One of the many things Marvel Studios accomplished in its magnum opus,Avengers: Endgame, was the transition of the Captain America mantle. In one of the film’s best scenes,an older Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) appears, with the iconic shield in tow, to pass the mantle to his close friend and partner, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie). Now, after a Disney+ television show, Sam Wilson is finally poised to begin his big-screen reign as Captain America.
Every hero is mostly judged by their villains. Their ability to physically and morally overcome their opponents helps to better characterize their heroism. Ahead of the release ofCaptain America: Brave New World, it seems appropriate to take one final look back on the Steve Rogers trilogy, most especially his villain gallery. From one-off physical opponents to villains that challenged Steve on intellectual and moral grounds,these are the MCU’s best Captain America villains. This list will rank them based on how prominent they were and how much of a challenge they posed for the Star Spangled Man.
7Georges Batroc (Georges St. Pierre)
Appeared in ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’
By the start of Steve Rogers' second solo outing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he had settled into his role as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent following the events of 2012’sThe Avengers.Captain America: The Winter Soldierstarts with Steve Rogers and fellow Avenger and S.H.I.E.L.D. operative Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) on a mission to rescue S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives from a hijacked vessel.
The hijack is led by Georges Batroc, an Algerian mercenary and pirate portrayed by former mixed martial artistGeorges St-Pierre. Batroc is a former French Secret Service agent highly skilled at hand-to-hand combat. Unfortunately, with only appearing in this fight scene at the start ofThe Winter Soldier, Batroc isnot as memorable as other villains. However, the scene’s excellent fight choreography confirmed, very early on, the change in the tone and feel of the film and laid the groundwork for what theRusso Brotherswould do with Captain America.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
6Brock Rumlow/Crossbones (Frank Grillo)
Appeared in ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ and ‘Captain America: Civil War’
Another character who made his debut in the 2014 film was Brock Rumlow, portrayed byFrank Grillo. In the film, Rumlow is the commander of S.H.I.E.L.D’s anti-terror taskforce, S.T.R.I.K.E. After Steve Rogers becomes wanted by S.H.I.E.L.D., Rumlow and his team are tasked with bringing him in. The film later reveals that Rumlow and several members of his S.T.R.I.K.E. team are HYDRA double agents.
Rumlow also perfectlyexhibited the more tactile, hand-to-hand nature of the film. This approach is most clearly represented in thenow famous elevator scenebetween him, some of his agents and Steve Rogers. After the film’s final fight and a little thing of a Helicarrier crashing into him, Rumlow becomes a mercenary for hire and adopts the moniker Crossbones. It is through these mercenary dealings that he eventually crosses paths again with Captain America and The Avengers inCaptain America: Civil War, leading to his explosive death.
5Red Skull
Appeared in ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’
Perhaps Captain America’s most well-known villain from comics lore,Hugo Weaving’sRed Skullwas the primary villain in Steve Rogers' origin story,Captain America: The First Avenger.Red Skull, real name Johann Schmidt, served as Adolf Hitler’s head of advanced weaponry and commander of HYDRA before and during the Second World War. With ambitions set for the top Nazi job, Schmidt experiments with the same serum that created Captain America, resulting in a disfigured red face and his descriptive moniker.
While a loathsome individual, Red Skull’s most important contribution ishis stark difference to Steve Rogers. Whereas they’re both results of the same experiment, Steve Rogers represents the best in humanity and the admirable qualities of selflessness and honor. These qualities stand in contrast to theblind ambition and selfless nature of Red Skull. The dichotomy between both characters helps to characterize Steve Rogers as the ideal hero, which was especially important in his MCU debut.
Captain America: The First Avenger
4S.H.I.E.L.D.
“This isn’t freedom; this is fear.” After waking up 70 years in the future and following the devastating events of 2012’sThe Avengers, Steve Rogers joined S.H.I.E.L.D. underDirector Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). However, his idealistic principles would regularly clash with Fury’s more cynical approach to governance and security. This clash was crystalized with Project Insight.
The S.H.I.E.L.D program was designed to identify potential security threats and preemptively eliminate them. While Nick Fury saw this as a necessary step to ensure the world’s security in an ever-changing threat landscape, Steve Rogers recognized the project’sinfringement on essential human libertiesand protested against its deployment. With the revelation inThe Winter Soldierthat HYDRA had been rebuilding their ranks within S.H.I.E.L.D., Steve saw and took the opportunity to not only finally eradicate HYDRA but also take downS.H.I.E.L.D and its burgeoning authoritarian ideologies. Corruption is a crucial theme of the Rogers trilogy, and no institution embodies it better than S.H.I.E.L.D.
3Arnim Zola
Appeared in ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ and ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’
Arnim Zola (Toby Jones) was a biochemist recruited by Red Skull in 1934 to be a lead scientist for HYDRA and work on the Tesseract. He dutifully served Red Skull before and during the war but was captured by the Howling Commandos close to the end of the War. If this was the end of Zola’s story, he may have proven an underwhelming villain. However, following the end of the war, he was recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. as part of thereal-life Operation Paperclip.
In the newly formed organization, Zola used his position torebuild HYDRA in the shadows of S.H.I.E.L.D.Additionally, his experiments on Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) during the war resulted in Bucky surviving his near-death experience and led tothe creation of The Winter Soldier. Through Zola’s efforts and The Winter Soldier’s enhancements, HYDRA was able to manipulate socio-political events from the shadows. As his body began to fail him, Zola uploaded his consciousness into a computer system before his death in 1972. From there, Zola continued to aid HYDRA’s efforts until Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff destroyed his system in 2014’sCaptain America: The Winter Soldier.
2Alexander Pierce
Marvel took the bold and fresh route of making Steve Rogers' second solo outing as close to a political thriller as a superhero film could be. In line with this, they made the smart decision of making the film’s primary villain a HYDRA double agent turned bureaucrat. In a string of excellent decisions, they castthe legendaryRobert Redford, an icon of classic political thrillers, as the villainous Alexander Pierce.
After being disillusioned by international diplomacy, Pierce was recruited by HYDRA and quickly rose among their ranks within the United States Government and eventually became the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.Pierce exemplifies the insidious nature of government corruption. A staunch and violent defender of HYDRA’s loathsome ideals, Pierce’s rise to the highest levels of government depicts the ease at which the corrupt can gain influence when the best of us lose vigilance.
1Helmut Zemo
Appeared in ‘Captain America: Civil War’
In a film of Avengers in-fighting and multiple differing points of view,Daniel Brühl’s Helmut Zemo is simultaneously the most overlooked andthe most effective of the film’s many antagonists. After losing his family in the Battle of Sokovia in 2015’sAvengers: Age of Ultron, Zemo embarks on a mission to destroy the Avengers. However, he recognizes his inability to defeat them physically, instead creating a plan to sow discord within their ranks. By framingSebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnesfor an explosion at the United Nations, he lures Bucky, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark to Siberia, where he reveals the truth that Bucky Barnes, as The Winter Soldier, killed Tony’s parents.
Zemo stands asSteve Rogers' greatest villain thanks to the efficiency of his plan. Not only was he able to divide the two leaders of the Avengers, but his plans led toa years-long fracture of Earth’s most powerful team. Zemo’s actions would have a far-reaching impact beyond what he could have ever imagined because with the Avengers broken up and their members separated around the world, they were ill-prepared to combat the threat of Thanos inAvengers: Infinity War.A villain rarely succeeds in the MCU, but inCivil War, Zemo showed that you didn’t need strength to defeat Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
Captain America: Civil War
NEXT:Every Captain America Movie and Show in the MCU, Ranked
