What is a superhero without a supervillain to stop? The Marvel Cinematic Universe is filled with heroes and even more bad guys. Since 2008’s Iron Man kicked off the shared cinematic universe, the franchise has featured a wide array of villains who target the heroes with straightforward or complex plans. Be they motivated by revenge, ego, wealth, a quest for more power, or even personal growth, the villains of the MCU often are dark mirrors of the heroes and also raise moral questions for the audience. The acts might be monstrous at times, but the audience at least can understand why a villain is choosing a specific course of action.
Yet there are some villains in the MCU that leave fans scratching their heads. Even if the broad outline of their plan makes sense, it raises more questions about why a specific villain chose this plan of attack. Obviously, it had to be done to tell the specific story…but wouldn’t a plan that actually makes sense make for a better film or television series?
Here are 7 MCU villains whose plans still make no sense to us.
Kaecilius
‘Doctor Strange’ (2016)
Kaecilius is, on paper, a fascinating villain. Wonderfully played by the great Mads Mikkelsen, Kaecilius is a former student of Kamar-Taj who arrived broken after losing his family. He found new purpose and meaning in the teachings, but later, when he discovered that The Ancient One was taking power from the dark dimension, he grew angry, disillusioned, and turned on her. He recruited fellow Zealots and became lured by the temptation of Dormammu, a powerful being from the Dark Dimension who promised eternal life. It is a very religious story, one with hints of a fallen angel or a man who is disillusioned by his fate.
Yet after a whole movie of looking to have Earth become part of the Dark Dimension and one with Dormammu, Kaecilius later looks shocked and horrified when he… becomes one with Dormammu and the Dark Dimension. Even if Doctor Strange stopped Dormammu’s invasion of Earth, didn’t Kaecilius still get what he wanted? Is there a difference between being in the Dark Dimension and the Dark Dimension consuming Earth? The movie never makes this clear, and while it handwaves it away with a “be careful what you wish for type joke, it feels odd that Kaecilius is shocked. He got what he wanted. Did he actually expect something different?
Malekith
‘Thor: The Dark World’ (2013)
Thor: The Dark World is considered one of, if not the weakest, films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Much of that comes down to the villain, Malekith. A dark elf who, eons ago, fought Thor’s grandfather for control of the Aether, aka the Reality Stone. Makeith has a simple plan: use the Infinity Stone to plunge the universe into darkness when the Nine Realms align. It’s generic, but on paper, classic comic book villain stuff.
Yet there is a certain vagueness to Malekith’s plan. Does plunging the universe into darkness mean destroying it, or is it a literal dark cloud to wipe out literal light in the universe? If it does mean destruction, does that not mean killing himself and his own forces? Malekith has already been shown in the film’s prologue to be willing to sacrifice his own forces, but to what end? Why exactly does he want to achieve this goal? If it is just to snuff out all light in the universe and cover the universe in darkness, why? What is the motivation other than “return the world to darkness”? The movie never really answers these questions and leaves him a bland. one-note villain.
Namja
‘Ms. Marvel’ (2022)
Ms. Marvel is an underrated entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the biggest element that holds it back is its initial villain, Najma (Nirma Bucha), the leader of the Clandestines. This interdimensional species, hailing from the Noor dimension, found themselves transported to Earth and have been looking for a way home. They believe they have it with Kamala Khan’s Bangles, later revealed to be one of two Quantum Bands, which were used to create various jump points across the galaxy. Like many villains, Namja’s goal is straightforward: she wants to use the bracelet to go home. The problem is that the overall resolution to her story still has us scratching our heads.
In a fight with Kamala Khan, Namja hits the Quantum Band, which rips a hole in reality to the Noor dimension. When one member of the Clandestines tries to enter, she is killed. It appears that the Noor cannot return home to their home dimension, and Namja’s plan was all theoretical. Namja accepts that the portal must be closed, and she needs to be the one to do it. Namja touches the void, which crystallizes her and kills her, but the portal closes.
How exactly did she close it? Why did it not close when the prior Clandestine member tried to walk through? If Namja didn’t know that trying to re-enter the Noor dimension would kill them, how could she have known that she could close it? Namja never seems like a proper antagonist for Kamala’s journey. Thankfully, the series picks up in the final episode, where Ms. Marvel faces off against Damage Control and becomes the hero of Jersey City.
Thanos
‘Avengers: Infinity War’ (2018)
Thanos is easily the most famous villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the franchise’s decision to change his motivation in wiping out half of all life in the universe from courting death to saving all existence is now iconic to fans and general audiences. Obviously, there are holes to be poked in Thanos’ initial plan, since many have pointed out that with the Infinity Stones, he could create new resources, or that his initial argument of there not being enough resources doesn’t track with Earth’s own issues, where the problem isn’t a lack of resources but faulty distribution methods. Thanos is the Mad Titan, so his plan isn’t supposed to make logical sense except to him.
