Wasting The Mandarin in Ironman 3 would belike if in The Dark Knight The Joker was just a cosplayer and The Real Joker was actually Michael Jai White the whole time

The biggest problem with the villain's is that they are always easily defeated. The villain's are just a stopping point for one movie. They are all just a one movie problem. SO many of them can and should have been multi-movie threats that just don't want to go away.

It's so odd how we have so many bland villains in The MCU But in most films before The MCU they had mostly more memorable villains like The Sam Raimi Spider-Man Films and The X-Men Movies aswell as The Blade Films and most of them weren't world ending threats like Thanos

You never see people critic the old mcu. So thank you.

the red skull returning in The Winter Soldier would fuel sooooo much of the “nobody’s ever really gone” but him coming back disguised as Alexander Pierce would be so fkn dope. In the movie Steve thought he died for the right cause and to destroy ultimate evil being Red Skull and Hydra as a whole. And so with the winter soldier reversing that and Hydra never having been truly defeated, the extra punch into Steve’s gut that he never even managed to truly defeat his former enemy would be crazy to me. the movie would have to be crazy rewritten tho haha.

U didn't talk about the villain who was the most dissapointing for an Avengers level threat: ULTRON!! Ultron was teased as a menacing villain in trailers, who can take down Avengers on his own!! He should been a grear threat but instead what we got was a wise cracking joking Ultron who occasionally sarcastically threatens some of Avengers!

Wow Phase 2 or 3 could've really been used to set up the Masters of Evil. Such a missed Opportunity.

My least favorite thing about the villains is that they keep killing them off. (Or just forgetting about them??) In the comics they are recurring threats. They keep coming back over and over and that’s what makes them threatening. But in the movies, you get attached and then they die. :/

I find it ironic that Ben Kingsley's Mandarin was more Intriguing and memorable than the actual Mandarin. Also funny how you highlighted Mandarin and Modok at the same time and they were literally a duo in the Iron man animated show.

Finally people are starting to see how bland and safe the mcu is. Not sure how they had the facade going for so long

Problem is wolf from Puss in boots was 100 Times more intimidating than all villains in phase 4 together lol

The bald guy from Iron Man 1 didn't vanish, he was killed by Obadiah's men. The scene doesn't show it but implies it with gunshots when Obadiah leaves after paralyzing him.

The MCU really dropped the ball on the villains because they could have pushed the story forward after ENDgame. Can you imagine if the Redskull or The Mandarin were still operating in the MCU with half the population gone. They literally could have taken over most of the world. It could have been established a bit in the beginning of Endgame of the power they were able to obtain. And once they were able to reverse the snap. They could be the focus of the TV shows and maybe a movie to push the story forward.

Can't wait for part 2! I've said it before but in a sea of youtubers making videos about the downfall of the MCU, you're my favorite because you know your comics and you don't sugarcoat anything.

All great points, the MCU has never been the absolute best but the heroes were compelling enough to keep coming back. The balls was always a fumble but now it’s completely dropped

Abomination should've been the "Saiyan" of the MCU. A mercenary that shows up for a fight whether it's against good or evil as long as it's a challenge. Being remind of Loki's abilities in the comics made me realize how boring the MCU really is with it's source material.

the worst one to me is loki taking the throne at the end of dark world only for ragnorok to literally immediately take that back, the best example of setup being thrown out

To this day I can't believe this is happening to the MCU. 10 years ago this was unthinkable

No way he did OG abomination like that😢

The Red Skull is the most underrated of the MCU villains in my opinion Hugo Weaving was what stopped him from being another generic MCU bad guy and he worked well as a dark mirrored version of what Steve Rogers could have been if he was morally corrupt

"I am the Mandarin!" yells the white guy with dragon tattoos, is just so absolutely wrong.

It's only sad they wasted the Mandarin because the "Osama-Bin Mandarin" take was actually very creative and could have really been something different and unique for the MCU.

Tom Hiddelston is a talantented actor. The movie wanted Loki to be relatable to the audience who might hold a grunch towards their sibling or friends. It's not his fault. Tom gave all he had. I agree, in the first movie they focused on the family dynamic but they still could have introduced his megical powers. Later on they had and have to do that.

