10 Strongest Marvel Characters Set To Join The MCU In 2025, Ranked By Threat Level

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Some of the strongest characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe will make their first appearances in 2025, and many of them could pose a huge threat to the future of Marvel Studios" franchise. Since the MCU kicked off back in 2008 with the release of Iron Man, some of the most powerful characters from Marvel Comics have been adapted into live-action. This has included the likes of Doctor Strange, Thanos, the Scarlet Witch and Thor, among many others, but there are even more that haven"t yet appeared in the live-action MCU.
2025 is set to be a huge year for Marvel Studios, as three feature films, three live-action TV shows and three animated shows will be released throughout the year. These projects will include some heavy-hitters, such as Sam Wilson"s Captain America, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil and Ironheart. While 2025"s projects will focus on some of the MCU"s most powerful heroes, some of the strong characters set to appear in 2025 could create significant problems for the MCU.
10 Seth Voelker’s Sidewinder Giancarlo Esposito Will Debut As Sidewinder In Captain America: Brave New World Close Prior to being confirmed to be cast in Captain America: Brave New World, Giancarlo Esposito was a popular fan-cast for formidable Marvel characters such as Professor X and Magneto. In comparison to these iconic mutants, Seth Voelker, a.k.a. Sidewinder, is lackluster, but he could still pose a huge threat to Sam Wilson"s Captain America in 2025. As Esposito explains, Sidewinder is the "King of the Serpent Society," meaning he likely has a huge amount of influence over several other powerful villains, and trailers for Brave New World have shown off Sidewinder"s impressive arsenal.
In Marvel Comics, Seth Voelker was enhanced with teleportation abilities, allowing him to become the fierce leader of the Serpent Society, a group of snake-themed villains who routinely aided each other. It"s unclear whether Giancarlo Esposito"s Sidewinder will be able to teleport, but this would make him an even greater threat in Captain America: Brave New World. Esposito has teased Sidewinder"s return in future MCU projects, so he"ll surely be making a big splash in 2025 before creating problems for other superheroes aside from Captain America.
9 Muse Muse Will Debut In Daredevil: Born Again Close If you needed convincing that Marvel Studios" upcoming Daredevil: Born Again is going to be a very dark installment in the MCU, Muse"s involvement should do the job. Muse is one of the most mysterious and sinister characters in Daredevil"s Marvel Comics history, first appearing in 2015"s Daredevil (Vol. 5) #11 as a sadistic serial killer who creates art pieces out of the remnants of his victims. What makes Muse even more threatening is his lack of allegiance, as he opposes both Daredevil and Kingpin, which gives him an elusive and unpredictable nature.
Muse is most famous for producing huge graffiti art of various vigilante heroes during Wilson Fisk"s time as Mayor of New York. Adaptations of this art have already been seen in promotional material for Daredevil: Born Again.
Despite being so dangerous, Muse doesn"t actually harbor any known superhuman abilities, though he appears to be very strong, agile and a skilled fighter. This means he may not pose a major threat to Charlie Cox"s Matt Murdock in Daredevil: Born Again, but will be a minor annoyance nevertheless. This doesn"t mean he couldn"t have a larger role in the MCU"s future, as Muse"s real identity has never been revealed, giving him an air of mystery that makes him an incredibly interesting and even more terrifying character.
8 Simon Williams’ Wonder Man Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Will Debut As Simon Williams In Wonder Man Close It seems as though Yahya Abdul-Mateen II"s upcoming MCU character will be a steadfast hero, but his checkered Marvel Comics backstory could throw some doubt on this. Simon Williams will make his live-action debut in 2025"s Wonder Man, a new Marvel Spotlight series, where he"ll appear as a superpowered actor auditioning for the role of Wonder Man in a superhero TV series. It"s possible Wonder Man could explore Simon Williams" backstory, which saw him imprisoned and volunteering for experiments by Heinrich Zemo, who became a pawn in his plan to infiltrate the Avengers.

Related New MCU Villain Pays Off A Genius Marvel Easter Egg Hidden In Phase 4 The MCU"s Wonder Man streaming series has a newly-cast villain, but his introduction was subtly teased way back at the start of Phase 4.
Posts Zemo gave Simon Williams ion-based superpowers and sent him to meet and join the Avengers, subsequently allowing his Masters of Evil to destroy the superhero team. This would make Wonder Man a huge threat to the MCU, particularly with the Avengers expected to reform very soon. However, this could also be great news, as Wonder Man soon turned against his creator and joined the Avengers for real, so the MCU may soon gain an incredibly powerful new superhero who could headline the franchise for years to come.
