Marvelous Villains and Villainesses: The Bad, The Mad and The Ambiguous

In human history superheroes have always played a part in the narratives of the world humans live in (Coogan 2006, Arnaudo 2013, Rosenberg 2013, Rosenberg & Coogan 2013, Bahlmann 2016, Gavaler 2015). In the MCU the amazing but also ambiguous protagonists have invited us into a world of conflict, of conquest, og diversity and not least of the idea that the world is a multiverse. But in the cases of the superhero studies one point is mentioned but not thoroughly studied: What about the role, the function and the transformations of the supervillains and supervillainesses?

This study draws on theory on superheroes and supervillains as popular culture, as political representations and philosophical reflections as well as scholarly analysis published by the authors (see list of References).

This study intends to give an answer to the question in direct relation to the MCU productions both in movies and in streaming series. As an initial point of departure Peter Coogans (Coogan 2006) five categories of villains will be used to understand the roster of supervillains and supervillainesses in the MCU. How and why are the characters of the MCU antagonists villains? To answer this second question a more detailed study of key supervillains and villainesses will be analyzed.