There are two diseases that have always been prevalent in comics, and it takes good writing and restraint to keep them in check. The first, and most well known, is power creep. Where protagonists get constant boosts or feats that make them seem completely unchallengeable over time. The other problem, the less well known, is power seep, where previously important villains get nerfed to the point where they are no longer considered a threat or a challenge to the protagonist. Often these villains are original and have great back stories and sources of power that make sense for them to be treated as a major threat, but the writers wish to pander to fanboys who always want their favorite protagonist to win, and easily, for a short lived catharsis. The result is that villain, with an established relationship with the reader, ends up being replaced with a generic "new guy" villain, who is only there to serve as a punching bag and shovel on more of the hero's power creep. Power Creep and Power Seep are the STDs of comics. They are all over the place, and initially catching one is fun, but the consequences later aren't fun at all. Unfortunately the MCU has contracted a pretty advanced case of power seep, and they need to get on anti-biotics because that seep is starting to burn and itch.

Obadiah Stane is actually one of my favorite MCU villains. You mentioned the grey CGI blob effect, but compared with most CGI slug fests on this list, the fight was pretty toned down and grounded, and it had a few clever moments like paralleling the scene when Tony boots up the Mk 1, and adding a callback to the time Tony tested the Mk 2's in high altitude. And as an antagonist, he works well as a foil for Tony, representing who Tony could have become if he hadn't had his eyes opened. But mostly I like Obadiah because of Jeff Bridges' performance. I think he works really well with RDJ, and there are a lot of great highlights and memeable moments. Obadiah is also a vastly different character compared to the rest of Bridge's roster (except maybe CLU, but I think Tron Legacy came out shortly after Iron Man).

you really nailed the Iron Man 3 segment. i will NEVER forget the “Trevor Slattery” reveal. ever. biggest disappointment in the MCU after some of the most compelling MCU advertising.

In the case of the Mandarin's depiction in Iron Man 3, it was the end result of Chinese censorship. Disney didn't care about the Storytellin' potential of the Mandarin. They didn't care that their changes to the character would damage the film. All they cared about was gettin' their thumb in the pie that was the Chinese market. As for his depiction in Shang-Chi, the Marvel didn't have the rights to Fu Manchu, so they took an Iron Man villain and turned him into a Fu Manchu expy so that the Shang-Chi film can have a villain.

Admittedly the original Mandarin design from the comics is a stereotype, and a visually racist characture. However he evolved past that beginning and became an interesting, powerful and intimidating character.

Abomination vs hulk is such an underrated fight.

if he thought the mandarin was a racial stereotype (which lets be real, the older comics were caricatures so i “get” it) but why wouldnt you just then make him a fully fleshed asian character with his motivation for being a villain tie in to how he is treated due to his culture or literally anything to balance that out instead of white washing him entirely. “instead of having an asian stereotype i’ll just have a white guy!” isnt that just admitting that YOU dont know how to write asian characters??

Zola: But why are we writing them English? We are German. Red Skull: Do not question my genius!

You know it's bad when dreamworks makes better villains than marvel does.

Can you remember the villain from Thor the Dark World? Yes, I can! It was Malekith 😌 High five…who was the other villain? There was another villain?? 😶🤔

I guess Disney never learned from their past mistakes

My take on the Mandarin would be a Joker level villain in Iron Man 3. And would give Tony Stark both and external and internal threat to deal with. A former Stark Industries employee who was wronged by Howard Stark in the past who would formed the Ten Rings as a multi ethnic terrorist organization from the shadows and involved in the events of Iron Man 1 and 2. The Mandarin would inject himself with Extremis to take on Iron Man instead of Aldrich Killian. This would grounded and believable rather than mythicism

You know what a really sucks the mandarin could have easily been there doctor doom of the m c u. The villain who is connections to like almost every villain because he help them or it's finance them whether they know about it or not. Even helps out the heroes during fantas's attack and realizing he's a bigger threat and need some of the way like doctor doom.

The Mandarin wasn’t just wasted in Iron Man 3, he was disrespected as a character, thus insulting comic fans. The MCU died with Iron Man 3. How many millions need to be lost before Disney learns to follow the Source material.

