I'll probably be doing this for the Justice League as well, and possibly the X-Men. Now this is just my opinion and others might feel differently. I'm also taking feats only from the comics, so the movie or cartoon versions don't count. If you have a different list or think some characters should be here, feel free to comment below :)
10. Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers)
Not to be confused with DC's Captain Marvel (who is now called Shazam!). Carol Danvers is currently Captain Marvel in the comics but she's also gone by the names Ms. Marvel and Binary.
She's got
• Super strength (enough to lift nearly 50 tons)
• Super speed (mach 3 speed)
• Superhuman agility and stamina
• Flight
• Invulnerability (isn't hurt by bullets or phased out by explosions)
• Energy absorption
• Energy projection (roughly equal to Iron Man's repulsor blasts)
• Regeneration
• Danger sense (similar to Spider-Man's Spider-Sense)
• Minor Molecular Control
• Cosmic Awareness.
I'm excited for her appearance in Avengers: Infinity War and also her upcoming solo film. Brie Larson is a good actress and I think she'll be great :D
9. Hulk
Most of you already know about his abilities. If this was a list about the strongest character, he would probably be #1. It's about the most powerful characters though, and the laws of physics unfortunately do apply to him (unlike some of the other characters here).
One of the best showings of his strength came from the World War Hulk storyline. He was pretty pissed off at Tony Stark, Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic), Doctor Strange, and many other characters for banishing him to outer space. When he came back, not only did he decide to take revenge but also brought his army of aliens with him to start a war. This is the angriest he's ever been in the continuity.
He managed to fight a fully powered Sentry to a standstill until he reverted back to his Banner form and Sentry reverted back to being Robert Reynolds. Banner later sees his first friend Rick Jones get killed and then transforms into the Hulk again, stomping the floor in order to create a crack right across North America.
This version is usually referred to as World Breaker Hulk because he apparently wasn't even trying hard. It's been speculated that if he stomped harder, he could have busted the entire planet in half. Tony Stark came up with a plan to defeat him with a gamma bomb, but only because Hulk let him.
I've been disappointed with his portrayal in the movies so far. I still can't get over the fact that he was defeated by Hulkbuster.
I also haven't forgotten the take about him that I promised :)
8. Captain Universe
Captain Universe is a character that doesn't have a physical form and always uses a body as a host. Hulk and Spider-Man have been hosts for it before. Captain Universe's powers vary from host to host but some of the powers include
• Energy manipulation
• Molecular manipulation
• Enhanced senses and "Uni-Vision"
• Increases the host's powers and physical capabilities, and grants protection against extreme conditions.
Spider-Man with this power was able to rearrange matter on a molecular level and once punched Grey Hulk out of the Earth's orbit. This is the most powerful version of Spider-Man and is known as Cosmic Spider-Man.
The host in the picture above is Tamara Devoux though. She's the most common host and the only one who can control the power well enough.
7. Blue Marvel
His powers include
• Antimatter Manipulation (including Concussion Beams, Stun Bolts, and Energy Constructs)
• Antimatter Stabilization
• Superhuman strength (often compared to that of powerhouses like Hulk and Sentry)
• Superhuman speed, stamina, reflexes, and senses
• Flight
• Energy Manipulation
• Molecular Manipulation.
6. Quasar
This is the name given to many different characters but it usually refers to Wendell Vaughn. All of these characters get their powers from Quantum Bands which allow them to control pretty much all forms of energy. They can use it to generate energy constructs of any shape including force fields, giant weapons and a suit of protective armor. Other powers include
• Flight
• Teleportation
• Quantum-Link Communications
• Altered metabolism
• Mental protection.
So now we're going to start moving away from characters who would just make the list and get into the territory of stupidly powerful characters; characters who are so ridiculously overpowered that it makes you wonder why are they are in existence.
5. Kevin Connor (Star Brand)
There have been many characters that have been called Star Brand, but only one has been part of the Avengers. Star Brand represents what is basically the next stage of human evolution. He is pretty much a protector of humanity as it evolves into it's next stage of evolution. His best showings were during a fight with the Beyonders, a race of extra-dimensional entities powerful enough to collect planets, alongside Thor and Hyperion.
According to Marvel's handbook, he has unlimited power. There's absolutely no limit to how much energy he can put out at any given time. Right towards the end of Time Runs Out and before the start of Secret Wars, Star Brand sacrifices his life by letting out all of his energy at one time in an effort to defeat the Beyonders, preventing the multi-versal collapse.
4. Sentry
He's often considered by many to be a rip-off of Superman, but he's got more powers than Superman. Martian Manhunter would be a closer comparison (although I personally think Manhunter would beat him). His powers include
• Superhuman Strength (enough to fight Gods)
• Superhuman Speed (it's been stated that he once bent time and space by blitzing Thor)
• Superhuman Senses (could apparently hear a butterfly in Africa while he was in New York)
• Phasing/Intagibility
• Telepathy
• Resurrection
• Shapeshifting
• Matter Manipulation
• Telekinesis
During the Civil War when a lot of characters were presumed dead, Spider-Man and a group of SHIELD agents ranked Sentry as the most powerful of all Earth's heroes, with the Hulk ranked as second and Black Bolt ranked as third. He's also the one they picked to defeat Hulk in World War Hulk because they believed he was the only one who could.
