No matter how tough The Avengers and other Marvel superhero teams may be, sometimes the villains are far more powerful, and beloved by the audience, than the heroes. Thor may be able to summon lightning bolts, but he can’t eat an entire planet like Galactus can. The best superheroes are only as good as their collection of villains, and luckily the Marvel Universe is full of interesting foes ready to challenge the world’s heroes in complex ways.
After ingesting numerous movies and thousands of comics starring Marvel’s most dastardly villains, comic book fans all around the world have created hilarious memes poking fun at the characters. Whether a villain wants to destroy the world or just wants to avenge the death of his father, there’s always something there for nit-picky fans to make fun of.
With Avengers: Infinity War’s release inching closer every day, it seems like a great time to look over Marvel’s stable of villains and see what’s worth mocking about them. Be careful, though, if these Marvel villains know that they are being made fun of, they may turn their attention to whoever is laughing at them.
Crack a smile and check out these 15 Wicked Marvel Villain Memes!
Relatable Ultron
The titular villain in Avengers: Age of Ultron quickly decides to turn on humanity. While the comic book version of the character is created by Hany Pym, he was created by Tony Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After numerous failed attempts at creating a new artificial intelligence, Stark leaves his lab and joins the Avengers at a party.
Unbeknownst to him, the program works while he’s at the party and Ultron is born. Ultron quickly overpowers Jarvis and taps into the internet to learn as much as he can about the world. Instead of recognizing the progress the world has made since the dark ages, Ultron focuses on the negative sides of humanity.
Clearly, Ultron isn’t a fan of second chances because he would rather destroy countless humans than let them mature.
Low-key Loki
Even though Thor is the star of three movies, it’s his brother, the villainous Loki, who has become the fan-favorite character. Thor is constantly stressed out and worried about the status of Asgard and the other nine realms. Loki, by comparison, is relatively chill and only cares about himself. Audiences learned in The Avengers that Loki’s for power helps turn Thanos attention toward the Earth, but Loki didn’t really care because he was getting something out of the deal.
Manipulative plots aside, Loki is a pretty low-key guy. In Thor: Ragnarok, he immediately blends in with the Grandmaster’s friends and enjoys the festive atmosphere. Even if the rest of the world is falling apart, Loki will always be sly and do what’s best for himself, like the chiller he is.
Winter Soldier’s Mascara
Captain America: The Winter Soldier sees Cap running around the world trying to stop a global conspiracy. His former partner, whom he believed had been dead for seventy years, is actually alive as the brain-washed assassin known as the Winter Soldier. A skilled fighter and expert marksman, the Winter Soldier is the perfect physical and emotional foe to throw against Captain America.
While the villain is tough and threatening, his appearance is a little silly. Instead of wearing a domino mask or something to block his face, the Winter Soldier has a thick layer of makeup applied around both of his eyes. This is an extremely relatable meme for any Marvel fan who has attempted to follow a step-by-step tutorial for a smokey eye only to find it suddenly and completely smudged.
What’s wrong with Magneto
He may be a villain, but Magneto is partially motivated by good intentions. Tired of watching his people be subjugated to mockery and torture after the trauma he experienced during the Holocaust, he takes matters into his own hands and tries to start a mutant-led revolution. Alongside his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Magneto strikes at the X-Men and threatens humans as they try to make the world a better place for mutants.
Underneath his rough exterior, Magento just wants to be loved. In X-Men: Apocalypse, he is shown with a wife and child and living a happy life in secret. When he acts like a normal person and not a sociopath, people like him, but the second he snaps and turns toward his evil, revolutionary side, people get turned off by the master of magnetism.
Elves vs Villains
IMDB may be packed full of thousands of performers, but Hollywood is a pretty small circle. Once an actor or actress is able to land one big role, it becomes exponentially easier for them to receive more work.
As far as movies go, it’s hard to get bigger than the Lord of the Rings and the various films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While there are only six LOTR movies, there are more than 20 Marvel films, and it only makes sense that a few actors would appear in both universes.
Three performers in particular all played Eves in Tolkien’s world before signing on to play villains in the MCU. Twisting Harvey Dent’s classic line from The Dark Knight, all these Elves lived long enough to see themselves become a villain.
Red Skull attacks the Death Star
Captain America: The First Avenger came out a full year before Disney announced their plans to purchase LucasFilm, but that didn’t stop fans from creating Star Wars themed memes. Red Skull, Captain America’s oldest and most iconic foe, spends most of the film hunting down a rare gem, something that turns out to be an Infinity Stone, for HYDRA.
While Red Skull is a leader within the organization, he also takes orders from others. In effect, Red Skull is constantly standing by for orders and is willing to do anything to get the job done. Whereas the rebels on Red Team in Star Wars are fighting a fascist force that rules over the universe, Red Skull and Hydra are trying to set up a fascist regime that controls the Earth.
Killmonger’s On Fire
As far as Marvel movie villains go, Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger is one of the easiest to empathize with. In Black Panther, Killmonger has an extremely personal reason to challenge King T’Challa for the throne and it’s very easy to understand why he acts the way he does. He states that all the hard work and killing he did throughout his life was done in order to prepare him to challenge Wakanda. While the character ultimately fails, he is able to change T’Challa’s mind about the importance of looking outside of Wakanda.
It’s too bad that the one time Jordan lands in a successful Marvel movie his character is killed off. In the critically panned non-MCU Marvel movie Fantastic Four, Jordan’s character survives, but it’s unlikely he wants to return to that franchise anytime soon.
