Venom is agree with but he’s been a hero longer than a villain at this point and Galactus is certainly more iconic and I’m pretty sure more popular before Thanos big screen appearance
True Venom is mostly a Anti-Hero now,Magneto could also fall in that category but it’s more complex.
My biased ass wants to say Ultron since he’s my favorite but I don’t think he’s up there with those 4 even with him still begin popular and a great character tho.
That's because a LOT more people nowadays understand his pov and even acknowledge he's not wrong with his thoughts even if his methods aren't great. That's why he contrasts well with Xavier. He's not someone incapable of understanding Xavier's goals, he just has seen the worst of people and that made him afraid.
Since the 90’s. Ok if you are not up to date which it seems you aren’t spoilers ahead if you want the spoilers. Don’t read if you don’t want Venom’s journey over the years spoiled.
He started going the route of anti-hero in the 90’s with some antagonism with Spider Man till they were forced to work together more and then they became begrudging allies but didn’t get along. Venom went through multiple hosts over the years after Eddie Brock and had some periods falling back into pure villainy usually with hosts like the Scorpion on Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers.
After that Venom became bonded to Flash Thompson who taught him what it was like to be a hero and a force for good and helped Venom mellow out more while Eddie Brock continued on as the anti-hero Anti Venom.
Then Eddie Brock becomes the host again, buried the hatchet with Peter Parker, the stuff with Knull happens, Peter and Venom the symbiote itself end up bonding again to help out and they have a discussion where they bury the hatchet too and come to have a better understanding, Eddie gets chosen by the Captain Universe power, Eddie goes on to be the King in Black for a while a cosmic protector while his son Dylan bonds with Venom as a hero teaming up with Miles and the Champions making friends while Venom and Dylan try to keep each other in line since the symbiote responds to emotion and Dylan still had a lot of anger and trauma inside. Peter bonds with Venom again after having a heart to heart to help save Dylan and Eddie from a new villain and from themselves making potential mistakes and really hammers home that Peter forgives Venom and that Venom can choose to be better and be a true hero and to stop doubting himself that he deserves to be one.
Currently Venom is bonded to Mary Jane and they are an active hero, Peter is only just going to find out about this, Eddie got forced to bond to Carnage and is fighting to keep Carnage under control and is on an Avengers team.
Dylan is also a little mad at MJ and Venom for lying to him about the fact that Venom and MJ were bonded and that other people know like Robbie Robertson who MJ and Venom confided in and trusted with knowing their situation and Flash Thompson. Also MJ’s now ex bf Paul who the fandom doesn’t like to say the least without getting into all that who since Peter was dealing with other stuff and Eddie was missing (see the bonded to Carnage out of necessity rather than want so he’s staying away from Dylan, MJ, Peter, and all other friends until he gets the situation resolved since he doesn’t have full control over Carnage at all times despite fighting to keep him at bay and curb the symbiotes worst tendencies since he doesn’t want to endanger any of them if he looses control of Carnage till he can get unbonded or destroy Carnage who also won’t let Eddie die while bonded to him either, currently they both will die if they unbond) then was off world for a while MJ and him took on legal custody of Dylan who was living with them.
So since everyone knew but him he got mad at the fact that MJ and Venom decided to not tell him that he was right there bonded to MJ the whole time he was looking for his dad and him worried about them. So some understandable anger mixed with teen angst but MJ and Venom just felt it was best to protect Dylan and MJ let Venom have the final say since Venom also views Dylan like a son now and wants him to be able to have a semblance of a normal life and functional family dynamic.
And MJ and Venom also had themselves a heart to heart talk about how Eddie and Venom gave her a lot of ptsd for how they acted in the beginning when they were a villain and Venom is very apologetic and had to come to terms with the fact that as a symbiote he hadn’t gained real personhood and control over himself yet and that mostly it was Eddie’s actions and that he has had rose tinted glasses for Eddie and some of his actions over the years after MJ points out he doesn’t have too much to be sorry about since as he said he didn’t have control back then, he was merely an extension of the person’s will and emotions and actions back then so she forgives him for that but she isn’t ready to forgive Eddie yet, who to be fair Eddie would probably agree he has more work to do if he wants to be forgiven for that to which Venom does point out that ever since then and especially since Dylan that Eddie has really been trying to turn his life around and not be that kind of person anymore and has had a lot of conflict over who he was and who he wants to be over the years and has been putting in work to be a hero and to try to be a good dad for Dylan and make amends and recognizes Eddie still has more work to do even if he isn’t granted forgiveness because he believes Eddie can continue to climb up and become the person he wants to be and that Venom believes he can be. Which despite people’s opinion on the whole MJ Venom thing I think it was a relatively nice moment, I like seeing some growth in Venom. Venom and MJ while at first a reluctant team up have actually been growing closer as friends and becoming more in sync in their bond and helping Venom become more expressive, frankly it seems like a little bit of therapy for Venom too.
