Think You Know Marvel’s Most Powerful Villain? The Official Top 3 Includes a Surprising Name

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The Marvel Universe is full of A-list villains, but anyone who thinks they know the top three might be surprised to find one name on the roster. In a world of genocidal androids like Ultron, time-traveling despots like Kang the Conqueror, and death-obsessed powerhouses like Thanos, it takes a lot to make a mark. However, some villains possess powers so devastating and insidious that the Avengers are always looking out for their latest plot.

That’s certainly the case for Zebediah Killgrave, aka the Purple Man, a longtime enemy of Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Purple Man has immense mind-control powers driven by a combination of pheromones and psionic power. Purple Man can control anyone in a sizable radius around him, as well as implanting commands that activate years down the line. He also possesses a powerful healing factor that can seemingly resurrect him from death.

Despite all these powers, few Marvel fans would rank Purple Man among the publisher’s most dangerous villains of all time. However, they’d be wrong. In Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos’ Jessica Jones Volume 2 #14, Captain Marvel reels off the three most wanted terrorists on the planet, specifying that there are only two names that appear above Killgrave’s on the list. This was no idle claim – at the time, Captain Marvel was firmly enmeshed in Earth’s security services, working alongside both SHIELD and Alpha Flight in an official capacity.

Doctor Doom, Magneto and the Purple Man Are Earth’s Most Wanted Criminals

Captain Marvel Names the Surprise Top Three – Here’s Why Thanos Isn’t on the List

In Jessica Jones #14, Captain Marvel takes Jessica and her daughter Danielle Cage to the Alpha Flight space station, asking her team to safeguard the young girl. As part of the request, she clarifies that Purple Man is considered “the third most wanted terrorist on the planet behind Magneto and Doctor Doom.” This specific wording suggests why some A-list villains like Kang and Thanos aren’t counted – neither resides on Earth, but rather visit occasionally to cause trouble – but it’s still notable that Earth’s security apparatus considers Purple Man a comparable threat to Doctor Doom and Magneto.

Currently, Doctor Doom has taken control of Earth in the One World Under Doom event from Ryan North and R. B. Silva, having stolen the title and powers of the Sorcerer Supreme from Doctor Strange. Doom’s abilities have given him influence over the world’s political leaders, with magical potency that makes even Scarlet Witch look weak. Meanwhile, at the height of his power, Magneto stole nuclear weapons and threatened to unleash them, as well as founding multiple terrorist networks in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the Acolytes and arguably certain iterations of the X-Men. Each has also commanded their own nation – Doctor Doom is the tyrannical ruler of Latveria, while Magneto was one of the founders of the mutant nation of Krakoa.

Purple Man’s Powers Are Terrifying on a Global Level

Even When Killgrave Isn’t a Threat, He Can (And Is) Still Used by Others

So what exactly about Purple Man elevates him to the same level as these towering villains? The most obvious answer is how dangerous his powers are. Purple Man can exercise total control over his victims, not just forcing them to commit actions, but dictating their thoughts and emotions. Jessica Jones has admitted that while she was under Killgrave’s control, she didn’t just hurt people on his behalf but enjoyed doing so because he commanded it. Killgrave can also plant longterm suggestions in his victims – in the darkest example, he ordered former victim Maria Snyder to murder her family ten years to the day after he released her from his control (as shown in The Variants #1 from Gail Simone and Phil Noto.)

The Purple Man’s victims aren’t aware they’re in his power unless he wills it, even once they’re freed, and there are very few ways to detect his influence. It’s likely that Purple Man’s potential actions are as much of a focus for Earth’s security services as his many actual crimes – after all, he could walk into the White House and order a nuclear war while leaving essentially no trace. He has also dabbled with technology that expands his reach, exerting control over cities and, at one point, the entire planet (in Avengers: Emperor Doom by David Micheline and Bob Hall.) In Devil’s Reign (from Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto), Kingpin was able to bend New York to his will by harnessing Purple Man’s power.

A psychopath with no sense of morality, the Purple Man has rarely had the ambition of Magneto or Doctor Doom, preferring to play petty games with random people who cross his path. However, despite heroes like Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Luke Cage and Captain Marvel making it their personal mission to keep him locked up, nothing – including being shot dead – has ever stopped the Purple Man from doing whatever he wants, showing why he’s considered among the most dangerous Marvel villains to ever exist.

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