Top 15 Strongest MCU Villains of All Time

“Guardians of the Galaxy” (2014) & “Captain Marvel” (2019)
An extremist member of the Kree, Ronan is out for vengeance against his people’s enemies. Ronan possesses strength beyond that of not only humans, but also other powerful alien races. He treats a fighter of Drax’s caliber like a rag doll. Ronan also has a hammer that produces shockwaves, which he uses to murder one of Thanos’ underlings instantly. Most notably of all, Ronan is able to briefly acquire and wield the Power Stone, one of the Infinity Stones. Although it’s ultimately part of his undoing, the fact that he can withstand it as long as he does is a testament to his strength.

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” (2021)
This complex fighter has an advantage many antagonists don’t — the ten rings. These mystical objects grant Wenwu immortality, as well as increased strength, stamina, and speed. Wenwu can also control the rings psychically and use them to produce powerful energy blasts, wield as a whip, and generate a forcefield. With his power, he was able to start the legendary Ten Rings organization. It’s one thing to be a master martial artist, it’s another to run an international organization of assassins. And given his age, he’s undoubtedly more experienced than most other fighters alive!

Various
The god of mischief himself, Loki’s most prominent abilities involve illusions he creates with magic. His Frost Giant physiology also makes Loki stronger and faster than most humans. Although he does lose to stronger characters, like his brother Thor or the Hulk, he can go toe to toe with superhumans like Steve Rogers. His brief possession of the Mind Stone also let him brainwash others. Of course, Loki does obtain unfathomable power by the end of his eponymous TV series. However, we’d argue that by then, he’s no longer a villain. But, during his villainous period, Loki is still plenty threatening.

“WandaVision” (2021) & “Agatha All Along” (2024)
Magic users are among the most powerful villains in the MCU, and Agatha Harkness is no exception. A dark witch, Agatha can cast a wide variety of powerful spells. These include “simple” energy projection, mind manipulation, and telekinesis. Agatha is also effectively immortal. The catty witch’s most dangerous ability is arguably siphoning the magic powers of other witches and magic users. This grants her their abilities while strengthening her own. She’s able to stand up against Scarlet Witch’s power. Agatha also attracts the attention of Lady Death herself, and we can’t imagine she’s into weaklings.

“Thor: Love and Thunder” (2022)
It’s kind of right there in his name, right? The guy kills deities! Upon obtaining the Necrosword, Gorr is imbued with enough strength to overpower people so powerful they’re worshiped by others. Gorr’s strength, speed, and agility are also comparable to his divine prey. The dark blade also enables him to move through shadows and create dozens of creatures to do his bidding. However, while the Necrosword is Gorr’s greatest strength, its destruction ultimately proves his undoing. Although his use of it wears away at him, Gorr loses nearly all his power when it is destroyed.

“Moon Knight” (2022)
Few cult leaders are harmless, but Arthur Harrow is arguably the most dangerous. A disciple of the goddess Ammit, and her eventual avatar, Harrow can deliver to people what Ammit most desires — judgment. Those deemed evil in the past or future can say goodbye to their souls. Harrow can also use the Staff of Ammit to emit energy blasts and summon jackals to attack his foes. And that’s all before he becomes Ammit’s avatar — once he embodies her power, he obtains superhuman strength, speed, and all the usual tricks. Oh, and he also gains the ability to grant his followers the power to judge others, effectively turning them all into instruments of mass murder.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” (2024)
Professor Charles Xavier is among the multiverse’s most powerful mutants — and his sister’s strength rivals the omega-level psychic’s. Cassandra is telekinetic, telepathic, and can phase through solid matter. She rules over the Void with an army of survivors, feeding adversaries to the monstrous Alioth. Although she has to physically touch someone’s brain to look into it, that only makes Cassandra a creepier villain. The sight of her fingers under people’s skin is so dang unnerving! Cassandra also nearly destroys every timeline when she accesses the Time Ripper. However, even she is no match for the power of Madonna.

