First appearing in September 1963, The Avengers have been a staple of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, featuring the mightiest heroes together to face off against villains no other superhero could handle on their own. The Avengers have now become the flagship of Marvel Comics and films, with The Avengers movies being some of the most profitable films of all time.
One element that has made Phase 4 feel so scattershot is that this is the first MCU phase without an Avengers film, which was normally treated as the grand conclusion to a Phase. As stated in Spider-Man: Far From Home, the status of The Avengers as a team in the MCU is up in the air. The Avengers’ facility was destroyed and Avengers: Endgame saw the team split, with the stories of three members (Iron Man, Black Widow, Captain America) ending, while Thor, Hulk, and Hawkeye have gone on to other Phase 4 projects acting as mentor figures for other characters.
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The universe still has plenty of heroes to defend it like the nation of Wakanda, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, Ant-Man, Wasp, Sam Wilson as the new Captain America, and War Machine while the universe has been filling up with new heroes like Ms. Marvel, Shang-Chi, Moon Knight, The Eternals, and She-Hulk. Plus more heroes like Blade, The Fantastic Four, and the X-Men are set to join the MCU sometime in the future. It is a world of heroes, and while they can stand on their own, eventually there will come a threat that will unite them.
Marvel Comics is full of great villains that could give the team a run for their money, ranging from time traveling conquerors, ancient deities, teams of super villains, and a fellow hero these seven villains could be a large enough threat to bring together a new team of Avengers.
Kang the Conqueror
Marvel Comics
The most obvious villain for a future Avengers film is Kang the Conqueror. Marvel has already cast actor Jonathan Majors in the part and was first seen as a variant of Kang known as He Who Remains in the season finale of Loki, with the character getting his proper introduction in the upcoming 2023 film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
In the comics, Kang the Conqueror is a time-traveling tyrant who is a significant Avengers villain unique to the team instead of being a villain of a singular hero on the team (like Loki or the Red Skull). He is also the descendant of Reed Richards and Sue Storm of The Fantastic Four potentially laying the groundwork for the team’s potential MCU debut. Kang is also instrumental in the formation of the superhero team The Young Avengers, as it is a younger version of Kang who in an attempt to prevent himself from becoming the tyrant becomes Iron Lad and forms the team. Kang could be used as a force to bring together the Young Avengers, or even the proper Avengers team depending on what happens to the character after Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantuamnia.
Masters of Evil / Thunderbolts
One area where superhero movies, particularly the MCU, have been lacking is the concept of a team of villains. While many superhero films feature multiple villains, they are often not a unified team and The Avengers themselves have been united in singular threats like Ultron and Thanos. The MCU has rarely brought back villains, leading to a lack of personal connections among the villains. One element that made Spider-Man: No Way Home such a great viewing experience was giving the various villains interactions, comraderies, and rivalries that the MCU has defined so well for the various heroes. Having a team of super villains form is both a great cause for the Avengers to unite but also a chance for some exciting action scenes changing up various forms of combat with different pairings of heroes and villains.
The team that typically opposes the Avengers is The Masters of Evil, a collection of super villains. The name is a little on the nose, yet it is likely if the name were adopted it could be coined by one of the heroes in a tongue-in-cheek reference. The team could go by several different names including The Liberators (the Ultimate Comics name for the Masters of Evil) or even the Dark Avengers. There is also the Thunderbolts, a team of supervillains who are acting as heroes who are set to get their own film in the MCU. If Thunderbolts is a hit with audiences, pitting them against a new team of Avengers immediately gets audiences invested and makes for a major event film.
Amatsu-Mikaboshi, the Chaos King
Amatsu-Mikaboshi is also known as The Chaos King and is a relatively new Marvel Comics villain, created in 2006, but one that seems to be primed for the MCU. The character is based on a figure from Japanese mythology of the same name. His major comic arc saw him fighting Hercules, who was just introduced in the post-credit scene of Thor: Love and Thunder. In the comics, Amatsu-Mikaboshi is a powerful force and has been identified as the personification of darkness that existed before creation. He is one of the strongest entities in Marvel cosmology and would be a force that could unite the various MCU heroes as he can connect to various story threads.
The character also can be retrofitted into various MCU concepts already. The character could be used in the place of Knull if Marvel wanted to adapt the ‘King in Black’ storyline, given that Knull is primarily connected to the symbiotes and those rights appeared to be tied in with Sony’s Spider-Man pictures. He could be made one of the Fear Lords which in the comics includes The Dweller in Darkness, the villain at the end of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
That connection to the Fear Lords also can tie into the character Chthon, who was named in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as an Elder God and the creator of the book of dark magic, The Darkhold. With a name like The Chaos King, it is possible this could be the avenue in which the MCU brings back Wanda Maximoff aka The Scarlet Witch as her being a being who wields chaos magic might be the best chance for The Avengers and give the character a shot of redemption.
