Who is the most feared Villain in the Marvel Universe?

[JudicatorPrime]

The One Below All. Supposedly he/it represents the true source of evil, known by many names over the course of his/its existence.

[Billy Maximoff]

Galactus or maybe Thanos

[JudicatorPrime]

Mad geniuses with absolute power usually have deep flaws and fissures that betray them. Most of their exploits aren't common knowledge to the populace, in part because usually reality winds up being reset. It's like being trapped temporarily in a dream that no one remembers. I don't know if the public at large fears them the same way that heroes, who know exactly what happened, do.

[Iron Maiden]

I don't think you can consider Galactus as all that fearsome anymore, which can be blamed on the writers. Consider his most recent appearances in the Ultimates and the Fantastic Four. The Ultimates were able to force him back into his incubator and cured him of his hunger, turning him into the Lifebringer. In Slott's Fantastic Four, Doom along with the FF turned him into a source of energy pretty easily. This makes him far less fearsome than he was in the Silver Age comics

[Mike]

I would have to say DOOM!
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[Michael Watkins]

Dr Doom monitors people he's afraid of. He monitors Magneto. Magneto scared the populace into building a planetary shield. When it failed, they gave Magneto Genosha. Doom is just seen as a politician. He's as scary as Putin. Magneto is generally one of the more brutal villains and well known by the public. There are plenty of villains who should be scarier. But they aren't as active or as aggressive as Magneto.

[Michael Watkins]

[XPac]

Dr Doom monitors people he's afraid of. He monitors Magneto. Magneto scared the populace into building a planetary shield. When it failed, they gave Magneto Genosha. Doom is just seen as a politician. He's as scary as Putin. Magneto is generally one of the more brutal villains and well known by the public. There are plenty of villains who should be scarier. But they aren't as active or as aggressive as Magneto.

I wouldn't say it's accurate to say Doom is afraid of Magneto. Nonetheless, I do think it's fair to say Magneto might be scarier.

The thing about Doom is in a LOT of ways hes' one of the more reasonable villains. Maybe THE most reasonable. He's fairly conservative as far as death counts go.

Doom scarienss relies less on how evil he is but rather how effective he is. He arguably has the best feats in marvel (Thanos is his only real competition). What scary because he's so effective. What he tries to do often isn't anywhere near as bad as other villains... but the fact that he can overcome the odds so actually suceed at the rate he does is what makes him probably the most respected villain. He's one of the least evil villains, but also arguably the most dangerou. Again, Thanos being the biggest competition.

[Michael Watkins]

I wouldn't say it's accurate to say Doom is afraid of Magneto. Nonetheless, I do think it's fair to say Magneto might be scarier.

The thing about Doom is in a LOT of ways hes' one of the more reasonable villains. Maybe THE most reasonable. He's fairly conservative as far as death counts go.

Doom scarienss relies less on how evil he is but rather how effective he is. He arguably has the best feats in marvel (Thanos is his only real competition). What scary because he's so effective. What he tries to do often isn't anywhere near as bad as other villains... but the fact that he can overcome the odds so actually suceed at the rate he does is what makes him probably the most respected villain. He's one of the least evil villains, but also arguably the most dangerou. Again, Thanos being the biggest competition.

But this isn't about the most respected villain. If doom were truly scary, the FF wouldn't have been so lax about his relationship with Valeria. Reed wouldn't have given him so many do-overs. But this is just my opinion. I can personally think of at least 10 characters who are scarier. Pretty much everyone crapped their britches when the Void ripped Ares in half. Osborn had the nerve to manipulate the Void. He's one of the pettiest and least reasonable villains. And I think that makes him scarier. Because he has bouts of effectiveness. He became the top cop in the US with less personal effort than Doom needed to take over Latveria. He is ambitiously evil. He could get everyone killed through ambition alone.

