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* On a related note, the MCU's increasing reliance on sympathetic villains from Phase 3 and onward has been criticized as stale and badly written since said villains make legit points yet they still act gratuitously evil because they're villains. However, this trend first started with Killmonger from ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'', who is generally seen as one of the best MCU villains. While Killmonger was sympathetic because of how he suffered from systemic racism, and rightfully criticized Wakanda for not helping impoverished black people, he still had gratuitous KickTheDog moments (i.e. shooting his girlfriend [[ShootTheHostage when Ulysses Klaue took her hostage]]) and strong hatred of white people that were added to remind audiences that he was still a villain. However, what Killmonger had that later similarly sympathetically motivated villains lacked was that Killmonger was one of the first such villains to be featured in the MCU after a long history of largely much more generically evil villains, making a sympathetic villain feel fresh for the franchise. Furthermore, Killmonger's characterization was genuinely sympathetic as the film explored his tragic backstory and his rationale in a way that allowed his FreudianExcuse, while [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse not remotely justification for his evil actions]], to be understandable. Yet most importantly, after Killmonger's defeat, T'Challa put genuine effort into addressing Killmonger's arguments and bringing about real change. In contrast, the later sympathetic villains were less well-received because of either their unlikable personalities ([[Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier Karli Morgenthau]]), shallow motivations ([[Film/TheMarvels2023 Dar-Benn]])), or forced evil actions ([[Series/SecretInvasion2023 Gravik]]). Even worse is that after defeating the villains, the heroes seldomly acknowledge their arguments or try to address them in favor of maintaining the status quo. So while Killmonger was seen as a refreshing and compelling anti-villain that holds up, his later imitators have neither his novelty nor nuanced characterization.
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* On a related note, the MCU's increasing reliance on sympathetic villains from Phase 3 and onward has been criticized as stale and badly written since said villains make legit points yet they still act gratuitously evil because they're villains. However, this trend first started with Killmonger from ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'', who is generally seen as one of the best MCU villains. While Killmonger was sympathetic because of how he suffered from systemic racism, and rightfully criticized Wakanda for not helping impoverished black people, he still had gratuitous KickTheDog moments (i.e. shooting his girlfriend [[ShootTheHostage when Ulysses Klaue took her hostage]]) and strong hatred of white people that were added to remind audiences that he was still a villain. However, what Killmonger had that later similarly sympathetically motivated villains lacked was that Killmonger was one of the first such villains to be featured in the MCU after a long history of largely much more generically evil villains, making a sympathetic villain feel fresh for the franchise. Furthermore, Killmonger's characterization was genuinely sympathetic as the film explored his tragic backstory and his rationale in a way that allowed his FreudianExcuse, while [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse not remotely justification for his evil actions]], to be understandable. Yet most importantly, after Killmonger's defeat, T'Challa put genuine effort into addressing Killmonger's arguments and bringing about real change. In contrast, the later sympathetic villains were less well-received because of either their unlikable personalities ([[Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier Karli Morgenthau]]), shallow motivations ([[Film/TheMarvels2023 Dar-Benn]])), Dar-Benn]]), or forced evil actions ([[Series/SecretInvasion2023 Gravik]]). Even worse is that after defeating the villains, the heroes seldomly acknowledge their arguments or try to address them in favor of maintaining the status quo. So while Killmonger was seen as a refreshing and compelling anti-villain that holds up, his later imitators have neither his novelty nor nuanced characterization.
