13 Marvel Anti Heroes We All Love to Hate

Who are these anti heroes? The characters who scoff at the law, cross the lines that ought not to be crossed, and embrace their broken moral compasses. Marvel is full of shades of gray characters who are willing to do whatever it takes to reach their goal– no matter the cost, be it hundreds of innocent lives, widespread destruction, or hooking up with the most unforgivably horrendous of supervillains.

Here are 13 of the most compelling, ruthless, and straight-up fascinating Marvel anti heroes in comics and the MCU!

13. The Hulk

Image Source: Thor Ragnarok, Marvel Studios, IMDb

Let’s get one thing straight. When we say the Hulk here, we don’t mean Bruce Banner. We mean The Hulk. The big, angry, green guy. The perpetually enraged, immoral, and impulsive muscle-bound chaos causer.

If ever there was a doubt about the Hulk’s affiliation, look at the MCU. Even when the Hulk fights alongside earth’s greatest defenders, The Avengers, he still causes a staggering amount of damage. Thoughtlessly destructive, the Hulk reacts on pure impulse, and even as he’s battling baddies, he can, and does, wreak havoc on everything else around him as well.

Just look at his frenzied romp around New York City in the first Avengers film, when the team battled an intergalactic threat. The Hulk was just as detrimental to the city streets and just as much of a hazard to nearby civilians as the aliens who were whizzing around like whirling dervishes of destruction.

It wouldn’t be the only time the Hulk was a danger to himself and his friends. In that very same movie, Bruce Banner, under the influence of Loki, turned into the Hulk and attempted to kill Black Widow while they were on a S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier with the rest of the Avengers team.

This proves that the Hulk is dangerously susceptible to being mind-controlled and mentally influenced. His primitive brain, fixed only on survival and impulses, has no defenses from any magical or telepathic interference.

Ultimately, the Hulk doesn’t have the mental capacity to choose “right or wrong” or “good or bad.” He operates on impulse and instinct alone. In both his comics run (dating back to 1962) and his MCU appearances, The Hulk could just as quickly take down his superhero allies as he does their supervillains. He indiscriminately bulldozes whoever is unfortunate or unwise enough to cross his path while he’s mean, green, and on the scene.

12. Ghost Rider

Image Source: Marvel Comics, 2017

Possessed by a fiery demon and Hell’s bounty hunter Zarathos, former stunt rider Johnny Blaze became Ghost Rider when a deal to save his best friend and mentor from death backfired. Ablaze with literal hellfire, the immortal Ghost Rider exacts vengeance on evil-doers with his “eye for an eye” brand of justice.

Using his “penance stare,” Ghost Rider makes whomever he targets feel all of the pain they’ve inflicted on others for eternity by locking them in a mental prison and putting their bodies into a permanent catatonic state. Since his debut in 1972 in Marvel Spotlight #5, Ghost Rider has been one of the most consistent Marvel anti heroes.

Ghost Rider’s entire purpose revolves around exacting vengeance on and ruthlessly razing down baddies. Although he’s ruthless with a one-track mind, Ghost Rider has had a fair few heroic moments.

He was a part of the Midnight Sons, a team of anti heroes focused on eliminating dark supernatural beings and demonic threats. He was also a member of the Champions, and he even teamed up with Doctor Strange to defeat Mephisto, a meddlesome extradimensional demon who wrecked many a superhero lives and set out to invade earth.

Since clobbering Mephisto, in recent comics, Ghost Rider takes over his role as the king of Hell and the new Ghost Rider mantle is passed down to Robbie Reyes.

11. Sentry

Image Source: The Sentry #1, Art by Kim Jacinto, Marvel, 2018

A meth-addict turned Super Soldier, Robert Reynolds is a supremely powerful superpowered…being. This relatively new and relatively unknown anti hero began his comics run in 2000’s Sentry #1 after ingesting Golden Sentry Serum, a variant of the Super Soldier serum, in an attempt to get a new high. Instead of tripping out, his entire molecular structure was changed, and he developed god-like powers.

