The Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps on growing and in 2018 we will finally get to see the long-awaited Avengers: Infinity War movie. The main villain of the movie, and of the MCU, Thanos will be taking a trip to Earth in pursuit of the Infinity Stones. The Mad Titan apparently grew tired of waiting around on his giant throne and decided to descend to Earth himself and go after what he most desires. Thanos, was first seen in the first Avengers movie back in 2012 and has had a presence in the MCU ever since. Of course, Thanos is far from being the only villain the MCU heroes have faced.

Over the years, a number of bad guys with sinister plans have crossed paths with our heroes. However, the MCU is often criticized for having uncompelling and weak villains, with a lot of people arguing that the villains are actually MCU's weakest link. This criticism is mostly geared towards movie villains, while the Netflixverse villains mostly occupy a very special place in the hearts of the fans. But whether they like a villain or not, fans absolutely love making memes about them, and we found the 17 most hilarious MCU villains memes.

17 EYE SHADOW

Hela Winter Soldier

In Captain America: Winter Soldier we witnessed Bucky catch Cap’s shield and in Thor: Ragnarok we saw Hela catch and break Thor’s hammer. Now, if you ever wondered how they managed to accomplish such feats, we finally have the answer for you. It turns out the secret origin of their power is the dark eye shadow.

According to this hilarious meme, all you need to do to in order to catch a weapon is put on some dark eye shadow. Research confirms, dark eye shadow increases your chances of catching a weapon by 100%. Perhaps if someone had let Quicksilver in on the secret he could have caught those bullets the way a speedster is supposed to and not die after just one movie appearance.

16 THOR VS. LOKI

Thor Loki Meme

A brotherly rivalry has never hurt anyone right? Well, depends on who you ask. We know at least one God of Thunder who would disagree. Loki basically dedicated his life to making Thor's life impossible. But even with all the horrible things he's ever done, we know what hurt the God of Thunder most.

It seldom happens that the villain of the movie is more popular than the hero. While good villains usually are pretty popular, it doesn't often happen that their popularity surpasses that of the hero. But Loki has done it. Even though his brother has all the makings of being a favorite among fangirls, Loki pretty much stole his brother's thunder. Whoops... it's safe to say the God of Mischief crossed a line.

15 ELVES GONE BAD

Lord Of The Rings MCU Villains

Apparently, the MCU loves to borrow actors from the Lord of the Rings movies. Especially those who have portrayed elves. In Captain America: The First Avenger actor Hugo Weaving, Elrond from Lord of the Rings, played villain Red Skull. The Guardians of the Galaxy villain was portrayed by actor Lee Pace who played Thranduil in The Hobbit. And Cate Blanchett who played Hela in Thor: Ragnarok, used to play Galadriel in Lord of the Rings.

The fans noticed this trend and, of course, decided to meme about it. It appears that when these elves go bad, they go all out. In the words of Batman’s arch nemesis Joker, this comedian has found the perfect way to describe what happens to the Lord of the Rings elves if they happen to live long enough.

14 MR. POPULARITY

Tom Hiddleston Loki

Playing the hero of a story is a surefire way to get a lot of supporters. Generally speaking, people like heroes. We're drawn to stories about superheroes defeating the villains and saving the day. However, a good villain can become equally popular as the hero, or even more so in some cases. Loki is one of the most popular villains in recent history. Tom Hiddleston first appeared as Loki in the 2011 Thor movie and has become one of the most beloved characters in the MCU.

In fact, Hiddleston and his character, the villainous Loki, are much more popular than most of the heroes in the Avengers and beyond. This hilarious meme pokes fun at the fact that Loki is much more popular than his hero brother Thor.

13 BEST NEW ARTIST

Ultron Metal

Most villains have an end in sight. Something they strive to achieve. Whether it's conquering the world or the universe, destroying the hero, obtaining an object of value or whatever. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the villain had a pretty straightforward plan. The artificial intelligence peacekeeping program created by Tony Stark called Ultron got "slightly" out of control and set out to destroy the human race in order to ensure peace on Earth, leaving only metal in his wake.

