12 Marvel Villains We Might See In MCU Phase 6

“Thunderbolts*” closed out Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and with the reveal that the titular team was actually the New Avengers, we’re finally back on track ending MCU phases with big team-up movies. This is something that’ll continue into Phase 6, as we’re now in the endgame to the Multiverse Saga that’ll conclude with “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars.” 

Those are far from the only projects to look forward to, however. On the film side of things, we know we have “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” rapidly approaching. Even though Disney+ shows will be fewer and farther between going forward, due to Marvel Studios wanting to focus more on quality versus quantity, there’s still plenty to get excited about on that front with “Wonder Man,” “Vision Quest,” and Season 2 of “Daredevil: Born Again.” 

There’s a lot of room for some classic Marvel villains to finally make the leap into live action (or perhaps even get reintroduced). Some bad guys are already confirmed to appear, but there are others we think would make a lot of sense to enter the fray within Phase 6 due to the nature of some of these films and series. Either way, it’s high time these baddies get their chance to show what they’re capable of.

Let’s start with a villain reveal that came with ample controversy — Robert Downey Jr. returning to the MCU as Doctor Doom. Downey pretty much made the MCU what it is thanks to his portrayal as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, across the first three phases. Tony sacrificed his life to defeat Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his army in “Avengers: Endgame,” but with the Multiverse in play, this will likely be a character from another reality that just so happens to look like Tony Stark.

Plenty of fan theories have emerged about who this particular version of Doctor Doom will be. One involves Downey drawing inspiration from the 2014 “Superior Iron Man” arc where Tony goes down a darker path. It’s possible this Doom is from a reality where Tony pursues evil instead of justice and dons the moniker of “Doctor Doom.” That would explain why he looks like the MCU’s Iron Man while leaving the door open for the true Victor von Doom to emerge. 

Doom will absolutely appear in “Avengers: Doomsday” and probably factor into “Secret Wars,” too. Some also thought he would get a quick cameo in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” but director Matt Shakman shot that idea down in an interview with Empire (via ComicBookMovie), saying definitively, “Doom is not a part of my film, and therefore not a part of my purview.” Of course, this could simply be the filmmaker playing coy and wanting to surprise audiences when “First Steps” comes out on July 25. 

The villain we absolutely know is going to appear in “Fantastic Four: First Steps” is Galactus (Ralph Ineson). With an insatiable hunger to devour planets, Galactus is an even more terrifying villain than Thanos, and it’s interesting to consider how exactly “First Steps” will utilize him. 

At the very least, we know that he’s not going to be a space cloud as seen in “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.” He has a far more comic-accurate design, and there’s a solid chance he’ll be successful in destroying the planet. “First Steps” takes place in an alternate reality from the mainline MCU, and we know from the “Thunderbolts*” post-credits scene that the Fantastic Four will wind up entering the primary continuity via spaceship. Perhaps they had to evacuate their universe due to Galactus eating their home, leading to the events of “Avengers: Doomsday.” 

There’s also the possibility of more than one Galactus being around. If we’re seeing another universe’s version of the villain, then that means a Galactus for Universe-616 is still out there, and the Avengers will need the Fantastic Four’s help in getting rid of him — assuming they’re successful in their own reality. 

Most other villains come across as small potatoes next to Galactus, but “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” should include a bevy of smaller bad guys to look forward to. At CCXPMX 25, Joseph Quinn, who plays Johnny Storm in the film, told the crowd (via Yahoo! Entertainment), “We’ve got a lot of fantastic characters in there. There is also Mole Man, who is wonderful in it, but Galactus is the big bad.”

From the comics, Mole Man is a subterranean villain who seeks to control the surface world as well. There’s a good chance he won’t have a huge role to play in the film, as previous rumors suggested the movie would open with a montage of the titular team battling some of their classic villains. It would make sense for Mole Man to be part of this montage, along with some of their sillier antagonists, like Puppet Master and Red Ghost. 

Incorporating some smaller villains at the beginning of the film is a great way to establish the status quo of this universe before Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) and Galactus show up and raise the stakes. Mole Man was first introduced in Marvel Comics back in 1961, so it’s high time he get his time in the sun, even if he probably won’t have much to do. 

“Spider-Man: Homecoming” had one of the most egregious MCU post-credit scenes that hasn’t paid off, where Mac Gargan (Michael Mando) speaks to Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) in prison, asking about Spider-Man’s (Tom Holland) identity. In the comics, Gargan becomes the villain Scorpion, but despite there being two other “Spider-Man” films to follow, we haven’t seen Gargan again. 

That could easily change with the impending “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” set to come out on July 31, 2026. In fact, it may have already been revealed as the Disney Blockbuster Consumer Productions convention reportedly showed off images of three villains: Boomerang, Tombstone, and Scorpion. Boomerang and Tombstone still need to be cast, but Mando has been waiting in the wings long enough to finally don a Scorpion stinger. 

