Top Five Marvel Heroes & Villains

As Marvel week starts to wind down we're going to stray a bit from the MCU and go to the Marvel Universe in general. We're talking our all time favorite heroes and then our Top 5 villains. This is a way more fun route to go because there's so many great Marvel characters that haven't been made into a movie yet, aren't in the MCU or need some serious love because Sony and Fox messed them up so bad. So, enough with the banter, here's our lists. Be sure to comment below with your favorites!!!

Top 5 Marvel Heroes and Villains

Maddie

Heroes

1. Captain America

Is this a basic answer? Yes. Do I still stand by it? Also yes. I actually don’t have much of a breakdown on this one, it just kind of feels right.

2. Captain Marvel

This may seem a little recency biased, which may be somewhat true, but Captain Marvel was a character I still really loved when I was more into reading the comics, even before the movie came out. She’s cool, capable, and has an interesting backstory, and it was cool to see all of that well represented on the big screen, as well.

3. Spiderman

On the flip side, this one is carried pretty heavily by the fact that Tom Holland’s Spiderman is honestly just perfect. Just a whole lot of fun, all in all. Obviously a character that we all know really well by now, but the newest iteration still feels fresh, and I think that counts for a lot.

4. Quake

Maybe kind of an out of left field choice, but I really loved her in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (the tv spinoff that came out after the first Avengers movie). Hacker, turned SHIELD agent, then turned Inhuman superhero, there’s a lot to like about her character. I think the show is somewhat niche, compared to the rest of the cinematic universe, and I wish this character got more love in the bigger scope of things.

5. Black Widow

I think this has come up in at least one of our roundtable discussions, but spy stuff in movies is an automatic appeal to me, so that kind of makes Black Widow and automatic favorite. She has, I think, one of our more interesting backstories and that gives the character an extra level of intrigue. Plus she’s just kind of a badass. That helps too.

Villains

1. Loki

The top two here are, essentially, a tie, but what gives Loki the slight edge is honestly just the fact that Tom Hiddleston’s performances as Loki were so good. As a villain, he’s kind of a wildcard, you never totally know what his agenda is or where his allegiances lie, which I think makes the character all the more intriguing. Plus with the smattering of really humanizing moments we get with the character throughout his arc really makes us feel for him, in a way, despite the fact that he is an antagonist. So there’s a bit of extra dimension there as well.

2. Thanos

Certainly the most prolific villain we’ve seen to date, there’s I think something to be said for the fact that he was the most formidable opponent the Avengers had seen yet in the cinematic universe. A villain that always seems to be at least two steps ahead of both the character and the audience is always an interesting one, and I think the movies did well to represent him, as well.

3. Kilgrave

I really loved the Jessica Jones series on Netflix, and I thought Kilgrave was such an interesting villain therein. I think there’s something extra compelling, and even frightening, about a villain who isn’t running around smashing skulls on his own, or threatening the city with a bomb, but rather can influence people to do his will just with his voice. He’s somewhat unpredictable, and all the more sinister for it.

4. The Red Skull

The Red Skull is an interesting villain in his own right (I mean, a super villain hiding among the Nazi ranks, who’s somehow even more diabolical than just, like, regular Nazis? Come on, now). But he also gets credit for being the original leader of Hydra which had the staying power to last through the ages, even after he was killed, and came to represent something even more sinister than he did as a singular entity. Which is certainly something.

5. Kingpin

As was the case with Kilgrave, I kind of appreciate, relatively speaking, an understated villain. Granted, there’s a bit of extra physical strength with Wilson Fisk, but he doesn’t have any proper superpowers. He’s just, effectively, a regular man running a crime syndicate and posing as a legitimate businessman and causing all sorts of havoc. And somehow he’s just as sinister as the villains with more notable powers, and I think that speaks volumes.

Mark

Heroes

1. The Incredible Hulk

The Hulk was my #1 Marvel hero as a kid because of the Incredible Hulk TV series staring Bill Bixby. I had a Hulk lunch box, Mego doll, action figures, comic subscription and my cousin had a glow in the dark, life size Hulk on his bedroom wall that scared me half to death. Still, my favorite Marvel character and I wish he got better treatment in the movies. I want a full on savage Hulk film. DO IT.

2. Spider-Man

I was a Spider-Man JUNKIE as a kid. Live action on The Electric Company. Live action TV series in syndication. The 1967 cartoon, with that AMAZING theme song, is the greatest cartoon of all time. Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. Spider-Man: The Animated Series. I bought every issue to The Amazing Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man I could with my paper route money. I had the first issue where he dons the black suit. The first McFarlene issue. Spider-Man rules. 

3. Daredevil

Daredevil became a favorite as a result of the made for TV movie “The Trial Of The Incredible Hulk.” Matt Murdoch wore a black ninja look, which later inspired Frank Miller’s Daredevil: The Man Without Fear and that got me hooked. Daredevil always seemed kind of like Marvel’s Batman to me: living in the shadows, at times compromised morals and an extremely dark character. I’m not a religious man, but his constant conflict with beating criminals to a pulp and Catholic guilt was always fun to watch. I used to read DD constantly as a kid, another comic I received in the mail via subscription.