Various
Wanda has been many places on the hero-to-villain scale throughout her time in the MCU. The Scarlet Witch has access to a vast array of magical abilities, from levitation to teleportation and telekinesis. She can also alter reality to suit her whims over the distance of several miles. Wanda can also dream walk into other versions of herself in other universes, giving her influence over the multiverse. Her magic is strong enough for her to overwhelm foes like Thanos and easily murder her way through the Illuminati of Earth-838. Even when Wanda claims to be reasonable, her power is utterly terrifying.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” (2023)
Some villains achieve power through innate strength or abilities. Kang is this strong through his genius. Oh, and some incredibly powerful armor. Kang’s technological suit grants him the usual host of superhuman abilities — super strength, speed, durability — as well as energy blasts and portal creation. Kang’s so powerful that he has killed multiple versions of the Avengers across the multiverse. There are also many versions of Kang in other realities. One of them, called He Who Remains, even put into place a system to eliminate all other timelines to safeguard his own.

“Thor: Ragnarok” (2017)
The Asgardian goddess of death, Hela has all the strengths of her people, but taken to an absurd degree. She crushes Mjolnir, one of the strongest weapons in the universe, with ease. Hela handily defeats her brother Thor, one of the mightiest heroes in Asgard or any other realm, multiple times, as well as the entire Asgardian military. Along with her phenomenal strength and durability, Hela wields fearsome Necroswords. And, true to her title, Hela resurrects a legion of her soldiers as an undead army. Surtur, the fiery villain that proves her undoing, is also quite powerful, but his singular focus on destroying Asgard is a bit limited.

“Eternals” (2021)
As one of the Celestials, Arishem is among the oldest and most powerful beings in the MCU. Not only is he absolutely massive in size, he can also survive the vacuum of space. Plus, there’s the whole “creating stars, planets, and intelligent life” thing he’s got going on. Arishem is borderline invincible, though he isn’t entirely all knowing or all powerful. His detached perspective leaves him unable to predict or understand lower lifeforms that well. And it’s that same perspective that makes him a villain in the first place. His view of the circle of life is at such a macro scale that he doesn’t consider the lives of people in the short term as important.

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” (2017)
This Celestial is not just the size of a planet — he is one. The huge being is able to manipulate matter and energy on both a large and small scale. He can be delicate enough to control the minds of others, make avatars whose durability and strength are superhuman, and reshape his form as he pleases. Furthermore, his master plan involves him seeding various worlds to expand his consciousness to effectively take over the entire galaxy. But Ego’s biggest mistake proves to be killing his son Peter’s mother — and squishing his Walkman.

“What If…?” (2021-24)
This version of the genocidal A.I. from “Avengers: Age of Ultron” does manage to kill his version of the Avengers and turn his world into a wasteland. But Infinity Ultron doesn’t stop there. After he encounters Thanos, the killer robot proceeds to dispose of the Mad Titan, take the Infinity Stones, and bring “peace” to the rest of his universe. When he becomes aware of the multiverse, he decides to do the same to every version of reality. And given the fact that he’s able to handily defeat foes like the Watcher, he has a decent shot at it. Still, even he can’t account for everything...

“Doctor Strange” (2016)
Extra-dimensional beings are pretty common in the MCU. But Dormammu dwarfs them all in power and scope. The ruler of the Dark Dimension, Dormammu wields mystic power on a universal scale, conquering realities and worlds. His control of his own dimension is so great that he can essentially reshape it at will. The shadowy being can influence others outside his dimension by granting his followers pieces of his power. Ultimately though, Dormammu can be trapped, though it takes a rare spell and sorcerer to achieve it. Anyone else is likely to get more than they “bargained” for.

Various
You had to see this coming, right? The Mad Titan conquered many planets with his legions of followers. Simply in his base form, Thanos can take on many of Earth’s mightiest heroes with nothing but his fists and his sword. But when the purple people killer starts collecting Infinity Stones, he obtains powers like reality warping, portal creation, energy blasts — moon throwing — and a whole host of abilities too numerous to mention. And of course, his most infamous act involved turning half of all life in the universe to dust with a snap. Thanos isn’t just one of the MCU’s best villains, he’s also its strongest.

Is there an unfathomably powerful Marvel Cinematic villain we forgot? Surprise us with your favorites in the comments!