Marvel Cinematic Universe after Thanos: Who should be the next big bad?

1. Doctor Doom

Victor von Doom is another villain who needs no introduction, except to say the silver screen has never done him justice. He has almost no superpowers. He doesn’t need them (Yes, I know he recently reformed — he’ll come to his senses sooner or later).

Doom is one of the most brilliant technological minds on Earth and a master sorcerer. He’s ruler of his own nation, Latveria. He’s exploited or seized the power of countless other beings who should outclass him, including the Beyonder, Silver Surfer, and Molecule Man, the last of whom he turned into a universe-destroying bomb (for almost justifiable reasons!).

He forced Doctor Strange to rescue his mother from Hell and drove T’Challa to neutralize all Wakandan vibranium rather than let it fall into Doom’s hands. Doom has conquered the world and achieved godlike powers time and time again, only to be narrowly defeated by his own hubris or the concerted efforts of many heroes.

Doom is that rare villain who’s so cunning, so wicked, so audacious that you almost root for him. He also never loses some redeeming traits – he does care for some people and he’s not above saving the world today so he can conquer it tomorrow.

All that said, I know world conquest is the vanilla of super-villain motives. What would make Doctor Doom compelling in Phase 4? In the wake of Thanos’ invasion, he could plausibly argue the world is better off in his hands.

As a genius and monarch, he could emerge as the antithesis of not just Mr. Fantastic (if he’s introduced), but T’Challa as well. Following the events of Black Panther and the next Avengers movies, Latveria and Wakanda could enter a veritable Cold War of philanthropy and influence-building, as Doom uses manipulation, murder, magic and plenty of Doombots to tighten his grip on the globe. Ideally, Doom’s arc would end with him helping Earth’s heroes thwart a greater threat – only to seize that threat’s power for himself in a final showdown.

Doom is number one because he stands above other Marvel villains. He offers a compelling, flawed and sometimes tragic villain who can take on any and all comers. Handled correctly, and in the hands of the right actor, he could make Phase 4 as fun as any hero could.

Postscript: I strongly considered adding Magneto to this list; like Doom, he’s a fascinating, clever and powerful villain. However, even if the MCU introduces X-Men like I’ve advocated, it will be hard to establish him quickly in the movie-verse; that puts Onslaught out of the picture as well. There’s also the fact that the X-Men movies have put a lot of miles on this character.  I feel the MCU needs to let the X-Men and Magneto rest a little before putting them front and center. Talk to me about Magneto a couple of phases down the road.