The question remains as to how big Scorpion’s involvement would be. Similar to “Fantastic Four: First Steps,” it’s possible these three show up in the beginning for Spider-Man to fight before a bigger bad guy materializes. Hopefully, Scorpion has a sizable role, given his lengthy comic book history. But he might just have to contend with being a bigger villain’s lackey. 

With Boomerang, Tombstone, and Scorpion allegedly in the mix, it sounds like “Brand New Day” could be a more grounded story to get Spider-Man back to his roots before being pulled into the epic mix of “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars.” And to challenge Peter Parker in ways like never before, Mr. Negative would be an ideal pick as the primary antagonist. 

Mr. Negative does factor into the “Brand New Day” comic book arc, and his ability to corrupt others’ morals could pose a unique obstacle for Peter. In the “Spider-Man” video game, Mr. Negative can make characters experience their worst memories, and the MCU’s Peter Parker certainly has plenty of those, including the deaths of Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and Tony Stark. In fact, that could be a good opportunity to give Robert Downey Jr. a quick cameo as a negative vision prior to him reemerging as Doctor Doom, which could serve as a foundational conflict for Peter seeing a variant of his mentor turn to evil.

Mr. Negative’s alternate persona, Martin Li, works for the F.E.A.S.T. shelter with Aunt May in the “Spider-Man” game, which gives him a connection to meet Peter. The film could also have Peter working for F.E.A.S.T. to give him a reason to trust Li at first. Nothing’s confirmed at this point, but he’s a fan-favorite villain worthy of the big screen. One fan even created artwork of Steven Yeun as Mr. Negative, which is pitch-perfect casting if we’ve ever seen it. 

Doctor Doom is one of the most iconic villains in Marvel history, and there’s little doubt he would be a formidable opponent in both “Doomsday” and “Secret Wars.” However, there’s a possibility Marvel Studios has some tricks up its sleeve and will introduce another villain — the Maker. 

It would be an appropriate inclusion, considering the Maker’s involvement in the 2015 “Secret Wars” storyline. The Maker is a variant of Reed Richards from the “Ultimate” universe who turned evil. If Marvel leans into the idea that Doctor Doom is an evil version of Iron Man, then he’d be a natural fit as another version of Reed, who’ll be played by Pedro Pascal in “Fantastic Four: First Steps.” The two Reeds work together, but the evil Reed wants to kill Doom while the main Reed does not. 

“Avengers: Doomsday” will bring back some old faces from the “X-Men” movies like Ian McKellen, James Marsden, and Rebecca Romijn. It’s possible the film could draw from some other past projects, and one fan theory posits that Miles Teller’s Reed Richards from 2015’s “Fant4stic” would be perfect for the Maker. That film actually drew a lot from the “Ultimate” line of Marvel Comics, so it’s possible Pascal’s Reed could encounter Teller’s Reed, who’s gone mad and wants to kill Doom. This could set the stage for Doom being the main villain of “Doomsday,” while the Maker has a larger role going into “Secret Wars.”

There have been a few different iterations of “Secret Wars” in Marvel Comics, going back to the first one that began in 1984. In that storyline, it’s the Beyonder who’s responsible for kidnapping Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Villains and transporting them to Battleworld, a planet he created so that they can all duke it out. The Beyonder returned in 1985’s “Secret Wars II” to threaten the Multiverse, and honestly, all of that makes him sound like he’d be a great choice to stop by in “Doomsday” or “Secret Wars.” 

The Beyonder is one of the most powerful cosmic beings in the Marvel Universe, with the ability to warp reality however he wants it. His exact skills vary depending on interpretation, but he can basically affect anything on a molecular level and possesses near omnipotence. He’s one of the few antagonists that could even give Doctor Doom a run for his money, and it’s worth mentioning that an untold truth of the Beyonder is that Doom really doesn’t like him. 

In fact, Doom stole the Beyonder’s powers during the first “Secret Wars” event so that he could become godlike. This could make for a grand escalation going from “Doomsday” to “Secret Wars,” where Doom becomes an even more powerful threat for the Avengers to overcome. 

It’s easy to get caught up in who might appear in the next two “Avengers” movies. Those will be epic events, but the MCU is a massive franchise with a ton of pots in the fire, especially when looking at Disney+ series. One coming down the pipeline is a “Wonder Man” show where Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays the titular character, whose real name is Simon Williams. He’s a superpowered actor auditioning for a superhero show, and we already know one villain who’ll cause him trouble — his own brother, Eric Williams, aka the Grim Reaper (Demetrius Grosse). 

It’ll be interesting to see what version of Grim Reaper the “Wonder Man” show decides to portray. At first, Grim Reaper was pretty much just a bad guy carrying around a scythe. He didn’t have any powers beyond knowing how to fight and build stuff. However, after he dies and gets resurrected, he possesses the power of necromancy and can raise the dead to serve under him. He can also summon demons to do his bidding, so his role will likely come down to how grounded the creators of “Wonder Man” want it to be. 

