The MCU is a once in a lifetime pop culture juggernaut. While comics fans always knew that the Marvel Universe was a special world full of amazing stories, casual audiences soon got their own taste of that Marvel goodness and loved it. The movies captured the imaginations of viewers like nothing else has in years.
The powerful heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe struck a chord with the public, carrying the movies and giving film new iconic characters. Not as well served are the villains; while some stand out, most are just there to make the plot work, but two stand head and shoulders about the rest: Thanos and Loki, each of them vying for the prize of the MCU's best villain.
10 Thanos Is The Best: Josh Brolin's Performance
Bringing Thanos to life came with a lot of expectations. For years, the MCU had been building him up and the mystique around the character was such that a single misstep would have soured fans immensely. Thanos had long been one of the greatest villains in comics and anything less on the big screen would have been a huge disappointment.
However, Josh Brolin knocked it out of park. He captured both Thanos's quiet intensity and powerful rage, making him into a truly frightening and compelling villain. What makes it all the more impressive is the CG nature of the performance, meaning Brolin had to work extra hard getting things across with his acting.
9 Loki Is The Best: Tom Hiddleston Redefined The Character
Thor and the other Norse gods have proven very hard to adapt for the MCU. They don't fit tonally with the more light hearted nature of the movies and there have been some growing pains. However, from just about the word go, Tom Hiddleston's Loki has been perfectly portrayed. The first Thor film captured a Loki that was closer to the comics but it was his subsequent appearances that really cemented the character's greatness.
Hiddleston captured the mischievousness of the character, playing up the chaotic yet charming nature of the trickster god. His portrayal of Loki would change how everyone saw the character and redefined Loki even in the comics. Hiddlston's Loki is one of the best versions ever and for good reason.
8 Thanos Is The Best: So Many Henchmen
Thanos is a massive threat on his own but in movies with as many heroes as Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, there's going to need to be more for the heroes to fight than just one big bad. That's where the Chitauri and the fearsome Black Order came into play. Serving as cannon fodder and mid-level bosses respectively, Thanos's henchmen actually made him seem more dangerous.
While sometimes a villain relying on henchmen can be a bad thing, the power and ferocity of Thanos's henchmen says a lot about who he is and how powerful he is— if beings like the Chitauri and the Black Order serve him, he must be a truly fearsome and powerful being.
7 Loki Is The Best: Mostly Solo
Besides having to use the Chitauri in The Avengers, Loki has done his own dirty work throughout his tenure the MCU and it's just one of the factors in how great a villain he can be. Loki's magic has always made him one of the most powerful villains and magic users around and MCU Loki proved that over and again by going it solo.
While a villain depending on lackeys isn't a bad thing, watching a villain's schemes live and die by their own powers and skills says a lot about who they are. Loki's actions proved that he was more than capable of bedeviling his foes without any help, using his powers to even get a victory over his foes for a time as ruler of Asgard.
6 Thanos Is The Best: Punched Out Some Of Marvel's Strongest Heroes
Thanos's first full scene in the MCU is probably one of the greatest villain introductions in ages. He walks in and punks out three of the heaviest hitters in the MCU, including completely laying the Hulk to waste, something that was surprising for audiences. The scene showed just how dangerous Thanos could be.
Thanos smacked around just about everyone he came across and while he got as good as he gave, the fact that he was so tough made him seem like a threat in a way few of the MCU's other villains were. His prowess and toughness made audiences believe he could win and that made things all the better.
5 Loki Is The Best: Fight Smarter, Not Harder
One of the most surprising things about Loki was just how good he was as a fighter. It was kind of unexpected, to be honest— as a trickster god with what seemed to be a bit of a cowardly streak, it was refreshing to see him mix it up physically. However, Loki left the fighting as a last resort, preferring to use his brains and his powers to beat his foes.
Loki had no problem using his fists with his foes but he preferred to use his noggin and out think his foes instead. While he was more than strong enough to beat most into submission, his schemes were more about being several moves ahead of his foes and winning that way than overpowering them physically.
4 Thanos Is The Best: The Build-Up
The creators of the MCU started laying the seeds for Thanos almost immediately, with their their introduction of things like the Tesseract in Captain America: The First Avenger and the Infinity Gauntlet in Odin's trophy room in Thor. He would make his first actual appearance in The Avengers, letting everyone know what was coming and it kept building from there.
By the time he stepped onto the scene in Avengers: Infinity War, fans were ready to see what the fuss was all about. If the build-up to Thanos hadn't been so good, it's doubtful that his first scene would have the impact it did. Without such an amazing build-up, Thanos wouldn't have had nearly the impact.
3 Loki Is The Best: He Carried The Villain Side Of The MCU For Years
The MCU doesn't have the greatest villains; this isn't exactly a controversial take. The movies spend so much time and energy fleshing out the heroes that often times the villains of the MCU are one dimensional stereotypes. Loki, though, was pretty much a fully realized character from the word go.
For most of the first three phases of the MCU, Loki was the only villain that stood out and the only one to survive as many movies as he did. He became an integral part of the whole thing and was pretty much the only good MCU villain until the Vulture, Killmonger, and Thanos came along.
2 Thanos Is The Best: He Won
The MCU is very formulaic, which is both good and bad. The movies used their three act structures in similar, almost cliché, ways. There were fights, quips, villains getting the advantage, and then the heroes winning. Thanos fit that very well, but here's the thing: He actually won. Thanos was able to come through, beat the heroes, and achieve his goals.
While he would lose his life— and a past version of him would return— his victory had massive repercussions for the entirety of the MCU, ones that are still being felt even after his ultimate defeat. The impact Thanos had just can't be denied.
1 Loki Is The Best: He Made Sense
Face facts, true believers: Thanos's motivation to get the Infinity Stones doesn't make much sense. While it was meant to be more realistic than the comics' version's love of Mistress Death (which is actually much better, since it's a metaphor for Thanos' nihilism), it's also simplistic and not something a being as intelligent as Thanos should have believed would work.
Loki, from the beginning made perfect sense— the trickster who wants power and to show just how great he is. His motivations felt realistic and humanized him, making him into a villain that fans could get behind for more reasons than just how cool he looked and how powerful he was.
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