Referring to something in a Marvel movie as a “DISGUSTING, SICKENING WASTE” is very funny

I know it may sound silly, but I've been feeling nostalgic for the 2000s and early 2010s Marvel movies. Yeah they weren't the best, their villains, as we saw on this video, weren't much different from what came after, but my god they were way more interesting. They all had different tones and personalities, and they hinted at a way bigger universe past what we saw on the main storyline. They gave off this feeling of opportunities, the prospect of the world beyond was so, so, so alluring. Even the post-credit scenes served a different purpose. They weren't just trailers or announcements for future movies / tv shows, like they are today. Quite on the contrary, they hinted at a character, or an event that may appear in the future. And most of the time, you wouldn't get them if you weren't a comics fan, they were clever nods, not advertisments. Every detail of every scene was thought out, every character name was a nod to something, the world overall felt richer. I think this changed around the time of the OG Guardians of the Galaxy's release. That movie, in my opinion, was one of the last ones to give off this vibe. Maybe it's because Marvel movies got into the "mainstream", but after that it all felt... The same. Yeah, Infinity War, Endgame, and Guardians 2 were great, but they did feel different. They all had the same kind of humour, the same feel, and worse of all, the worlds didn't feel rich, they started to feel bloated. These movies started to introduce a lot of things from the comics, but they were just used for 25 second gags or deus ex machina, not to expand the universe per se. And after they served their purpose they were promptly discarded. For a clear example, look at Xandar. Guardians 1 introduced the whole planet as a serious beacon of law & order in the galaxy, opposed to Ronan's ruthless and brutal inquisition. The nova core were the literal definition of a Lawful Neutral force. They hunted down the Guardians until they redeemed themselves. They seemed like something that was here to stay, a new force in the universe that everyone should be aware of. But we literally never see them again. I think that in infinity war someone goes "thanos destroyed xandar lol" and they move on to something else. I seriously think that we couldn't see this essential change back in the day because we were all invested in the Infinity saga. But after they could no longer ride off thanos' coattails, it all fell apart. And here we are today. Phase 4 was complete shite, and phase 5 is not looking to be anything different. I dare you, go back to those old movies and compare them to more recent outings, you'll see what I mean.

Just watched a whole bunch of your back catalog and I must say; out of all of the negative marvel commentators I definitely respect you the most. Insightful in-depth and disappointed with the wasted potential of these films instead of just a huge tirade. Feels more genuine and less performative than others. While still able to see the bits of good that are done at times.

“Up next, Thor the dark world.” My response was “oh.”

Malekiths greatest sin was making Christopher Eccleston boring.

Pretty much. Aside from Loki, Thanos, and Gorr, every MCU villian is either ungodly generic, or an absolute joke.

Thank you for this honest and faithful analysis. Much appreciated!

From the first iron man I always had a problem with the villains dying by the end of the movie, now the multiverse is there they will probably try to re-usher in some rushed story lines but it probably wouldn’t be the same by that point

I'll never understand how these writers have the perfect blue print right infront of them, hell several blue prints to pick from, cuz alotta comic book characters have countless variations of their story Yet they STILL fuck it up

The bummer to me about the Mandarin is that he was actually very well set up and intimidating AT FIRST

Havent watched yet but i really love your work man, you are truly the best

It still gets me that Thunderbolt Ross was sidelined. Having Hurt play him was great and bringing him back once the MCU started was aswesome. And then pretty much nothing. As a major fan of the Hulk back in the 60s and 70s I always saw him as jade-jaw's real arch enemy. And the best kind because he wasnt an evil guy he was actually sure that he was the hero and savior of the country and that Hulk was the ultimate danger. I was sure the MCU was going to circle back and have Ross' obsession to stop Hulk lead to Ross clashing with the Avengers (maybe with full sanction, maybe abusing his authority and stepping over tne line). But now Hurts gone and we never even saw him and Ruffalo together. Ford's sure to be a good Ross, but it's still a missed opportunity at one of the best lead ups in cinema.

