The Defenders: 6 Villains Sigourney Weaver Might Play 

The Defenders: 6 Marvel Villains Sigourney Weaver Might Play

The Defenders: 6 Villains Sigourney Weaver Might Play

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Marvel and Netflix dropped a major bombshell at NYCC this past weekend when actress Sigourney Weaver walked on stage at the "Iron Fist" panel and revealed that she\'s been cast as the lead villain in the upcoming Defenders series. We don\'t know which character Weaver will be playing, but clearly it\'s someone capable of taking on the combined might of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist. That alone narrows down the candidate pool a bit.

We\'ve put together a list of seven potential villains Weaver might play in The Defenders. Because Marvel isn\'t averse to gender-swapping characters from time to time, we\'re including a mix of male and female characters.

Sigourney Weaver is an Awesome Choice for The Defenders Villain - NYCC 2016

Check out our picks and then let us know your theories in the comments below.

Viper seems like the perfect option if Marvel wants to use The Defenders to build closer ties between the Netflix shows, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers movies. Viper is a villain with ties to the Hand, which has been a recurring threat in Daredevil and will soon resurface in Iron Fist next year. She\'s also served as a head of Hydra. Given how high the turnover rate with that job is in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it\'s probably about time to introduce a new one anyway. And between her abilities as a skilled assassin and a master of poisons, Viper has the fighting skills to clash directly with the Defenders.

It\'s worth pointing out that Viper already appeared as a villain in 2013\'s The Wolverine. However, given that she\'s as much an Avengers villain as an X-Men villain, we doubt Marvel Studios would be prevented from using her. If we can have two Quicksilvers in live-action, why not two Vipers?

Given the "street level superhero" approach the various Netflix shows have taken so far, it\'s hardly a stretch to assume that the Defenders will be battling a New York crime boss of some sort. And when it comes to crime lords in Marvel\'s New York underworld, they don\'t come much bigger or scarier than Silvio Manfredi, a.k.a. Silvermane.

Silvermane is the leader of the Maggia, a vast criminal organization that\'s essentially the Mafia with a slight superhuman twist. For much of his career, Silvermane was simply an ordinary crime lord. But in response to the growing threat posed by costumed heroes like Spider-Man, he had himself transformed into a super-strong cyborg. We\'d very much like to see Weaver\'s head on a robot body beating the tar out of Daredevil and Iron Fist.

We could also see this version of Silvermane having ties to IGH, the secret group in Jessica Jones whose "combat enhancer" technology already created the villains Purple Man and Nuke.

Assuming that A) Weaver isn\'t playing a gender-swapped character, and B) she is playing a crime boss character, then there\'s really only one candidate who comes to mind - Isabella Gnucci. Known as "Ma Gnucci" among the criminal underworld, this fearsome woman controls one of the most powerful mafia families in New York.

Gnucci\'s main claim to comic book fame comes from her role as the lead villain in Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank. She waged an obsessive war of revenge against Frank Castle, not even letting problems like being mauled by a polar bear slow her down. That tenacity alone would make her a worthy foe for the Defenders.

Gnucci\'s role would make even more sense if Punisher is indeed joining the team. That said, she might need a bit of an overhaul if she\'s going to target the Defenders with the same level of wrath as she does Frank Castle.

Alexander Bont is a more recent additions to Daredevil\'s rogues gallery, though he\'s actually one of the first villains Matt Murdock ever faced. Bont was known as the kingpin of New York\'s criminal underworld before Wilson Fisk rose to power. He was even the boss of the man responsible for murdering Jack Murdock for failing to throw his pivotal boxing match.

Bont was one of several villains to torment Daredevil after his identity was leaked to the press. Having spent years in prison and watching his once vast empire being swallowed up by Fisk, Bont returned with no goal other than making Matt Murdock suffer. And with a steady supply of Mutant Growth Hormone to call on, this elderly crime lord proved more than a match for the Man Without Fear.

It\'s easy to picture Alexander Bont becoming Alexandra Bont and being worked into the overarching story these Nextflix shows are telling. As with the comics, perhaps she was a major crime boss in New York before the rise of Wilson Fisk and his syndicate. And with Fisk and several of his allies ousted from power, perhaps Bont sees now as the time to reclaim her lost power.

One interesting tidbit about Bont is that he originally made his reputation by killing a costumed hero named The Defender. That\'s an interesting coincidence. Perhaps that\'s how the Defenders will get their name in the first place, as they band together to avenge the death of a fellow hero who crossed the wrong crime boss.

Roxxon is a recurring thorn in the side of many Marvel heroes. This multinational energy corporation has its fingers in many pies. They\'re not above forming alliances with insane supervillains or looting and pillaging the environment, so long as profits keep increasing.

Roxxon has been featured in various small cameos across the Marvel Cinematic Universe, usually in the form of Roxxon-branded gas stations and so forth. It\'s high time this evil corporation was thrust into the spotlight. And we can\'t think of a better place for that to happen than in the Defenders, a show about a handful of humble heroes fighting for the ordinary man on the street.

The question is which of Roxxon\'s many leaders Weaver should play. We\'d have to go with Dario Agger, the current CEO as seen in Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman\'s Thor comics. Dario is one of the more overtly evil and entertaining Roxxon characters, and we think Weaver would play well with his flippant, self-absorbed personality, There\'s also the fact that Agger can transform into a minotaur when the need arises. Just imagine the Defenders going up against that.

Like Hydra, The Hand is an organization with many branches and many lieutenants. But at the end of the day, everyone in this zombie ninja cult pays tribute to The Beast, a demon that uses the Hand to fulfill his never-ending thirst for death and destruction. The Beast can possess the body of anyone. He even took over Daredevil\'s body for a brief time. So it\'s not unreasonable to assume that Weaver will play a character (pre-existing or original) who becomes a vessel for this ancient demon.

Introducing The Beast would be one way to build on The Hand\'s role in the first two seasons of Daredevil. The cult became obsessed in Daredevil: Season 2 with finding the so-called "Black Sky," a person destined to take over The Hand and guide it towards a singular purpose. The Hand believed Elektra was that person, but perhaps Weaver\'s character will emerge as the true Black Sky in The Defenders.

Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.