3. Doctor Strange
I'm excited for the movie that's coming out, especially because I love Benedict Cumberbatch <3
As a sorcerer supreme of the Marvel universe, there are very few things he can't do. By employing various magical artifacts, he's capable of the following feats:
• Energy Projection
• Astral Projection (letting his spirit leave his body and travel to another dimension)
• Energy Manipulation
• Cosmic Awareness
• Manipulating portals to other dimensions
• Manipulating those dimensions itself
• Pyrokinesis (ability to control or manipulate fire)
• Flight
• Making Force Fields
• Enhanced healing factor
• Hypnosis
• Casting illusions in people's minds (He can make them see, hear, feel, and think what he wants.)
• Invisibility
• Immortality
• Necromancy (resurrecting dead people)
• Phasing though solid matter
• Telekinesis
• Telepathy
• Teleportation
• Time Travel
This probably has people wondering who could possibly be more powerful than him. There's close to nothing that he can't do.
2. Scarlet Witch
She can do pretty much everything that Doctor Strange can do (see #3), but she also has the ability to warp reality. This makes her one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel universe. We don't know whether Doctor Strange does have the ability to warp reality, but he's never used it.
She pretty much warped reality in it's entirety during the House of M event, where she switched things in a way where her family (including her father Magneto and her brother Quicksilver) were the head of all mutant society with humans being under mutants in this new world. This was a whole new universe.
It doesn't end there. Not only was this reality changed, but we find out later on that when Scarlet Witch had warped reality to set everything back and stripped all the mutants of their powers, it was a multi-versal effect. All the mutants in other realities had lost their powers there too because of the actions of this Scarlet Witch.
It's a shame that she's nowhere as powerful in the movies :(
1. Squirrel Girl! Lol jk 😛... It's Thor
Thor takes the top spot for a number of reasons. One of them is that he's consistently been the most powerful. Doctor Strange isn't as powerful as he once was, Scarlet Witch's powers have gone up and down, and Sentry hasn't been around long enough. Whenever the Avengers are involved in a major fight, there's a huge sigh of relief when he shows up. Another reason is that he's the most well-rounded powerhouse. He's strong enough to lift millions of tons, once stood in the center of the sun with no scratches, and has a thousand years of fighting experience. His hammer Mjolnir lets him control the weather, project lightning, and fly at 3 times the speed of light (although his combat speed is said to be slow). He also has an array of magical abilities.
Let me start by mentioning that he originally had the ability to time travel. He later lost it because his father Odin took it away from him. Odin had access to a really powerful magic known as Odin Force which allowed him to
• Create a galaxy and then destroy it
• Cut out the heart of a star, which was used to forge and empower Thor's legendary hammer Mjolnir
• Resurrect Thor and Brunnhilde
• Transform the cursed Nibelling rings into the gigantic Oversword of Asgard
• Trap Surtur within his own body, becoming a living prison for the fire Elemental
• Save the life of Eric Masterson by merging his life force with that of Thor's
After Odin's death, Thor became the rightful owner of the Odin Force, which came to be known as Thor Force. So he could do everything that Odin did and also got back the ability to time travel. His feats with Odin/Thor Force include
• Breaking Captain America's virtually indestructible shield and later fixing it himself
• Curing a man of his terminal cancer
• Restoring the floating city of Asgard on Earth, along with the lost lives of all the Asgardians
• Literally stopping time itself
He originally didn't know how to use it that well, but he later gained more experience and ended up surpassing Odin himself. Even later, he got access to the power of the Norse Runes. This version is called Rune King Thor. Here are his abilities
• Omniscience (he knows literally everything that's happening in the universe)
• Wiping people away from existence
• Telepathically communicate with anyone in the Universe
• Teleport anyone to anywhere in the universe
• Create new universes
• Teleport people to other universes that he created
• Easily rip Loki's head off his body but keep him alive afterwards (It's what he's holding in the pic below 😛)
He probably has many more abilities that are unknown.
Honorable Mentions
Sersi
Here are her powers
• Superhuman strength (can lift up to 20 tons)
• Mind Control
• Telekinesis
• Telepathy
• Teleportation
She has other powers too but she's not skilled at using them. They include manipulating cosmic energy to grant herself virtual immortality and invulnerability, reshaping the molecules of other people or objects, and releasing heat, light and other energies from her eyes and hands.
Hercules
Not to be confused with DC's Hercules. He's usually the physically strongest character in the Marvel universe. This isn't always the case though, since there have been times where Hulk has gotten stronger than him. He's also got superhuman durability and stamina at levels which cannot be measured. He's also one of the few characters who's said to be immortal.
Hyperion
Another character who's often considered to be a Superman rip-off but in this case, I actually agree. His backstory is very similar (although much more sad) and so are his abilities. I still think Superman is a lot more powerful though.
• Super Strength (Slowed down a hurtling planet single handed in his own world, but can only lift 70-90 tons on Earth.)
• Super Speed and Reflexes (can react at the speed of nanoseconds)
• Nigh-Invulnerability (pretty much indestructible)
• Flight (faster than light speed)
• Atomic Vision
• Enhanced Senses (X-Ray vision and superhuman hearing)
Vision
I've heard a lot of people say that the MCU version seems to be more powerful than his comic book counterpart, but I feel like they got his power level just right. He only seems overpowered since the rest of the characters have been nerfed down a lot (especially Thor, Scarlet Witch, Hulk and Ultron). In the comics, Vision is not JARVIS and doesn't get his power from the mind gem. He also wasn't created by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner but by Ultron himself. Even Ultron wasn't created by Iron Man in the comics, but by Ant-Man.
So this is hands down the longest take that I've written. I probably have a lot of typos that I didn't correct, so you can ignore them. I'll be writing one about the Justice League too and possibly the X-Men :D
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