Return of The One-Hit Wonders: Part 6 of "Bring on the Baddies - More Than 60 Possible Phase-Ending Bosses Still Available to the MCU"

So here's where the trail ends--or at least the train of thought I began several weeks ago. After having (hopefully) entertained you with a variety of suggestions related to new threats that could endanger future phases of the MCU, I want to bring things full circle by pointing out some of the stories that can and should still be told using villains Marvel Studios never quite gave their due.

For as successful as they've been, Marvel movies have long been knocked for lacking compelling villains. But it might be more accurate to say that several of the films have failed to provide those characters with an opportunity to stand out. Whether it was part of an intentional subversion of expectations--as in the case of the Mandarin in Iron Man 3--or perhaps owed to a very different creative vision--as was the case with Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron--the MCU has often chosen to break with comics continuity in how it portrays these foes. And while that has helped, at times, to keep the movies fresh and the outcomes unexpected, it has also left on the cutting room floor plot threads that beg to be picked up.

Below are some of my favorites that I believe need to be revisited and, in some instances, re-imagined:

• #68 The Leader
• #69 Advanced Idea Mechanics
• #70 Baron Zemo
• #71 Dormammu
• #72 Ultron
• #73 The Mandarin
• #74 Graviton 
• #75 The Molecule Man
• #76 Nimrod and/or Bastion
• #77 The Shadow King

The Leader: To my mind, this is by far the biggest miss on this list--in many ways, my reason for having such a list in the first place. I understand that the Hulk poses some unique challenges--in terms of movie rights retained by Universal Pictures, in dealing with Edward Norton's departure from the franchise, etc. But the reality is that Marvel Studios was able to get Samuel Sterns on screen once and didn't do anything more than tease the origin of the jade giant's greatest enemy. Even if there haven't been subsequent movies with Bruce Banner's alter ego as the titular star, The Leader is an ideal Silver Age villain to adapt into the modern era--especially given his penchant for using his gamma-radiation mutated brain to predict events before they happen. He'd be a great foil for The Avengers--sparring mentally with the likes of Banner, Stark and perhaps even Shuri and Hank Pym, while also unleashing waves of physical threats in the form of gamma mutated monsters. And his repeated attempts to remake the world in his image--to gamma irradiate every man, woman and child on the Earth--would make for suitably large stakes for a phase-ending conflict.

A.I.M.: The cavalier dismissal of Advanced Idea Mechanics as nothing more than a vehicle for Killian Aldrich's machinations comes in as a close second in terms of missed opportunities. I understand that Marvel Studios execs were likely wary of some
of the more dated 60s sci-fi flourishes associated with the organization--the bright yellow beekeeper suits, in particular. But you can't overlook that the fact that A.I.M.'s scientific pursuits--unfettered by ethics--served as a great launching pad for some of the best and most interesting threats from Marvel's early days:

• MODOK - While this character and Arnim Zola are distinct and unrelated in the comics, I could easily see Toby Smith reprising his role as the former Hydra scientist given a horrifying new physical existence as MODOK. Created by A.I.M. to be a human/computer hybrid with various psionic powers, MODOK rebels against his controllers and usurps control of the organization. Tops among the scientific discoveries pursued during his tenure as leader would be The Cosmic Cube--the comics-reality inspiration for The Tesseract, but a powered-up version that functions more like the Reality Gem.
• The Super-Adaptoid - Tied to the above discovery, A.I.M. also creates an android that is capable of duplicating the powers and abilities of any heroes or villains to which it is put in close proximity. In time, it's revealed that this ability stems from a sliver of a cosmic cube being embedded within the android--leaving it with a compulsion to complete the cube and attain ultimate power, a plot that unwinds memorably in the pages of The Avengers.

Baron Zemo and The Masters of Evil: I really like Captain America: Civil War--to an extent that I struggle with quibbling about the final fate of Zemo. But he's SUCH a great villain in the comics, a strategist rivaling Captain America who is capable of pulling together a lot of the discarded henchmen from prior films and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series (Abomination, Blizzard, Absorbing Man, etc., etc.) into a force that could challenge the full roster of The Avengers. In the comics, he's destroyed the Avengers' base, achieved near limitless power by capturing various mystical artifacts, and subjected both the Avengers and the rest of Earth's population to mental domination via satellite signal. And don't even get me started on his team of fake heroes turned real heroes, The Thunderbolts. (Actually, do feel free to get me started on that. I'll definitely want to write about that team at some point--as it's one of my favorite redemption stories from the comics.)

Dormammu and The Bend Sinister: I've included this entry based on where the MCU stands right now, though I strongly suspect that Dormammu's agenda will be more fully developed in a Dr. Strange sequel. But I'll nevertheless bookmark the need here, as we didn't see anywhere near enough of Dormammu's realm, the Dark Dimension--or its indestructible nightmare inhabitants, the Mindless Ones. I'd also love to see an adaptation of one of the villain's more Lovecraftian plots where he partners with Doctor Doom to bring about "The Bend Sinister"--a transformation of the natural order on Earth that promises to give one individual ultimate power over magic in this dimension.