4. Captain America

Who doesn’t love Cap? His movies, the current offerings at least, are some of the best Marvel has to offer. I always loved the old school Captain America cartoons as a kid and I followed him mainly through the Avengers and West Coast Avenges comics as a kid. He was also fun and challenging to draw.

5. Ice-Man

I know. He’s lame and has gotten the shaft in the X-Men films he’s appeared in, but I don’t care. He’s always been a favorite. He was a major part of Spider-Man and his Amazing friends and who doesn’t love guy who travels around on giant sheets of ice? No one? Just me? That’s fine.

Villains

1. The Rhino

The Rhino is, legit, one of Spider-Man’s DUMBEST villains and I could care less. He’s a guy, in a giant rubber rhino suit, who robs banks. That’s it. I just remember seeing him a ton on the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon and as a kid, it was so ridiculous, I loved it.

2. Electro

Same deal with Electro. I’m not talking Jamie Foxx Electro, I’m talking Spider-Man comics Electro. If you aren’t familiar with him, he looks ridiculous. Gold and green costume and a gold star shaped electric bolt/lighting cowl. Utter nonsense and it’s fantastic! He’s also a member of the Sinister Six which makes him a total badass.

3. The Lizard

Are we seeing a pattern with my Spider-Man love here? He always looked cool, even when crudely drawn back in the day. He got an updated animated look with Spider-Man: The Animated Series and his comic appearance was always fantastic. The fact that he was such a genius when he was Curt Conners and could be SO violent as The Lizard made him the perfect, modern day Jekyll and Hyde.

4. The Punisher

Is he a hero? Is he a villain? Is he an anti-hero? Probably a little of everything. I LOVE The Punisher character and I slotted him here to: a) get him in my list somewhere and b) he’s faced off with Spider-Man and Daredevil before. His ultra violent, no mercy attitude is just fantastic. Where some people on the pages on comics have some morals, Frank Castle tosses those in the trash and just does Frank Castle.

5. Ghost Rider

Same as The Punisher, Ghost Rider sort of slots more towards the anti-hero, but when you sell our soul to the Devil and become the Devil’s Bounty Hunter, that puts you slightly towards the “villain” column. If all you know about Ghost Rider are those horrendous Nick Cage movies, do some reading because he’s a pretty awesome character, no matter what you view him as. Also, Agents Of Shield did a better job with a version of GR than a Hollywood Studio did.

Flash:

Heroes

1 – Spider-Man – But not just Peter Parker. All the Spider men & women from all of the spiderverses. When ““Into the Spiderverse” was announced to be made I lost my mind with excitement. There’s so much lore and history in the world of Spider-Man, it’s almost neverending, but seeing as this is a ranked list I WILL pick my favorite spidey, the always loveable Miles Morales (sorry Peter Porker). Spider-Man 3000 is wicked cool too….. okay I need to move on or i’ll talk all day

2 – Adam Warlock – you haven’t seen this characters face in the MCU yet, but I can almost guarantee he’s coming in GOTG Vol 3. The perfect creation of a being he is almost invincible. Super powerful and the long blonde locks can rival Thor’s.

3 – Deadpool – I mean, the merc with a mouth is the ultimate hero. I loved him before Ryan Reynolds took him to a new stratosphere and I can NOT wait for him to seamlessly enter the MCU when Dr Strange and the multiverse of Madness happens. (That’s just a guess)

4 – Wolverine – Basically Captain Canada in my books, this BA is gonna get a live action MCU revival now that Disney bought Fox. While I don’t know if anybody will ever be able to do what Hugh Jackman did so perfectly, there’s a whole lot of Wolverine stories from the comics that haven’t yet been told in the movies. Lots of different directions they could go, but I’m excited to get more Logan.

5 – Quicksilver – now this is biased. My friends nicknamed me Flash for being the slowest kid on the ice when I was younger, so I stuck with it and ended up loving DC’s Flash. When I found out Marvel had it’s own speedster I came to love him too. He didn’t get much love in the MCU, but the X-Men series did an admirable job with Evan Peters!

Villains

1 – Kraven The Hunter – If any Marvel villain would have beef with Carol Baskin, it’d be Kraven. Always decked out in his fav leopard/Tiger/Lion print this big game hunter wants the ultimate prize, to take down spider-man. He usually avoids weapons and likes to take out his prey with his bare hands. This guy is a MACHINE.

2 – Hela – I know I’m a man and my list is filled with lots of testosterone, but Hela is too wicked cool and evil to not be up here. I already told y’all I love Thor: Ragnarok, but that’s just the tip of Hela’s evil. Truly conniving, she scares the ever living crap out of me, even though I know she’s not real.

3 – Taskmaster – The big bad from the upcoming Black Widow movie has the ability to mimic any physical movement he sees, just by watching a video of it. If you don’t take him down quick he’ll know your every move and take you down with ease. Silent, Deadly, Villainous.

4 – Vulture – now I did let the MCU affect my villain rankings because Michael Keaton absolutely killed it in homecoming as the Vulture. He’s one of Spider-Mans main adversaries in the comics, and Keaton mixed all the brains of lore into a modern age Vulture that kicks butt. Truly spectacular if you ask me.

5 – J. Jonah Jameson – I want pictures of Spider-Man and I want them NOW!

by Mark Parkinson