Top 10 Marvel Villain Fan Theories

Thanos is coming back? There are multiple Lokis? We're getting more Goldblum

Well, if you read the fan theories, yes, this is all true. And today, we're counting down the top 10 Marvel villain fan theories

So buckle up. Welcome to Total Nerd Ranked, the show where we rank nerdy stuff

Loki has been a fixture of the MCU for nearly a decade. Surprise

Having been a villain and a companion in the Thor and Avengers movies. And while it was assumed that he met his final, final death in Infinity War

In Avengers Endgame, a past version of himself actually escaped this timeline using the Tesseract

It's also possible that dead Loki was a double, considering Loki is right-handed

but that's a whole other theory. That said, with Endgame introducing the prospect of multiple timelines

it's possible that this new version of Loki that we'll be following in this Disney Plus series

might bump shoulders with... himself? Glorious. The version of Loki who escapes was the one from the ending of the first Avengers movie

so at this point he's best known for two things. Fans have speculated that for any hero version of Loki to show up

It'll have to be from a future version, where he learns humility, teamwork, and whatever the hell he learned in the mess that was Thor The Dark World

Number 9. Thanos is smarter, not stronger, than Hulk. In the MCU, there's a lot of debate about exactly how strong certain characters are

Strongest Avenger. Access denied. We've seen characters fight with mutant powers, powerful technology, holding Infinity Stones, and being actual gods

But there's a lot of inconsistency involved. It's tough to decipher who's the strongest, considering it's easy to figure out who is the weakest

I'm Clint. I don't care. So fans watching Infinity War were a bit confused

when Thanos wielding multiple Infinity Stones could be nearly held down by Spider-Man

and yet he kicked Hulk's ass earlier in the movie when he only had a single stone. There may actually be an explanation

Fans have pointed out that Thanos may not actually be stronger than the Hulk, just a smarter fighter

Thanos' attacks start with the throat, move towards the chin, and eventually the Hulk's kidneys

Thanos was going for weak areas that limit oxygen flow and could have immobilized the Hulk

even if Thanos didn't have the brute strength to defeat him. So next time you thinking about pointing out plot holes show me your degree in medicine and then we talk Number 8 Mysterio accomplished his goals In Spider Far From Home Peter Parker faces off against Mysterio a lying trickster out for revenge against the deceased Tony Stark for some reason

Among the tools at Spider-Man's disposal is Edith, a pair of glasses infused with AI designed to help the user in a pinch

For those of you who don't know, Edith actually stands for Even Dead, I'm the Hero

Yes, leave it to Tony to install a joke perfectly timed, considering everyone in the movie was mourning his recent death

Hilarious! But what if Edith was Mysterio's real goal? Fans have pointed out that Mysterio's revenge tour against a dead man

seems a little misguided for someone of his intellectual capacity. But in the mid-credits scene, it is revealed that Mysterio

who citizens thought was a hero throughout the film, had one final trick up his sleeve. His team presents edited footage to make it seem like Spider-Man killed the hero, Mysterio

and even executed a drone strike against civilians. Thus, the criminal mastermind ends up actually dying a hero in the public's eye

Even dead, Mysterio is the hero. So are the glasses named Edmuth now

or, yeah, I don't even get this joke. Number seven, there are hidden backups of Ultron and Arnim Zola

The expansive Marvel Cinematic Universe combines many elements of science, magic, and mythology

and hopes that one throwaway line in Thor explains the whole thing. Your ancestors called it magic, and you call it science

Well, I come from a place where they're one and the same thing. And ever since then, advancements in technology have been given some minor explanations

in the hopes that fans just roll with it. Do you guys just put the word quantum in front of everything

This has included two instances with villains whose consciousness exists inside of a computer

or the internet. Both Ultron and Arnim Zola have figured out ways to exist in the world of computers in

order to wreak havoc. So naturally, fans have speculated that their demises weren't all that permanent

Look, if your consciousness can exist inside of a computer, chances are you do what everyone does with important computer files

You back it up. It certainly wouldn't be all that shocking to see Zola or Ultron again

If Tony could figure out time travel, we're guessing one of his other most powerful creations could figure out how to work a flash drive

Number six, the elders of the universe never die. We've already discussed several instances where villains make a sudden reappearance

or instances where they could. However there are two iconic and interconnected Marvel characters who were never actually shown dying The Grandmaster and the Collector are part of the Elders of the universe who in the comics were the last survivors of otherwise extinct races And in the comics each character could potentially live indefinitely Fans have speculated that it could be noteworthy that neither character actually died in the MCU

While the Collector's home is seen destroyed and the Grandmaster is confronted by members of a revolution, their fates beyond that are still up for debate

