10 most disliked MCU villains, ranked

10. Taskmaster

Before Phase Four began, Taskmaster was one of the most famous Marvel villains to never appear in the MCU. The villain, who copies opponents' abilities and styles (making him a virtually unstoppable fighting machine), was a fan-favorite in the comics and he seemed like the perfect choice for an antagonist in Black Widow. However, audiences didn't respond all that well to the creative liberties taken with this adaptation.

Fans' biggest problem with Black Widow's interpretation was that it was Taskmaster in name (and fighting style) only. The fight scenes between the villain and Natasha Romanoff were great and we really got to see how Taskmaster learned, studied, and copied her combat approach. However, the issues stemmed from the fact that this wasn't a comic-accurate adaptation.

In the comics, Taskmaster's real name is Anthony "Tony" Masters and he is a mercenary with photographic reflexes that allow him to mimic his opponents. In the MCU, however, her name is Antonia Dreykov, and she is an agent of the Red Room, brainwashed and programmed by her father to learn Natasha's fighting style.

I personally didn't mind this adaptation because it added much more depth to Natasha's story and opened the door for Antonia's return in the future (which we now know will take place in Thunderbolts), but a lot of fans weren't happy with the adaptation, feeling that the decision to overlook a villain as rich as Taskmaster to completely reimagine him as a supporting villain to Dreykov was an overall disservice to the character.