MCU has had no dearth of baddies. From a hardliner alien warlord to the slick God of Mischief, the cinematic universe has assembled many kinds of villains - some human, some not so much. But MCU villains aren’t just extra-terrestrial robots who are looking to subjugate Earth. Most of the MCU baddies are driven by their own philosophies and own sense of morality, however cruel they may be.
The backstories of the MCU villains are almost as fascinating as that of the superheroes, however, not all of them have the most efficient plans of action. And in MCU Phase One, the villains were easily carried away and not very farsighted for the most part.
Obadiah Stane - Iron Man
Obadiah Stane's villainy was driven by human greed, which made him relatable - at least by MCU standards. Stane simply wanted Stark Industries for himself, while most MCU villains usually want dominance on a broader level. Stane went behind Tony’s back to traffic arms and weapons. His biggest enemy was Tony and he was very good at misleading him, which is why Tony never found out about Stane’s secret dealings.
But in the second half, Stane grows more desperate and nefarious as he hires the terrorist organization, Ten Rings, to kill Tony, and even reverse-engineers a suit. He eventually showed his true colors once he took the arc reactor from Tony’s chest. But Stane’s designs were probably the smartest in MCU phase 1 because he had the world fooled for the longest time.
Loki - Avengers
In The Avengers, Loki wanted to subjugate the Earth and be its supreme ruler, and he knew the Tesseract could make it happen. But there are also many other ways Loki sought to disorient the power balance within the Avengers, which worked in his favor.
By now, Loki was much shrewder and in touch with his own source of powers, so he realized how very different he was from Thor. His strategy to involve the Chitauri was brilliant; Loki uses the Tesseract, and Selvig’s wormhole generator to help the Chitauri fleet land on Earth. Loki’s powers are so multifaceted that he makes for a really formidable enemy.
An out-of-touch narcissist would probably deal with the Avengers himself but he knew he needed some extra-terrestrial back-up for this and in hindsight, the Chitauri army was one of the biggest challenges the Avengers had to face (besides Thanos, of course).
Red Skull - Captain America: The First Avenger
Red Skull was a big thinker but he worked too quickly for his own good. It didn't help that he seemed to have no allies so it wasn't particularly clever of him to go for something that could change the world. He establishes HYDRA as an independent enterprise; when he recovers the Tesseract from Norway, he immediately takes it to Armine Zola so he could develop weapons powered by the Tesseract.
He does all this after taking the supernatural soldier serum, and yet his plans for world dominion come across as really loose and disoriented, especially since the viewers weren't offered any insight into his philosophy or his priorities. So, viewers who have not read the comics didn't know why Red Skull wanted to conquer the world.
Loki - Thor
Loki was just coming to with his own identity and his attack against his father's authority or against Thor was basically him lashing out at his family. His initial plan of action only involved occupying the throne by overthrowing Thor. But he later revealed he wanted to destroy Jotunheim with the Bifröst Bridge, to prove himself worthy to his father Odin.
He fails to do that and at the end of the movie reveals that he wants to use the Tesseract to dominate Earth. So, Loki essentially sought power and legitimacy in various ways, however, none of his designs seem particularly clever or farsighted.
Thaddeus Ross - The Incredible Hulk
Thaddeus Ross was clearly in over his head when it came to handling The Hulk. His plans to control the Hulk were simply misguided and a massive mission of this scale needed more perspectives and more opinions. It made no sense that only one man had so much control over weaponizing something so dangerous.
Through the film tries to depict The Abomination or Blonsky as the antagonist in the second half, it was Ross who envisioned the idea of weaponizing Hulk. Ross wasn't a great visionary and always thought along regimented lines, which made his plans so inefficient since Hulk couldn't be treated like a machine or be controlled in traditional ways.
Ivan Vanco - Iron Man 2
Sam Rockwell who plays Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2 insists that Ivan Vanko is the main villain of the story and, for the most part, audiences agree. But Vanco's plan to attack Iron Man's race car at Grand Prix, in full public view was one of the worst decisions in MCU history.
Though Vanco's backstory is pretty solid, it seemed like his plan to take on Iron Man was very shoddy. Did he hope to kill Tony Stark at a heavily guarded event like the Grand Prix? Because he couldn't and landed in prison. He only started working on a rival armor after Hammer approached him, but Vanco's solo plan was quite impractical.
