The Department of Damage Control just became the first entity with multiple MCU movie appearances to serve as the main villain of a Disney+ series. In Wonder Man, the DODC goes after powered individuals, with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's Simon Williams on their radar. The organization had already appeared in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: No Way Home before ever becoming the main antagonists of a streaming story. This marks the first time since the MCU release its first Disney+ series (WandaVision) 5 years ago that such an occurrence has occurred.
The DODC had appeared in Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law on Disney+ before this, but only in a supporting or antagonistic capacity. Agent Sadie Deever's pursuit of Kamala Khan made the organization a recurring obstacle in Ms. Marvel, and agents briefly showed up to arrest Jennifer Walters in She-Hulk. Neither time did the DODC drive the plot. In Wonder Man, it does, from the first episode to the last.
In the series, Simon is a struggling actor hiding ionic energy-based superpowers in a Hollywood that bans enhanced individuals from working on screen, a rule known as the Doorman Clause, and the DODC knows about him. When Trevor Slattery returns to the United States after the events of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Agent P. Cleary intercepts him at the airport and offers a deal for him to spy on Simon and feed information back to the DODC, or go back to prison for his past involvement with AIM. Slattery reluctantly agrees, and Cleary even engineers the audition that brings the two men together, making their entire friendship, at least initially, a government operation.
It all comes to a head when Simon learns the truth about Trevor's betrayal and loses control on the Wonder Man soundstage, destroying it in an ionic explosion. Cleary moves in, believing he finally has his man. But Slattery saves Simon by reviving the Mandarin persona he once faked in Iron Man 3, publicly claiming responsibility for the blast. The DODC arrests Trevor instead, and Cleary, knowing full well what really happened, is forced to walk away empty-handed. Simon finishes the Wonder Man film and eventually breaks Slattery out of the DODC's Supermax prison in the finale. Cleary ends the series with nothing to show for it.
Disney+ Main Villains With the Most MCU Appearances
Department of Damage Control
The DODC's MCU footprint covers numerous projects. The institution was mentioned in Iron Man, appeared in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: No Way Home, then in Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Wonder Man. What started as a Stark-backed cleanup operation rebuilt itself after Tony's death into a surveillance force, equipped with Stark drones, sonic cannons, and a Supermax prison for enhanced individuals. In Wonder Man, the institution trains its full attention on Simon Williams, with Cleary treating a man who just wants to act as an extraordinary threat requiring containment. The department is set to be even more menacing when they return in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Led by Tramell Tilman's mysterious character, they’re likely to give mutants a hard time.
Kingpin
Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk spent three seasons as the defining villain of the Netflix Daredevil series before re-entering the MCU proper. His Disney+ run covers Hawkeye, where he was revealed as the head of the Tracksuit Mafia, then appeared in Echo, where Maya Lopez confronted him over her father's death. He became an even bigger menace in Daredevil: Born Again, returning as Mayor of New York City and founder of the Anti-Vigilante Task Force. Across those four projects, the Kingpin's menace grew bigger, and he's set to take his villainy a step further in Season 2 of Born Again.
He Who Remains / Kang
Jonathan Majors' Kang variants were the backbone of the Multiverse Saga on Disney+, appearing across two seasons of Loki. He Who Remains debuted in the Season 1 finale as the architect of the Time Variance Authority, the man who pruned branching timelines to keep his more dangerous variants at bay. His death at Sylvie's hand fractured the Multiverse and set the Saga in motion. In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the Conqueror variant arrived as the film's main villain, a warlord exiled to the Quantum Realm who nearly escaped to resume his campaign across realities. Loki Season 2 then brought in Victor Timely, an eccentric 19th-century inventor whose fate was tied to the survival of the TVA and the stability of the branching timelines.
Ultron
James Spader's Ultron debuted in Avengers: Age of Ultron as a sentient AI built by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner that immediately turned on humanity. His Disney+ presence came through What If...? Season 1, which introduced Infinity Ultron, voiced by Ross Marquand, a version who transferred his consciousness into Vision's body, claimed all six Infinity Stones, and became a threat to every reality in the Multiverse. That animated iteration is widely considered the most fully realized version of the character the MCU produced. Spader is set to return in the upcoming VisionQuest, which would further boost Ultron's influence in the MCU.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