Given the fact that they appeared together in a photo in Disney Parks, it's hard to imagine Marvel wouldn't unite these characters at some point

Number five, Erik Killmonger could return in the Ancestral Plane. In Black Panther, T'Challa inherits the powers of the Black Panther and assumes his role as King of Wakanda

He follows in the succession line of many powerful leaders of the Hidden Nation, who all earned their role in combat to hold this title

Then his cousin Killmonger shows up, he gets thrown off a waterfall, loses his title of Black Panther

is resurrected by snow, has a rhino fight, kills his cousin, and gets nominated for Best Picture at the end

And while Killmonger meets his end at the hands of King T'Challa, there may be another way to see him again

In the film, T'Challa twice visits the Ancestral Plane, an area where previous kings and holders of the title of Black Panther are able to communicate with the sitting leader

Fans have noticed that even though Killmonger never technically won his fight to the death, he was awarded the powers and job title of King of Wakanda

and may now reside in the ancestral plane. Assuming the previous kings can't boot him on a technicality, he may just show up again

Hey, auntie. Number four, Steve resisted Thanos because he was also holding the gauntlet

As we discussed, many fans were upset about the confusing and fluctuating amount of power Thanos had

while holding several Infinity Stones. One moment in particular seemed a bit too far-fetched

when Thanos quickly wipes out several superheroes with ease near the end of Infinity War

After spending zero effort brushing aside the likes of the Hulk, Black Panther, and others

Captain America nearly wills his way to get a hit on Thanos before Thanos knocks him out

Though if you ask the right fans, this has a simple explanation. In this moment, Steve had both hands on the glove, and through sheer force of will

prevented it from being used by the Mad Titan. Though it's not clear if either of them had control of it at that moment

it's possible that while Steve held onto it, Thanos could not use it. It takes a punch from his non-gauntlet hand to finally get rid of Steve to be able to keep on Infinity Stoning

Makes you wonder if you should have gone for the hand instead of the head. Number 3. Red Skull Returns to Earth

The Red Skull was the first villain that Captain America fought in the MCU, and like all great villains, he melted out of existence when he touched a glowing box

Or at least that seemed to be his fate until it was revealed in Avengers Infinity War that he was actually tasked with guarding the Soul Stone on Vormir Now I don know if fans remember this but Thanos actually got all the Infinity Stones so I guess that means the Red Skull is unemployed Since the Red Skull is alive

it is presumed he no longer needs to guard the Soul Stone since it isn't there, and it's quite possible he may now return to Earth. Eagle-eyed fans have even noticed that

the portal that opened up for Thanos to retrieve the Soul Stone resembled the one that sent Red Skull to Vormir in the first place. So not only is it possible that he may return to Earth

but there's also a chance he's already here, and he's going to be so pissed when he finds out the

stone he guarded for like 80 years broke the day after Thanos took it. Number two, the dead villains

aren't really dead. The MCU has been known for fake-out deaths throughout its franchise. Notable

not-death deaths include Nick Fury, Bucky Barnes, Red Skull, and perhaps most notably, half of every

living creature in the universe. So it should come as no surprise that fans have speculated that many

of the villains' deaths could be undone with some simple retconning. Buckle up, because in addition

to the ones we already mentioned, there's quite a few more. Ready? Hell, it didn't really die in

Asgard because she teleported away at the last second. Kaecilius, who was sacrificed to Doramamu, returns to Earth as a vessel for Darmamu

Claw regenerates himself using a sonic arm just like in the comics. Ego regenerates using photosynthesis

like he did in the comics. Yellow Jacket is stuck in the quantum realm but gets out, run, and wasn't killed by the Power Stone

and returns stone style just like the Red Skull. And finally, Thanos created a backup Thanos using the stones

Okay, before we go to number one, I need a glass of water. And finally, coming in at number one

you can only beat Thanos after he thinks he's won. In Avengers Infinity War, we learn that of the millions of possible ways

the conflict over the Infinity Stones could end, there's only one where the Avengers emerge victorious

Doctor Strange looks into the future to see every possible ending, concluding that only one will work

In the moment, most fans anticipated that this meant that the Avengers would get bested by Thanos

and the other 14 million possible outcomes. But what if Doctor Strange had one more layer of caution in deciding which path to go down

In the eventual final timeline, Thanos acquires all six stones, snaps half of all life out of existence

and then destroys the stones out of an abundance of caution. Fans have noticed that last piece may be what Doctor Strange meant

by only having one possible victory outcome. It's possible that the Avengers' initial plan to capture Thanos

may have worked without Star-Lord's face punch, And that means the stones themselves would still be in play for Thanos or someone else to use for unspeakable evil

Instead, Doctor Strange aims for the one timeline where not only are Thanos and his goons defeated

but the stones themselves are destroyed in the process