The Serpent
Marvel
The Serpent was the main antagonist of the 2011 comic book crossover event ‘Fear Itself,’ which revealed him to be the Asgardian God of Fear and Odin’s brother, making him the uncle of Thor and Loki. He is also the fabled Midgard Serpent that Thor is to battle in Ragnarök, and he can transform into a giant serpent, so the prospect alone of seeing the Avengers fighting a Kiju-size snake is worthy of consideration.
The MCU would likely have to rework the character, as being a long-lost and forgotten Asgardian sibling is a little too similar to Hela in Thor: Ragnarok. However, Thor: Love and Thunder did introduce a whole new host of god-like characters, so The Serpent could just be another ancient god that battled Asgard in the past that Odin likely sealed away. The character could also easily fit in with other Marvel concepts, like the Serpent Society with the team’s purpose now to awaken the Serpent from his slumber to break havoc on the Earth. The Avenger’s foes have either been literal gods (Loki) or fashioned themselves after gods (Ultron and Thanos) so it would be fitting for a new team of Avengers to unite to fight a god.
Annihilus
MCU Phase 4 has featured many different dimensions, from Ta Lo in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings to the Noor dimension mentioned in Ms. Marvel, combined with the threat of an expanding multiverse. It appears that the MCU is both being defended and potentially invaded by multiple dimensional forces. This lays the groundwork to introduce the popular dimension The Negative Zone and its ruler, the villainous Annihilus. Introduced in Fantastic Four Annual #6 in 1968, Annihilus is primarily thought of as a Fantastic Four foe, but he became a major player in the Marvel Universe thanks to the 2006 crossover event ‘Annihilation’ and its sequel ‘Annihilation: Conquest.’
That storyline sees Annihilus commanding the Annihilation Wave, a fleet of ships from the Negative Zone, in an attempt to expand his rule into the universe beginning in space drawing him into conflict with many cosmic Marvel heroes. This storyline led to the creation of a new Guardians of the Galaxy, the one that served as the basis for the 2014 movie.
Annihilus and his fleet of Negative Zone ships fit in with Ms. Marvel’s storyline of other dimensions looking to overtake the MCU, and given his cosmic connections could draw in heroes like Captain Marvel, The Guardians of the Galaxy, and Thor. These cosmic characters can warn the various heroes of Earth and either prepare on Earth to battle it or travel to outer space to confront the threat head-on before Annihilus hurts any more life in the universe.
The Sentry / Void
The Sentry was created by Paul Jenkins, Jae Lee, and Rick Veitch in the year 2000. In the comics, The Sentry is a man named Robert ‘Bob’ Reynolds who is one of the most powerful heroes in the Marvel Universe with the power of one million exploding suns, and is often defined by fans as the Marvel Universe version of Superman. His arch enemy is a being called The Void; however, it is revealed that The Sentry and The Void are two halves of the same person and in order to save the world, Reynolds erased his life from everyone’s memory on Earth (similar to Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home). He eventually returns to and becomes a member of the Avengers and other superhero teams, but as time goes on and he is manipulated by super villains, the Void persona comes out and Robert becomes a major threat.
A character like The Sentry being the main antagonist for an Avengers movie is interesting for a number of reasons. The first is with the character being equal in power to Superman, it makes sense to bring a team of heroes to fight him (The Avengers vs Superman is a strong pitch). Also, The Sentry could be introduced as a hero in the Marvel Universe who is doing good, but his darker half poses a potential risk, which would make for some strong dramatic tension. The Avengers would have to fight a fellow superhero and realize that this is not an evil person but someone who needs helps makes the stakes of any battle higher.
Galactus
20th Century Fox
One of the most popular and iconic villains in Marvel Comics, Galactus was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Galactus first appeared in Fantastic Four #48 in what is commonly referred to as ‘The Galactus Trilogy,’ and is one of the most iconic storylines in all of Marvel. Galactus was originally a being known as Galan, who was from the universe that predated the current one, who merged with Eternity to become Galactus and whose cosmic power was so vast he needed to consume planets to sustain himself. He is typically accompanied by a herald, the most famous being The Silver Surfer.
While originating in a Fantastic Four storyline, due to the nature of Galactus threatening the entire planet he is often seen as a being who unites the entire world of heroes. The Galactus trilogy in the Ultimate Comics united the Avengers, Spider-Man, X-Men, and Fantastic Four and the arrival of Galactus was treated as the big climactic moment of both the acclaimed graphic novel Marvels and the alternate timeline limited series Bullet Points. Galactus is a threat that would unite the various desperate corners of the MCU and a threat that massive would require the return of The Avengers.
