After “Avengers: Endgame” (2019), evil bosses like Kang the Conqueror, Doctor Doom, Galactus have the ability to replace Thanos as the common enemy of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

During the San Diego Comic Con event, Kevin Feige – President of Marvel Studios – announced the series in Phases 5 and 6 of the MCU. Notably, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (2025) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2025) will feature strong villains worthy of Thanos.

In particular, owning full images of Marvel comics characters will help the MCU overcome the previous copyright barrier to introduce a series of famous villains.

Kang The Conqueror returns after the end of the Loki series

In 2021, Marvel Studios launches the Loki series, marking the first television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Towards the end of the film, Kang The Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) – the head of the organization to protect the timeline (TVA) – appeared. Through details in the film, the character possesses the power to manipulate and create the timeline and reality. On the other hand, the ending reveals Kang’s return, after he was killed.

Kang “The Forgotten”, the character behind the TVA organization. He considers himself a benevolent person, because the Kang variant in other universes would be crazier.

Marvel Studios introduced Kang The Conqueror as Loki. With the god Asgard, he played the role of the villain Thor (2011) and became the main villain against the Avengers in Avengers (2012). Similarly, Marvel let Kang The Conqueror be the “final boss” in Loki, while leaving open many unknown information about the character’s future.

Besides, the movie title Avengers: The Kang Dynasty confirms the evil variants of Kang The Conqueror will return. So, the Avengers will fight the mighty Kang collective like Ultron and the army of cyborgs in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).

The Vengeance Squad once fought an army of Ultron robots.

According to the original, the Secret Wars event villains also featured Kang The Conqueror. With a limited acting space in Loki , Kang has the potential to become a villain to confront the superheroes in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty or possibly continue the fight to Avengers: Secret Wars .

Doctor Doom, the archenemy of the Fantastic Four

After the acquisition of 20th Century in 2019, Disney directly owns the image rights of Marvel superhero brands such as Fantastic Four, X-Men… At San Diego Comic Con, a representative of Marvel Studios announced announcement about the movie The Fantastic Four (2024) in Phase 6 of the MCU.

Due to the same Phase as the 2 Avengers , the movie about the superhero group has many related details, including possibly Doctor Doom, the No. 1 villain of the Fantastic Four. At the same time, the character also plays an important role at the Secret Wars event in the original.

Doctor Doom, the number 1 enemy of the Fantastic Four.

Doctor Doom’s real name is Victor Von Doom. The character’s power comes from the ability to master science and magic. He can manipulate space-time and build robots and other devices of mass destruction. In the comics, Doctor Doom once possessed the power of the Beyonder – the most powerful group of characters in the universe – to kill Thanos with one hand.

However, when filming, the details of the character’s strength can be adjusted to suit the storyline. This is similar to Thor’s Stormbreaker, which has a different appearance from the original.

On the other hand, Vitor Von Doom appeared in Fantastic Four (2015) produced by 20th Century. The film failed in all aspects and was ostracized by the audience. In particular, the character creation of Doctor Doom received a lot of criticism from fans for being somewhat unoriginal and lacking in aesthetics.

Creating the character Doctor Doom in Fantastic Four (2015) received much criticism.

In addition, Marvel Studios is famous for many fan-pleasing episodes, so the move to bring Doctor Doom back to the MCU in upcoming projects is a possible decision. By owning the image rights to the Marvel characters of 20th Century, Disney can bring Vitor Von Doom or Galactus into Avengers: Secret Wars through the Fantastic Four.

Galactus, cosmic entity evil

Many international news sites mention that Eternals (2021) has cleared the way, rolling out the red carpet to introduce Galactus, the planet eater. However, the current information about the character’s role in the MCU is still unknown.

In the comics, Galactus is one of the most powerful villains in the universe, surpassing Thanos in pure strength. In addition, he has a super brain, ranked among the most learned in the universe, on par with The Watchers who appeared in the What If … ? (2021).

The Planet Eater has more power than Thanos.

“Planet Eater” used to be a serious opponent of the Fantastic Four and featured in the original Secret Wars . With the Fantastic Four in Phase 6, Marvel Studios has the facility to bring the villain into the ranks of Earth’s superhero common enemy. Thereby, the company built the image of Galactus becoming the successor to the role of Thanos in the MCU.

However, Galactus has a long, complicated history, related to the formation of the entire universe after the Big Bang. Therefore, the character can only appear scattered through the movies. This is similar to how Marvel Studios has installed the details that introduce Thanos.

Besides, the inclusion of a cosmic villain like Galactus when there is not much information about the character in the MCU is somewhat rushed. Therefore, the event that the planet eater becomes a danger to the Earth in particular and the entire universe in general like Thanos may appear in the later stages of the MCU. Movies that gather superheroes promise to have a larger scale than Avengers: Endgame

Hela : Thor’s sister is one of the most “heavy” villains the audience has ever met. When Hela first appeared, he grabbed Thor’s hammer Mjolnir and smashed the spirit into a hundred pieces with one hand. If Hela has the opportunity to “face” Thanos, she is likely to take revenge on the “crazy Titan” for killing her compatriots.

Surtur : According to prophecy, the fire giant is the cause of Ragnarok – the apocalyptic event of Asgard. Even “God” Odin was afraid of the demon lord. Besides, Surtur is also a key factor, forcing Thor and Loki to revive him to defeat Hela in Thor: Ragnarok (2017).

Dormammu : This is the ruler of the Dark Dimension, which powers Stephen Strange’s master The Ancient One. In fact, Dormammu was never defeated in Doctor Strange . He was only annoyed with Doctor Strange’s cunning, so he withdrew his disciples and withdrew. There are theories that Dormammu will return again, and become the true enemy of the Avengers after Thanos has been defeated.

The Destroyer : This is originally a god armor created by Odin to increase his strength. As the audience witnessed in the first Thor episode, the Destroyer defeated Thor with ease. The costume itself doesn’t have a mind of its own, but if it were in the hands of scheming characters like Loki, it would have become a terrifying destructive force.