7 Norman Osborn Colman Domingo Will Voice Norman Osborn In Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Close Although set outside the MCU"s main continuity of Earth-616, which stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker"s Spider-Man, 2025"s Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man will still debut some hugely powerful and threatening characters to the MCU"s multiverse. Hudson Thames will voice a new Peter Parker opposite his mentor in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man"s universe, not Tony Stark, but Norman Osborn, voiced by Colman Domingo. Norman Osborn is one of Spider-Man"s most notable and formidable adversaries, so his MCU debut is very exciting.
The first trailer for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has teased a good relationship between Peter Parker and Norman Osborn, but it surely won"t be long before the latter is scheming against the young wall-crawler. Norman Osborn is a scientific genius, with a huge wealth of knowledge and skill, but he also harbors physical strength and unpredictability as the Green Goblin. It"s unclear if he"ll suit up as the Green Goblin in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, but this would be a terrifying development in Peter Parker"s new origin story.
6 Parker Robbins’ Hood Anthony Ramos Will Debut As The Hood In Ironheart Close What If...? season 3 recently provided audiences with a first look at the Hood in the MCU, as the Hood was found and replaced by Xu Xialing in the 1800s. A more comic-faithful depiction of the Hood is set to debut in live-action in 2025, however, with Anthony Ramos appearing as Parker Robbins in the MCU"s upcoming Ironheart series. The Hood has an intense knowledge of mysticism, dark magic and the occult, and has superhuman strength, stamina and agility to go with it, making him a brilliant antagonist for Dominique Thorne"s technology-based Riri Williams.

Related The MCU Just Revealed How Powerful One Of 2025's New Marvel Villains Will Be What If...? has just debuted a new villain to the MCU ahead of their 2025 live-action role, and it makes their appearance so much more exciting.
Posts There has been speculation that Ironheart"s Parker Robbins will have connections to the iconic Marvel Comics demon supervillain, Mephisto, which would make him even more terrifying, but this hasn"t been confirmed. Even so, the Hood is one of the most influential and powerful figures in New York"s criminal underworld in Marvel Comics, and this may also be depicted in the MCU, despite the location change to Chicago. The Hood"s command of dark magic means he could pose a huge threat to many heroes in the MCU for years to come.
5 Iron Fist An Iron Fist Will Appear In Eyes Of Wakanda Close Eyes of Wakanda will be the first Marvel Animation series set in the MCU"s main continuity of Earth-616, exploring the history of the MCU proper in a brand-new animation style. Eyes of Wakanda will focus on the Hatut Zeraze, a group of Wakandan warriors who scour the Earth searching for missing vibranium artifacts. Their travels will bring them into contact with many powerful characters from the MCU"s history, including an Iron Fist. Finn Jones played Danny Rand"s Iron Fist in the eponymous Defenders Saga series, but not all Iron Fists have been so heroic.
MCU"s Known Iron Fist
Actor
Debut Project
Wu Ao-Shi
N/A
Iron Fist (Mentioned)
1948"s Iron Fist
N/A
Iron Fist
Danny Rand
Finn Jones
Iron Fist
Davos
Sacha Dhawan
Iron Fist
Colleen Wing
Jessica Henwick
Iron Fist
Kwai Jun-Fan
Allen Deng
What If...? Season 3 (Pre-Iron Fist)
TBD
TBD
Eyes of Wakanda
The Iron Fist is the title of the sworn protector of the mystical city, K"un-Lun, and the warrior often goes to extreme lengths to protect this elusive paradise. In Netflix"s Iron Fist series, Davos claims the Iron Fist for his own twisted goals, which could inspire whichever Iron Fist the Hatut Zeraze come across in Eyes of Wakanda. With the immense power of the Iron Fist, a morally questionable wielder of the force could be an incredible threat to the entire MCU, though it"s perhaps more likely Marvel will first debut a more-heroic version of the Iron Fist.
4 Red Hulk President Ross Will Become The Red Hulk In Captain America: Brave New World Close Thaddeus Ross has, of course, been in the MCU from the very start, making his first appearance, played by the late William Hurt, in 2008"s The Incredible Hulk. Since then, he has posed a minor annoyance to Earth"s Mightiest Heroes, but 2025"s Captain America: Brave New World will transform him into an actual villain by turning Ross, the new President of the United States, into the Red Hulk. It seems Tim Blake Nelson"s Leader will have a hand in this transformation, setting up both him and the Red Hulk as terrifying new threats in the MCU.
Tim Blake Nelson"s Samuel Sterns began to transform into the Leader at the end of The Incredible Hulk after his open wound was exposed to Bruce Banner"s gamma-irradiated blood. His brief, if incomplete, appearance as the Leader in 2008 makes him ineligible for this list, but it will still be very exciting to see his new MCU villain in the flesh in Captain America: Brave New World.
In Marvel Comics, the Red Hulk has all the powers of Bruce Banner"s Hulk, but also emits a huge amount of heat from his body that has the possibility of causing even more destruction. Trailers for Captain America: Brave New World have teased this power-set for Harrison Ford"s Red Hulk, though it"s likely this will also come with his Marvel Comics weakness: the angrier he gets, the weaker he becomes. There"s little doubt Anthony Mackie"s Sam Wilson will be able to defeat the Red Hulk, but he is still a very threatening new addition to the MCU"s Phase 5.
