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SR contributor who ranked all MCU villains must be off their meds

posted 6 years ago by DarthRoger (867)
4 replies | jump to latest

So I'm over at screenrant.com and see an article entitled "Every Major MCU Villain, Ranked from Weakest to Strongest," by Chris Lalonde. He uses 20 characters from the franchise. Now I don't know Mr. Lalonde but his definition for what qualifies as weak and strong appears at odds with the meaning of those words.

Consider his rankings. Here are the bottom "weakest" MCU villains, in ascending order:

20. The Mandarin
19. Sonny Burch
18. Alexander Pierce
17. Aldrich Killian
16. Whiplash
15. Dormmamu
14. Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger
13. Darren Cross/Yellow Jacket
12. Emil Blonski/Abomination
11. Malekith the Accursed
10. Ronan the Accuser

Something should stand out right away. How is Dormmamu mixed in with this bunch? He's practically a God for all purposes and should be in the top 3, not stuck down in lowly 15th place! Yet it doesn't end there, boys and girls. Take a look at Lalonde's top 10:

9. Adrian Toomes/The Vulture
8. Ultron
7. Red Skull
6. Ego
5. Hella
4. Helmut Zemo
3. Loki
2. Erik Killmonger
1. Thanos

To say I'm sick and tired of all the Killmonger fellatio, would be understatement. He's a solid, compelling character but Ultron, Ego, Hella and Loki would end Killmonger in the blink of an eye! Erik Killmonger is just a man, whereas everyone else I listed in that last sentence is either a god, demigod or goddess and one is a super sentient robot made of a nearly indestructible alloy. The same goes for Helmut Zemo. He's cunning and smart but just a mortal man.
I don't know if the guy writing this article is just giving his personal favorites or if he's merely a fan of the movies and doesn't really understand these comicbook characters but he's waaay off base!

In all honesty, this should be his top three "strongest" MCU villains:

3. Ego
2. Dormamu
1. Thanos - with Infinity Gauntlet

OR

3. Hela
2. Ego
1. Dormammu

* No Infinity Gauntlet for Thanos in this ranking

[–] Costumer (1803) 6 years ago

Your evaluations, if based on sheer power, is likely correct. However, the screenrant author may be rating on the quality of the villain; that is how compelling they are and the the strength of character of the villain. If that is the case a mortal man could easily outrank a god. Without going out and reading the screenrant article, I suspect the latter is the intent.

[–] DarthRoger (867) 5 years ago

Well the words "weakest" and "strongest" have a pretty set meaning, so if he was going to rank them based on their character traits, he needed to choose a better title for his list.

There was one glaring absence on his list that others might have caught as well. Where was Crossbones? He's at least more powerful than the first three characters on the list - Trevor Slathery, Sonny Birch and Alexander Pierce. I'm pretty sure he could whip Zemo's ass too.

[–] Costumer (1803) 5 years ago

Actually, they don't. Strongest can be the most powerful or it can refer to the overall quality of the character. A physically weak, helpless character can be a strong character. A character who can destroy suns can be a weak character.

So, the OP could have been more specified which he meant. However, the context of his post made it clear which use of strong and weak he meant.

[–] FilmBuff (6854) 5 years ago

Weakest and strongest, especially when used to discuss film, rarely mean brute strength. A very common way to phrase a question would be, "which of fill-in-the-blank do you think is the weakest?" For instance, I'd say The Incredible Hulk is the weakest entry in the MCU series. That doesn't mean the character is weak-- as it happens he's among the strongest-- but the film itself is, in my opinion, the worst of the bunch, i.e. the weakest.

The same goes for a discussion of characters. Who is the weakest villain, in film parlance anyway, means, "which of the villains is least compelling/interesting/dangerous/worth watching onscreen?"

I totally understand your confusion, but the wording, combined with the list itself, tell me that the list-writer was not ranking the villains by their sheer power, but by how strong they are in terms of carrying a film.