Omnipotent, indestructible, and imbued with powers comparable to a million exploding suns, Sentry is impressively stacked. Add in his superhuman senses, strength, and speed, his genius-level intellect, his abilities to teleport, warp any reality, blast energy beams out of his eyes that are powerful enough to level entire cities, and oh, his IMMORTALITY and it’s hard not to freak out.

But there’s more. That laundry list above is Sentry’s abilities before he’s taken over by The Void, a demonic entity inside of him. Sentry dedicated himself to saving hundreds of lives daily, which earned him the love of the public and the nickname The Golden Guardian. But it’s when the Void – one of the most destructive forces in all of the Marvel universes – possesses him that he becomes a villain of epic proportions and one of the most well-known Marvel anti heroes.

While under the control of the Void, Sentry utterly demolished Asgard, killed his wife Lindy, and was used as a superhuman weapon by the Dark Avengers. While Sentry aligns himself with what he believes is “the greater good,” his mind is severely damaged by the Void.

For all his tremendous power, Sentry is hugely unpredictable, frighteningly unstable, prone to psychological meltdowns, and can be completely taken over by the Void at any moment. For all the heroics Sentry has accomplished with the Avengers, he’s a severe threat and liability to his allies and, in the big picture, all of humankind.

10. Blade

Image Source: Avengers Vol 8 12 001, Art by Ed McGuinness, Marvel, 2019

From the time of his first appearance in 1973 in The Tomb of Dracula #10, Blade has made a big impression in Marvel comics. A lethal swordsman known for slaying all manner of supernatural creatures with his titanium blade, garlic-filled silver bullets, and brutal hand to hand combat, Blade is also known for his…unique condition.

Born Eric Brooks, Blade is a Dhampir: a human-vampire hybrid. While his mother was in labor, her doc, a sneaky vampire named Deacon Frost, attacked her, killing her and infecting newborn Eric with vampirism. Growing up as an orphan in London, Blade began fending off vampires when he was just 9-years-old.

Trained by a vampire hunting jazz musician, Jamal Afari, and fueled by a furious need to avenge his mother’s death, young Blade quickly grew up to become a fierce combatant. With the superhuman abilities of a vampire, immunity to their bites and hypnosis, and none of their weaknesses, Blade dedicates his life to eradicating the scourge of vampires.

Blade’s heroics also include aiding the X-Men in their fight against Dracula’s son Xarus, and the Avengers in their fight against Thanos. He formed a demon-killing team called the Midnight Sons with Doctor Strange and Ghost Rider, and rescued a magical tablet known as The Talisman of Kamar-Taj from the Deathwalkers, who wanted to use it in a big murdery ritual that’d wipe out a large chunk of the world’s population.

Mercilessly beating back the dark realm and all of its twisted creatures, it’s his violence and one-track mind that place Blade firmly on our Marvel anti heroes list. If heroes get in his way while he’s on his quest, well, then they’ll meet their doom just as any vampire will.

9. Namor The Sub-Mariner

Image Source: Avengers #9, Cover Art by David Marquez, Marvel, 2016

Namor The Sub-Mariner, the half-human son of an Atlantean princess, made his comics debut in 1939, predating DC’s own half-human half-Atlantean superhero Aquaman by a full two years. But, unlike Aquaman, Namor prioritizes Atlantis above all, humankind be damned.

In 1961’s Fantastic Four #4 comic when atom bombs the US were testing inadvertently damaged his kingdom, Namor summoned the sea monster and Atlantis’s doomsday weapon, Giganto and unleashed him on New York City.

The cream of the crop of Marvel anti heroes, Namor is buddy-buddy with superheroes one minute only to turn on them the next. In 1963’s Avengers #3, Namor recruits The Hulk in to help him smash The Avengers, and before the battle even begins he decides “when he’s [Hulk’s] served his purpose, I’ll destroy him!”

Another famous case? In 2012’s Avengers vs. X-Men #8, Namor flooded the entire nation of Wakanda in an attempt to kill the Avengers who he designated as his enemies once again and who were hiding out there.

Namor’s ruthless and backstabby history only secures his top rank as one of Marvel’s most hated characters. Along with drowning thousands of innocent Wakandans, Namor has also joined Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers and, perhaps most atrociously, teamed up with Thanos to annihilate entire planets.

