Cocky sport fans fresh from celebrating a victory over their teams opposition often take great joy in saying; “You can only beat who is in put in front of you.”
This might be true, but it is a fact that there is no better joy in life than destroying a competitor that is either on par or greater than yourself.
The same logic applies to movies.
Just take a moment to think about it; George McFly’s fight with Biff Tannen would have felt slightly less heroic if the brutish ruffian hadn’t been so cretinous in ‘Back To The Future’. I’m not saying that protagonists that go through films practically unopposed don’t have their charm too, but there’s just something relatable and heroic about seeing a character at their lowest, battered and near-destroyed in a corner with nowhere else to go, rising up to take down the stronger threat.
Why no love for these guys?
Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (which includes Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk and Captain America) have yet to put one of their bevy of hugely popular titular leads through this rigmarole, even though the likes of Doc Ock, the Green Goblin and Magneto have proved that villains can excel in the genre.
“But we have Loki,” I hear you shout. Yes, Hiddleston‘s turn as the petulant little turd we call Loki is the one exception that proves the rule, but even he has taken three movies to evolve into one of the most beloved stars the studio has to offer.
In 2011’s ‘Thor’ Hiddleston dazzled as he brought a touch of Shakespearean to the character while still managing to be both witty and menacing too. But it wasn’t until his turn in ‘The Avengers’ that fans truly became enamoured with Hiddleston’s interpretation, even though, let’s face it, he was hardly needed for the final act. Because of Marvel’s backing, a growth was soon etched across his entire portrayal and this was only cemented during his scene-stealing turn in ‘Thor: The Dark World’ last November, which secured his place in the hearts of Marvel fans everywhere.
We all love this guy!
To Marvel’s credit they do know a good thing when they see it, as the Asgard sequel was required to reshoot in order for the film to include more Loki once they heard from Marvel fans just how important the character had come to the franchise. But Marvel can’t rely on Loki forever, and his treachery will probably only be seen again in the third ‘Thor’ film.
But why have Marvel been unable to create any other legendary cinematic foes that are just as interesting and memorable as the God of Mischief?
Jeff Bridges, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell and Guy Pearce (Ben Kingsley‘s deliciously deceptive turn as the Mandarin can hardly be regarded as a villain) are all highly accredited actors who have fought Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark/Iron Man, but even their threat levels lacked either that spark of creativity, the history or the personality to threaten taking the metaphorical spotlight from RDJ.
Of course, it would be harsh to judge Marvel’s villainous inadequacies on just the ‘Iron Man’ films. Tony Stark is an amusing, charismatic and riveting character, and he has only been elevated by the injection of Robert Downey Jr perfect portrayal.
Chris Evans though plays a moral, strong, impossibly perfect superhero (personally I find him too goody-goody) in the shape of Steve Rogers’ Captain America, who can actually be a tad dull.
This meant that whoever played Johann Schmidt/Red Skull, a Nazi whose plans for world domination through Hydra, in ‘Captain America: The First Avenger,’ should have been a perfect opposite to Good Ol’ Cap that audiences should have been praying for his return when each of his scenes concluded.
Unfortunately, Marvel’s plan to cast Hugo Weaving as Red Skull, while originally a great idea because of his villainous role in ‘The Matrix,’ eventually backfired for this same very reason. Weaving’s portrayal only evoked memories of Agent Smith, and Red Skull never managed to flourish into its own original character, while the Weaving has since admitted he wasn’t too bothered with the part too.
Poorly written in Captain America: The First Avenger
Marvel are also hugely to blame for the these shortcomings too, because each of their foes basically follow the same timeline in every single one of their movies. They turn up every once in a while be it from an experiment gone wrong or the hero upsetting them, cause a bit of mayhem. Before they are then predictably dispatched by the hero being clobbered to a pulp. Little room has been left in the films for character growth, while glorious actors like Tim Roth in ‘The Incredible Hulk’ and Christopher Eccleston in ‘Thor: The Dark World’ have been dogged down or made unrecognisable because of CGI and prosthetics respectively.
Marvel have instead focused their attention on forging their heroes together in the same cinematic universe, and because of this their enemies have simply become convoluted in a cinematic mess, which has made it almost predictable film to film.
But as they move on to the third phase of their cinematic universe there are some signs that Marvel are beginning to learn from the error of their ways.
‘Guardians of the Galaxy’s’ Benicio Del Toro is the latest lauded actor to have been set the task of stealing a film away from an already beloved ensemble, a feat he has proved quite adept at in the past, and both ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ and ‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’ are set to put their villains front and centre, as their titles already name check their antagonists. Meanwhile, the truly despicable Thanos, whose presence was first teased in 2012’s ‘The Avengers,’ is finally set to become more and more prominent over the next few Marvel adventures too.
This is the guy to watch out for!
But what’s most appealing for film fans is the fact that Marvel have still produced insanely entertaining movies with practically zero prominent villains in tow. Just imagine how good they will be once they actually figure out how to squeeze them in properly. A good hero movie should in my opinion have a percentage of the audience rooting for the bad guy because through the film he has become that likeable.
Do you think Marvel’s movie villains are a bit turgid? Let me know.
Such an awesome suit!
DeKnight passes on the torch!
Will we be seeing Elektra!
The Hulk!
Will we be saying goodbye to Chris?
Hero Nut 