In one of his most memorable lines, Ultron proclaims that once he's done "the only thing living in this world will be metal." His ominous message was taken out of context by fans who created hilarious memes depicting Ultron as an old school heavy metal artist.

12 HELA CRAZY LOOK

Galadriel Hela Meme

Hela’s crazy look in Thor: Ragnarok was based on the character’s look from the comics. Cate Blanchett did an awesome job portraying the character and pretty much everyone loved Hela. But years before taking on the role of Goddess of Death, Blanchett established a huge fanbase as Galadriel in Lord of the Rings.

Someone out there, who just happens to be a fan of Marvel movies, Lord of the Rings and Samurai Jack, noticed a very interesting correlation. This hilarious meme seems to suggest that Hela’s look was created by combining Galadriel with the Samurai Jack villain Aku. We have to admit, Hela really does look like a female version of Aku. But given that Aku is the Master of Darkness it does kind of make sense.

11 THANOS WHO?

Kilgrave

The MCU is praised for many things and rightfully so. However, the one thing that fans feel could use some work are the villains. Over the years, Marvel has introduced a plethora of villains both in their movies as well as on their TV shows. Yet, a very select few of these bad guys were scary the way a good villain should be.

One guy who probably won’t be criticized for being too nice or not twisted enough is Jessica Jones’ Kilgrave. Portrayed by former Doctor Who David Tennant, Kilgrave is probably the guy all of us fear the most. Don’t let his fragile physique fool you, because this sadistic mind-controlling SOB will stop at nothing to get what he wants. While Thanos may be the biggest purple man in the MCU, he’s in no way the scariest.

10 ANGER ISSUES

Hela Mad

Thor: Ragnarok introduced us to Hela Odinsdottir, former Asgardian Goddess of Death and Execution or Asgard. Hela is the first daughter of Odin, who imprisoned her in Hel for millennia after realizing the magnitude of her powers. After Odin’s death, Hela came back, had a little chat with her younger brothers, destroyed Thor’s hammer like it was made out of thin glass and decided to take over Asgard.

But aside from being tough-as-nails and looking incredibly cool, Hela has the coolest name ever. Of course, with a name like Hela you can’t expect people not to make puns around it. For example, after Hela’s rampage all over Asgard, an anonymous internet comedian created this hilarious meme perfectly describing the Goddess of Death with a pun involving her awesome name.

9 VILLAINY 101

Loki Ultron Helmut Zemo

Defeating the Avengers is no easy task, as proven by the fact that thus far only one MCU villain has been able to come close to reigning victorious over this powerful group of superheroes. In the first Avengers film, Loki had an army at his disposal and yet he lost to the Avengers. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the mighty Ultron created an army for himself but still couldn’t stand up to Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

However, Helmut Zemo, the villain of Captain America: Civil War, didn’t need an army or a bunch of high-tech robots. All Colonel Zemo had on his disposal, and all he needed to break up the Avengers, was a book and a video recording. Guess it's true what they say a pen is mightier than a sword... well, close enough.

8 GOOD GUY KINGPIN

Daredevil Kingpin

Daredevil season three is set to be released sometime this year. It has been announced that Vincent D’Onofrio will be reprising his role as Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin. Fisk first appeared in season one and immediately became everyone’s favorite MCU villain at the time. D’Onofrio’s portrayal of the character is very enjoyable to watch and the fans are excited to see him again in season three.

When the character was introduced in season one, we got to see all sides of him. The villainous crime lord Kingpin, as well as the philanthropic businessman Wilson Fisk. Fans noticed that, when he’s not Kingpin, Fisk tries very hard to present himself as a nice guy. Fisk’s outbursts of kindness inspired many to create hilarious memes such as this one.

7 THE ODD ONE OUT

MCU Villains Meme

The villains of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are often criticized for not being interesting enough or challenging enough for the heroes to present a valid threat. However, this doesn’t mean that all MCU villains are horrible. In fact, all of us can probably think of a number of MCU villains we genuinely liked. That being said, there’s one MCU villain who probably won’t be making many favorite lists.