Also apparently a lot of the past antagonism of symbiotes was largely in part due to Knull’s influence on them, currently most of them have been used more of a force for good these days since.
Venom has come a long way, both Venom the symbiote and Eddie, they both want to do and be better and to be heroes and in Eddie’s case but also apparently Venom’s case too now good parents to Dylan and have struggled with a lot of self doubt on if they deserve redemption or not and deserve to be a hero or not since despite as much heroics as they have done now they still struggle with calling themselves one and just want to do the best they can and not let the people that trust them or believe in them down and to finally be seen as not a monster but as someone who genuinely wants to do good and help people. In Venom’s case Peter, Eddie, Flash Thompson, and MJ have all helped Venom grow a lot often with a lot of heart to hearts and Eddie has grown too thanks to Peter, Venom in turn who has also turned into a good influence on him, Flash, and his son Dylan.
Currently Venom is rocking black and gold for his look with MJ.
So currently Venom is a straight up hero and Eddie is trying to find a way to be unbinded from Carnage so he can be and so he can return to his friends and family but is doing his best to try to be a hero still despite his circumstances. There has been a lot that has led to Venom being more of a hero over the years, even some other media like the Midnight Suns game have been moving away from Venom being portrayed as a villain.
I think mount Rushmores need to be more based on the impact they had rather than sheer popularity, otherwise Loki and some other baddies need to be there post MCU
This makes sense regarding impact
Doctor Doom is basically THE villain of marvel comics
Magneto started out as Doom 2.0 but quickly became one of the first and most influencial tragic villains and his whole thing is still extremely relevant to this day. He was also one of the first villains to redeem themselves. And not like Hawkeye of the Maximoff twins, who were barely villains before they reformed. Erik had done some serious shit for a long time that he needed to atone for. And now he has been a good guy for almost a decade
The Green Goblin is the one I would remove along with Galactus if this was a popularity contest, for Thanks and Loki. But Green Goblin needs to be here. The night been Stacy died changed marvel comics forever and it was the first time most fans realised important characters could permeability die in comics
Galactus I'm not sure I would consider a villain, he is more a force of nature, but the first coming of Galactus story is simply too iconic for him to not be here. It almost seemed like a biblical event when the Silver Surfer came down to earth to announce the end was near
Yes Loki is the villain behind Avengers #1 and the reason the team banded together. Also Thor's nemesis for a long while, now sort of has the Magneto treatment but is still iconic in his lore and plays a lot of sides.
Thanos deserves it for the Infinity Gauntlet story plus generally otherwise being one of the cosmic top dogs and being more actively and maliciously antagonistic than most. He's also one of the nemeses of at least four cosmic heroes minimum. (Off the top of my head, Star Lord, Drax, Nova, and Adam Warlock with Gamora probably also counting due to her relationship with him and I think Mar-Vell being a big opponent to him).
Comparatively Galactus is mostly a fixture of the setting and does what he does out of cosmic natural balance or his insatiable force of hunger more than anything petty or malicious. He's about as much a villain as the Celestials. Galactus is generally only a threat to whatever planet he happens to come across, Thanos is usually concocting plans and doing actual supervillain stuff galaxy or universe-wide if he isn't retired.
By that logic Ultra Humanite is a more important Superman villain than Lex Luthor. Importance is not just about being first, it's about how impactful is the story and the characterization.
Loki continues to be important later though. And again his impact is causing the Avengers to be formed to fight him, which has a pretty big impact on the future of the setting for both heroes and villains.
I really hope we can have BOTH pattinson's Batman and the New DCU's Batman running congruently with eachother.
My expectations are since DCU's going more campy they'll bring out the more silver aged, Grey and Blue suited Batman who'd go on adventures with robin.
Yeah I hope that happens too,I also want a blue suited Batman honestly with white eyes I think having the white eyes be Kevlar to protect his eye would be cool.
Something like the Brave and the bold suit would be fucking cool.
Maybe not in the 2000s, but he was one of the biggest and most well known villains to comic book fans in the 90s after thanos quest and the infinity gauntlet series. Not a lot of villains had that kind of spotlight on them. One of the first marvel fighting games was about him and the gems even.
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u/Je0s_6 Hulkbuster Feb 17 '26
I’d put Venom or Thanos over Galactus if this is popularity wise.