Marvel is much more straight forward than DC when it comes to tracking potential appearances. They don’t use digital titles and outside of Krakoa, you have a very reliable bet on what heroes are going to appear in what title. They also tend to favorite a wider spread of characters at any given time over DC, while also still showing a favoritism for classic characters. They don’t prefer Elseworlds in the same sense as DC, trying to focus primarily on the main universe. Characters have seasons, that can sometimes last for years, but eventually they have an off season.
The stats provided are for the first 26 week of 2021. Putting these lists together takes a lot of time and effort, so we focus on strong performers and those with guaranteed titles. If there are heroes you are curious about that cannot be found on this list, please reach out on Twitter. If the data exists, we will provide it.
The Predictions/Ratings Made Are For October 2021
AVENGERS
Crimson Dynamo (Dimitri Bukharin) – 9 Points, 2 Appearances (80th Overall)
The Leader of the Winter Guard, he’s definitely get some action in the back half of 2021.
Titles: Avengers, Winter Guard
Dark Star (Laynia Petrovna) – 7 Points, 2 Appearances (93rd Overall)
She’s a member of the Winter Guard who manipulates the Dark Dimension that’s getting attention during the Darkhold Event. Could be worth the draft.
Titles: Avengers, Winters Guard
Red Guardian (Nikolai Krylenko) – 7 Points, 2 Appearances (93rd Overall)
The Winter Guard are here for a bit, so bundle up. He’s likely to get a bit more screen time due to his Appearance in the MCU’s Black Widow.
Titles: Avengers, Winter Guard
COSMIC
Carnage – 42 Points, 4 Appearances (4th Overall)
Cletus is dead, but Carnage is still on a murder spree. The symbiote has fared very well this year with limited Appearances.
Titles: Extreme Carnage
Dormmamu – 2 Points, 1 Appearances (154th Overall)
Having possessed the body of Ego, Dormammu is bringing the Last Annihilation against the Marvel Universe.
Titles: Guardians Of The Galaxy, Last Annihilation, SWORD
Kang The Conqueror – 20 Points, 3 Appearances (21st Overall)
Kang never really got the story 2020 was teasing for him yet. However, as focus in the MCU shifts his way, I imagine that will change for him. His new book is technically a title for one of his Variants, Iron Lad.
Titles: Kang The Conqueror
Knull – 88 Points, 24 Appearances (1st Overall)
The King In Black performed well in his time, but alas he has been dethroned and discarded.
Titles:
Korvac – 32 Points, 5 Appearances (9th Overall)
Korvac is having a spectacular year, which will see his role as central antagonist in Iron Man continuing past October.
Titles: Iron Man
Star (Ripley Ryan) – 38 Points, 4 Appearances (7th Overall)
Star is a huge performer and she’s currently teased as part of the Infinity Heist Storyline.
Titles: Black Cat
Thanos – 13 Points, 4 Appearances (56th Overall)
He’s remained in Titles without one of his own, and he’s getting more focus in a one-shot spinning out of the current Eternals run.
Titles: Eternals
MAGIC
Baron Mordo – 11 Points, 4 Appearances (65th Overall)
He’s teased as one of the central antagonists of Death of Doctor Strange. Should make for a strong end of the year.
Titles: Death of Doctor Strange
Enchantress – 9 Points, 3 Appearances (80th Overall)
Marvel’s been weirdly all about Enchantress’ kids right now. She has Ove, an on-going antagonist in Captain Marvel, and her kids in Strange Academy that will see her play a part in the Death of Doctor Strange. I hope her kids meet.
Titles: Strange Academy Presents: Death Of Doctor Strange
Loki – 18 Points, 7 Appearances (25th Overall)
Loki has fallen from 11th to 25th in the first half of 2021. Not the greatest year for Loki, but thank him that we got a teamup in the wings with his… Infinity Wars teamup, Ms. Marvel.
Titles: Ms. Marvel Beyond The Limit
SCIENCE
Doctor Doom (Victor Von Doom) – 36 Points, 8 Appearances (8th Overall)
Doom fell from first to 8th in the first half of 2021. This shall not stand. He’s playing a part in The Last Annhilation event brewing in Al Ewing’s Cosmic titles, The Darkhold Event alongside Wanda, plus appearing in other titles as he should.
Titles: Darkhold, Excalibur, Kang The Conqueror, Last Annihilation
MODOK – 38 Points, 4 Appearances (6th Overall)
MODOK is one of the best performing Antagonists in 2021 so far. His future remains uncertain.
Titles:
The Leader (Samuel Sterns) – 7 Points (3 Appearances) (95th Overall)
This year has really been bunk for Samuel Sterns. The finale of Immortal Hulk might be big for him though.
Titles: Immortal Hulk
STREET
Absorbing Man (Crusher Creel) – 10 Points, 2 Appearances (72nd Overall)
It’s not been a bad year for Crusher Creel and who knows the role Gamma Flight have to play in the finale of Immortal Hulk as their miniseries also comes to an conclusion at the same time.
Titles: Immortal Hulk, Gamma Flight
Boomerang – 25 Points, 7 Appearances (17th Overall)
Unsurprisingly, Nick Spencer showed a lot of love to Boomerang, who was the second best of Spider-Man’s Rogues Gallery.
Titles:
Bullseye (Benjamin “Lester” Poindexter) – 14 Points, 6 Appearances (48th Overall)
Bullseye is not doing bad for himself, as his storyline in Daredevil grows and he still gets guest Appearances from folks like Deadpool.
Titles: Daredevil, Deadpool: Black, White & Blood
Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) – 9 Points, 20 Appearances (23rd Overall)
No Spider-Man Antagonistic Holy Trinity would be complete with Norman Osborn. He’s the third best performing Spider-Man villain.
Titles: Amazing Spider-Man
Juggernaut (Cain Marko) – 12 Points, 3 Appearances (59th Overall)
I made a big prediction about Cain being big in 2021 that hasn’t really been true. He’s an antagonistic presence in Death of Doctor Strange, likely because of his connection to Cyttorak.
Titles: Death of Doctor Strange: Avengers
Kindred (Harry Osborn) – 26 Points, 14 Appearances (16th Overall)
Unsurprisingly, Nick Spencer’s central Antagonist was the best performing member of Spider’s Rogues Gallery.
Titles:
Kingpin (Wilson Fisk) – 49 Points, 23 Appearances (3rd Overall)
Wilson Fisk is outscoring everyone who isn’t Knull or been in a recent movie. That does mean it hasn’t been a great year for Antagonists. He’s not a heavy hitter, he’s a points getter.
Titles: Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil, Luke Cage: City On Fire
Taskmaster (Tony Masters) – 75 Points, 14 Appearances (2nd Overall)
Taskmaster is the second best Antagonist at Marvel right now. Crazy, it’s almost as if he just had a movie about him when really… he didn’t.
Titles: Miles Morales: Spider-Man
Titana – 12 Points, 4 Appearances (80th Overall)
Much like Absorbing Man, Titania’s future remains uncertain. But here’s hoping to a big finale in October to see off this great era for the characters.
Titles: Gamma Flight, Immortal Hulk
Categories: Previews
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