The Marvel Cinematic Universe has made its bones building action-packed superhero stories that engage audiences on multiple levels. While one can debate how well they’ve done with that over the years, one place where they’ve definitely excelled is building grudges between characters. Hero versus villain battles need this kind of antagonism to work; it sells the audience on why they hate each other, making the drama and eventual battle hit that much harder.
Over the years, the MCU has created some classic grudges between characters, sometimes taking inspiration from the comics and other times building the grudge in different ways or creating entirely new ones that work for the movies.
8 Hela’s Grudge Against Odin Isn’t Played In Person But Laid Out Perfectly
Thor: Ragnarok did an amazing job with its characters and one of the best parts of the movie was how it sold the grudge between Hela and Odin without the two ever having a scene together. Hela helped Odin establish Asgard and conquer its enemies. However, when he decided that he wanted to be a king and she wanted to continue the wars, they had a falling out. Odin sent the Valkyries after her and the rest is history.
Building a believable grudge using flashbacks and backstory is extremely impressive, so the fact that Thor: Ragnarok was able to pull it off so well is a testament to how great a movie it is. Fans never got to see the two characters interact but the grudge between them was perfectly outlined.
7 Captain Marvel And Yon-Rogg’s Grudge Is Entirely Justified
Captain Marvel isn’t the most well-regarded movie for a lot of reasons but the grudge between Captain Marvel and Yon-Rogg isn’t one of the movie’s problems. Yon-Rogg is basically the cliche MCU origin movie villain, an evil opposite of the main character, but the hatred between the two characters makes sense. Yon-Rogg wanted complete control over Carol and her powers, so when she left him, he wanted to destroy her rather than allow her to live her own life.
For Carol’s part, once she discovered the truth about her life, her anger towards Yon-Rogg for keeping that from her and trying to control her is completely justified. Their ire for one another is presented to viewers very well and it helps buoy a movie that needs some kind of throughline.
6 Captain America And Iron Man’s Grudge In Captain America: Civil War Kept Getting Bigger As The Movie Went On
Beyond being an efficient Easter Egg delivery system that introduced Black Panther and Spider-Man, Captain America: Civil War did a great job of laying out the conflict between Captain America and Iron Man. It went from an ideological battle over the Sokovia Accords to something much more personal, as the identity of the Winter Soldier and his role in the death of Iron Man’s parents were revealed.
The movie did a great job of escalating their grudge, something which made the final battle between the two, along with Winter Soldier, work that much better. Viewers watched their grudge transform over the course of the movie, something that makes the ending, where the two basically reconcile, a little disappointing.
5 Spider-Man: No Way Home Gives Spider-Man Every Reason To Hate Green Goblin
Spider-Man: No Way Home was an all-around gem and one of its strongest points was the way the relationship between Spider-Man and Green Goblin evolved. When Peter first met Green Goblin, he was Norman and the two got along, as often happens with Peter and Norman. However, it wasn’t too long before the Green Goblin reared his ugly head, a moment that would change Peter’s life forever. Aunt May died in the battle, automatically turning Spidey and Goblin into heated foes.
Green Goblin lives to hurt anyone wearing a Spider-Man costume, so it was only a matter of time before he attacked. Having him kill Aunt May was an inspired choice, as it gave MCU Peter every reason to hate the villain. The final fight between the two was a cathartic moment for Peter and audiences alike.
4 Drax’s Reasons For Hating Ronan Are As Old As Time
The Guardians Of The Galaxy movies are MCU favorites, with fans looking forward to the third installment. The first movie did an amazing job with the characters, capturing who they are and their motivations for joining the group expertly. Drax has become one of the most popular characters on the team and has one of the better grudges in the entire first movie. His reason for going after Ronan is personal, as the Kree villain slaughtered his family.
The grudge between the two is perfect and their fight is pretty epic, if a little one-sided. It’s a bit of a disappointment that the grudge between the two took a backseat later in the movie but it was perfectly presented to viewers and is one of the oldest reasons for a grudge between characters in fiction- a dead family.
3 Captain America’s Grudge Against Hydra Is Decades Old
Captain America wouldn’t exist without Hydra. They were the main reason the Super Soldier Serum was created and he battled them throughout WWII. They cost him his best friend Bucky and his final battle against Red Skull seemed like a killing blow against them. However, the organization survived the end of the war and their insidious tentacles spread across the globe, connecting them to everything. Cap’s war against Hydra would continue in the present, both on his own and with the Avengers.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier, one of the best MCU movies, lays out the next stage of their grudge against the group. Learning the truth about Bucky and foiling their plans in the US government intensified the grudge and he’d eventually bring the Avengers into it as well. Hydra and Cap’s grudge just kept getting better.
2 Thanos And Iron Man’s Grudge Was Built Over Several Movies
Iron Man in the MCU has a lot of differences from the comics and one of the starkest is the way they deal with heroism. MCU Iron Man developed PTSD after the Battle of New York and did his best to create a system that would save humanity from any such future assaults. He didn’t know it at the time but he was basically playing a game of chess with Thanos, trying to keep the Earth safe from the Titan’s threat even though he didn’t how it would end up playing out.
When the two finally did battle, Iron Man met the sum of all of his fears. Those fears were founded, as Iron Man was unable to stop Thanos from killing half the universe. His grudge against Thanos was completely justified, both pre and post-Snap, and made the drama of Infinity War and Endgame that much better.
1 Thor And Loki Have The Perfect Brotherly Grudge
Thor and Loki’s relationship in the MCU is quite different than in the comics. Thor is one of the least comic accurate MCU characters and the ups and downs of his grudge with Loki illustrate that. The two brothers care more about each other in the MCU than they do in the Marvel Universe and the way their grudge evolved as the movies went by made a lot of sense. It went from one that was kind of cliche to something that made a lot more sense for two brothers.
Siblings always have a special rivalry and the way Thor and Loki’s developed into that was great. It got to the point where they wouldn’t let anyone else hurt the other one, because that’s how brothers roll. It was such a wonderful way to portray their relationship and a surprise for long-term fans of the two.
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