Understanding 5 Iron Man Villains That Would Be Awesome in the MCU Even If They Never Fought the Hero

Iron Man helped kick off the MCU, helping make sure it grew into the most popular and successful cinematic universe ever. He became the most popular character, with fans who never read comics praising the comic accuracy of the Armored Avenger’s adaptations. However, when it comes right down to it, we barely got a glimpse of who ol’Shellhead was and the world he lived in outside of the Avengers. One of the most disappointing things about the Iron Man movies is that we barely got to see any of his villains. Sure, we got Obadiah Stane, Justin Hammer, and Whiplash, but other than that, very few actual Iron Man villains made their way to the big screen.

On the one hand, this makes a lot of sense. Some of Iron Man’s early villains are very dated and the ones who aren’t dated are just kind of basic. However, he also has some amazing villains as well, bad guys who would have been perfect for an Iron Man movie. While it’s hard to know what the movies hold in store for Tony Stark in the future, there are numerous Iron Man villains who would be awesome in the MCU, even if they never battled Stark at all. These five Iron Man villains need to join the MCU sooner rather than later, bad guys who deserve to shine on the big screen.

5) The Controller

Marvel has always been home to powerful psychics, but few of them have made it to the big screen. One of the most terrifying is the Controller. Once upon a time, he was just a dude in an exoskeleton fighting it out with Iron Man and then one day, he began using his control disks, allowing him to take control of anyone he fastened one on. Eventually, he was able to internalize this ability, becoming an even more dangerous villain. The Controller has no morals whatsoever and he can control numerous minds at once, enslaving people to his fiendish will. His powers and technology are quite potent and the MCU can go with either the early armored bruiser rendition of the villain or the later mind controller. The Controller is exactly the last person you want to have the power to control other people; as we’ve seen in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, these types of villains can do a massive amounts of damage. Add in the character’s physical component and you have a perfect MCU villain.

4) Fin Fang Foom

In between Captain America disappearing in the ’50s and 1961’s Fantastic Four #1, Marvel published numerous types of comics, including Western, romance, and sci-fi. The publisher became home to some of the best monster comics out there, introducing readers to wild beasts from across Earth’s history and mythology, as well as numerous kinds of alien monsters and invaders. One of them has already made his way to the big screen – you know him better as Groot – and it’s time to see another one at the cinemas: Fin Fang Foom. The giant Chinese dragon first appeared in Strange Tales #89 and eventually made his way over to the Marvel Universe, mostly battling Iron Man. I don’t really think I need to explain why we need to see Fin Fang Foom in the MCU – you know you want a movie with Marvel’s heroes battling a mystic kaiju – so let’s just all agree Fin Fang Foom should be a movie star and move on.

3) Crimson Dynamo

Iron Man pit the Armored Avenger against the Iron Monger at the end, showing how much fun it was to pit him against bad guys in armor in live-action. Seven issues after Iron Man’s debut in the comics, readers got to see theirs as he got his first “evil opposite” villain, the villainous Soviet soldier named Crimson Dynamo. In a lot of ways, Tony Stark is the ultimate American for the Cold War – a wealthy engineer willing to fight to protect people – and so he was pit against the evil Soviet scientist Anton Vanko, who wasn’t as rich or as popular because communism (early Marvel was very much of its time), the two of them battling it out with their powerful armors. Over the years, numerous people would get their chance to pilot the Crimson Dynamo armor and I can understand why they didn’t bring a Cold War villain back in the MCU at the time. However, bringing him out now would make loads of sense. We know that Russia has its own supersoldiers and heroes, so bringing in the Dynamo would be as simple as someone steals some old armor and puts it on or the Russian government builds a new one. He’s a perfect villain for the movies and it’s long past time he showed up.

2) The Fixer/Techno

The Fixer was one of those generic Marvel villains who would end up working for AIM or Hydra or the Masters of Evil. He was just a smart guy who made things, so he fought Iron Man a decent amount of times over the years, both solo and with the Avengers. After “Onslaught”, he was one of the villains approached by Baron Zemo to join the Thunderbolts, growing a rakish goatee and becoming Techno. He made for a great tech “hero” with the team, but he was one of the only members who still wanted to follow Zemo’s original plan. He ended up leaving his Fixer identity behind and becoming Techno full-time, most recently showing up in Iron Man (Vol. 7) working with AIM to destroy Tony Stark and the class of young geniuses he began teaching. Techno is a cool villain and he fills a niche the MCU doesn’t really have too many of right now – tech villains. Maybe he’s a Sokovian and he breaks Zemo free from Wakanda or something. Regardless, it would be awesome to see him in live action.

1) Madame Masque

Madame Masque is one of the coolest villains that Marvel doesn’t use nearly enough. Whitney Frost’s dad is Maggia leader Count Nefaria, the superpowered mafia of Earth-616. Her father sent her to steal secrets from Tony Stark, which was easy for a beautiful woman with the notorious playboy, but her face was hideously scarred in the big heist her father had planned, leading her to hate Stark in her own way. She donned the golden mask and Madame Masque was born. She and Iron Man have been battling it out – and sometimes sleeping together again – for years now. The Maggia is one of those ideas that would be awesome in the MCU and Madame Masque is the perfect midboss for the organization, a bad guy you can introduce as a big bad before showing that she’s merely one of many powerful villains in the shadows. She’s an awesome old school villain – basically someone who was evil for evil’s sake, especially after she learned who her father really was – and the MCU could use more like her.