A distinction should be make when considering the rankings, at least I think so.
Here's how I'd put them:
Best MCU Villains - 1) Thanos, 2) Loki, 3) Zemo, 4) Killmonger, 5) Alexander Pierce
Best MCU Supervillains - 1) Thanos, 2) Loki, 3) Ultron, 4) Red Skull, 5) Yellow Jacket
I'd agree with that....
But nt either Case Thanos takes the number 1 spot....
also cant disagree more with Ultron..IMO he is one of the biggest creative failures in CBM history, Whedon simply shit the bed....
Whedons Ultron was one of the weakest MCU villains, His Bots were an absolutely Joke...literally were killed with as simple of things as Tony using a "Pen" and Cap literally Back handing One!
Ultron himself was defeated 3 times in the movie, once at Avengers tower by Thors hammer, Once when fighting Tony above the boats and Once again by the S. Witch...
You just cant be a good or power villain when you get beat and killed at every turn and Your Bots are nothing more than paper weights...
I dont know what went wrong, but something went disastrously wrong, Age Of Ultron could not have been what Whedon Intended when he started, I think Whedon was just in WAY over his head and just wasnt good enough to do it on his own(remember with The Avengers, He had to run everything through Fiege, Fiege had a guideline, told him Loki had to be the villain, told the movie had to end with a massive battle in NY where a portal opens and The army comes through, The Avengers was very much a 50/50 split between Fiege and Whedon) but with AOU, Whedon signed a new deal where he had control to make the film he wanted, he could write any story with any villain, It wasnt until Post Production when Fiege was unhappy with AOU and he made him change a few things...
anyways I know everyone has their own opinion and you may feel differently...But for me...Ultron and the movie was a huge disappointment...
Whedons Ultron is no where near the top of any of my lists...In fact I have a Worst CBM's villain list and he ranks #5-
1. Jared Leto's Joker(This is the single biggest creative failure in the history of CBM's)
2. Jesse Esienburg's Lex Luthor(I literally dont know how casting Jesse as Lex Luthor got past the "what if" stage)
3. Shane Black's Take on The Mandarin
4. Jamie Fox's Electro and The Writer that wrote his awful character ark
5. Joss Whedon's Ultron(Literally one of the worst Villains ever, Whedon Just Blew it)
You're spot on regarding Whedon's job with Avengers 2: Age of Ultron. The dirty little secret (that really isn't a secret), is that Feige fired Whedon, mainly because Whedon thought he was just going to do his own thing, regardless of what Marvel wanted. Apparently he had intended to kill off two major characters (the rumors were Black Widow and Thor) and Feige went down to the set, had a come-to-Jesus moment with Whedon and reminded him that these characters belonged to MARVEL and not to Josh Whedon, that the studio had future plans for the characters. This is when they "adjusted" what Whedon had done, which is why A2:AOU has a bit of a choppy feel to it, like it's not a completely coherent movie.
And my apologies, I completely overlooked a MAJOR supervillain in Hela. I was still on the clock at work when I posted my original post. I wish to adjust my list then as such:
Best MCU Supervillains - 1) Thanos, 2) Loki, 3) Hela, 4) Red Skull and 5) Ronan the Accuser (forgot about him too!)
You're spot on regarding Whedon's job with Avengers 2: Age of Ultron. The dirty little secret (that really isn't a secret), is that Feige fired Whedon, mainly because Whedon thought he was just going to do his own thing, regardless of what Marvel wanted. Apparently he had intended to kill off two major characters (the rumors were Black Widow and Thor) and Feige went down to the set, had a come-to-Jesus moment with Whedon and reminded him that these characters belonged to MARVEL and not to Josh Whedon, that the studio had future plans for the characters. This is when they "adjusted" what Whedon had done, which is why A2:AOU has a bit of a choppy feel to it, like it's not a completely coherent movie.
^^^
is there an article about this^...I havent heard this part yet, I've only heard the part that Fiege forced Whedon to make some big changes in Post production once the movie wasnt turning out right....I would LOVE to read what your talking about!
I'll have to go back and find the site. I originally linked it through either whatculture.com, screenrant.com or a similar site, perhaps zergnet.com. I'll go back and see if I can find it.
Here's a bit of some of the related material I had seen, about Whedon wanting to kill off an Avenger in AOU:
https://screenrant.com/the-avengers-2-age-of-ultron-character-death/
Just for the record, I think Whedon is an great director, albeit a bit of an a-hole by all accounts of him as a person.
and as for Ranking The MCU Villains, I think Id have to do it in 3 different ways....
The Best/My Favorite
The Most Powerful/Threatening
and Performance based by The actor playing The Villain/The character Ark-
So List 1-The Best/My Favorite MCU Villains is-
Thanos
The Winter Soldier(in Cap 2)
Loki
Zemo
Killmonger
Johann Schmidt/Red Skull
Hela
Ronan the Accuser
Vulture
Emil Blonsky/Abomination
Obadiah Stane/Iron-Monger
Darren Cross/Yellowjacket
Crossbones
Whiplash
Kaecilius
Alexander Pierce
Justin Hammer
Surter
Ego the Living Planet
The Grandmaster
Dormammu
Aldrich Killian/
Malekith
Ultron
The Mandarin/Trevor
Batroc(Not awful, but basically forgotten)
List 2-The Most Powerful/Biggest MCU Threat-
Thanos
Hela
Ego the Living Planet
Surter
Ronan the Accuser(with Power Stone In Hammer/Staff)
Dormammu
Malekith
Kaecilius
Loki
Emil Blonsky/Abomination
Aldrich Killian
Johann Schmidt/Red Skull
The Winter Soldier(in Cap 2)
Ultron
Darren Cross/Yellowjacket
Vulture
Obadiah Stane/Iron-Monger
Whiplash
Killmonger
The Grandmaster
Batroc
Crossbones
lol who cares after this, the final 6 are just Humans
Zemo
Alexander Pierce
Justin Hammer
The Mandarin/Trevor
List 3-The Best Performances by an Actor Playing an MCU villain or Best Take on an MCU villain-
Thanos(Brolin Killed+some of the Greatest CGI I've ever seen)
Loki(Hiddleson's Loki over the course on Many films Is Amazing, He was Born to play the role)
Killmonger-(Michael B Jordan was fantastic, His Villain may have the best Ark and Motives of any Villain In CBM history)
The Winter Soldier(in Cap 2)(for me The Winter Soldier may be the single most underrated Villain In CBM history, his Role in Cap 2 Is Perfect, They 1000% nailed his character and made him the perfect "Terminator like Assassin"...Stan was Great as well)
Zemo(the actor did ok, Ultimately Zemo is a great villain because of the writing, Hes A Plotting Villain, A tactician ...He Actual Won...)
Johann Schmidt/Red Skull(Hugo was fantastic, Red Skull was a Good Villain)
Vulture(MK was great, The Villain was actually somewhat respectable, doing things for his family)
Emil Blonsky/Abomination(The Classic Battling Time/Age story...Blonsky is past his prime Getting Older, cant do what he used to do, Then witnesses something as astonishing as The Hulk, getsa taste of The Super Soldier Serum, Has TO HAVE more...Good villain)
I'm not ranking any more, after this I feel they are pretty much Just Fighting/Threatening Villains, I dont feel any more are great Arks or great Performances