The Marvel Cinematic Universe has given us a wide variety of villains ranging from complex visionaries with twisted goals to those just seeking vengeance. They all have one thing in common: they all lost at least a bit of their humanity along the way. Each one of these villains became monsters, sometimes literally. While some might have redeemed themselves in their final moments, others continued to show cruelty and hate to the bitter end. They're all interesting to watch in their own way, though. In fact, you might even find yourself agreeing, at least in part, with the dreams that drove them, though that won't excuse their actions.

We're going to explore each and every one of the major villains that have appeared in the MCU's major film releases, all so we can compare them to each other and see just which of these many supervillains were real horrors and which were simply misguided at heart. For this list, we'll be taking all of their actions into account. Every act of decency, no matter how small, speaks volumes about one's character, even if it doesn't redeem them. That applies to both fictitious and non-fictitious people.

25 VULTURE

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When Adrian Toomes was first introduced to us in the opening scene of Spider-Man: Homecoming, you wouldn't immediately assume that that's who the film's main antagonist was going to be. He first appears to be an average worker, fighting so his fellow workers can keep their jobs and continue supporting their families. He seems like a goodhearted man, which makes his descent into villainy so shocking. He starts from selling alien technology and weapons illegally and finally makes that leap into monstrosity by murdering (albeit unintentionally) a thug who threatened to take down his enterprise.

That desire was still there, it just got buried beneath his growing greed.

He loves his family, that much is evident from the fact that he was moved to spare Spider-Man's life, simply because of the fact that Spidey saved Toomes' daughter, Liz. All his work, everything Toomes did, began with a simple desire: to ensure his family was provided for. That desire was still there, it just got buried beneath his growing greed, which you might argue often goes hand in hand with that kind of success. At the end of the day, Toomes still cared about the people around him. He even protected Peter Parker by refusing to share his secret identity. That counts for something.

24 LOKI

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The god of mischief was born to the king of the frost giants, Laufey, who abandoned him. He was found by Odin after the war between Asgard and Jotunheim, as shown in 2011's Thor. That led to a fairly complicated family dynamic between Loki, Thor and their father, Odin. Loki often felt overlooked and inferior to his older brother, more so when he discovered that, not only was he not of royal blood, he wasn't even really an Asgardian. It pushed him over the edge and he began to try and become something more.

Unfortunately for Loki, it isn't in his nature to be completely evil. He acts out of rage, a sense of betrayal and of course, a desire to be loved. It led him down a dark path but while he has tried to destroy entire worlds, murdered innocent people and betrayed his own brother countless times, there's still an undeniable part of the god of mischief that cares about people. He may have felt hatred toward Odin and Thor, but he cherished the love of his mother, even after he tried to distance himself from Asgard. Ultimately, not even his hate could compel him to let his brother die in Avengers: Infinity War. Loki has done horrific things, but he's far from being coldhearted. He just tries incredibly hard to bury his compassion.

23 ZEMO

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As we find out in Captain America: Civil War, Zemo commanded a Sokovian paramilitary tactical unit called EKO Scorpion. After his family was killed during Ultron's attempt at recreating a mass extinction event, Zemo set out to destroy the people he viewed as being responsible: The Avengers. He knew he couldn't face them head on, so he set out to tear them apart from within, using the Winter Soldier Program to do it. In the end, though he was caught and kept from a bloody end, he had ultimately succeeded. The Avengers had been split in two.

Zemo was determined and driven by immense pain and anger.

His years as an operative clearly hardened his heart against the trauma of taking a life, but he still showed remorse over the deaths he'd caused in his crusade against the Avengers, like that of T'Chaka. It's difficult to call Zemo coldhearted when tragedy was clearly blinding him and numbing him to such an extent that he was able to kill without hesitation. He was clinging to the memory of his family, as we could see when he listened to his wife's voice message over and over, using it to bury what compassion he had left for everyone else.

22 KILLMONGER

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N'Jadaka was a monster of Wakanda's own making. After his father, N'Jobu, was killed by T'Chaka, Killmonger took it upon himself to try and achieve his father's goal of using vibranium to liberate everyone of African descent from suffering and oppression. He educated himself, trained rigorously, allied himself with the likes of Ulysses Klaue and in the end, was able to defeat T'Challa in combat and take the throne of Wakanda. He was able to do it because he didn't allow anything to stand in his way, not even compassion.

