3 Marvel Movie Villains Who Could Be the Thanos of Phase 4 and Beyond

As long as the Marvel Cinematic Universe goes on (and probably for some time after that) fans will be asking, “What happens next?” This question has become even more pressing since the 2019 release Avengers: Endgamewhen Thanos was first introduced in 2012 avengerHe finally met his downfall (twice).

And now the dust has settled Eternalconnecting some key points through (what else) two post-credit scenes, it is time to ask the question again: who is the next Thanos? Do we have any idea where all this is going? What happens next?

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

Gilgmaesh and Thena stare at dissenters on the beach in Eternals

The nature of Hollywood – or at least the Hollywood hype – is that we have a pretty good idea of which heroes will continue the story of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are, of course, all the heroes who have already debuted and those who are on their way. When asked, “What happens next?” The biggest unknown about the MCU lies with the villains.

And after a good seven years of construction culminating in the death of half of all living things in the universe, it’s hard to see Marvel increase the stakes on Thanos the Mad Titan.

But not impossible! And the 2021 Marvel Movies and TV Shows have unveiled their own candidates for the villain who could not only follow in Thanos’ footsteps, but surpass them.

Arishem the judge

Arishem, a massive red robot-like cosmic being with six massive lamp-like eyes arranged in two vertical rows on its face in Eternals.

More than any other of Marvel’s Phase 4 films, Eternal It feels like it is laying the groundwork for the future of the MCU as a whole, not just its own main characters. Marvel hasn’t announced a sequel, and it is possible that it won’t. Eternal contradicts the MCU formula of anchoring a franchise around actors without much influence on contract negotiations. Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek and all the other people? It’s more likely that we’ll see a number of cameos or supporting roles in other Marvel films instead.

But the Eternal Character who has the greatest crossover potential is Arishem the Judge, the Prime Celestial. Now there is a threat greater than Thanos, and not just literally. Thanos had to seize control of time, space and reality in order to realize his whims. But Celestials are born with it. In Marvel’s comics, too, the Celestials became more than the Eternals had ever managed.

Last but not least, Eternal has already set Arishem’s return to judge humanity on Marvel’s future timeline.

Kang the Conqueror

But the MCU has other options for a villain powerful enough to threaten not only living creatures but the very fabric of reality itself. This spring, the Disney Plus series Loki brought Kang the Conqueror into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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

Ant Man: Quantumaania, with Kang’s actor Jonathan Majors for the ride, is currently on the very edge of Marvel’s announced lineup, a place ripe for a villain to rise to become an environmental threat.

Magus

Despite a prominent role in 2021 Guardian of the Galaxy, Adam Warlock remains one of Marvel’s esoteric characters. And while he might be a long shot for a Thanos-level threat, the potential is still there.

James Gunn was eager to bring Adam into the world Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but said that he finally deleted it from the script due to lack of time (references to Adam remain in the credits of the film). Will Poulter was cast to play him Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, so we know it will definitely appear.

And where there is an Adam Warlock, there is a Magus, Adam’s equally powerful evil self, an immortal being able to manipulate matter itself. That may not be on par with a threat that ends the galaxy like a Celestial One, or a timeline that rocks like Kang – but hey, we cover all of our bases here!

We can’t say for sure who the next Thanos will be in the MCU, and it will likely be some time before we find out. But in the meantime, we may be able to enjoy some MCU movies, not all of which ultimately point to the same big purple crank.