Tag Archives: Ian McKellen

March Madness of Movies: Best Superhero Villains of the 21st Century — Round 3

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These matchups were vote on by the MovieMinis Staff.

Two of the four finalists were near guarantees to make it from the very beginning — Heath Ledger’s The Joker from The Dark Knight and Ian McKellen’s Magneto from the first X-Men trilogy. Ledger had some admiral contenders in Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin from Spider-Man and Michael Fassbender’s version of Magneto from the second X-Men trilogy. But truly, no one stood a chance. McKellen was less of a sure thing. Whether he had come up against Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent/Two Face from The Dark Knight or, his eventual competitor, Jason Lee’s Syndrome from The Incredibles, there was an off chance that personal preference might’ve taken him down.

But the two made it through, and will now take on each other. The Joker is, surely, the stronger contender, but McKellen’s Magneto is the strongest competition that he’s come up against.

On the other side of the bracket, the battle between Tom Hiddleston’s Loki and Michael B. Jordan’s Erik Killmonger was expected — Loki being the old favorite and Killmonger being the new favorite. While there was a shot for Loki to hold onto that love that he earned years ago and make it through, the votes tipped heavily to Black Panther‘s Killmonger, an absolutely worthy final four entry.

The villain he’ll face, Tom Hardy’s Bane from The Dark Knight Rises, started of this bracket by surprisingly earning a #1 seed. There was always an opportunity for him to fall, whether that be to the recently beloved Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming or the previous brilliant webslinger antagonist, Doc Ock, from Spider-Man 2. But Bane advanced confidently. Yet, he’ll have a massive mountain to climb in the face of Killmonger.

At this point, we’ve lost representation from the “other” group of villains, while retaining entries from the MCU, DC and the X-Men films. And if the favorites make it through to the finals, it’ll be the classic Marvel vs. DC battle we’ve all come to know quite well.

Stay tuned for the round 4 results, which will be posted next week on Friday, April 6!

 

Featured image via Marvel/20th Century Fox/Warner Bros.

March Madness of Movies: Best Superhero Villains of the 21st Century — Round 2

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These matchups were vote on by the MovieMinis Staff.

While five The Dark Knight trilogy villains worked their way into round 2, only 2 now remain in #1 seeds The Joker (Heath Ledger) and Bane (Tom Hardy) from The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, respectively. #4 seed Scarecrow from the entire trilogy and #3 seed Ra’s al Ghul from Batman Begins were eliminated at the hands of MCU heavyweights #1 seed Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) from Black Panther and #2 seed Loki (Tom Hiddleston) from The Avengers (and other MCU films). Those two heavyweights will now face each other in what is, essentially, the decider of the best MCU villain.

The previously mentioned #1 seed Bane will compete against the #2 seed Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) from Spider-Man 2 — both physical beasts with fascinating stories behind them. #1 seed The Joker will go head-to-head with #2 seed Magneto (the Michael Fassbender version) from the new X-Men trilogy. While the absence of a backstory makes The Joker so frightening and effective, it’s the tragic, heartbreaking backstory of the younger version of Magneto that elicits so much empathy for him, despite his cruel actions.

The final matchup will be #1 seed Magneto (the Ian McKellen version) from the original X-Men trilogy vs. #3 seed Buddy Pine/Syndrome (voiced by the hilarious Jason Lee) from The Incredibles. While Magneto still has the backstory, his older version is plenty of fun to watch, as is Syndrome. Both hit on the larger-than-life characters while never feeling cheap.

The spread of contenders remaining feels just about right. This bracket is made up of villains from the MCU, DC films, X-Men films and any other superhero villains, and there is prominent representation of each of those subcategories in the elite eight. There is even potential for there to still be representation of each in the next round.

Stay tuned for the round 3 results, which will be posted next week on Friday, March 30!

 

Featured image via Marvel/20th Century Fox/Pixar/Warner Bros.

March Madness of Movies: Best Superhero Villains of the 21st Century — Round 1

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These matchups were vote on by the MovieMinis Staff.

There were a few upsets in “Best Superhero Villains of the 21st Century,” but they do seem rather easily explainable. #5 seed Adrian Toomes/Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming topped #4 seed Mr. Glass from Unbreakable; the middle matchup is always up in the air and the former comes from such a massive property. Vulture could put up a fight against #1 seed Bane from The Dark Knight Rises, one of the weaker high seeds. In addition, #6 seed Professor Robert Callaghan from Big Hero 6 took down #3 seed Helmut Zemo from Captain America: Civil War. Zemo rose to a #3 seed due to very strong individual rankings. Plus, he’s not in the film that much, as the main conflict revolves around Iron Man and Captain America. It’s also going to be tough for Callaghan to get much further, as he’ll come up against #2 seed Doc Ock from Spider-Man 2.

Beyond that, everything went as planned. Two of the MCU’s best villains, in #1 seed Erik Killmonger from Black Panther and #2 seed Loki from multiple MCU films, will take on two The Dark Knight trilogy villains, in #4 seed Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow and #3 seed Ra’s al Ghul.

On the other side of the bracket, #1 seed The Joker from The Dark Knight will battle another smiling evildoer in #4 seed Green Goblin from Spider-Man. Both Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender’s Magnetos, #1 and #2 seeds respectively, advanced and will take on MCU villains in #3 seed The Winter Soldier from Captain America: The Winter Soldier and #4 seed Ulysses Klaue from both Avengers: Age of Ultron and Black Panther. Finally, the fifth villain from The Dark Knight trilogy, #2 seed Harvey Dent/Two-Face, whose specifically from The Dark Knight, will face the animated contender, #3 seed Syndrome from The Incredibles.

Stay tuned for the round 2 results, which will be posted next week on Friday, March 23!

 

Featured image via Marvel/20th Century Fox/Sony Pictures/Warner Bros.