Marvel really missed a trick, if they hadn’t killed off all of their villains, then we could have seen an epic team up against Thanos! Just imagine, everyone putting their differences to one side for the greater good

Really good video, can’t wait for part 2! I like how you’re finding flaws in every villain then explaining the flaws then explaining what they could have done. To add on it’s cool how you talk about the villains and storylines in comics and how they got a bad adaptation in MCU. I also enjoy the funny clips you insert in except for the shit joke in the beginning kinda not tasteful but The “he’s not the guy” joke gets a 10 outta 10.

Maybe my color palate is off but abomination looks more greenish grey than full on grey, I thought both him and the hulk looked dope in that movie. Was never a fan of the hulk recast

MCU didn't get the memo that Malekith is supposed to be a sadistic, warmongering fae with a pack of supernatural hounds. Not a mopey nostalgist with a generic space alien invasion fleet.

A note on the MCU mandarin debacle, I am not a big superhero person and even I was disappointed by the MCU mandarin. I used to be into the Armored Adventures cartoon and he was actually pretty scary in that one (at least for kid me) I was really disappointed

16:10 umm... no, that's wrong. Loki was killed by a corrupted Sentry, making a heroic sacrifice, with his last words being an apology to Thor, during the Siege comic arc, which was actually genuine, not fake. The next time he appeared, it was through reincarnation, meaning he did actually die during Siege. Loki redeeming himself was something that was around before the MCU (I think Siege was before Loki appeared in the MCU, but I'm not sure), though this didn't pick up until more recent comic arcs.

Mandarin. Doom. These guys are S-tier threats that always have an ace up their sleeve...

MCU's villain problem goes on two extremes one is too boring and the other is too "relatable". Rarely an in-between.

The MCU definitely has more then a villain problem!!!

Yea finally another video about the MCU!! Love those👍🏻❤️

Every movie you’re complaining about I really like personally it’s cool that you don’t but I really like them anyway, I like your video too. It’s very entertaining and well done.

I don't know if you point it out later, but I think the leader is coming back. The problem is that he'll be in Falcon's cap movie.

They Could Of Shown The Mandarin And AIM in iron man 2 and have the Demon In A Bottle Storyline In The Third Movie. For CA 2, Introduce The Serpent Society And Falcon In That Movie. Then Have Winter Soldier In CA 3. As Well as The Red skull Plot twist.

Well. You certainly have done a great job at pointing out missed opportunities and how things could have been much better. You have kind of bummed me out, to be honest. But, thank you anyways for your good work. I am going to watch part 2 now.

Another great video. Keep up the good work

Yeah I will never forgive how they wasted the vocal talent of the Mandarin

I think what they need to do is let villains stick around for a little longer to develop with the characters They don't always need to die at the end of their movie, like in the cartoons and comics, They definitely shouldn't stick around forever and not die though

I think the villain problem has something to do with the limitations of film making. In comics, villains can be brought back as many times as the creators want (depending on their popularity). But with films, you have to cram a lot of things into one story that is only about 2 hours long, so their isn't that much room for all the characters to develop. Also, actors aren't always willing to come back to play the same character again and again. Even if they could convince them to return, making more films is incredibly expensive and time consuming, unlike comics, which only require writers and artists. So, as much as it disappoints me to see almost every Marvel villain get killed off after just one appearance, I think bringing them back for multiple stories would be very difficult. Even the most profitable franchise in the world can't do everything 😔

Can't wait for part 2, i wanna know his thoughts of black panther

The Mandarin is basically how id imagine Bin Laden, after seeing that video of him singing Poker Face it really clicked

Watching this made me realize I don't think I've ever rewatched a single MCU movie :s Until the last few years they weren't bad, just nothing special or memorable. Now I don't even care a single but about the new movies or shows..

7:32 *_That's what I refer to as the "Independence Day Cheat" and the reason I didn't bother watching 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'. It was an early sign of things to come (see how they used time-travel to get themselves out their painted-in corner?)._* 🤨

The "grey cgi blob" issue in the final fight is done to save on costs and time of rendering.

Imagine if Killian became MODOK?

The Malekith of the MCU is nothing comparec to the original badass, sadistic, megalomaniac Malekeith from the comics.