Ultron (James Spader) had his day in the sun in 2015’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” Considering his significance to Marvel Comics, it did seem odd that he would wind up being a one-and-done villain, but it’s been confirmed he’ll return in the upcoming “Vision Quest” series. The show will reportedly follow the events of “WandaVision” and “Agatha All Along,” picking up with White Vision (Paul Bettany), who flew away in the former’s finale. Rumors indicate the show is casting for Tommy Maximoff, the twin brother to Billy, who was played by Joe Locke in “Agatha All Along.” It’s possible Vision will track down his son and help him reunite with Billy.

All of that still leaves the question of how Ultron factors into all of this, especially seeing as the last remnant of his AI was destroyed at the end of “Age of Ultron.” It’s possible a small piece of him is still out there somewhere. After all, nothing online is ever truly gone forever. 

By the looks of it, the show will have a heavy emphasis on tech, as it was recently revealed that Emily Hampshire has been cast as a human manifestation of E.D.I.T.H., one of Tony Stark’s augmented reality systems. It sounds similar to how J.A.R.V.I.S. eventually came to life as Vision. There’s also T’nia Miller’s casting as Jocasta, whom Ultron created in the comics as his mate. If “Vision Quest” is bringing Jocasta into the mix, it certainly sounds like Ultron will have a sizable role, and he might pick up where he left on his mission to eradicate humanity. 

Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) began “Avengers: Age of Ultron” as a villain and then became a good guy by the end, but after losing her children in “WandaVision,” she did another heel-turn in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” She died at the end of that film, but given her immense power as the Scarlet Witch, no one ever really believed she was gone for good. She could’ve used her magic to transport herself to another reality at the last second and is simply chilling there until she’s called into battle. If “Avengers: Secret Wars” follows the comics, then Doom or another villain could grab a bunch of heroes and villains from various worlds and put them on Battleworld, which would be the perfect time to bring Scarlet Witch back to the forefront. 

To be fair, Olsen has played coy about whether she’s done with Marvel for good. When The Hollywood Reporter asked whether she’d return for any of the “Avengers” movies, she said, “No, I’m back [in the States]. I just finished [‘Panic Carefully’]. I’m moving on to filming a pilot for FX [called ‘Seven Sisters’].” The “Avengers” movies are filming in London, and if her next project is in the United States, that’d make it tough for her to film anything. However, if she’s only filming a pilot for the time being, it’s possible the show hasn’t been picked up for a full series order yet. 

For all we know, there’s a window where Olsen can hop across the pond to film something for “Doomsday” or “Secret Wars.” It just feels weird to end the Multiverse Saga without a character pivotal to that premise having at least a cameo.

Marvel has a ton of powerful, world-ending villains at its disposal. Naturally, it needs to keep some of them in their back pocket if they want the MCU to keep going for years on end, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Annihilus squeaked into Phase 6 of the MCU. 

For those unfamiliar, Annihilus is one of Marvel’s villains that’s even scarier than Thanos. He’s the insectoid ruler of the Negative Zone, and when he gets out, he simply wants to destroy everything in his path. That was the case in the “Annihilation” storyline from Keith Giffen and Andrea DiVito, where he and his army destroy entire planets. However, there’s still the little matter of how he could factor into the MCU in the immediate future. 

Right now, “Avengers: Secret Wars” is the only MCU movie confirmed to come out in 2027 (December 17, to be exact). The MCU usually releases at least two films a year, so it would make sense for something else to come out in the summer of 2027, and that slot could get filled by “Doctor Strange 3” or “Thor 5.” Annihilus would be a formidable foe in either of those films, but given his more cosmic nature, he could also factor into the upcoming “Nova” series. It doesn’t presently have a release date, but Marvel head Kevin Feige told ComicBook.com in 2024 that the “Nova” series was still “three or four years out.” That means it could hit screens in 2027, making it part of Phase 6, with Annihilus potentially making his Disney+ debut. 

“Avengers: Secret Wars” will conclude Phase 6 of the MCU, and after that, reports suggest the franchise will enter its Mutant Saga with a greater emphasis on the X-Men and mutant characters. It makes sense to keep things fresh, and the X-Men will need a powerful villain to go up against across installments. Mister Sinister would be a great pick: He hasn’t been in an X-Men movie yet, so his presence would help them feel different from what has come before. 

The MCU probably has too much on its plate right now to bring Sinister in as a proper villain. However, it would make sense to tease him a little bit. Perhaps the end of “Secret Wars” will reset the MCU to bring mutants into the franchise, seeing as how X-Men aren’t really a thing yet on Earth-616. It could establish them as a new team, and then we get a glimpse of Sinister and his plan to create the perfect organism. It’d make a solid post-credit scene to tease Mister Sinister is right around the corner, showing that “Secret Wars” may be done, but the MCU still has plenty of stories to tell.