12 Villains You Won’t See in Iron Man 3

With Iron Man 2 arriving in theaters on May 7 (in just a few days), it’s not too soon to look ahead to Iron Man 3 (we all know there will be one). Instead of looking at who could be the villain in Iron Man 3, we’ll go the opposite direction and take a look at the villains in Iron Man’s rogues gallery who you won’t see in Iron Man 3.

Read on for our list of 12 Villains You Won’t See in Iron Man 3

12. Beetle

I’ll start the list with a villain I almost did not include. Abner Jenkins created his armored Beetle suit in an attempt to achieve fame and garner attention. Tip #1 – don’t make yourself look like a beetle if that’s what you’re looking for.

Anyway, the Beetle didn’t battle Iron Man until later in his career when he was hired by Justin Hammer (one of the villains in Iron Man 2). Given his association with Hammer and his armored abilities, he’s got a sense of “been there, done that” associated with him. Hopefully, the filmmakers will go a different route with the villain in Iron Man 3.

Really, did you want to see Superman battle Lex Luthor in every movie?

11. Spymaster

Another villain I almost didn’t include. Spymaster get’s left out of the Iron Man 3 possibilities because of his similarities to The Ghost (another industrial saboteur). Several people have assumed the identity of Spymaster and most of his appearances deal with Justin Hammer, which is one strike against him, just like the Beetle.

Other than his snazzy costume, Spymaster has no superhuman abilities and unlike the Ghost, his costume grants him no additional powers. So, for sequel potential, Ghost wins.

10. Controller

One of the few super villains to hail from the state of Maine, Basil Sandhurst was accidentally crippled by his brother Vincent. He encased himself in the exoskeleton you see above to regain his mobility. For some odd reason, the suit is powered by cerebral energy, which – as it turns out – cannot easily be purchased.

Therefore, Basil had to resort to a life of super-villainy and use his “slave discs” (patent pending) to control and drain energy from the public at large. It’s an odd concept, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with the character. I think he’s just too odd for feature-film villainy.

9. Grey Gargoyle

Here’s another odd one. Paul Pierre Duval was a French chemist that accidentally gains the ability to turn anything he touches to stone. In an amazing moment of clarity, he turns his body to stone and decides to become a criminal. After a few battles with Thor in an attempt to gain immortality, Duval lowers his goals and becomes an industrial saboteur (there sure are a lot of them in the Marvel Universe).

Of course this brings him into conflict with Iron Man – whom easily defeats him. He later encounters Iron Man when he poses as a sculptor selling people he turned to stone as statues.

He’s somewhat interesting, but his powers and motivation are just too silver-age comic book to translate to the screen, at least in the current cinematic Marvel Universe.

8. Blood Brothers

These alien brothers first appeared in Iron Man #55 (1973) and were created by cosmic comic guru Jim Starlin. Serving as guards for the alien despot Thanos, the Blood Brothers were defeated by Iron Man with the help of Drax the Destroyer. The blooding drinking aliens were later employed by the Controller (see #10) and can occasionally be seen working as hired muscle around the Marvel Universe.

Blood drinking alien thugs. That’s just too weird to begin with, let alone in a semi-realistic cinematic universe. This duo just wouldn’t work without a lot of other mythology being introduced or a lot of changes.

7. Unicorn

Of all the foes on this list, Soviet intelligence agent Milos Masaryk has encountered Iron Man more than any other. From his first appearance in Tales of Suspense #56, he’s been a constant thorn (or horn) in Iron Man’s side.

Originally dispatched by the Soviets to track down Anton Vanko (the original Crimson Dynamo), Unicorn continually finds himself allied with Iron Man’s major foes and is eventually driven insane in an odd turn of events.

Technically, he’s caused Iron Man more trouble than most villains on this page, but can you really take a villain with a Unicorn’s head as his emblem seriously? That’s what I thought…on to #6.

6. Brothers Grimm

Aside from being a personal favorite of mine, there’s not a lot of good things to say about the Brothers Grimm. Brothers Percy and Barton Grimes were realtors from California who stumbled upon the costumes of the original Brothers Grimm (a pair of magically animated mannequins). Upon donning the costumes, they are granted the powers of the original duo and proceed to terrorize a restaurant.

