5. Red Skull (Captain America: The First Avenger)

It is easy to forget that Marvel phase 1 boasted another great villain alongside Loki, Hugo Weaving’s evil mastermind Red Skull. The Nazi mastermind behind HYDRA, he was a terrifying presence and a great nemesis for Steve Rogers all American hero. And his master plan, to harness weapons from the Tesseract, was suitably dastardly.

Just how Red Skull would fit into the modern world of the MCU remains to be seen – and given Hugo Weaving’s lack of enthusiasm for an encore performance it is unlikely, but in the black and white world of World War II, he was visually, mentally and most importantly evil enough as the villain of his time.