Kingpin’s Secret Past
Before joining the Marvel Universe as Kingpin in Netflix’s Daredevil series, Vincent D’Onofrio had a long career in Hollywood. In addition to playing key roles in Law and Order and Full Metal Jacket, D’Onofrio appeared in the movie The Adventures of Babysitting. When the movie came out back in 1987, D’Onofrio had long, blond hair and was much more ripped than he is now.
In Adventures in Babysitting, he played the villainous Dawson, who has no problem throwing his weight around to intimidate younger kids. At one point, he even picks up a hammer to scare some children and bears a striking resemblance with the God of Thunder.
D’Onofrio may have lost some of his hair as he grew up, but his career in Hollywood is still thriving and his stint as Wilson Fisk is one of the strongest performances in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Loki’s Got Both
Knowledge can be just as important as raw power when dealing with threatening foes. As the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury has access to top-secret information that allows him to constantly stay one-step ahead of the world’s supervillains and plan out ways to defeat them. Similarly, Odin has access to oracles and other sources of information that allow him to constantly make just decisions as he rules over Asgard as King.
Those things may be important, but they are both lacking something: an eye. Loki, by comparison, has both eyes and is an incredibly manipulative person who has no problem playing long-games to achieve his goals.
At the end of Thor: The Dark World, Odin doesn’t even see it coming when Loki tricks him and assumes his identity to rule as King of Asgard.
World’s Worst Dad
When Thanos was first introduced at the end of The Avengers, he seemed like a larger-than-life character who would have no problem taking the Avengers down. While he has made a few appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since then, audiences won’t see his full power on display until Infinity War comes out in April.
Everyone on the Avengers will see him as nothing more than a Mad Titan hellbent on taking over the universe, but Gamora and Nebula both have a more personal outlook on the galactic baddie.
While they aren’t directly blood-related, Nebula and Gamora were both raised under Thanos’ supervision. Since an extremely young age, they were taught how to fight and manipulated into competing with one another for Thanos’ approval.
Kilgrave will put a smile on your face
Modern dating is a grind and it can be hard to connect with someone. At the end of a long day, there’s nothing better than coming home to someone who just naturally can make you smile, even if you’re in a terrible, foul mood.
The main foe in Jessica Jones is Kilgrave, a terrifying man who can force people to do things just by saying them. Played by David Tennant, Kilgrave delights in controlling and abusing the heroic Jessica Jones. Throughout the show, audiences see him forcing people to torture themselves and even commit crimes against their will.
A recurring line in season 1 of Jessica Jones is Kilgrave ordering Jessica to “Smile,” which she must do, regardless of how unhappy or angry she feels. This meme is a decidedly dark twist on a generically sweet sentiment.
Zemo Did It Better
As a unit, the Avengers are an extremely formidable team. With juggernauts like the Hulk alongside energy manipulators like the Scarlet Witch, it’s hard to take down the Avengers directly. The best way to do that is to tear the team apart from the inside and make them mistrust each other.
Age of Ultron saw the rest of the Avengers grow angry toward Tony Stark for keeping his experiments a secret. Ultron tried to take advantage of their anger for his benefit, with an assist from Scarlet Witch’s mind manipulation.
In Captain America: Civil War, Zemo is more successful at tearing the team apart. After Zemo frames Bucky Barnes for an attack on the UN, Captain American and Iron Man divide the team along ideological lines and start battling each other. As things currently stand, The Avengers are no longer a full team, meaning they will have to reunite when Thanos attacks Earth in Infinity War.
Awkward Aging
One of the biggest complaints about the X-Men movies is the convoluted timeline. While a lot of the events of the original series have been rebooted as a result of X-Men: Days of Future Past, when First Class was first released it was supposed to fit into the original timeline. Both Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen are great choices for the aster of magnetism, but it’s hard to fit them into the same universe.
The first X-Men was set in 2000, with flashbacks to the holocaust featuring Magneto as a young boy. That part of the timeline kind of syncs up with Fassbender’s age in First Class, but as the movies progress it’s clear Magneto isn’t aging enough. He’s supposed to have control over metal, not altered aging!
Candy Crush or Bust
Ronan, the bad guy in Guardians of the Galaxy, is chasing a powerful orb throughout the movie. It turns out the orb is one of the Infinity Stones and he was originally sent after it by Thanos. When the Guardians and Nova Corps get in his way, things become a bit more difficult than he originally expected. Near the end of the movie, he’s shamed in a surprise dance-off with Peter Quill.
With all that humiliation and struggle, it makes sense Ronan would reconsider the mission. He’s a simple man, and to continue chasing the orb he just wants to play a game of candy crush with the boss.
In reality, this is just actor Lee Pace taking a quick break on set in-between shots.
Underwhelming Thanos
Who hasn’t experienced the disappointment of ordering something that looked amazing online, only to finally receive it in the mail and be completely underwhelmed?
Thanos’ grand debut in Avengers: Infinity War has been years in the making. There was that unforgettable post-credits tease after The Avengers, where we got the first glimpse of a fierce, purple, helmet-wearing Thanos, who growled that he’d round up the Infinity Stones himself.
Cut to 2018, when the Avengers: Infinity War trailer revealed a Thanos… who looks decidedly more pink than we remembered. He also weirdly resembles a confused, CGI monster version of The Avengers director Joss Whedon. This is not the Thanos that fans “ordered online” and waited for years to arrive!
What do you guys think of these wicked Marvel villain memes? Sound off in the comment section with some of your favorites!