Although Namor doesn’t play well with the superhero squads he’s teamed up with over his eighty-year run in Marvel comics, he’s committed to being a hero for Atlantis and loves his people. Namor is so determined to defend Atlantis, he doesn’t give two effs if that makes him a villain to anyone else.

8. Black Cat

Image Source: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3, Marvel, 2014

Marvel’s cat burglar, Felicia Hardy’s Black Cat, first appeared in 1979 in The Amazing Spider-Man #194. And she isn’t the only one of the Marvel anti heroes on this list to have a connection with Peter Parker’s Spider-Man. But, it’s important to know that Black Cat wasn’t always a thieving vigilante. Felicia Hardy was once Peter Parker’s boo.

When Doc Octopus abducted her and Spider-Man was nearly killed trying to rescue her, she pledged to become strong enough to protect herself and never put Spider-Man’s life in jeopardy again.

In more recent comics, Black Cat is the high-achieving daughter of a notorious criminal. It’s the trauma of surviving a rape in college that sets Felicia on the path to becoming Black Cat in this alternative story, with the same end goal, to be strong enough to defend herself but also to exact revenge on her rapist.

In both storylines, it’s the mobster Kingpin who gives Black Cat her Tychokinesis: the power to inflict bad luck and misfortune on anyone she encounters. Not long after, her motives quickly shifted to self-serving thievery.

Eager to get her paws on riches and fixated on boosting her wealth and status, Black Cat forms her own criminal empire and becomes known for her opulent lifestyle, gang connections, and her hot and cold relationship with Spider-Man.

In her 40 years in Marvel comics, Black Cat has bounced between being a criminal and a (reluctant) do-gooder tip-toeing along the straight and narrow. For all her ruthlessness and killer ambition, Black Cat’s status as an anti hero is solidified by her stints working with the Defenders, Misty Knight’s Heroes For Hire.

She also unhesitantly pounced into action and teamed up with Spider-Man and Venom when the sociopathic Lee Price merged with the symbiote Mania.

7. Moon Knight

Image Source: Moon Knight Vol.1, Cover art variant by Philip Tan, Marvel, 2018

A cult favorite among comics fans, Moon Knight is set to make it to the mainstream with his own show on Disney’s streaming service Disney+. Since he first appeared in Marvel comics in 1975’s Werewolf By Night #32, Moon Knight, or Marc Spector, has in a way become the Marvel Universe’s take on DC’s Bat-Man.

Unlike many of the Marvel anti heroes on our list, Moon Knight’s origin story does not include the traumatic death of anyone close to him. Instead, he, a professional boxer, Marine veteran, and mercenary is betrayed and left for dead by one of his employers when he takes on a mercenary gig in Egypt.

Taken in by worshippers of the Egyptian moon god, Khonshu, it’s divine intervention from the god himself that brings him back to life. Still, ironically enough, at the cost of his own life–he becomes the human vessel for Khonshu. Yup. Moon Knight is a part-time deity!

Often described as a “superhero John Wick,” Moon Knight’s strength, speed, and endurance ebbs and flows with the phases of the moon. He’s proficient in nearly every weapon he encounters and is especially fond of his ancient Egyptian artifacts like his Scarab beetle darts, crescent-shaped blades, Ankh club, and silver battle gloves. Fabulously wealthy, Moon Knight has the resources to equip himself with the highest quality tech, and a veritable arsenal of gadgets.

What makes Moon Knight an anti hero is his Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Moon Knight developed DID as a consequence of Khonshu invading his body and mind, having already been mentally ill before Khonshu decided to hitch a ride in Moon Knight’s bod.

The anti hero can be exceptionally unpredictable and dangerous at times, especially when cycling through identities. One of his identities is a textbook vigilante superhero, one that stopped a serial killer with a preference for murdering the homeless, frequently helped the NYPD solve cases, and teamed up once or twice with the anti hero The Punisher and Spider-Man.