[XPac]

But this isn't about the most respected villain. If doom were truly scary, the FF wouldn't have been so lax about his relationship with Valeria. Reed wouldn't have given him so many do-overs. But this is just my opinion. I can personally think of at least 10 characters who are scarier. Pretty much everyone crapped their britches when the Void ripped Ares in half. Osborn had the nerve to manipulate the Void. He's one of the pettiest and least reasonable villains. And I think that makes him scarier. Because he has bouts of effectiveness. He became the top cop in the US with less personal effort than Doom needed to take over Latveria. He is ambitiously evil. He could get everyone killed through ambition alone.

Doom isn't scary to the FF. Just like Mags isn't that scary to Xavier. The personal history of these characters give them a different perspective from the average joe.

And yes Void and Osvorn have done some impressive things. But no one besides arguably Thanos have better feats than Doom.

[JudicatorPrime]

Doom isn't scary to the FF. Just like Mags isn't that scary to Xavier. The personal history of these characters give them a different perspective from the average joe.

It's deeper than familiarity. It's empathy and a repeated history of winning when it counts. That's why the FF don't fear Doom and the X-Men don't really fear Magneto.

Frankly, you see more bad blood between some heroes than you do with their villainous counterparts. The ridiculous plot points, like the Richards entrusting their daughter to a paranoid, megalomaniacal, murdering despot do nothing to improve the dynamic. IRL, Reed Richards could easily be a star witness as much for the defense as against it in a criminal proceeding where Doom is concerned. I find that problematic. Comic book writers would push a narrative of Jeffrey Dahmer being a sympathetic figure who just wanted a late night snack, if they wanted to. True evil doesn't exist in this world. If so, then fear of true evil doesn't exist either. Doom, Thanos, Magneto...fluffy teddy bears deep down, every one of them.

[Cronus]

Doom and Thanos, most respected. I think the Sentry's alter ego the Void could've been added pre-merge.

[Michael Watkins]

Doom isn't scary to the FF. Just like Mags isn't that scary to Xavier. The personal history of these characters give them a different perspective from the average joe.

And yes Void and Osvorn have done some impressive things. But no one besides arguably Thanos have better feats than Doom.

But are they scary feats? Stealing power from galactus is impressive. But it doesn’t make you scarier than Galactus. Does the public think of Doom as scary? They think of Magneto as scary. They build sentinels to protect themselves from people like Magneto. They are in trade agreements with Latveria. Even with the new rules of mutantkind, they assembled assassins and started mass producing power dampening guns. Being the scariest requires people to know that you’re something to be feared. They need to be aware of your feats. Magneto does all of his in public because the goal is to terrorize. You only need to fear Doom if you have power he needs to steal for one storyline.

[JudicatorPrime]

But are they scary feats? Stealing power from galactus is impressive. But it doesn’t make you scarier than Galactus. Does the public think of Doom as scary? They think of Magneto as scary. They build sentinels to protect themselves from people like Magneto. They are in trade agreements with Latveria. Even with the new rules of mutantkind, they assembled assassins and started mass producing power dampening guns. Being the scariest requires people to know that you’re something to be feared. They need to be aware of your feats. Magneto does all of his in public because the goal is to terrorize. You only need to fear Doom if you have power he needs to steal for one storyline.

All good points, but I would caution that sometimes what scares governments isn't exactly the same thing as what scares its citizens. Especially in the US where administrations change and so, too, do priorities and fear targets. The masses are often treated like they don't know any better, or at the very least, are a propaganda campaign away from being swayed one way or the other. So while 40% of the electorate may think that Putin is a cool dude in large part due to the President, the greater majority might think otherwise. Nevertheless, the party in power can push whatever agenda they want. It doesn't mean that the entire public is in lock-step with it.

As for Magneto, mutually assured destruction is an effective deterrent. Every now and again a country has to show its strength, even if sympathetic public opinion is at stake, just to remind your potential enemies that continued rational behavior is in their best interests. That's not terrorism, that's sound diplomacy. We see it every time that the US rolls out its powerful fleet of warships, or Russia tests a new and more powerful thermonuclear device -- bans and treaties be damned.

[your_name_here]

In the Universe?

The Annihilation Wave. The original story had every civilisation running for their lives.