Foreword/Dislcaimer Thing:
I actually wrote this article in december, not this exact one, but you get the idea. I didn't post it because it went nowhere and I couldn't make it any differant from any other list, so there's that. When I say "Underrated" what I really mean is "Under Recognized," these guys are quality villains and rarely brought up unless the list is overly specific, like "Top 20 Villains of Asian Decent who Appeared in 2013." These guys aren't the best, but they are often forgotten or ignored, when I feel they shouldn't be.
The Under Dogs
Jared Nomak
"Who? Who is this guy and why is he on any CBM villain list? I Am Legend wasn't even that good, much less the Alpha male."
Blade II is one of my favorite CBMs, alot of the concepts were reused from Blade 1, and many were invented for the film by Guillermo Del Toro. The Reapers are no exception, they are a terrifying new breed of Vampire and they were terrifying. Del Toro is great with monsters, and the Reapers are often forgot about in his monster movie catalouge. Jared is super strong, super fast, and his mouth is utterly horrifying. His story is the of a standard frankstein monster, and his final confrontation with his creator is what really sold me on his character. Plus he is just so much cooler than the standard vampire. Except Deacon Frost.
The Yashidas
The Wolverine was the Dark Horse CBM of 2013, out of the four major ones we got in 2013, the Wolverine was the best. (Before anyone chimes in with Man of Steel or Iron Man 3, be reasonable.) I love the Wolverine, it was something fresh and new, it was smaller, more focused and that allowed for some interesting characters. The most overt villain was Yashida, but he didn't want to conquer the world or destroy a country. He wanted to give what he thought was a gift to our hero, and he wanted to protect his grand daughter and insure she could use his resources to create a better world. While he did go full comic book villain at the end, I feel his character was extremely sympathetic. No one wants to die, this is a man who wants to survive, a man who arguably would have done more good for the world than Logan (sans Time Travel). Plus that robot was just cool.
I am also including Shingen Yashida, he is a much more human villain. For one, he never entered a giant robot suit. Shingen seems like the 2 Dimensional A Hole in movies like the Titanic. While he certainly was an A Hole, I feel like there was more to him and I wish that could have been explored. He is only on the list to be tacked on to Yashida, solely because of the amazing fight scene with Logan and Yukio while Logan ripped his own heart (parasite) out.
Abomination
"I know there is an Obama joke in here, but to be honest I am not sure where. "
Emil Blonsky is criminally underrated, even as the MCU goes. Appaerantly no one like the Incredible Hulk. I love the Incredible Hulk, it's still one of my favorite MCU movies. It also gave us one of the coolest characters in the MCU. Blonsky was Captain America before the First Avenger. He soloed the Hulk before even hulking up himself. I mean he was destroyed, but for a while he was doing it. A human man was fighting the Hulk. The Hulk who has taken down entire space eels with a single punch. Blonsky not only was able to challenge him, but he also surived a direction hit from the Hulk. When he becomes the Abomination, Blonsky skill makes it all the more intense. It's one of the few perfection examples of villain set up and pay off in the MCU.
Sentinels
"And Jesus WEPT, for the were no more worlds to CONQUER."
I get it, Joker has the master plans, he won the battle for Gotham's soul, Thanos has a cool voice and makes threats, Doc Ock made a sun in the city, these villains do some pretty impressive stuff. How many are truly physically imposing though? All of them, actually, but never the less, none beat the might of the Sentinels! Seriously, people mocked these things before DOFP's release, and it's true they aren't comic accurate, but HO-LEE-SHpoop. The whole point of Days of Future Past was that the Sentinels couldn't be beat. The Mark X Sentinels were never defeated by the heroes, has that ever happened in a CBM before? Has the villain ever been allowed to brutally murder every hero we have grown to love? In the opening scene, they crushed Ice Man's head into ice cubes! Bobby Drake who we have seen since he was a wee lad at Xavier's and they killed him in the opening act and he came back to ultimately die again. Jinx? Dead. Colossus? Dead. Magneto? Dead. Knife Guy? Dead. They all died. The Sentinels won, they took over the whole freaking world. The time stream had to be re-written to beat them. Truly Terrifying.
Zod
"I hope Eminem plays Jimmy Olsen."
I may not see any trash talking about Michael Shannon's Zod, but I don't hear very much praise. After Man of Steel's release, alot of people where somehow dissapointed and claimed he didn't live up to Stamp's rendition. I never understood. Shannon is one of my favorite actors as it stands. He is so inherently menacing, he seems like he could be a legitimate mob killer who is hiding as an actor. 90% of the reason I rewatch Man of Steel from time to time is because of Zod, his pure rage and condesencion in every word is breathtaking. He's a mad dog. Looking at his face you see a mixture of scheming, hatred, contempt and more hatred. He's like you step dad that you want to earn the respect of, but he is so relentless you just try to fight him and then he kicks your ass. Most of the time when a character is unhappy, he is just a standard foe, but Shannon brought more to him. He was hate and rage with reason, Earth was his manifest destiny and it was stolen from him. If Brainiac shows up, I hope he is built off Zod's DNA, so Shannon can once again play a super villain.