Aside from his father, we saw how N'Jadaka seemed to care about nothing at all. He shot through his lover when she was taken hostage by Klaue without hesitation. He admitted to killing hundreds on his missions throughout Africa but while he clearly took no joy in the violence and death, he seemed to act as though it was all justified. In his mind, he was fighting to liberate billions. He was certainly coldhearted, but it seemed to be because of the tragedy that defined his youth and the pain of seeing his brothers and sisters suffering needlessly. His horrific deeds, in a twisted way, came from a place of compassion.

21 THANOS

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On a much grander scale, Thanos proved to be another villain who sought to liberate the innocent. In committing mass genocide across the universe, Thanos was restoring balance. As he described it to Gamora in Avengers: Infinity War, the universe and its resources are finite. If life grows uncontrollably, it will destroy itself. Sacrificing half a population allows a planet to prosper. No one has to starve or want for anything. That's the idyllic world he aimed to create.

For that world, Thanos was willing to do anything, including shedding the blood of billions. But he certainly didn't seem to enjoy any of it.

The moment in which he showed the most heart was when he had to sacrifice Gamora for the Soul Stone. He stood silent, hesitant as anyone would be in that position. It indicated that this isn't something he wants to do, it's something he genuinely believes must be done if life in the universe is to continue. It's why we don't see him take part in cruelty unless it's absolutely necessary, like when he turned a young Gamora away from the massacre behind her. Ensuring balance can seem cruel and while his cause might seem noble at its core, his willingness to eliminate life, which he knows is precious, definitely makes him coldhearted.

20 NEBULA

Nebula-Guardians-of-the-Galaxy-2

The cybernetic daughter of Thanos first appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy alongside her sister Gamora. She quickly proved herself to be the more brutal, coldhearted killer out of the two. Where Gamora readily showed compassion when she could, Nebula showed that she was ready to spill blood the moment anyone got in her way. As we found out in the film's sequel, Nebula hadn't always been that way. She was slowly turned into the cybernetic monster by Thanos, who wanted to turn her into a capable assassin.

Once Nebula had her eyes set on a target, there was very little that could stop her. The Guardians learned that when they fought her on the Dark Aster, Ronan's ship. They couldn't kill her and they were unable to sway her. She didn't care if Xandar was completely destroyed, she only cared about killing Gamora and Thanos. However, when she found the Guardians again on Ego's planet in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, she proved to be much softer than previously thought. Beneath all that coldhearted rage, there was someone who just wanted the affection her sister received. Even after reconciling with Gamora, began to show more and more emotion which is surprising, but a great sign for the future, assuming she survives.

19 ULTRON

Ultron-MCU

You'd think that this mechanical nightmare would be at the top of the list since he seemed both figuratively and literally coldhearted, but the truth is a little more complex. Ultron was created from code derived from the Mind Stone, housed in Loki's scepter as Ultron revealed in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Ultron's purpose was to maintain peace and order and to that end, he sought to create a catastrophe -- using Sokovia as a meteor-- which he believed would force the world to evolve or face extinction.

Even though he had access to all kinds of information, Ultron was willing to wipe out the vast majority of humans for the benefit of humankind.

He did this hoping that in the end "the only thing living in this world... will be metal." That doesn't mean he felt absolutely nothing. He hated Tony Stark with a passion and he hated the Avengers for what they stood for but he seemed to show genuine concern and compassion for Wanda and Pietro, up until the very end when Wanda tore his metallic heart out. He's clearly a complicated character and while his enemies might see that coldhearted side of him, his allies are exposed to someone vastly different.

18 WHIPLASH

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The opening scene of Iron Man 2 seemed to be unveiling a villain we could understand and for the most part, Whiplash was understandable. His father was seemingly cheated by Howard Stark, left penniless and in poor health, so Ivan Vanko sought to avenge his father's death by venting his rage on the only Stark left. He knew he couldn't take on Iron Man by himself, so he created weapons of his own in the form of electrified whips powered by an arc reactor, based on the technology his father developed with Howard Stark.

He was reckless and coldblooded in his pursuit of Tony Stark. He killed readily and without hesitation, as we saw when he murdered his prison double without pause. Then there was his attack on the Stark Expo during his his drones fired indiscriminately at anyone in general proximity of their target or apparently anyone who even slightly resembled their target, like the little boy we now know to be young Peter Parker. He may have cared for people once upon a time but as we saw him, there was no warmth or compassion left in that heart of his. He's surprisingly more coldhearted than quite a few of the MCU's more lethal villains.

