{"id":180298,"date":"2025-12-12T05:50:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T05:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/180298\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T05:50:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T05:50:08","slug":"5-villains-im-most-excited-about-joining-the-mcu-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/180298\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Villains I’m Most Excited About Joining the MCU in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Marvel Cinematic Universe<\/a> is gearing up for a terrific 2026, with multiple major projects lined up to bring the Multiverse Saga to a thrilling conclusion. It’s a less packed year next year, with only two films, three live-action series, and one Special Presentation. Still, 2026 is bound to be one of the best years for the MCU in recent memory.<\/p>\n

2026 will see several highly anticipated projects in the MCU, from the second season of Daredevil: Born Again to the long-awaited Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Of course, the year culminates with Avengers: Doomsday, which kicks off the end of the Multiverse Saga. In the coming projects, audiences will meet several brand-new villains whose arrivals will push the heroes farther than ever before. From gangsters who battle on the street level to multiversal threats, these are the most exciting antagonists confirmed to debut in Marvel’s 2026 projects.<\/p>\n

The Grim Reaper Will Give Wonder Man the Fight of His Life<\/p>\n

\"The
\n The Grim Reaper inspects a blade in Marvel ComicsImage via Marvel Comics<\/p>\n

One of the first villains to make his debut in 2026 is the Grim Reaper. Wonder Man premieres in January<\/a>, introducing the world to Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Simon Phillips, the world’s first superhero actor. While Simon’s new enhanced abilities help launch his career in Hollywood, they also earn him a few new enemies, including his own brother, Eric. Demetrius Grosse will play Eric Williams in the upcoming first season of Wonder Man. <\/p>\n

In the comics, Eric holds a grudge against Simon for being the favorite of their parents, leading him down the road to villainy whereas his brother becomes a hero and an Avenger. Eventually, Eric gains superhuman abilities, including enhanced strength, teleportation, and necromancy. It is unclear exactly how much of the Grim Reaper’s story will be adapted in the MCU, but the dynamic of two brothers warring against one another is always interesting. Hopefully, the Grim Reaper and Wonder Man’s rivalry will live up to the high bar set by Thor and Loki’s brotherly feud in the Infinity Saga. <\/p>\n

Paladin Is an Incredibly Fun Villain in the Comics<\/p>\n

Paladin is set to join the cast of VisionQuest on Disney+, where he will be portrayed by Todd Stashwick. In the comics, Paladin is a bounty hunter whose moral ambiguity often gets him on the wrong side of superheroes like Daredevil and the Punisher. Using a wide assortment of weapons and other high-tech gadgets, Paladin hunts down quarries who may prove more troublesome to the run-of-the-mill mercenary. <\/p>\n

Audiences still know very little about Paladin’s role in the MCU. It appears that someone will hire the superhuman bounty hunter to track down Vision following his disappearance in WandaVision. Stashwick has compared his new MCU character to Star Wars’ Boba Fett, which should be enough to get fans excited for his debut in VisionQuest.<\/p>\n

Tombstone Unleashes the Sinister Underworld of New York<\/p>\n

\"Tombstone
\n Tombstone sneers in Marvel ComicsImage via Marvel Comics<\/p>\n

Finally making his first live-action appearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day is Tombstone, an infamous gangster from the streets of New York City. In the comics, Lonnie Lincoln is a former classmate of Daily Bugle executive Joe “Robbie” Robertson who forced him to burying a story in his early days as a reporter, which forever weighed on his conscience. Tombstone later goes on to become the Kingpin’s right-hand man and chief enforcer before eventually taking Fisk’s place after the “Gang War” storyline. In the MCU, Tombstone will be played by Marvin Jones III, a.k.a. “Krondon,” who previously voiced the character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.<\/p>\n

Tombstone is an intriguing Spider-Man villain who has never gotten the respect he deserves from live-action Marvel media. His introduction could lead to major things in Spider-Man’s corner of the MCU, as the audience begins to see much more of the criminal underbelly of New York City in Brand New Day. Tombstone’s arrival could even set up a potential “Gang War” storyline<\/a> in the MCU, forcing street-level vigilantes like Spider-Man and Daredevil to team up to savetheir city from vicious gangsters like Tombstone and Wilson Fisk.<\/p>\n

The MCU First Teased Scorpion Almost Ten Years Ago<\/p>\n

At long last, Michael Mando is returning to the MCU in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Mando first appeared in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming as Mac Gargan, an associate of Adrian Toomes who is arrested when Spider-Man breaks up their arms deal. In the comics, Gargan eventually becomes the iconic supervillain known as the Scorpion, one of Spider-Man’s deadliest antagonists. Homecoming’s post-credits scene hinted at the Scorpion’s debut, but the character has been missing in action ever since.<\/p>\n

Mando’s return in Spider-Man: Brand New Day finally fixes one of the MCU’s longest-running plot holes. It also gives the film a chance to bring one of Spider-Man’s most iconic villains to live-action for the first time. It’s hard to believe that the world has never seen a live-action iteration of the Scorpion when the character is so prominent in the comics. However, other theories state that Gargan could be the new host for the Venom symbiote in Brand New Day. There are, after all, comic storylines where Gargan becomes Venom after Eddie Brock. This would be an even more exciting possibility, as fans get one step closer to seeing Tom Holland’s Spider-Man battle Venom.<\/p>\n

Doctor Doom Will Rewrite the Marvel Cinematic Universe<\/p>\n

\"Julian
\n Julian McMahon as Doctor Doom from Fantastic FourImage via 20th Century Fox<\/p>\n

The most exciting villain set to appear in the MCU’s 2026 projects is Doctor Doom. Robert Downey Jr. returns to the MCU as its new “big bad,” Doctor Victor von Doom, a mad scientist and sorceror from another dimension with his sights set on ruling the multiverse. After a brief cameo in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Doctor Doom will make his first fulll appearance in Avengers: Doomsday<\/a>, which finished off Marvel’s 2026 slate on December 18.<\/p>\n

Doctor Doom is the “Thanos” of the Multiverse Saga, bringing together all of the MCU’s heroes for the next battle. As one of Marvel Comics’ most iconic villains of all time, Doctor Doom’s arrival in the MCU has been a long time coming. Moreover, his actions in Doomsday will spill over into Avengers: Secret Wars, which is bound to become the biggest crossover event in Marvel history. While fans still have some concerns about Robert Downey Jr. playing Doom in the MCU, his arrival has generated more than enough buzz to make him the most exciting new villain set to debut next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Marvel Cinematic Universe is gearing up for a terrific 2026, with multiple major projects lined up to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[146,85,46,397],"class_list":["post-180298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}