The MCU has been dipping its toes into darker waters recently. Moon Knight gave us fractured minds, Doctor Unusual and the Multiverse of Insanity flirted with horror, Werewolf by Evening went monster-mode, and Agatha All Alongside introduced witches and darkish magic into the highlight. However even with all that, it’s enjoying secure in comparison with the comics.
Marvel Comics has dived into nightmare territory for many years, creating villains which are strolling freaks and horror reveals. Within the comics, they infect heroes, flame them, possess them, and hole them out. Some flip whole cities into their playgrounds, whereas others break minds and go away scars no Infinity Stone can repair.
Whereas the MCU is cautiously inching in direction of horror, it nonetheless loves a superb redemption arc or a backstory that justifies their villains’ actions. These Marvel Comics villains don’t care about being understood. They’re right here to interrupt our bodies, minds, and actuality itself. Clearly, there may be a complete vault of comedian guide villains the MCU hasn’t dared to open.
Listed here are 10 Marvel Comics villains which are simply too terrifying for the MCU.
10
Carrion
Spectacular Spider-Man #25 (1978)
Carrion is principally what occurs when the science of cloning goes full Frankenstein. Initially launched in Spectacular Spider-Man #25, Carrion is a decayed clone of Professor Miles Warren, aka the Jackal. However this isn’t only a failed science experiment. It’s a strolling plague with a vendetta. Over time, Carrion’s id has shifted throughout a number of incarnations, and he’s appeared as William Allen, Malcolm McBride, and extra.
The Carrion Virus turns folks into rotting, telepathic monsters and their contact alone can cut back matter to ash. That’s Carrion’s energy. Levitation, short-range teleportation, and a purple mud weapon that may kill on contact. The rationale he’s too terrifying for the MCU is that his existence is disturbing. He spreads a virus that may wipe out humanity. The MCU had Thanos, however his actions have been all the time reversible. The post-COVID world is simply not prepared for this sort of rot.
9
The Brood
Uncanny X-Males #155 (1982)
Marvel Comics’ reply to our worst sci-fi nightmares first appeared in Uncanny X-Males #155. A parasitic alien race that reproduces by injecting eggs into dwelling hosts, they’re insectoid, armored, and intensely clever. As soon as the egg hatches, the host mutates right into a Brood drone and retains all their reminiscences, however turns into a part of the Brood’s hive thoughts and sadistic streak.
The Brood are very evil in that they’ve gone toe-to-toe with the X-Males and even managed to contaminate Wolverine and Storm. In Ghost Rider #26–27 and X-Males #9, one Brood infects the Spirit of Vengeance. That’s proper, they turned Ghost Rider into Brood. They’ve invaded Earth, manipulated heroes, and turned whole groups into monsters. The MCU is but to introduce heroes highly effective sufficient to struggle them into the canon, so that they’re not preferrred for its lighter tone.
8
Skinless Man
Uncanny X-Drive #21 (2012)
Harry Pizer, aka Skinless Man, was as soon as a British barrister with a mutant reward that made his pores and skin elastic and multi-sensory. It might stretch, learn paperwork by contact, and act as sentient tendrils. First totally showing in Uncanny X-Drive #21, he’s recruited into the Weapon Plus program as Weapon III and changed into a Chilly Warfare murderer, the place he kills hundreds of Soviets along with his grotesque powers.
At one level, Skinless Man goes sideways by making an attempt to steal the Orb of Necromancy within the Otherworld. Captain Britain Corps punishes him by flaying him alive and he survives, finally educating his uncooked muscle to do what his pores and skin used to. In Uncanny X-Drive #34, he rips Fantomex’s coronary heart out and wears his stolen pores and skin like a trophy. That’s not all: He murders his ex-wife and her husband, helps kidnap Evan Sabahnur, and manipulates flesh. Actually. The MCU has not solely began dipping its toes into the R-rated and horror territory, and it’s not even near even touching this man but.
7
Arcade
Marvel Group-Up #65 (1978)
Arcade is Marvel’s twisted model of the Jigsaw Killer. Exhibiting up in Marvel Group-Up #65, he’s an murderer who performs with the sufferer. His signature creation, Murderworld, is a carnival-themed loss of life maze rigged with holograms, killer robots, and traps tailor-made to every sufferer’s fears. He’s gone after Spider-Man, Captain Britain, the X-Males, and even Deadpool.
However the true horror got here when Arcade kidnapped 16 teenage heroes and compelled them right into a Starvation Video games-style massacre. This arc turned him right into a full-blown sadist with a god complicated in Marvel Comics. In Avengers Enviornment, he watches youngsters like X-23, Nico Minoru, and Hazmat homicide one another whereas sipping cocktails. The MCU is just too sanitized for this sort of twisted psychological conflict.
6
Demogoblin
Spectacular Spider-Man #147 (1988)
If the title Demogoblin doesn’t instantly ship a chill down your backbone, then you definately haven’t learn sufficient Marvel Comics. This one begins as a Hobgoblin, although. Principally, Jason Macendale seeks extra energy, so he sells his soul to the demon N’astirh. N’astirh doesn’t settle for his proposal and as an alternative lets a demon possess Macendale. The result’s a fusion that splits off into Demogoblin.