17 YELLOWJACKET

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Darren Cross was obsessed with Hank Pym's work and wanted nothing more than to prove his old mentor wrong for hiding the Pym Particle from him and see Hank fall. Cross was a scientist and a businessman and his ruthless, reckless personality aided him in his work. Those qualities, mixed with his seemingly deteriorating mental stability and the power of the Yellowjacket suit, created an incredibly dangerous foe.

Cross proved himself to be exactly the kind of monster Hank Pym was trying to prevent by keeping the Pym Particles to himself.

Cross clearly placed little value on life. We saw that when he coldly used lambs for his experiments with the Pym particle, feeling nothing when they turned to mush. In fact, Cross willingly did the same to one of his senior executives, Frank, when the latter began to question Cross' results. He may have shown genuine compassion and respect for Hope and Hank-- even after he found out that they were his enemies-- but none of that makes him seem any less coldhearted. His coldheartedness worsened after his first battle with Ant-Man. He showed no regret and no hesitation when it came to taking Scott's daughter hostage. When she called him a monster, he almost seemed to embrace that perception.

16 KAECILIUS

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There's much more to this villain's story than what we're presented with in Doctor Strange, but we'll be judging Kaecilius purely from everything we saw and heard in the film. When he was introduced to us, he beheaded the librarian of Kamar-Taj so he was free to steal a spell from the Book of Cagliostro. The spell would allow him to connect this dimension with the dark dimension and bring Dormammu to Earth. He wasn't doing it to hurt anyone, he though he was doing it so life could be without end.

His determination blinded him and he became too sure of himself and his goal. In his mind, the lives he ended were each a minuscule price to pay for the chance to give immortality to everyone in the world. It's a noble cause and we would give him credit for being compassionate at heart, were it not for the fact that he showed absolutely no remorse for the pain he caused or for the lives he took. He never searched for another way, he just killed because it was the most direct course of action. He may have been trying to benefit the world in his own twisted way, but he clearly went about it with a cold, cold heart.

15 ALEXANDER PIERCE

Alexander Pierce leading Hydra in Captain America: Winter Soldier.

When your a figure with authority and power, the world may seem smaller and much more fragile. That's the impression we got from Alexander Pierce in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, who was ready to sacrifice twenty millions lives to provide security for seven billion. That's what he aimed to do with Project Insight, which used three helicarriers to eliminate threats to HYDRA's covert regime. Thankfully, Pierce was stopped by Captain America, Black Widow, Falcon and Nick Fury before any innocents (that we know of) could get hurt.

Logically, it makes sense, but it takes a different kind of psychopathic monster to make that choice without any kind of hesitation or regret.

Keep in mind that those 20 million people were just high-risk personalities. None of them were certain to disrupt HYDRA's plan of global domination. He clearly didn't care about the people he was "sacrificing," he just cared about ensuring his goals were achieved. Life meant almost nothing to him and we saw that when he shot his housekeeper, Renata, in cold blood and showed the bare minimum amount of regret. No attempt at finding a different solution, just coldblooded murder. It's no surprise that betraying those he once called friends, such as Nick Fury, came easily to him.

14 THE GRANDMASTER

Jeff-Goldblum-Grandmaster

The eccentric Grandmaster is the ruler of Sakaar, the hostile world where slaves are made to battle in the Contest of Champions. All of the pleasure of the tyrannical Grandmaster. Thor found this out in Thor: Ragnarok when he was captured by Valkyrie and forced to battle in the arena against none other than Hulk. He's seemingly immortal, claiming to be at least 14 million years old, due to the passage of time differing greatly on Sakaar from elsewhere. Having lived such a long life, the Grandmaster is interested in little more than seeking hedonistic pleasure.

He definitely seems like the friendly, warm sort of person but don't let his demeanor fool you. He's a coldhearted ruler who seems to take pleasure in death and violence. We saw that when he executed Carlo after telling him that he would be spared. As it turns out, the Grandmaster meant he was sparing Carlo from life. It's funny to him to completely disintegrate people and it doesn't bother him that his world is run using slaves, though he doesn't like that term, which indicates that he cares about life to an extent, just not enough to actually cherish it. He clearly places himself and his pleasure above everything around him.

