3 Marvel movie villains who could be the Thanos of Phase 4 and beyond

For as long as the Marvel Cinematic Universe lasts (and probably for some time after) fans will be wondering “What happens next?” That question has only become more pressing since the release of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, when Thanos, first introduced in 2012’s AvengersFinally, he met his end (twice).

Now the dust is settled Eternals, which connects some major dots by way of (what else) two post-credit scenes, it’s time to ask the question again: Who is the next Thanos? Are we able to see where all this leads us? Next steps?

[Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for Eternals.]

Image: Marvel Studios

The nature of Hollywood — or at least of Hollywood hype — is that we have a pretty good idea of which heroes will carry on the story of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There’s all the heroes who’ve already debuted, of course, plus those who’re on their way. When you ask “What happens next?” about the MCU, the biggest unknown is in the villains.

And after a good seven years of build-up, culminating in the deaths of half of every living thing in the universe, it’s hard to see how Marvel ups the stakes from Thanos the Mad Titan.

However, it is possible! And the Marvel films and television shows of 2021 have introduced their own candidates for the villain who could not only step into Thanos’ shoes, but exceed them.

Arishem, the Judge

Image: Marvel Studios

More than any other of Marvel’s Phase 4movies, Eternals feels like it’s laying groundwork for the future of the MCU as a whole, not just its own main characters. Marvel hasn’t announced a sequel, and it’s possible that it won’t. EternalsThis is a departure from the MCU model of anchoring franchises around actors with little contract negotiation power. Salmahayek, Angelina Jolie AndWhat about all the other people? It seems more likely we’ll see a series of cameos or supporting roles in other Marvel movies instead.

However, Eternals Arishem The Judge, the Prime Celestial, is the character that has the highest potential for cross-over. Now there’s a threat that’s bigger than Thanos, and not just in a literal sense. Thanos needed to seize power over space and time to carry out his fantasies. Celestials, however, are born with it. Also, even in Marvel’s comics, the Celestials became more of a thing than the Eternals ever managed to be.

The cherry on top? Eternals has already set Arishem’s return to judge humanity on Marvel’s future timeline.

Kang the Conqueror

Image: Marvel Studios

However, the MCU offers other choices for villains so potent they could threaten living things as well as the fabric of the universe. The Disney Plus series will be available this spring. LokiKang the Conqueror was brought into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Kang, or some incarnation of him (he only has — let me check my notes — one million of them) is a prime temporal threat to Marvel’s heroes in the comics. We also know that he’ll appear again, not just in the next season of Loki, but also in a future Marvel Film.

Ant-Man: Quantumainia, with Kang’s actor Jonathan Majors along for the ride, currently sits at the very most edge of Marvel’s announced lineup, a place ripe for a villain to ascend to a setting-wide threat.

Magus

Mark Bagley/Marvel Comics

Despite a prominent role in 2021’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Adam Warlock remains one of Marvel’s more esoteric characters. Although he may not be the Thanos-level threat that he once was, there is still potential.

James Gunn was eager to welcome Adam into his home. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but has said that he eventually dropped him from the script for lack of time (references to Adam remain in the film’s credits sequences). Will Poulter is being cast in his role. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, so we know he’ll definitely appear.

And where there’s an Adam Warlock, there’s a Magus, Adam’s equally-if-not-more-powerful evil self, an immortal being capable of manipulating matter itself. That may not be on par with a galaxy ending threat like a Celestial, or a timeline shattering nasty like Kang — but, hey, we’re covering all our bases here!

We can’t say for certain who the next Thanos will be in the MCU, and it’ll probably be some time before we find out. But in the meantime, maybe we can enjoy some MCU movies that don’t all eventually point towards the same big purple weirdo.