Ultron Unlimited: I know that plenty of people really liked James Spader's portrayal of the mad robot--and it has honestly grown on me over time, though I'd initially been disappointed by his quippy sarcastic nature. But if Marvel Studios chose to revisit the character and perhaps strip him down to the cold, merciless machine from the comics, that would be great too. More importantly, I'd love to see a plot--perhaps a time-travel tale made possible by the resolution of Endgame--where Ultron's full potential could be unlocked. In the "Age of Ultron" and "Ultron Forever" comics series, it's revealed that the automaton has completely conquered the world in the near future, forming a beachhead for striking back at the present--the former story leveraging Independence Day-inspired visuals of massive machines descending from the sky to wipe out most of New York City. And in the second Annihilation series, he takes control of essentially the entire Kree Empire. So the scope of his menace to the MCU is definitely in need of an upgrade.

The Mandarin and The Ten Rings: This is a loose thread highlighted in the post-Iron Man 3 short called "Hail to The King"--where it is revealed that A.I.M. stole the name and persona of the Mandarin, perhaps hoping to piggyback on the latter's existing reputation and infamy. A fan of Ben Kingsley, I'd like to imagine that his character is captured by lower-level agents of the Ten Rings only to have those characters learn that he was the real Mandarin all along--a double-bluff, as it were. Either way, the Mandarin would be a tricky character to "play straight" because he's so steeped in Cold War fears and cultural baggage. But I'm sure that Marvel Studios' screenwriters could find a way to adapt the character that focuses on his usage of ancient technologies and wisdom as a counterpoint to Tony Stark's futurism.

Graviton and The Molecule Man: This isn't a knock on the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show, but I'd really love to see either of these characters get a big-screen treatment with big-screen effects. Graviton once held the entire island of Manhattan hostage by lifting it into the sky--and still had power to spare for fighting the assembled Avengers. And the Molecule Man is among a handful of the most powerful beings in any given Marvel universe. So neither character really deserves to be to be rushed in and out of the MCU in a 3-to-4 episode TV series story arc.

Nimrod and/or Bastion: With the inevitable re-booting of the X-Men movie universe, we may see a re-invention of the Sentinels as shown in X-Men: Days of Future Past. However, if the current X-Men movie continuity were to somehow survive, there's much more that could still be done to evolve the Sentinels in that series as well. The Omega-level Sentinels shown in the bleak future of DFP could send a Terminator-like avatar back to the present in the form of Nimrod--a machine capable of rebuilding itself down to the molecular level and bent on restoring its timeline at all costs. Or they could jump to an even more advanced version of the character, Bastion--an amnesiac who believed himself to be a mutant-hating human and who leveraged nanotech to create Sentinel/human cyborg sleeps agents called Prime Sentinels in the "Operation Zero Tolerance" story line.

The Shadow King: Fitting that this last one should be an outright cheat on my part, as I'm using this slot to correct a glaring oversight. Amahl Farouk, though featured a couple of times in the various X-Men animated series, is not well known despite being one of the X-Men's most interesting adversaries. A telepath who was the first evil mutant encountered by Charles Xavier in the latter's youth, Farouk is arguably the inspiration for the X-Men. Xavier defeats Farouk in Egypt in a pitched battle on the astral plane that seemingly results in the villain's death. Instead, Farouk's consciousness--separated from his body--persists and grows into the malicious entity called the Shadow King. In this guise, he sets out to undo all of Xavier's good works by corrupting and eventually taking full mental control of at least half of the X-Men prior to a showdown on Muir Island involving the X-Men, X-Factor, and X-Force teams. So there's no denying he could serve as puppet master behind a Civil-War-style conflict. I realize it's a bit of a stretch to say that he's not been given his due in the movies--as he hasn't appeared in them at all. But then that's the loophole that I'm going to use to justify his inclusion here--as the plot of Fox's X-Men: First Class needlessly omits him from Xavier's origin story. (Again, I realize it's a bit of a stretch.)

And that's that. If I really tried, I'm sure I could dig even deeper--Marvel's back catalog is so rich with epic stories--as my choice to try to exceed 60 foes or scenarios was a pretty random bar to set. Nevertheless, I think I've proved my point--which is that, as cool as the MCU is, it only scratches the surface of what's out there in the Marvel universe.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to my ramblings--as they were fun to compile. I hope these installments piqued your curiosity and that you take the opportunity to perform your own investigations. And if you were already familiar with many of these stories, I hope that I've encouraged you to paw through your long boxes or scroll through your media for a second look at them.

Do you think I missed anything? Are there significant stories or characters I overlooked? Let me know in the comments section below. And join me next week as I break ground on a new topic.