But Moon Knight is not above faking his death, has questionable self-preservation tactics, and is prone to delusions, hallucinations and mental breakdowns. His other prominent identity is a coldblooded killer who has no qualms against beating a man’s head to a pulp or carving the face off of one of his enemies. Captain America, he is not!

6. Cable

Image Source: Cable #1, Art by Carlos Pacheco, Marvel, 2017

A denizen of Earth-2107, Cable is Scott Summers’ and cloned Jean Grey’s (Madelyne Pryor’s) son, Nathan Summers. The time-traveling gun-toting cyborg first appeared in 1986’s Uncanny X-Men #201 and proceeded to quickly amass one of the most convoluted, complicated backstories in comics history.

Tangled up in alternate timelines and universes, the short of it is Cable hails from a dystopian future. He had a traumatic sci-fi nightmare of a childhood, and now, as a grown-ass bad-ass adult is often fired up about the deaths of his wife and daughter, and uses that loss to cling to his thirst for vengeance.

Cable is immensely powerful and endowed with telekinetic and telepathic abilities that enable him to invade the minds of people around him, move objects, and fend off the aggressive techno-organic virus Apocalypse infected him with as a child. The virus and the toll it took on his body led to Cable becoming a weaponized human with a cybernetic eye and arm.

Considering himself a warrior for peace, Cable has on a couple of occasions turned on other superheroes when on his single-minded missions.

For instance, he stole Captain America’s shield to motivate his people to fight Apocalypse, and sought revenge on The Avengers when he mistakenly believed they murdered his daughter Hope! On top of that, Cable’s fast friendship with fellow anti hero and merc with a mouth, Deadpool further reinforces his status as one of the best Marvel anti heroes.

His heroics though are nothing to sneeze at. Cable led the X-Force, battled a terrorist group called The Mutant Liberation Front (his evil clone, Stryfe led that), repaired Deadpool’s brain damage after the events of M-Day, and rescued and adopted a newborn mutant.

While leading the X-Force, Cable was often dispatched on missions that were considered “too black ops” for the X-Men. Impressively, Cable and his squad of super powered mutants defeated the nearly invulnerable Juggernaut.

5. The Punisher

Image Source: The Punisher #1, Cover Art by Alex Maleev, Marvel, 2016

One of the only non-superpowered, fully human Marvel anti heroes on our list, Frank Castle is also one of its deadliest. An ex-Marine special ops officer, The Punisher debuted in Marvel comics in 1974 in The Amazing Spider-Man #129. After his family was brutally slain, Frank embraced a vigilante lifestyle, lashing out against criminals with his remorseless, violent, and bloody brand of justice.

Although The Punisher fancies himself a force for good, he’s caused a lot of death, destruction, and drama. He graphically shot the skin off of Wolverine’s face and ruined Captain America’s Civil War II recruitment efforts.

In one storyline, The Punisher sided with Cap only to instantly gun down two of Cap’s newest allies, Plunderer and Goldbug, deeming them too criminal to live. The Punisher is unable to shed his vendettas and his ironclad moral code, even if it conflicts with other heroes’ needs.

Perhaps most horrifically of all is when The Punisher went on a murder spree in an entire comic entitled “The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe” in 1995.

Intent on killing superheroes and villains alike, he rounds up all the mutants only to annihilate them with a nuclear missile and savagely slays Spider-Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, the Human Torch, and countless other heroes. He even murders a sleeping Bruce Banner!

4. Eddie Brock & Venom

Image Source: Venom Vol.3 #6, Art by Gerardo Sandoval, Marvel, 2017

Venom, the toothy, tongue-wagging symbiote has cozied up with a good few characters in his Marvel comics and cinematic run since his debut in 1984’s The Amazing Spider-Man #252.

Growing far creepier and more complex than his initial role — a living alien costume that wanted to consume Spider-Man — Venom has become one of the most iconic Marvel anti heroes and antagonists in the entire comics landscape.

It’s when disgraced Daily Bugle ex-journalist Eddie Brock bonds with the symbiote that the Venom we all know is born– a vigilante alien monster. Patrolling the city streets and preying on criminals in his and Eddie’s quest to end corruption, Venom doesn’t just eliminate baddies; he eviscerates them.