Iron Man 3’s confusing villain the Mandarin was played by Ben Kingsley, but not really since it turned out Guy Pearce, who played Aldrich Killian, was in fact the real Mandarin. This plot twist rubbed too many people the wrong way and the Mandarin was permanently marked as the most hated MCU villain, just like the meme suggests.

6 TAKE NOTES

Netflix Villains

The MCU may be all connected but it can clearly be divided into subdivisions. This becomes glaringly obvious once you take a closer look at the Netflix shows, now referred to as the Netflixverse. Unlike the big budget Marvel movies, shows like Daredevil and Jessica Jones are much more concise and operate on a smaller scale. The platform also allows these shows to be a lot darker. But most importantly, according to a number of fans, these shows have much better villains.

The person behind this meme clearly thinks that the MCU movies could learn a lot from villain such as Kingpin or Kilgrave. While the Netflix heroes may not be saving the Earth or the Universe, they are still facing much more compelling villains than their big screen colleagues.

5 ALL IN THE FAMILY

Odin Thor Hela Loki

With family members like these, who needs real enemies? As if the poor God of Thunder didn’t have enough family drama with his mischievous younger brother Loki constantly causing trouble, in Thor: Ragnarok he found out he has an even more sinister older sister.

You know when you misbehave and your parents send you to your room? Well, Hela was so bad her dad had to send her to Hel instead. Apparently, Odin just couldn’t deal with his problematic daughter in any other way. Someone noticed that Odin’s family resembles a family from a sitcom. A struggling single-dad trying his best to raise three of his teenage children, all of which have their own little problems. Well, at least Thor's not causing Odin any trouble.

4 FATHER THANOS

Thanos Gamora Nebula

It seems we tend to forget that villains are people too. Just like the rest of us they were once children, they played with toys, opened Christmas presents, gone through puberty, fell in love, got married, had children of their own and did all the same things that we've done. They weren’t always bad. Take Thanos for example. While he may be a monstrous mass-murdering planet-destroying mad titan to us, there are those who see the other side of him.

To Gamora and Nebula, the Mad Titan Thanos is father Thanos. So, next time you see Thanos and think to yourself "he’s such a horrible being" remember that, while this is true, Thanos is also someone’s dad who likes to read newspaper with his morning cup of coffee.

3 BEST I CAN DO IS ONE INFINITY STONE

Thanos

There’s a lot going on on this image. But let’s start at the beginning. This meme is obviously a reference to the famous Snickers commercial with Betty White. A meme that has been overused by now but can still surprise us every once in a while. The reason this Snickers Hungry Meme works is the very last frame.

There are lots of memes out there comparing the Mad Titan Thanos to the Pawn Stars’ host Rick Harrison, who’s notorious for being very stingy when negotiating with customers and has become a meme too. The comedian behind this meme combined these two memes. We have to admit, it’s hard to deny that Thanos indeed bears a striking resemblance to Rick. Perhaps we should try negotiating a peace treaty with Thanos.

2 ALL IT TAKES...

Ultron

When we were growing up our parents were constantly warning us about the dangers of the internet. They saw the internet as this horrible place nothing good could ever come out of. And while it is true that the internet can indeed be a terrible place, it is also a source of some pretty entertaining, educational, funny and awesome stuff. Unfortunately though, Ultron did not come across that lighter side of the world wide web, or if he did it wasn't nearly enough.

After spending a few minutes online, Ultron was so understandably disgusted by the human race that he decided that the world would be much better of if us humans weren't around anymore. Well, at least we're able to laugh about the whole thing.

1 KING LOKI

King Loki

It’s important to have goals in life -- something you aspire to. When we were just children most of us had already picked out our dream jobs. Some wanted to be police officers, others wanted to be doctors and so on. Loki too has always had a dream. The God of Mischief’s only true desire is to be King of Asgard. Something he has stated on a number of occasions, but continues to elude him.

Poor Loki just hasn’t had the best of luck and something always gets in the way of his royal aspirations. During his latest attempt to become King of Asgard his brother Thor unmasked him pretty quickly and after he tried to betray Thor once again he was dealt with promptly. And it seems like Loki won’t get his dream job after all, given that Asgard is no more.