13 THE BLACK ORDER

Avengers Infinity War Loki With Children of Thanos Black Order

Yes, since none of the members of Thanos' gang of minions were ever given a chance to develop beyond their roles within the group, we're going to be judging them as a whole. For the most part, the Black Order show no real emotion. They can stand amidst a massacre and continue showing nothing but passive content with what they've done. We saw this on the Sakaaran ship in Avengers: Infinity War and during their attack on Earth. Ebony Maw seemed the cruellest of them, prepared and practiced in torture as evidenced by the tools he had prepared on his ship.

The only members of the Black Order that showed more than just rage were Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive in the train station.

When Corvus was skewered by Black Widow, Midnight rushed to his side, ready to defend him against the rest of Cap's Avengers. They may not care at all about the world around them or anyone in it, but it cannot be said that the members of the Black Order do not at the very least, care deeply about each other. They proved that they can be heartless for sure, but they're far from the MCU's most coldhearted villains.

12 ALDRICH KILLIAN

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As described by Tony Stark in Iron Man 3, Aldrich Killian wasn't always a bad guy. When he first met Stark in Switzerland in 1999, Killian seemed to be just a fellow intellectual, trying to find a partner with which to create and explore. Stark's arrogance and the darkness of suicidal thought pushed Killian down a new path, one on which he would create terrifying biological weapons under project Extremis with the help of Maya Hansen. Eventually, he tested it on himself and it cured the physical disability that afflicted him. It also gave him regenerative abilities, incredible strength and the ability to spit fire.

The humble Killian that sought Tony's help, died on the rooftop in Switzerland. The man who emerged was ruthless, powerful and completely heartless. He didn't care about the test subjects that perished, he only cared that his project had failed. When it succeeded, he used it to further his own agenda and own the War on Terror. There wasn't anyone he was not prepared to kill to succeed. He was ready to kill Pepper Potts by experimenting on her, he was more than willing to kill Maya Hansen despite her knowledge and he spared no thought for the countless others who had died working for him or those who would die because of him. At the very end, it seemed a part of him actually enjoyed it, evidenced by the way he mocked Tony Stark after the latter thought he had lost Pepper. That's the kind of behavior you see, almost exclusively, from the coldest hearts.

11 JUSTIN HAMMER

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Stark Industries was innovative and offered a lot to the public but that doesn't mean they completely dominated the market. Their competitor, Hammer Industries, was a threat in more ways than one. Not only were they trying to develop Iron Man suits of their own for military use, CEO Justin Hammer broke Ivan Vanko out of prison for his expertise and for the fact that they shared a common enemy.

Hammer may not have personally hurt anyone, but he was just as ruthless and as coldhearted as anyone on this list.

Despite the fact that Ivan Vanko was a convicted criminal thirsting for blood, Hammer opted to free him anyway, driven purely by greed and a need to upstage Stark. He put his pride before anything else, even human life. The moment Vanko failed him, Hammer was ready to have him killed. Human life didn't concern him. When the drones began attacking the Stark Expo, he was still making sarcastic quips and though he seemed furious, his rage was due to the fact that he'd been betrayed rather than the fact that his drones were killing people outside. He's a businessman through and through, without any humanity to go with it.

10 ABOMINATION

The Abomination in the streets

Throughout The Incredible Hulk, we're never shown any aspect of Emil Blonsky other than the soldier. For the most part, that seems to be who he is. He tells General Ross about how he turned down promotions because he wanted to keep fighting. He longed to stay in the fight, which is what drew him to Ross' super soldier serum-based project. Over time, Blonsky's newfound strength and abilities caused his mind to grow unstable until finally, after becoming the Abomination, there was very little humanity left in him.

We see Blonsky gradually turn from a dedicated soldier to a coldhearted beast. He attacks a fellow soldier in Samuel Sterns' lab before brutally threatening Sterns and forcing him to give him the same gamma affliction that Banner has. Once he becomes the monster, he begins a purposeless rampage in Harlem, killing civilians and soldiers alike simply because he wanted to enjoy his new strength and power. He didn't want it to change the world in any way, he just wanted to have that power for its own sake, which is why we could see him completely ignoring the fleeing civilians around him as well as many of the bullets that were fired at him. None of it mattered anymore. The only thing that mattered to him in the final act, was his rematch with the Hulk, where he could prove himself. At the very least, Blonsky never masked his intentions.