While they look interesting and a duo is definitely more formidable than a single character, once you hear what their powers are, you’ll see what they just won’t work in a movie.

Their powers are all joke based and consist of things like unbreakable thread, corrosive filled eggs, pies filled with birds, fast-growing bean seeds, and other similar items. They can fly by means of small clouds that magically transport them around.

These are the powers you’d have if you wanted to get picked on in school every day.

5. Living Laser

After developing a series of small, weapon-grade lasers, scientist Arthur Parks becomes mercenary and criminal Living Laser. Parks didn’t face Iron Man solo until later in his career (Iron Man #152-#153). Those few battles lead to an intense hatred when Iron Man flings the Living Laser into space when his body is about to explode. Blaming Iron Man for his death, a newly revived Laser returns a a being made of energy, but is still easily defeated by Iron Man.

He could actually work in the movies if he were changed up a bit, but his ridiculous costume screams that he is a low-rent villain for hire.

4. Melter

The Melter could have been #1 on this list simply for the fact that his costume contains a helmet that resembles a bowler’s hat and vertically striped pants.

Bruno Horgan was a small times defense contractor that blamed Tony Stark for his failure when a government safety team found him using inferior materials and awarded the contract to Stark. Horgan discovered that one of his devices can “melt” iron. Awkwardly, the Melter is defeated by Iron Man when he crafts a temporary suit of armor from aluminum.

When the Melter later upgraded his belt-mounted beam to “melt” any material, he still couldn’t best Iron Man. He makes several attempts at sabotaging Stark International, but is foiled each time by Iron Man. The Melter was later assassinated by the vigilante Scourge.

3. MODOK

Big head, little feet and little hands; that’s what MODOK (Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing) has going for him. Sure, he’s the organic equivalent to a computer and can generate a devastating force beam with his nifty looking headband, but he’s still a big-headed, nearly immobile computer. He’s a visually stunning looking character, but I don’t think you could translate him to the screen. For now, I think we’ll have to make do with the animated version that appears in many of Iron Man’s cartoons.

For more MODOK goodness, with a slight Iron Man connection, check out MODOK’s 11: Super Villain Team-Up by current Iron Man Legacy writer Fred Van Lente.

2. Dreadknight

With the previous bunch of B-list villains, you might think the same thing about Dreadknight. In truth he’s actually a pretty cool character with an outlandish history and power-set.

Bram Velsing was a Latverian scientist in the employ of Doctor Doom. Velsing thought himself superior to Doom in both intellect and appearance. Doom didn’t take kindly to his traitorous thoughts and grafted the skull-like helmet you see above to Velsing’s head.Cast out by Doom, Dreadknight is taken in by Victoria Frankenstein. Genetically engineering him a bat-winged horse, Dreadknight attempts to steal more resources from Frankenstein to overthrow Doom. Dreadknight is defeated by Iron Man and Frankenstein’s monster.

Despite his cool bat-horse, Dreadknight’s remaining armament are odd accessories like his power-lance, electrified bolas, and a nerve gas firing pistol. His bronze-age steeped  origin is cool, but way too outlandish for the silver-screen.

1. Doctor Doom

The number one Iron Man villain you won’t see in Iron Man 3, Doctor Doom. Victor Von Doom, the Latverian emperor, has always been considered the Fantastic Four’s main nemesis—and still is. However, after the pair met for the first time in Iron Man #149 and #150, it was like peanut butter and chocolate.

Iron Man confronts Doom regarding the sale of potentially harmful technology and after a short battle, the pair are thrust back accidentally to the time of King Arthur. The pair meet again in a similar storyline 100 issues later. More than any other villain, Doom was a perfect foil for Iron Man. Not only do their technology and intellect match, they both posses a large enough ego to clear the room.

The sad thing is we’ll never see them together on the movie screen. Doom is licensed out with the Fantastic Four family of characters. That’s not saying that those film rights won’t ever revert back to Marvel, but it will be a while.

If you like the idea of Iron Man vs. Doctor Doom, there are two places you should look. First, you should check out the Iron Man vs. Doctor Doom: Doomquest trade, showing the first meeting between these characters. If you like what you see there, you might want to pick up the newest Iron Man title from Marvel. Entitled Iron Man Legacy, it’s by writer Fred Van Lente and first storyline looks like it’s going to feature Doctor Doom.