Now that I think of it. Loki and Malekith could be different. Loki at his core is a coward and petty man, who uses ilussions and manipulates people to get what he wants. Servkng as a foil to Thor's noble strenght and his honest heart. Malekith could have the brains AND the muscle. Something that Loki lacks. And make some fun out of it! You could make Malekith an sadic and Megalomaniac bastard, who looks everybody as mere insects whom are beneath him. Make him enjoy how he breacks their will and bodies before finishing them off, and make him allways come to the point of what he wants. Contrary to Loki in that aspect, who has a theatrical demeanor on him using an elegant vocabulary to distinct himself frol the power hungry conqueror that is Malekith. Just because you have two villains who are charismstic and arrogante doesn't mean you can't mske them unique in their own ways.

i would say arnim zola is done pretty well, his death might not have meant much but in his time on screen he managed to give a classic exposition with a plan and just because hit data banks were destroyed doesnt mean they were the only data banks (what if reference)

Iron man 3 crossed 1 billion really broke my heart...... I am seriously thinking iron man 3 was a real pivot point to the whole MCU....

The "angry bald man" as you put it, in Iron Man 1, didn't "vanish", he got killed by Obadiah's people when they killed the rest of the 10 Rings guys that were part of Tony's kidnapping.

8:24 Basically, what happened is that the Chinese, who were bankrolling the movie, said 'Nah' because they didn't want a Chinese character being viewed as villainous and Hollyweird, who are still really trying to simp for the Chi-Coms even though it hasn't worked for them, said 'Sure. We round eyes so dumb.'

Wasting a god tier villain like ultron still makes my blood boil, kind of glad he isn’t in the mcu

you should be just as sad to see a villain go as you would be seeing a hero

Can’t wait for part 2! Great content

General Ross was around Bruce banner at Iron man's funeral in the ending scenes of the avengers. But yea they didn't interact.

This was excellent. I was always in the minority amongst my friends for saying the humor problem started as early as Iron Man 2 for me. Justin Hammer. “I want my burd” etc I didn’t like at all, and that battle with War Machine was just ok to me. Thor & Captain America could’ve been way better but I cut them some slack due to them being a new studio finding their footing. I enjoyed Avengers a ton despite it’s flaws. Iron Man 3 I hated it. I grew to tolerate it and respect it over the years but that movie along with Thor 2 I was like why are they forcing so much humor in these films?? They don’t even allow serious dramatic moments to play out anymore without some silly humor coming in to mess things up. I felt this way back in 2013. By Guardians 2 in 2017 I was disgusted. But I think EVERYBODY sees the problem now, post Phase 3 Endgame Infinity Saga. But these problems are not new. Marvel has been having these issues for a long time. Age Of Ultron had bad CGI and that was an Avengers movie. I think maybe most people didn’t notice it due to the other good movies like Civil War and the goodwill they had built up that people ignored a lot of the flaws. But Phase 4 the flaws were just so blatant it’s like now everyone knows they’ve got a lot to work on and fix. I don’t think Marvel is finished though. I don’t think DC is either. Or super hero films in general. People will always go see them and enjoy them. But if they wanna get back to the critical and financial success they once had. They’ve got a lot of course correction to do. Which seems to be taking place from what I’ve been reading. I guess only time will tell how the decisions they’re making now will play out.

Dammnn I love this man's perspective 🙌

I disagree with making the Winter Soldier feature Red Skull being s good thing. The worst thing about that film is that it sets up Steve in contrast to the Military/Intelligence Service but replaced that conflict with "Oh it's Hydra again." It turns a story that should have been about Steve recognizing the evils of the US War Machine into just him vs the Nazis again so that the reads dont have to feel bad about the military being the bad guy. If anything they should have dropped Hydra and made it a full on Steve vs SHIELD story

