic book film genre. Malekieth lacked development in The Dark World, as did Ultron in the Avengers sequel that shared his namesake. Ronan the Accuser played second-fiddle to the wonderfully zany Guardians of the Galaxy, and Ant-Man's Darren Cross was given less exploration than the CGI'd insects that perished in its finale. This is an issue that hasn't improved in Marvel's films, and sadly it looks as though there's no sign of it stopping. Bluntly speaking it sucks. The MCU has drawn so much talent towards it across the world over, yet that talent is completely wasted when antagonists are forced to take a backseat to the proceedings. Here's hoping that Dr. Strange is an exception when Chiwetel Ejiofor takes to the screens as Baron Mordo.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