The man’s much less a goblin and extra a self-righteous monster who believes he’s purging sinners. Everybody besides kids is truthful recreation. He flies on a flaming glider and throws pumpkin bombs that induce despair. He has teamed up with the Most Carnage crew, however even they can’t match his freak. Total, he’s too darkish and apocalyptic for the MCU.
5
Madcap
Captain America #307 (1985)
Madcap was as soon as a devoutly non secular man till a chemical truck crashed his whole household and church group, leaving him with a therapeutic issue and a damaged thoughts. The compound, X07, offers him the power to regenerate from something and drive folks insane with eye contact. Which makes him evil, not within the conventional sense, however in a nihilistic approach. He believes life is meaningless and needs everybody to really feel the identical.
Madcap is just too wild, unpredictable, and terrifying for the MCU as a result of he breaks peoples’ minds. In Deadpool #20, he impersonates Wade, ruins his fame, and makes use of a Chitauri disintegrator to blow himself up only for giggles. He as soon as satisfied a bunch of youngsters to affix him on “adventures” that almost killed them and drove others on the verge of taking their very own lives.
4
Styx
The Wonderful Spider-Man #309 (1988)
To not be confused with the rock band, Styx first appeared in The Wonderful Spider-Man #309 as Jacob Eishorn, a homeless man who was approached by Herald Stone to take part in experiments for brand spanking new prescribed drugs in trade for a superb sum of money. One of many scientists, nevertheless, makes use of him to check a cancer-related concept. Eishorn develops an immunity in direction of the illness, however turns right into a dwelling most cancers himself. His contact rots something natural and he will get a sick thrill from it.
This one is part of the duo Styx & Stone, with Stone being the brains and Styx the enforcer. There’s additionally one other Styx. Certainly one of Legion’s rogue personalities from X-Males: Legacy #250, he’s a parasite who absorbs souls and our bodies. He controls armies, creates illusions, and leaves our bodies aware however enslaved. The MCU’s heroes are constructed on hope and redemption and Styx is predicated on rot and soul-sapping.
3
Mr. Smile
Physician Unusual #5 (2020)
After villains just like the Joker, you already know what to anticipate from a rogue referred to as Mr. Smile. A demon with a face filled with jagged enamel, Mr. Smile and his gloomy accomplice, Mr. Sulk, infiltrate the Furnaces of Nidavellir and construct the Mallet of Entropy, which is a weapon used to destabilize atomic construction. Some form of engineer, he even escapes the Dungeon Dimension and begins turning Manhattan civilians into slaves to feed off their struggling.
Mr. Smile has a twisted humorousness and 0 empathy, and the MCU merely can’t deal with his model of horror. At one level, their possession recreation is so robust that Hunter’s Moon has to exorcise them again to the Dungeon Dimension. The MCU’s villains normally have a tragic backstory or a redemption arc, however Mr. Smile has neither. He’s pure evil who laughs because the world burns.
2
Freak
Wonderful Spider-Man #546 (2008)
With regards to Marvel Comics’ most horrifying and unsettling villains, Freak stands out as a real nightmare. He’s a junkie who stumbles into Curt Connors’ lab and injects himself with animal stem cells, pondering it’s meth. From there, his transformation begins. He kinds a chrysalis, emerges as a skinless monster, dies, mutates once more, and comes again stronger.
Every loss of life makes Freak stronger and he finally turns into an armadillo-like creature with bulletproof pores and skin and fireproof armor. He’s unimaginable to kill and he’s all the time chasing a excessive, even when it means tearing by meth labs and killing his personal buddies. He’s a strolling metaphor for dependancy and that’s why he’s an excessive amount of for the MCU. It’s the sort of ugly survival story MCU shouldn’t be constructed for.
1
The Thousand
Spider-Man’s Tangled Internet #1–3 (2001)
Carl King, aka The Thousand, is likely one of the creepiest Spider-Man villains ever, and most of the people don’t even know he exists. Debuting in Spider-Man’s Tangled Internet #1–3, he’s a faculty bully who sees Peter Parker get bitten by the radioactive spider. Jealous, he eats the spider too. What he will get is worse as a result of his physique breaks down right into a hive of a thousand spiders that may devour folks from the within and put on their pores and skin like a swimsuit. He devours his mother and father, his girlfriend, and a dozen others to develop stronger.
The Thousand stalks Peter for years, ready for the right second to take over his physique. The man is clearly too disturbing for the MCU as a result of one time, he ties Peter up, poisons him, and prepares to costume himself in his pores and skin. He doesn’t even set off Spider-Man’s spidey-sense, and even when Peter defeats him, one spider escapes, hinting that Carl might come again.
Spider-Man: Model New Day
- Launch Date
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July 31, 2026
- Director
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Destin Daniel Cretton
- Prequel(s)
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Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Residence, Spider-Man: No Approach Residence
- Franchise(s)
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Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man