Marvel's villains are often as interesting as their heroic foes. These multi-faceted antagonists have power and skill, able to vie with the greatest heroes around. The best of them are also weirdly charming These charismatic villains add an extra dimension to their threat. They know how to use more than just violence to get their way. They understand how to use people, how to make themselves look good, and how to command others to do their bidding.
Charismatic villains have an edge over their fellows. They can cajole and manipulate, making others believe anything they want them to, without having to use any superhuman powers.
10 Kingpin Knows The Ins And Outs Of People Like Few Others
Kingpin has commanded the criminal underworld for years. He rose to the top by being a man who had no qualms with violence, but he stayed there because he's as charismatic as they come. Kingpin knows people, as many gangsters do. He knows when violence is needed and he knows when he needs to wine and dine. He's able to do both with alacrity.
Kingpin's charisma allowed him to become mayor of New York City, making everyone forget he was just as bad as any of the other villains who'd tried to destroy the city in the past. He's a master of manipulation and using others and that's served him very well.
9 Baron Zemo's Charisma Made Him An Excellent Leader
Baron Helmut Zemo is a leader without par in the villain community. Leading villains is very different from leading heroes; they don't want to do what they're told and are champing at the bit to betray whoever is in charge. Zemo has been able to ride herd on the Masters of Evil, a group of unruly Avengers foes with nothing in common, and he's been able to make them ihugely successful
Charisma's a necessary part of Zemo's leadership. He's able to get the members of his team to go along with his wishes, using various methods, but force of personality is always a component. He's over the top and theatrical, a born leader who could herd cats if it came down to it.
8 Sebastian Shaw Built A Business Empire With His Charisma
Sebastian Shaw inherited a successful electronics business and took it to the next level. Shaw was a mutant, but his powers didn't help his business. He built his empire through intelligence and charisma. He could shmooze with the best of them and get people to invest in anything he put his name on.
Shaw's charisma was a massive part of his success, enabling him to become the head of the Hellfire Club as well as expand an empire. Shaw can politick with the best of them, as proven by his time on Krakoa's Quiet Council, and his charisma is as boundless as his wealth.
7 Apocalypse Has Spent Millennia Bringing Mutants To His Cause
Apocalypse has challenged the X-Men like few others. His mutant powers, combined with the Celestial technology he found in the distant past, make him a brutal combatant, but that's only been a part of his threat. Apocalypse has always been a charismatic mutant, able to convince others to throw in with him, to risk their lives to prove their worth and gain greater power.
Apocalypse's charisma played into that. He knew how to convince others that he was the strongest one there is and that they should listen to him, and believe what he believed. He knew how to make them into his servants and make them see the world the way he did.
6 Red Skull's A Charismatic Fascist
Red Skull devoted himself to the Nazi cause wholeheartedly, embracing evil with gusto. Charisma is very important to his whole schtick, as it is for many fascists and so-called populists. Red Skull lives in a world where the ideology he espouses was proven too weak to win. He has to get followers to come to him anyway, to believe in him, and he's an expert at that.
Red Skull learned his lessons in lying from Hitler himself. He knows how to speak to people, deceiving them into feeling wanted and needed. He knows how to make people give their lives for him, turning them against everything they used to believe in, and knows how crucial it is that they think of him and his followers as their only real family. This lets him prey on lost souls even weaker than his own.
5 Green Goblin Has Charisma To Spare
Green Goblin is an undeniably violent villain, but that doesn't change just how charismatic he is. Norman Osborn is undeniably cruel, but people like him are often magnetic. Green Goblin can operate both as a successful businessman who has it all together, who can charm anyone, and as a raging monster who would kill someone as soon as look at them.
Green Goblin was able to convince Tony Stark that he was trustworthy enough for government work, which led to him becoming the leader of the Thunderbolts and rising to the head of the Superhero Initiative. His charisma has always played a large role in his success, as a businessman and as a villain.
4 Mister Sinister Has Taken A New Approach To His Manipulations
Mister Sinister's intelligence was always the source of his threat, but in recent years he's grown beyond the cold geneticist who will do anything for knowledge. Sinister has taken on a merry persona, making jokes and playing with everyone around him. Most of his compatriots on the Quiet Council know there's something he's holding back, but that doesn't mean he isn't charismatic.
Sinister is done playing the amoral scientist. He'd rather be the merry manipulator, using others and gaining advantages any way he can. Sinister's current gregarious nature has made him more dangerous in new ways, testing those around him like never before.
3 Sabretooth Is A Magnetic Monster
Sabretooth's brutality has defined him for years, but it's merely a facet of who he is. Sabretooth loves killing more than anything else, but he's also a hedonist of the highest order. Sabretooth has drank and fought his way across the world for over a century, pulling people into his twisted web, chewing them up, and spitting them out.
Sabretooth has an animal magnetism that allows him to manipulate others into dancing to whatever tune he's playing. He's been fooling people into thinking that he wasn't the monster he really is for a long time and using that to get in close and devour them.
2 Loki Is As Smooth As Silk
Loki's been playing tricks on the people of Asgard for millennia. Being a trickster like he is takes huge reservoirs of wit and charm. Even without his magic, Loki had to be able to convince people that he was trustworthy enough to get close to them in order to play his games. His charisma, combined with his good looks and magic, has made his manipulations possible.
Loki's threat brought the Avengers together, making him one of the Marvel Universe's most important villains. The years have seen him use his charismatic nature to manipulate foes and make friends, faking sincerity or convincing others that he was the real deal when he needed to.
1 Doctor Doom Is Charisma Personified
Doctor Doom is amazing at many things. He's intelligent, a superhuman engineer, skilled with magic, and a fierce fighter. He's a great leader, as well, having led the people of Latveria in a rebellion that made him their ruler. The people of his homeland love him and they know that he loves them. Doom can be bombastic, angry, and petty, but he can also be charming.
Doom is known for his distinct way of speaking, and there's a nobility surrounding him that can draw people in. While he can turn on a dime from a charming man into an egotistical monster, he's been able to make even his enemies see things his way when he needs to.