Taika Waiti, director of
Thor: Raganarok is set to introduce the very first (Main) female villain of the
Marvel Cinematic Universe. In a recent interview, Waititi stated, "
Everyone’s aware of the need [for POC casting] and also the need for female characters. But female representation is something I feel is even still behind in the conversation about representation. It’s something that’s equally important to my mind. So it’s great having female heroes. This film has [Marvel’s] first female villain, and that’s exciting for me. I want to see more females onscreen and not just dudes. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s a lot of it in the world. We need more representation of all kinds. In all seriousness, from what I’ve seen—although it’s not like I’ve been around a lot of studios—they are aware of it, and they’re very conscious and vocal. I’ve heard people say, ‘We need to make them better.’"
Recently,
Iron Man 3 director Shane Black revealed that he initially wanted a female villain to be revealed as the puppet master behind "
The Mandarian" but the Marvel brass at the time didn't think a female villain would sell toys. It's reportedly that very misogynistic viewpoint that led to Kevin Feige maneuvering to wrestle control of Marvel Studios away from Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter. With Feige now calling the shots, recent casting announcements seemingly indicate that the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be a more open proponent of feminism, as well as diversity. With that development in mind, here are 7 female supervillain candidates for future MCU films.
7. Enchantress
Does it seem odd to anyone else that we'll have Skurge introduced in
Thor: Ragnarok but not Enchantress? However, with Karl Urban portraying the giant-axe wielding Asgardian in the
God of Thunder's third-solo feature, one has to think that Amora can't be too far behind. In her earliest appearance, she was sent by Odin to Midgard on a quest to destroy Thor's main love-interest, Jane Foster. With Natalie Portman confirmed to be absent from
Ragnarok (and the foreseeable future) and Thor gaining a new love interest in Tessa Thompson, it doesn't appear that the Thor/Jane romance will serve as the vehicle for the Enchantress' introduction.
Perhaps another one of Amora's powers will serve as the means for her introduction? She's nearly as well-versed in Asgardian magic as Tom Hiddleston's Loki but where the Prince of Mischief specializes in deception, Amora focuses on mind-control. Though
Hulk and
Thor are teaming up in
Ragnarok, should the overarching plot of the MCU ever call for the Green Goliath and the Odinson to become adversaries, Amora has gained control of the Hulk's mind on more than one occasion in the comics.
6. Death
Not necessarily a villain per se,
Mistress Death serves as inspiration for the Marvel universe's most disreputable villain,
Thanos. More of an abstract entity than actual character, Death has been operating in the background of Marvel Comics since 1973. Typically depicted as a slender and youthful humanoid woman or a robed skeleton, the misunderstood Thanos simply wants to prove his love for Death by destroying all life in the universe. No big deal. Hailing from the cosmic race known as the
Eternals, Thanos was unfortunate enough to be born with the
Deviant-recessive gene and was deformed and shunned growing up. The Eternals hate and fear the Deviant gene to such an extent that his own mother attempted to kill him upon looking at his face for the very first time.
Growing up shunned and despised, Thanos became fascinated with nihilism until meeting Mistress Death and promptly destroying his entire planet in order to garner her favor. Besides her association with the
Mad Titan, Death is also a prominent character in many of the storylines that feature the
Elders of the Universe. Having already met
The Collector (Benicio del Toro) and with
The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) set to be introduced in
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, do you think Marvel Studios will ever depict cosmic entities such as
Death,
Eternity and
The Living Tribunal?
5. Typhoid Mary
Sure,
Mary Walker would make a great villain for
Netflix's Daredevil, provided the show receives a third season. However, a third season appears to be in jeopardy as Marvel and Netflix are apparently waiting until after
The Defenders before revealing what their plans are for the Charlie Cox-led series. However, should Netflix go in a different direction after Defenders (there's rumors of
Marvel Knights being the focus)
Typhoid Mary would prove a worth addition to the MCU.
A skilled martial artist who possesses telekinesis and pyrokinesis, she's plagued
Matt Murdock for years. Oh, and in addition to her impressive abilities, she's also mentally unstable. Think of her as an insane version of Elizabeth Olsen's
Scarlet Witch (who we'll touch on shortly) who fights like Scarlett Johansson's
Black Widow. Like Wanda Maximoff, Mary Walker is a mutant but, her close association with Daredevil most likely means she's one of the rare Marvel characters that can be used by both Marvel Studios and 20th Century Fox.
