Marvel Comics has done a fantastic job with their supervillains over the years. The House of Idea rose to the top of the comic industry because of the way they changed what a superhero could be and they ended up doing the same with their villains. Marvel was always willing to push the envelope when it came to their characters and their villains are a perfect example of that. Even villains that seem simple, like Sabretooth or even Carnage, have hidden depths to them and the best of them are some of the most complex characters in comics. This has led to amazing stories.
There are numerous Marvel villains out there who fans look at one way, but the really well-read ones know there is more to them than meets the eye. They may seem one way, but the more you look into them, the more complex they end up seeming. This has led to some of them becoming quite misunderstood, with these five Marvel villains muddying the waters of what people think about them all the time.
5) Flag-Smasher
The current Flag-Smasher is the Hydra-raised version of Steve Rogers, a character who is honestly pretty easy to understand. However, the original Flag-Smasher, Karl Morgenthau, is a much more complex version of the villain and has been rather misunderstood. A big reason for that is because he’s a Captain America villain. Most of the time, Captain America villains are evil fascists who want to destroy everything and rebuild it in their terrible image. However, Karl is actually the opposite of a fascist; he’s an anarchist. He doesn’t hate the United States in particular, he hates all governments. He believes that they are more trouble than they are worth and will take any opportunity to attack them. The really interesting thing is that you could make Karl into a hero rather easily, having him focus more on helping the citizens of the world than trying to just destroy governments. The concept of the original Flag-Smasher is one with more depth than it seems.
4) Galactus
Galactus is one of Marvel’s most powerful cosmic beings. Galan of Taa witnessed the end of the last universe and was bathed in the energies of creation. He was transformed into Galactus, wielder of the Power Cosmic, and he played an important role in the universe, traveling the stars and eating planets. The World Devourer is often looked at as evil, but this isn’t at all true. For the most part, he doesn’t target planets because he hates the people who live there (except Earth; we beat him too many times for him to not hold a grudge). He’s not spreading destruction because he enjoys it. He’s just a massive cosmic predator and it just so happens that his food is very different from everyone else’s. He’s helped save the universe several times, battling Thanos in Infinity Gauntlet and the Magus in Infinity War. He will fight for the fate of the universe; sure, he’s doing it because he doesn’t want to lose his food source destroyed, but he still cares about the fate of creation in a way that many wouldn’t ever imagine.
3) Nimrod
The Krakoa Era redefined the X-Men and their villains, including the Sentinel Nimrod. Nimrod units are the most powerful Sentinels of them all, created as the ultimate weapon against mutantkind. Usually, a Nimrod would come from the future and attack the team; the first one ended up bonding with the Master Mold and going through the Siege Perilous, becoming Bastion. The latest Nimrod was created using the mind of Erasmus Mendel, a member of the Orchis Initiative, leading the war against Krakoa. One of the most interesting things about all Sentinels is that they really aren’t evil, per say. Sure, they’re weapons of a racist status quo, but we’ve seen the X-Men use reprogrammed ones. While Nimrods are definitely more complex than other Sentinels, they’re still just machines programmed to target mutants. They don’t hate mutants, not really; they’re tool built for a certain job and they do that job. It’s sort of the like the current arguments about AI; Nimrod isn’t good or evil, it’s all about how he’s used.
2) Apocalypse
Apocalypse is seemingly a simple character – he’s a Darwinist obsessed with the strong surviving. In his mind, the weak don’t deserve to live. This simplicity has made him into the X-Men’s Thanos, but it wouldn’t serve him well in the Krakoa Era. His origin was retconned and it changed the way fans looked at the character forever. At some point in the past after his defeat of Rama-Tut, En Sabah Nur found the mutant continent of Okkara. He met Genesis and the two of them bonded over their beliefs, eventually marrying and becoming leaders of the continent. When the demonic hordes of Amenth attacked, Okkara was sundered into Krakoa and Arakko, with Genesis and most of the mutants going to Arakko and riding it into Otherworld to battle the demons. She made Apocalypse promise to create an army strong enough to beat the demons if they ever returned. Basically, he’s spent the entire time since trying to build a world strong enough to survive invasion. Apocalypse has been somewhat altruistic this entire time and this completely changes the character in some fundamental ways.
1) Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom is Marvel’s most storied villains, growing and changing over the years. We’ve seen Victor Von Doom become more noble in many ways, helping to save the universe on more than one occasion. Doom is an interesting character, because there’s a part of him that loves his people and wants to do the best for them. This part has been in ascendance over the last few years, changing the way everyone looks at him. However, this view of the villain completely ignores that he is actually a terrible person. Doom doesn’t care about anything but himself; even his noble actions as a leader are only done so people will look up to him. He protects his people because it’s his job and it makes him look good. Just look at what he did in One World Under Doom, using the people of Latveria to fuel his magic while giving the world everything they could want. That’s the real Doom and it’s one that many fans of the villain don’t always want to see (I’ve been guilty of this many times). There are good parts of Victor Von Doom, but he constantly chooses to be a monster.