No, the real problem with Thanos’ plan that doesn’t make any sense is the method he goes about collecting the Infinity Stones. Retroactively making Loki’s scepter into the vessel of the Mind Stone means that Thanos willingly gave away an Infinity Stone to Loki and lost it. That doesn’t seem like a master plan but more of a major oversight on his part. He then outsources again to Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy. Ronan might have sought out Thanos, and that is when the deal was struck, but did Thanos even need Ronan when he had six adopted children to do it? Thanos outsources a lot to individuals when he could save a lot of time himself retrieving the artifacts.
Gravik
‘Secret Invasion’ (2023)
Secret Invasion is, without question, the worst entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nothing about it works, and many of the series’ issues can be traced back to Gravik, the villain. Much like The Leader, Gravik’s master plan is to create global conflict that is grounded in a personal vendetta, this time against Nick Fury. This can work, as with Zemo in Captain America: Civil War, but here it feels not only convoluted but absurd.
Gravik portrays himself as a freedom fighter, determined to transform Earth into a new Skrull homeworld, following a younger generation’s disillusionment with figures like Captain Marvel and Nick Fury, who failed to provide them with a home. He orchestrated multiple terrorist attacks, including an attack on the president, which feels like it calls more attention to himself than it would have been to covertly replace him with a Skrull as he did with other high-ranking officials.
Yet at the end of the day, his plan is to get revenge on Nick Fury for turning him into a weapon as a young boy. This is a lot of effort for one man, specifically a conflict that, for all intents and purposes, should have drawn in the Avengers.
He Who Remains / Kang the Conqueror
‘Loki’ (2021)
Kang the Conqueror was originally positioned as the big threat for the Multiverse Saga before Jonathan Majors was let go following domestic assault charges. The seeds were first planted in Loki. Yet, both seasons of Loki reveal the inherent problem with Kang, highlighting that the cracks were already starting to show with the character: he is too complicated to understand. Loki establishes He Who Remains as a Kang variant who established the TVA, created the sacred timeline, and who, in a time loop way, appears to be the older version of Kang the Conqeuror seen in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantuamania, with the MCU’s big plan being to tell his story, out of order with his first appearance in Loki Season 1 finale being the end of his journey.
Yet Loki Season 2 throws a curveball, and a confusing one at that. It reveals that despite He Who Remains wanting Sylvie to kill him in the Season 1 finale, it was all part of a larger plan to give Loki the ability to time slip, return to the past, and prevent Sylvie from carrying out the killing so He Who Remains would be resurrected. He Who Remains gives Loki two options: either stop Sylvie and work with He Who Remains to watch over the sacred timeline, or allow the loom to be destroyed and watch the various multiverses be destroyed in a multiversal war.
Like with all time travel stories, there are bound to be some leaps in logic, but He Who Remains’ plan is overly complicated and confusing, particularly since He Who Remains almost got Loki to side with him before the time slipping mechanic. It is all in service of Loki’s arc, which is commendable, but it speaks to why Kang and his variants often become too convoluted for fans. Maybe Doctor Doom is the better call to end the Multiverse Saga.
The Leader
‘Captain America: Brave New World’ (2025)
After being teased all the way back in The Incredible Hulk in 2008, Samuel Sterns / The Leader (Tim Blake Nelson) finally got the villain spotlight in Captain America: Brave New World. Thaddeus Ross kept Sterns a prisoner for nearly 20 years, and in that time, Sterns not only saved Ross’s life with a surgery on his heart but also helped orchestrate his path to the presidency. Yet after promising Stern’s freedom, Ross yanked it away due to concerns that Stern would stop making his life-saving pills, ones that were actually slowly turning Ross into the Red Hulk. The Leader’s ultimate goal is to destroy Ross’ legacy as revenge.
Straightforward enough motivation, but The Leader goes about it in the most convoluted way possible, which includes a Presidential assassination and hiring the Serpent Society to steal a sample of adamantium just to make it look like an inside job from the United States government. The movie uses The Leader’s vast intellect and ability to calculate variables as a way to justify his complex plans, which feels more like a lazy explanation that confuses complicated with intricate. Because The Leader really wants to destroy Ross’s legacy, he surely could have leaked information to the press regarding Ross’s off-site treatment and therefore triggered the Red Hulk transformation even sooner as Ross became angry with the news.
The Leader’s plan, much like his design, seems to have changed in reshoots, and it can’t help but feel like the original plan was to reveal The Leader as the true mastermind behind Ross and secretly controlling various government organizations and people, exemplifying his comic book moniker, The Leader.
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