4. Sin
As much as fans would like the
Red Skull to return, it doesn't look as if that's happening anytime soon. Teleported to one of the other Nine Realms at the end of
Captain America: The First Avenger, there's been no sign of the Red Skull in the 8 films since his disappearance. Combine that with the fact that Hugo Weaving hasn't been shy about stating that he didn't particularly enjoy playing the character and has no desire to reprise the role and it would appear that the Red Skull will be remaining on the shelf for quite some time. Does his absence open the door for his daughter,
Sinthea Shmidt?
Obsessed with super powers, it should come as no surprise that
Johann Schmidt experimented on his own daughter. Placed in a machine that aged her from a child to a full-grown woman, the Skull's procedure also gifted Sin with telepathy, telekinesis, intangibility and teleportation before
Captain America was eventually able to reverse the process. De-aged and placed in
S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, Sinthea was "reprogrammed" into believing she was a normal American girl and enjoyed a few peaceful decades until
Crossbones located her and reversed S.H.I.E.l.D.'s brainwashing. Whenever the Red Skulll goes missing, Sin usually surfaces to carry on his mission.
3. Moonstone
Who will be the main antagonist of the
Captain Marvel film? How about a villain who also has abilities derived from the
Kree and has a similar enough power-set that they've even impersonated Captain Marvel at various times? With
Spider-Man now in play and his Rogue's Gallery at Marvel's disposable, do you think the MCU is ambitious enough to tackle the
Dark Reign storyline one day? With
Norman Osborn somehow managing to attain permission from the President of the United States, he created his own team of
Dark Avengers with supervillains masquerading as superheroes. Osborn was able to dig up enough dirt on
Moonstone to blackmail her into impersonating Carol Danvers aka Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel.
A successful psychologist with criminal aspirations, Dr. Karla Sofen managed to acquire a Kree artifact, aptly named the Moonstone and instantly gained superhuman strength, flight and energy projection capabilities. However, unbeknownst to Karla, the Moonstone housed the soul of a Kree warrior who slowly influenced her to turn to heroism. She would go on to join Marvel's version of the
Suicide Squad, the
Thunderbolts and even serves as its leader for a few missions.
2. Black Cat
With a deal successfully brokered between Marvel and Sony for the use of
Spider-Man in the MCU, Kevin Feige and his team also get to use the wall-crawler's Rogue's Gallery. This is a huge development as any comic book fan will attest that outside of
Batman, Spider-Man has the best collection of supervillains in all of comics. A key member in that group is his sometimes ally/lover
Felicia Hardy aka the
Black Cat. Even with five live-action Spider-Man films and Felicity Jones' portrayal of Hardy in
Amazing Spider-Man 2, Sony somehow failed to get a live-action version of Black Cat on the big screen.
An expert burglar, Felicia Hardy would initially fall in love with Spider-Man (and only Spider-Man), having great disdain for Peter Parker. In an attempt to become his equal, she gained superhuman abilities thanks to the
Kingpin who allowed her to undergo the same experiment that gave the
Scorpion his superpowers. These abilities would later be augmented by
Doctor Strange before she inexplicably lost them completely (because comics) and turned to the
Tinkerer for technological replacements. Over the years her various financial hardships and jealously over Peter's relationship with
Mary Jane Watson have caused the Black Cat to routinely cross the line between hero and villain.
1. Scarlet Witch
House of M might be the best crossover event from Marvel Comics in the last 10+ years. In that storyline,
Scarlet Witch reveals just how powerful she is with the single whisper of '
No More Mutants.' Combined with her reality-altering powers, the Mutant population went from millions to just a few hundred and the entire Marvel timeline was reshaped to reflect a world where Mutants never existed. Of course, Mutants don't exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but it's not hard to imagine Wanda stating '
No More Avengers' instead of '
No More Mutants'.
That would certainly make for an interesting film, seeing a world where the Avengers never form and many of its heroes never gain their abilities. However, we're still quite a few tragedies away from Scarlet reaching the fragile mental state that triggered House of M. Though her brother already perished in
Avengers: Age of Ultron, it might take the death of a lover (Vision) or mentor (Hawkeye) to completely push her over the edge.
What do you think about Marvel incorporating more female villains? The male baddies (aside from Loki) certainly haven't enjoyed much success! If you have more suggestions or think the MCU should head in a different direction, let us know in the comment section below.