3 Robert Reynolds’ Sentry Lewis Pullman Has Been All But Confirmed To Be The Sentry In Thunderbolts* Close Even though Marvel Studios has not confirmed that Lewis Pullman is playing the Sentry in Thunderbolts*, this is practically common knowledge at this point. Trailers for the upcoming crossover movie, which will bring together reformed villains and antiheroes from the MCU"s history as a new superpowered team, have revealed that Pullman is playing "Bob" in Thunderbolts*, which is clearly a shortened version of Robert, as in Robert Reynolds. The Sentry is one of the most powerful heroes in Marvel Comics, but his dark side also makes him one of Marvel"s most dangerous threats.
In Marvel Comics, Robert Reynolds originally erased his memories of being the Sentry after realizing that the Void, his archenemy, is actually a dark persona housed within himself. The Void is capable of destroying the Earth, if not the entire universe, which could make this entity one of the most threatening additions to the MCU. It"s unclear whether the Void will be seen in the more-grounded Thunderbolts*, but since Lewis Pullman is all but confirmed to be the Sentry, it surely won"t be long before the Void makes an impact on the MCU, too.
2 Shalla-Bal’s Silver Surfer Julia Garner Will Debut As Shalla-Bal In The Fantastic Four: First Steps Close One of the most highly-anticipated projects in the MCU"s history is July 2025"s The Fantastic Four: First Steps reboot, which will reinvent Marvel"s First Family after 20th Century Fox repeatedly failed to do them justice. The Fantastic Four"s debut in the MCU is very exciting, but they will be fighting to protect their alternate 1960s-inspired retro-futuristic world, and won"t be a threat. Shalla-Bal"s Silver Surfer, however, may be one of the most formidable characters ever seen in the MCU, as Julia Garner"s cosmic character will be the Herald of the planet-eater Galactus.
Fantastic Four Live-Action Movie
Year
Studio
Box Office
The Fantastic Four
1994
Constantin Film
Unreleased
Fantastic Four
2005
20th Century Fox
$333.5 million
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
2007
20th Century Fox
$301.9 million
Fantastic Four
2015
20th Century Fox
$167.9 million
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
2025
Marvel Studios
TBD
Shalla-Bal will seemingly venture to the Fantastic Four"s alternate Earth to scout the planet, finding worlds for her supremely powerful master to consume. Marvel audiences might be more familiar with Norrin Radd"s Silver Surfer, who appeared in 2007"s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, but Shalla-Bal"s debut in The Fantastic Four: First Steps will bring something new to the MCU. Galactus" Heralds have been imbued with the Power Cosmic, giving them almost unlimited power, and Shalla-Bal"s very appearance will signal the arrival of Galactus, making her one of the MCU"s biggest threats.
1 Galactus Ralph Ineson Will Voice Galactus In The Fantastic Four: First Steps Close There"s perhaps one being in the Marvel Universe more powerful than the Heralds of Galactus, and that is the planet-eater himself. Galactus was originally Galan, a being from the universe before this one who merged with the "Sentience of the Universe" to live on in the new universe and become Galactus. Galactus must devour entire worlds to sustain his life force, and he finds possible candidates for his meals with the help of his Heralds, including the Silver Surfer. Even though he is not technically a villain, his destructive nature makes him an incredible threat to life on Earth.

Related How Powerful Is Galactus Compared To Thanos And Kang? With Galactus possibly the next big bad in the MCU after The Fantastic Four: First Steps, how does he compare to other villains like Thanos and Kang?
Posts 7 Galactus" live-action debut was completely fumbled in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which rendered the formidable Marvel Comics character a simple gas cloud in space. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to debut a much more comic-accurate version of Galactus, voiced by Ralph Ineson, who will seemingly threaten to consume the Fantastic Four"s alternate Earth. Galactus" debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2025 is huge, and will certainly change the shape of the franchise forever.
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Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a multimedia superhero franchise that began in 2008 with Paramount's Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. The franchise quickly grew in popularity, with Disney eventually buying out Marvel Entertainment in 2009. The MCU consists of dozens of movies and TV shows, most notably Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision, and Loki.
Created by Kevin Feige First Film Iron Man Upcoming Films Deadpool & Wolverine , Captain America: Brave New World , Thunderbolts* , Blade (2025) , The Fantastic Four: First Steps , Avengers: Doomsday (2026) , Avengers: Secret Wars Upcoming TV Shows Agatha: Coven of Chaos , Ironheart , Daredevil: Born Again , Wakanda , Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man , Marvel Zombies , Wonder Man , Vision Quest Upcoming MCU Movies