And, although Eddie keeps Venom’s most cannibalistic and bloodthirsty impulses at bay (Venom gets the munchies for human brains and flesh on the reg), the two have quite the record for spreading carnage (no pun intended).

Venom’s heroic exploits, though, are pretty darn impressive. He took out terrorists, telepathically blew up hordes of symbiotes who tried to invade earth and became an intergalactic defender in Venom: Space Knight. Not to mention single-handedly defeating the supervillain group The Savage Six.

In more recent comics, Venom and Eddie have decided to rethink their former violent strategies and vigilante life. Their anti hero days may soon be history. After being separated on and off for years, the two have reunited for good, both of them wiser and more level-headed.

A huge turning point in Venom and Eddie’s desire to pursue a life of goodness is when they have a baby together. Because, yes, Eddie gives birth to their baby symbiote. For Venom, this is nothing new. Throughout his Marvel comic run, Venom has spawned many other symbiotes — most notoriously Carnage.

What is new is that when Venom becomes a father with Eddie, his gradual emotional growth cumulates in one shockingly human moment. The symbiote confesses he doesn’t want their baby to turn out like Carnage and his other children, but he wants it to be “a hero like you [Eddie], a hero like Venom.”

3. Loki

Image Source: Thor: The Dark World, Marvel Studios, IMDb

Oh, Loki. Everyone’s favorite god of mischief and disaster bi. Where would we be without the brilliance and bad decision making of Thor’s adoptive younger brother?!

Spawned from real-world ancient Viking mythology, Loki’s M.O. has been and will always be to cause trouble and play tricks on unsuspecting humans, heroes, gods, and, well, anyone, around him.

Loki has no reservations about playing the villain and has caused a lot of drama and distress with his impulsivity and self-serving tactics. The “small” stuff?

Unleashing angry Frost Giants on Asgard or stealing Odin’s throne for himself. How about beating back the dark elf Malekith with Thor and then switching sides, shape-shifting himself into Odin, and dispatching the real Odin off-planet so he could rule Asgard?

The big fish in his pond of horrible decision making? Loki triggered the catastrophic Ragnarok, nearly drove a man to madness by using the Mind Stone to make him do his bidding, and invaded New York with the intention to, oh, take over the freaking world.

Sure, most of Loki’s do-gooding comes from a selfish place or straight-up bad decisions, but it can’t be denied that much of it has transformed the Marvel universes for the better. One of the most shining examples of Loki’s bad decision making? His attempts at starting an epic fight between Hulk and Thor backfired, big time, and led to the formation of the Avengers!

When Loki does choose to play the hero, though, he goes all out. He assembled his own squad of superheroes he named The Mighty Avengers (hey, we never said the guy was particularly original) to fight back against a Chthon, an ancient evil god summoned by supervillain Norman Osborn.

He also saved the Young Avengers Wiccan and Hulkling, two of the most promising new superheroes, from a vile parasitic force known as “Mother.”

The thing about Loki is that he’s not innately evil. He’s not a single-minded villain hell-bent on revenge or destroying the life of whoever slights him. He operates on a self-serving basis and does whatever he wants, whenever he wants. In other words, Loki is kind of a d*ck.

He’s also one of the most complex and compelling Marvel anti heroes of all time, and let’s be real, nearly impossible to hate.

2. Magneto

Image Source: X-Men Black – Magneto #1, Cover Art by J. Scott Campbell, Marvel, 2018

We’d be remiss if we didn’t take a moment here to include one of the most famous Marvel anti heroes! Max Eisenhardt. Erik Lensherr. Mangus. Whatever name he goes by (and there are many), the magnet manipulating mutant Magneto is a man of many shades of gray.

Formerly affiliated with the X-Men and best bros with Charles Xavier, Magneto has been one of the “good guys” for as much of a lifetime as he has been one of the “not so good” guys.

Although Magneto has a hell of a lot of baggage, he’s also a natural-born leader with the power to protect others and be a force for good. That is when he’s not caught up in the throes of his militant pro-mutant fervor. Humankind in his eyes is inherently and unforgivably evil.