9 IRON MONGER

Iron Monger in the MCU

For most of these villains, emotional distance from others made it easier to act as they did. That's where Obadiah Stane distinguishes himself. He was a friend and business partner to both Tony Stark and his father. For years, Stane helped run Stark Industries, supporting Tony and maintaining the legacy that Howard left behind. As it turns out, that friendship meant nothing and he was willing to destroy it to escape his place on the sidelines. He formed an alliance with the terrorist group The Ten Rings with the expectation that they would kill Tony. When things didn't go as planned, Stane made his agenda known and attempted to eliminate Stark himself, using the Iron Monger suit, powered by Stark's arc reactor.

Iron Monger is clearly coldhearted because despite the years of friendship, he felt nothing toward the Stark family.

All the support and concern only ever stemmed from greed and self-interest. Nowhere in Iron Man was that clearer than in the final act, when Stane ambushes Stark in the latter's mansion using the sonic taser and goes on to monologue in true supervillain fashion, revealing his intention and his true feelings about the Stark family tearing the arc reactor out from Tony's chest. Keep in mind that this is someone Obadiah had known for decades, since Tony was just a young man. But he had no qualms about killing him for the sake of money and weapons.

8 MALEKITH

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This supervillain is the oldest in the MCU. Malekith the Accursed was born in the darkness that existed before the universe and sought to use the Aether (or the Reality Stone) to plunge the universe back into the that darkness. After invading Asgard in Thor: The Dark World, Malekith came close to success by using the Aether during the Convergence of the Spheres. Luckily, Thor was able to vanquish the dark elf with the help of Jane Foster and Erik Selvig.

Malekith's contempt for Asgard and for humans was clear in the way his dark elves readily left a path of destruction in their wake. The dark elf showed some amount of compassion for his brethren, as we could see when he thanked his lieutenant for his sacrifice in becoming Kurse. He also showed remorse when he sacrificed his dark elf soldiers on Svartalfheim in order to ensure that his Asgardian foes suffered as much as possible in that battle. There was no clever tactic being employed there. It made no sense from a strategic perspective, and that's where Malekith proves that at his core, he's simply a cruel and ruthless being. He's coldhearted because even though there's no real reason for his desire to destroy the universe, he's willing to sacrifice all life to do it.

7 ULYSSES KLAUE

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The arms dealer that was introduced to us in Avengers: Age of Ultron didn't seem to change at all between his experience with Ultron and his capture by Everett Ross in Black Panther. In both appearances, Klaue only ever acted to drive his business forward. He sold weapons, stole artifacts and murdered people all in the name of profits. As far as complex characters go, Klaue is on the lower, simpler end of that spectrum. His motivations are clear and so is the fact that he enjoys the life he lives quite a lot. You can see that in the way that he very rarely shows anything other than joy.

To Klaue, there was only money and the pleasure he could afford with it.

From his confrontation with Wanda and Pietro in Avengers: Age of Ultron, it was clear that Klaue never feared anyone. He made jokes and refused to take them seriously. When Ultron appeared, he still seemed fairly relaxed, even before he received billions in payment. When he was being interrogated in Black Panther, he still maintained that persona. It was clear that life -- even his own life -- meant very little. The threat of death was something he almost seemed to enjoy. Few other things could explain why he laughed in the face of certain death and why he was able to give one of the staff at the museum hope of escape when really he intended to end his life. To Klaue, there was only money and the pleasure he could afford with it. It made him a dangerous, almost completely heartless opponent.

6 CROSSBONES

Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow aka Crossbones in Captain America: Civil War

Unbeknown to anyone save for the members of HYDRA, Brock Rumlow was a sleeper agent in S.H.I.E.L.D, working alongside Captain America and Black Widow until the secret organization was ready to strike. That time came after Captain America returned from his investigation into HYDRA and Project Insight was about to launch in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Immediately, Rumlow made his allegiance known by holding one of the technicians at gunpoint and forcing him to launch the Project Insight helicarriers. He faced defeat when he failed to escape a falling building after his fight with Falcon, but he survived and returned for a chance at revenge in Captain America: Civil War.

We never find out whether or not he just enjoyed the violence or if he genuinely believed in everything HYDRA was trying to do. Either way, he proved that he was a coldhearted villain. Not only did he willingly engage in what would have been the causeless execution of millions, but he was willing to kill his own men as he did in Civil War when, in an attempt to kill Black Widow, he tossed a grenade into a truck with two of his own men still inside. That's coldblooded villainy right there.