A Salute to Seven Marvel Mistresses of Evil

It’s that time of year when we turn our attention from the heroes to the malevolent mischief-makers. Every good story needs a villain; they provide endless enthusiasm for roguery, plotting, scheming, all in hopes of taking over the world, destroying the world...or doing something in particular with the world. It’s never good.

Antiheroes are the workhorses that make things happen by moving the story forward. These antagonists rarely win but power on despite the odds, always with a flair for the dramatic and looking incredibly cool through it all. Today we salute 7 of Marvel’s Mistresses of Evil:

Enchantress
 

 

Enchantress—an enemy of the God of Thunder—she is also a daughter of Asgard. Known as the sorceress Amora, mind control is her game and her powerful magic was undeniable.

Her powers stem from Asgard itself and gave her oddly specific talents like being able to make gold and diamonds with her tears, quite the evil villain parlor trick.

Like any evil Asgardian she’s teamed up with Loki in the past and despite being Thor’s public enemy number one, Enchantress has also been his lover. She is truly as enchanting as her name.

Madame Masque
 

Giulietta Nefaria, Whitney Frost, Krissy Longfellow, Big M, The Director, no matter what name she goes by, you know her as Madame Masque. While this antihero has no superhuman powers, she’s a skilled combatant and is even able to use advanced technology to create bio-duplicates of herself. If that doesn’t scream super villain, I don’t know what does.

A frequent adversary and sometimes romantic interest of Tony Stark, a plane crash post conflict with Iron Man left her with facial scars which she covers with a golden bulletproof mask thus resulting in her name, Madame Masque. Great villains have great accessories.

Lady Bullseye
 

 

Born in Japan and imprisoned by the Yakuza, Maki Matsumoto witnesses Bullseye defeating her captors and is thusly inspired to a life of an assassin. She may have been inspired by Bullseye, but Lady Bullseye definitely stands on her own.

While she didn’t initially have super powers, she eventually is gifted the ability to turn into gaseous form by the Guild of Assassins. Changing from one state to the other quickly makes her almost undefeatable.

As skilled as she is in combat, she is just as skilled as a lawyer, and her secret identity allows her to be a rival for Daredevil both in the streets and the courtroom.

Nightshade
 

A S.T.E.M. genius Tilda Johnson had a natural predilection for science, specifically: genetics, biochemistry, cybernetics, and robotics. Coupled with her fascination with werewolves, she creates a werewolf serum that enables her to command an army of creatures. A very villain-tastic move.

An enemy of Luke Cage, she also joined MODOK’s 11, partnered with Yellow Claw, as well the Femizons, you know—just to fully round out her bad-guy resume.

Moonstone
 

You don’t just become a member of a group called the Masters of Evil without earning it. Karla Sofen is a psychologist who abused her power by manipulating the original Moonstone into giving up his Kree stone power source to her.

After fighting the Avengers then dabbling in the good-guy business, she eventually returned her her true calling of crime, joining the Thunderbolts and taking on a new name, Meteorite.

Throughout her career she’s straddled both good and evil when it comes to loyalties, but her use of psychiatry as manipulation firmly places her in the sinister category.

Superia
 

 

When you think evil, your first thought should be Superia. What other super villain has their own cruise ship?

Superia created a cruise for female super villains to head for a vacay on the island of Femizonia, with the intent of recreating the future world civilization. Her intent—to launch missiles at Earth from the sanctuary which would sterilize all females. Since Femizonia was protected by a giant dome, Superia and her cruisers would be unaffected and thusly have a hold over the rest of the world. Talk about an intense mission statement.

She later goes on to become the new director of H.A.M.M.E.R., yet another villainous organization.

Lady Deathstrike
 

Sometimes villainy is learned and sometimes you’re just born with it. In the case of Yuriko Oyama, her father Lord Dark Wind invented Experiment X—the process of bonding adamantium to bone aka what created Wolverine—and she eventually took on his cause.

Fueled by revenge, she becomes Lady Deathstrike through extensive cybernetic enhancements. Her skeleton is infused with molecules of adamantium, thus transforming into a cyborg and rendering her physically unbreakable. She is distinguished by her ten 12-inch long adamantium claws which replace her fingers and give her the ability to slice through almost anything.

Are you impressed by these evil villainesses? Read all their sinister stories and more on Marvel Unlimited!