What begins as Magneto’s personal mission to put a stop to bigots, racists, and anti-mutant threats quickly evolves into something sinister. In nearly every comic and cinematic appearance, Magneto pledges to do everything in his power to protect his mutant people, no matter what the cost.

It’s this one-track mind that fuels a near lifetime of Magneto committing atrocities. He caused a volcanic eruption to destroy an entire city, ruthlessly ripped Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton out of his body, and tampered with the earth’s magnetic poles to deliberately wipe out a massive part of the population, superhuman and human alike.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are Magneto’s equally extreme acts of heroism. He establishes an island utopia for mutants and is integral in the defeat of the supervillain Apocalypse.

In spite of Magneto’s cynicism, notoriously radical behavior, and occasionally dabbling in, oh, genocide, he doesn’t want to enslave the world. He wants it to acknowledge mutants for the superior beings they are.

1. Doctor Doom

Image Source: Doctor Doom #1, Art by Salvador Larroca, Marvel, 2019

It’s all too easy to peg Victor Von Doom, the armored Latverian ruler as a villain. One of the most visibly iconic antagonists in Marvel’s storied history, Doctor Doom is instantly recognizable with his iron mask, hunter green cloak, and battle suit. Since his debut in Fantastic Four #5 in 1962, Doctor Doom has appeared in comics over 3,100 times.

A formidable sorcerer and scientist (best of both worlds much?!) Doctor Doom is known for his genius intellect, a knack for inventions, and his deep desire to better humankind. His unconventional tactics, though, hardly make him a popular character in the Marvel universe, and he’s hated off-planet by characters who live in the cosmos just as much as he is by, say, The Fantastic Four and earth-bound heroes.

This literal son of a witch’s (his Romani mother left him a hidden chest full of magical artifacts that he discovered after her death!) most pivotal moment was when he constructed an interdimensional communication device to speak to his mother from beyond the grave.

It failed…spectacularly– leaving him with a scarred face, wounded pride, and a furious desire to set things right. If he couldn’t save his mother from her fate, he could at least save his Latverian people. Doctor Doom overthrew the king, crowned himself, and set about making his third-world country into a first-world one– and he succeeded.

Quite a few things solidify doctor Doom’s antihero status. Firstly, his love for his people. He even adopts an orphaned boy, Kristoff Vernard! Charismatic, dignified, and proud, Doctor Doom believes with all his heart that he can save the world and rule it benevolently.

Unlike many typical antagonists, he highly regards and respects superheroes like Tony Stark and Richard Reed. He was deemed worthy enough to access vaults of vibranium by the panther god who bequeathed T’Challa with his Black Panther abilities, and respected and treated as an equal by Doctor Stephen Strange, the most powerful Sorcerer Supreme on Earth and many of the Marvel universes.

Doctor Doom helped save the Multiverse and all of reality with Doctor Strange, creating a time machine to go back in time to kill Hitler. When Tony Stark was out of commission in a comatose state, Doctor Doom took up the Iron Man mantle and joined the Avengers. Is it any surprise that he’s so beloved by his people?!

It’s his consistent vendetta against The Fantastic Four, and his desire to rule the world that mostly leads to his unfavorable image. But don’t just take it from us. The late Stan Lee spoke up in Doctor Doom’s defense on several occasions, calling the man “misunderstood” and even going so far as to say “it’s not a crime to want to rule the world” and that “it’s unfair that he’s considered a villain”! If Stan the Man could admit he wanted to “clear [Doom’s] name,” it must be true, right?

So, why didn’t we include Wolverine in our list of Marvel anti heroes?

Well, simply put, whether or not Wolverine is an anti hero is a divisive topic among Marvel fans. Even we had to take a deep dive into unpacking Logan’s character and history. Ultimately, we consider Wolverine a hero, a flawed, messy, and nontraditional hero, but a hero all the same.

There have been times when Wolverine could’ve been considered an anti hero, but we’re of the mind that he has largely redeemed himself over the many years he’s been around.

Did your favorite Marvel anti heroes make our list? Give us a shout on twitter @geekforthewin or on Facebook and tell us who you STAN!