Marvel is known for their superheroes, especially since the MCU made C-listers household names, but their villains are just as great. Over the years, Marvel has created all kinds of iconic villains who can match their heroic foes when it comes to power and intellect. Some of them have also become as popular as the heroes, with Marvel's A-list villains being the best of the best.

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Many of Marvel's villains have had a huge amount of influence, both at Marvel and beyond. These iconic villains have created new archetypes, or refreshed old ones. Each one has become a household name in the comic book universe, with some surpassing their heroic counterparts.

10 Ultron

Ultron smoldering with a sword in hand in Marvel Comics

Marvel has created many great evil robots, but for the majority of fans Ultron is the best. The most interesting part of Ultron is the way his twisted family dynamic sets him apart from other malevolent automatons. Many robots want to destroy humanity, but few want to do it because they hate the man who created them and coveted his "mother" so much he made a robot based on her brain.

Ultron's relationship with Hank Pym, Wasp, the Vision, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, and the rest of the Avengers is why he's such a great character. He changed the way that robotic villains could be portrayed. In many ways, he humanized them, something he himself would hate.

9 Red Skull

Red Skull taunts Captain America in a panel from Captain America White.

Nazis are basically the perfect comic book villain. They're universally hated, so dusting off some Nazi offshoot and throwing them at the heroes is always memorable. This is why Red Skull is so great. Johann Schmidt is basically the face of all Nazi villains. He's the longest surviving Nazi bad guy, and is the template for the rest of them.

The great thing about Skull is that there are so many different stories that work with him. Need an evil spymaster? Red Skull is it. A monster that isn't Thanos going after a weapon of ultimate power? Red Skull has done that. An over the top supervillain? Red Skull is the ticket. He's the villain everyone loves to hate, and he's given birth to multiple successors.

8 Kang The Conqueror

A furious Kang the Conqueror with an arm outstretched in Marvel Comics

Kang the Conqueror is the consummate time-traveling villain. First appearing as Rama-Tut, a man from the future posing as a Pharaoh, he would soon take his most recognizable mantle. As Kang the Conqueror, he became an iconic Avengers villain, even if he's had little success. Kang stories are full of bombast and time travel shenanigans, testing Earth's Mightiest Heroes like no other.

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Kang broke the mold for time travelers. He's appeared in multiple guises, from Iron Lad to Immortus, each one representing different moments in his life. He was also the first character to debut the concept of a "Council Of..." with Kangs from different times and alternate universes meeting and working together. He's the MCU's next big bad, as well, so he's only going to get more popular.

7 Sabretooth

Sabretooth insults the judge in House of X

Sabretooth has had some brutal battles over the years, most of them with Wolverine. He first appeared battling Iron Fist, but once he became Logan's greatest villain, he truly reached the next level as a villain. As time has gone on, Sabretooth has gone from a murderous brawler to a conniving monster and everything in between, including becoming a hero on several occasions.

Sabretooth influenced every one of Wolverine's villains that came after. He also brought both a harder edge to Marvel's villains, as he gleefully tried to murder everyone he could. Sabretooth was an all around unique villain for his time, and he influenced so many that came after him.

6 Green Goblin

Norman Osborn as Green Goblin grinning in Marvel Comics.

Green Goblin is a legendary Marvel villain. He's not Spider-Man's first villain, but over the years he's become a candidate for the most important. His hatred towards Peter Parker has spurred him on, and the two have had some climactic battles. His most famous moment was the death of Gwen Stacy, throwing Spider-Man's first love off the George Washington Bridge, but it was far from his last.

From the Clone Saga to the Dark Reign, Green Goblin has made some huge moves. He's also the first in a line of Goblin themed Spider-Man villains, with several people including his son Harry taking his place while he was "dead" and the various Hobgoblins. He's an A-lister in every sense of the word.

5 Galactus

Galactus with an explosion around him in Marvel Comics.

Marvel has some powerful immortals, but few have the grandeur of Galactus. The World Devourer was a different kind of villain when he debuted in Fantastic Four #48. He was beyond human ken, a being who traveled the cosmos and subsisted off the energy of planets. He was the first of Marvel's so-called "cosmic beings", beings that were Lovecraftian cosmic horror filtered through the lens of superheroes.

Galactus isn't the most powerful cosmic being, but he's definitely the most popular. Since his debut, readers have learned the truth of his origin, seen him at his lowest ebb, and as the Lifebringer. Cosmic Marvel would look entirely different without him and be a lot less interesting.

4 Thanos

Thanos enters his basement in Cosmic Powers Unlimited

Many Marvel villains have high kill counts, but few are as prolific as Thanos. The Mad Titan is a nihilist of the highest order, believing that no life in the universe ultimately matters. His love for Mistress Death is more than just an affair of the heart, but the ultimate expression of that nihilism. He rose from simple beginnings, as a C-list cosmic Marvel villain, to the top of the supervillain world.

In the comics, Infinity Gauntlet and its sequels brought him back to prominence and made him a star. He became an integral part of the Infinity Saga of the MCU, a position which made him a household name. He's considered by many to be the big bad of the Marvel Universe, a position he fits beautifully.

3 Doctor Octopus

Doctor Octopus in a menacing pose, in Superior Octopus #1 Battle Lines variant cover in Marvel Comics.

Doctor Octopus first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #3. The second villain added to his rogues gallery after the Vulture, he was the first of Spider-Man's scientist villains and the most successful. He formed and led the Sinister Six in multiple incarnations, has battled everyone from the Fantastic Four to the Avengers, and even killed Spider-Man, taking over his body to prove he was superior.

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Doc Ock is another villain that is considered in the running to be Spider-Man's top villain. He's such a wonderful villain, and has only gotten better in recent years, his time as Superior Spider-Man showing readers just how great he could be. Ock is a legend and instantly recognizable, even to the most casual of fans.

2 Magneto

Magneto fights the X-Men in Ultimatum

Some Marvel villains are motivated by love, set apart from the others because of this. Magneto is one of these, his love for mutantkind defining his struggle, although it wasn't always that way. For years, he was just another histrionic Silver Age villain, but writer Chris Claremont would add a tragic backstory that informed his hatred of humanity, making him a Holocaust survivor.

Making Magneto a sympathetic villain was the ticket to changing villains in comics forever. Magneto showed that fans could learn to love and hate villains, with Magneto eventually just becoming beloved. Since then, he's become a hero, having joined the X-Men over a decade ago, again blazing trails as a villain who reformed and hasn't gone back to villainy.

1 Doctor Doom

Doctor Doom Covered in lightning

Marvel has many cool villains, but none are as anachronistically cool as Doctor Doom. Doom is in many ways not much changed from the boisterous arrogant Silver Age villain. For any other villain that would be a death sentence for his popularity, but for some reason on him it feels right. That's not to say that Doom hasn't grown in a variety of ways, but Doom was basically perfect when he debuted. All the additions only added to that perfection.

Doom has inspired his fellow villains in a variety of ways. He's a powerful polymath, a noble man who will risk anything to meet his goals. He's been in every type of story and his hatred of Reed Richards and the FF has informed every superhero/supervillain rivalry since.

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