The comics have brought up some amazing Captain America villains. And in Marvel’s own way, they have introduced most of them into the MCU. But the usage of those villains hasn’t been up to the potential they have. The Captain America Trilogy might actually be the best Superhero trilogy, but it surely hasn’t done justice to all Captain America villains.
Red Skull’s debut was amazing. He was brought back in the most surprising way in Infinity War, and we all had a bunch of theories to bring him back for some more Red Skull worthy action. But that didn’t happen. Red Skull only returned for a similar cameo in Avengers: Endgame and that was it. Red Skull & Captain America complete each other in the comics. One could say that they’re almost as iconic as Batman & the Joker. But their hero-villain relationship hasn’t been established as well as it should’ve been. In fact we feel Steve Rogers retired a little early. There was still a lot of stories that are worth telling, but it’ll all be done with The Falcon And The Winter Soldier now.
There have been so many Captain America villains that have showed up, but not all of them have got the spot light they deserve. So far we’ve seen Arnim Zola, Crossbones, Batroc the Leaper, Madame Hydra from Agents of SHIELD and Doctor Faustus from Agent Carter. Batroc the Leaper was just used for a cool action sequence in the beginning of The Winter Soldier. The same was done with Crossbones. Arnim Zola came back and he was used rather smartly. But it wasn’t a lot. And, villains like Madame Hydra & Doctor Faustus were outsourced to TV shows like Agents of SHIELD & Agent Carter. But at least they got more time to spend on screen than the likes of Baron Von Strucker.
But the biggest injustice has been done with Zemo. He has been such a great villain in the comics. He did manage to make the Avengers fight each other. But his role was bogged down as so many other MCU heroes had to be fit into Civil War. Now, Captain America is gone. We will be getting a new Captain America in the MCU. And Zemo will return to take on Sam & Bucky in the absence of Captain America.
Another villain that is coming into the MCU without Steve Rogers being there is John Walker aka US Agent. Marvel might actually do justice with Baron Zemo and John Walker now, but it’d be unfair to not see them go up against Steve Rogers like in the comics. Even more Captain America villains are probably coming in The Falcon And The Winter Soldier. All of them will be missing out on the real Captain America. Even Red Guardian didn’t really get his confrontation with Captain America.
But we have to give it for Marvel because they could only do so much with the limited number of films that the comic book characters get. And now more villains like Songbird are coming in. So far, all the villains have been rushed. Let’s hope that the new ones are done justice with even in the absence of Rogers.
Black Widow is going to kick off the future slate on May 1. Here’s how the rest of the Phase 4 slate looks like – The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in August 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, WandaVision in December 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Spider-Man 3 on July 16, 2021, Ms. Marvel in 2021, What If? In Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021. Following these are Moon Knight and She-Hulk. Black Panther 2 has been scheduled for May 6, 2022. And 7 other unannounced films have release dates for 2022 & 2023.