0:56: ! The video discusses the flaws in the villains of the MCU, focusing on Obadiah Stane from Iron Man. 3:32: 😐 The video discusses the characters and their performances in the movie Thor, stating that Loki's role was uninspired and the movie overall was dull. 6:14: 🎥 Loki's powers are creative and unpredictable, making him a dangerous and fascinating villain, while Thor becomes a more compelling hero as he needs to outsmart Loki rather than just fight him head-on. 9:18: 🎮 The Mandarin's role in the Marvel Universe and his portrayal in the Iron Man movies. 12:35: 🎬 The video discusses the portrayal of an Asian villain in Iron Man 3 and criticizes the decision to replace him with a white character. 15:41: 🎥 The video discusses the characters Living Armor, Malekith, and Loki in the film Thor: The Dark World. 18:42: 😕 The video discusses the disappointment with the portrayal of villains in Marvel movies. Recap by Tammy AI

I think The First Avenger is my favorite MCU movie overall. Cap is a pure force of good against a pure force of evil, it's not too long, and the villain is actually consistent through the whole with no weird twists. Although I did enjoy the Mandarin twist as a non-Iron Man comic fan the only time I saw the movie (not the Killian change over though).

I know this sounds like an odd thing to talk about but can you talk about the lineup for the First Avengers movie? In the comics, the founding members are Ant-Man, The Wasp, Hulk, Thor and Iron Man (Captain America is also technically a founder since after the Hulk left the team they gave his founding member status to Steve but that's besides the point). In the movies however, the founders are Cap, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow. I don't get why they didn't just make an Ant-Man movie and have Hank and Jan replace Clint and Natasha, I get that people loved Black Widow after Iron Man 2 but there is no way she should've been a founding member of the team imo. It doesn't help that they basically wasted Hank and Jan in every movie they appeared in, so not only did they lose their Founding Member status but they also just generally became much worse characters. To this day, EMH has the best portrayal of Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne I've ever seen, why they couldn't go the route the show did with the movies is beyond me.

At least Blonsky's semi blood hungry attitude was teased earlier in the movie. He WANTED Hulk poweer. he WANTEd to go a few rounds with the hulk. Though that doesnt really make him all TOO interesting, but at least his transformation (as lame as it looked) made some sense.

I would have had the Chitauri continue to fight to the last, with Fury going out of his way to capture as many as he could for research and interrogation.

Marvel ultimate alliance was amazing I wish I could get the recent one on something over than switch…

Incredible Hulk had one of the top climactic battles of all the stand alone mcu films

7:07 top middle. That chitauri just clipped through the floor

The garbage library disney has accumulated post endgame, which has made everyone revisit the earlier phases of Marvel. And honestly, it had a negative effect on the more successful library. The past stuff is nowhere near as good as we thought it was, and it's not aging well. Maybe 4 movies are elite 8 plus out of 10s and the only 4 worth watching again.

I remember when I watched Iron Man 3 so hype, so exciting for the Mandarin...as a long time Iron Man fan I really was looking forward to see how the Mandarin would translate to the big screen assuming they will treat him well....after the first Avengers film introduce so many fantastical elements, someone like the Mandarin as the FIRST MAJOR villain after the first Avenger would have been an amazing step up, I remember seen the trailers and not be not even a little worry because the trailers make him looks GREAT and treating.................then I went to theaters......................you have no IDEA how much that reveal PISSED ME OFF, I was lovin the film to that point, have my issues, but overall I was having a good time........but the moment Trevor shows up, every flaw the film had at that point (the misused of the Extremis, the kid sidekick, Aldrich Killian entire ROLE, they put this guy in the films, when in the comics he just have 1 page and commit suicide and did NOTHING ELSE...THE paper Armor Tony was wearing all this film, etc), all flaws plus the Mandarin never let me enjoy anything else after this point.....still to this day this film along Captain Marvel and everything nowdays marvel produce in phase 4, are some of the only MCU things I have never watched more than once. But yeah defined the Mandarin was the first time that Kevin Feige reward fans loyalty with a SLAP in the face for liking comics.......................ohhhh and was not going to be THE LAST.

When's the next part coming out?

I can't help but disagree with your argument of the Mandarin, given you're really underplaying the extent of the Yellow Peril played in early Marvel comics.

If Malekith's personality was similar to Loki's then they shouls have embraced that, let Loki see a mirror of himself in some way. Or at least just use a different villain if they can't make it work.

We need moreeeee