Over the years, we have had plenty of striking MCU villains. From Thanos to Red Skull, there is a see of memorable movie villains in the franchise. However, every character can’t be a winner, and if you ever watched the Thor Movie, The Dark World, you would know that Malekith stands testament to that fact. But, Malekith’s underwhelming appearance in the MCU may have had something to do with his final design.
Malekith is the main antagonist in the 2013 Marvel movie Thor: The Dark World. He is the ancient leader of the Dark Elves who raided Asgard, killed Thor’s mother, and then went on to kidnap the God’s long-time love interest Jane Foster. However, despite his evil accomplishments, many criticised him as a generic take on the comic book character. But really, what we all should have been asking in 2013 was, ‘what happened to his menacing looks?’
Charlie Wen, co-head of visual development at Marvel Studios, took to Facebook to share an early version of what Malekith could have looked like (via Comicbook.com). And the concept art is a lot more horrifying than the pale and pointy-eared version of the villain that ended up on the big screen instead.
In Wen’s original design, Malekith has the Dark elf staple of purplish grey skin, unruly hair, and sharp facial features.
In contrast, the appearance of Malekith in the superhero movie (played by Christopher Eccleston) ended up being a lot more tame and humanoid than desired. Overall, Malekith looked less like a Dark Elf in the action movie and more like an Elf that you would see in the Lord of the Rings movies.
However, since the MCU has introduced the multiverse and different variants of its characters, who knows? Maybe we will see a Malekith redemption and makeover in the future. Fingers crossed.
For more super fun, here is our guide to Marvel Phase 5.