Published Oct 27, 2026, 10:46 PM EDT

No, I don’t mean Ego, though he was pretty old

Image: Marvel Studios

In the 2008 movie Iron Man , the biggest, baddest villain was Obadiah Stane, played by Jeff Bridges. Originally business partners with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Obadiah betrayed Tony by hatching a plot to kill him while he was in Afghanistan. When Tony survived and became Iron Man, Obadiah responded by taking on his own iron identity: The Iron Monger.

That led to the Marvel Cinematic Universe ’s first big boss battle. But while the movie that kicked off the MCU may have built up to a final fight with Iron Monger, there was another villain in the movie that came first, technically making him the official first villain in the MCU.

That villain reappeared in episode 6 of VisionQuest in a return that no one saw coming.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for VisionQuest episode 6.

Why Raza is the MCU’s first true villain

Image: Marvel Studios

Technically, the first villain Tony Stark faced as Iron Man was…