Top 20 Strongest Characters in the MCU

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When you think of “powerful Marvel characters,” Ant-Man probably isn’t the first who comes to mind. To be fair, he is basically just…a guy. But, upon donning one of his size-manipulating suits, Scott Lang is a force to be reckoned with. When he gigantifies himself, he can rip through metal, knock around more powerful heroes, and cause plenty of havoc for his foes. But, even when he’s the size of an ant, Ant-Man can punch with the force of a bullet. And hey - not every Avenger could have basically solo’d Kang the Conqueror!

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As the refrain goes, “Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can.” Peter Parker has superhuman strength powerful enough to lift incredibly large objects. He can withstand blows from other supernaturally strong foes. He crawls on walls, shoots webs from artificial wrist shooters, and he has worn suits with even more crazy abilities. Spidey also knows when danger is near, with his sixth sense or…Peter Tingle. He really needs to rebrand that. While his innate strength and equipment do make Spider-Man one of the more physically strong MCU heroes, other characters’ abilities do eclipse his. Then again, “great power” isn’t everything - he did manage to best Dr. Strange with math…

“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.

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Steve Rogers may begin his time in the MCU as a skinny kid from Brooklyn, but he quickly becomes one of Earth’s mightiest heroes. The original supersoldier, Cap is granted incredible strength, durability, and peak human speed from a serum. While his strength isn’t quite as inhuman as other characters (he visibly struggles with more difficult feats), Rogers still packs a wallop. Additionally, because of his heroic spirit, Cap is able to wield Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, granting him all the powers of the god of thunder - lightning generation, some limited flight, and so on. If we were ranking based on strength of character, Captain America could easily come out on top. As it is, he’s just pretty good.

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The last surviving member of the elite female warriors who share her name, Valkyrie is among the strongest Asgardian warriors. Her strength and skill in battle are such that she can stand toe to toe with some of Asgard’s toughest fighters, including basically the entire royal family. While Val usually favors traditional weapons like swords, daggers, and spears, she has also wielded supernatural items, such as Zeus’ thunderbolt, which has many of the powers of Mjolnir. And ultimately, you’ve gotta’ respect anyone who can play-fight with the Hulk without fear of death.

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There have been many to hold the moniker Black Panther, but for our purposes, we’ll be discussing King T’Challa. The Wakandan monarch, like others to bear the Black Panther title, had incredible abilities granted by consuming a special herb. His physical abilities were comparable to Captain America’s, with his strength, agility, and stamina all being more than human. On top of his skill in combat, T’Challa also had his vibranium suit, which upped his already impressive durability and allowed him to redirect any impacts he took while wearing it via energy blasts. T’Challa may have died too soon, but his loss was not due to lack of strength.

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There are many magic users in the MCU, but the Ancient One was one of the most accomplished. Along with the usual portal creation and magical constructions used by most sorcerers, the Ancient One had access to some powerful and supposedly forbidden abilities. By tapping into the Dark Dimension, she was effectively immortal, having lived for hundreds of years. Her mastery of the Time Stone also let her manipulate time and even foresee the future. While the Ancient One ultimately met an ending she saw coming, her strength in the mystic arts had few equals.

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A synthetic life form and the love of Wanda Maximoff’s life, Vision was among the strongest heroes on Earth - and not just because he was an Avenger. Given that he was made of vibranium, Vision was absurdly durable and strong. One of the Infinity Stones being embedded in his head also granted him various abilities, some of which may have included his powers of flight, intangibility, and energy beams. And while it’s more a matter of character, being able to wield Thor’s hammer certainly didn’t hurt either. The original Vision may be gone, but his alabaster successor will have a lot to prove to measure up to his predecessor.

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If you know anything at all about Dr. Bruce Banner and/or his green alter ego you know that he’s “incredibly” strong. The Hulk is an almost unstoppable force of pure power. He can tangle with some of the MCU’s strongest fighters, huge monsters, and supervillains alike. Concrete and steel are like butter in his hands. The dude loves to smash, and he smashes well. However, it’s not just the Hulk’s physical strength that’s impressive. The guy manages to use the Infinity Gauntlet to revive trillions of people, and the only backlash is the equivalent of a broken arm! Whether he’s using his brains or his brawn, the Hulk is mighty indeed.

“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.

“What If…?” (2021-24)

There’s a power in watching before doing, and Uatu, better known as the Watcher, has plenty of experience at both. A cosmic being of incomprehensible power, he has sworn to merely observe the multiverse from outside of it. However, when he does get involved in things, the strength he displays eclipses almost everyone else. He can travel through time, observe all possible timelines, and generate force fields and powerful energy. Perhaps his greatest displays of strength come when he fights members of his own race, as well as an Infinity Stone powered Ultron across multiple realities. At least the Watcher is humble about his power - he’s already “big-headed” enough.

“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...

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Carol Danvers is among the strongest human beings in the MCU. After exposure to one of the Infinity Stones, she obtains phenomenal cosmic abilities. She can fly, generate energy blasts, and even survive the vacuum of space! And that’s on top of superhuman strength and durability. Captain Marvel is strong enough to destroy an entire fleet of warships by herself. Perhaps her greatest feat is going up against foes like Thanos or an alternate version of Ultron who possessed all the Infinity Stones. Although she can’t defeat either of them, that she lasts as long as she does against them is a testament to her “marvelous” power.

“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.

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The prince and one-time king of Asgard isn’t just one of the strongest Avengers - he’s one of the strongest Marvel characters period. He’s got the average Asgardian longevity, endurance, and superhuman strength, sure. But Thor’s anything but average. His famous hammer and axe help him focus his powerful lightning abilities and fly. Thor can also grant this power to others. He’s gone up against opponents like the Hulk and Thanos, and arguably beaten them. Thor once took the full, concentrated power of a star, while holding open a massive forge with arm strength alone! The god of thunder is an absolute unit!

“What If…?” (2021-24)

Doctor Stephen Strange is already monstrously powerful as the Sorcerer Supreme. But this version of him pursues knowledge and strength all in the aim of resurrecting the love of his life. Strange Supreme obtains and/or fuses with many beings of unfathomable power and even inadvertently destroys his own universe. And when pitted against a foe like Infinity Ultron, Strange Supreme pulls off ludicrous feats of strength, like containing a galaxy-sized explosion - and EATING it! He even makes a hobby of collecting universe-killing threats and displaying them like action figures! Strange Supreme ultimately ends up using his own body to create a new universe in place of his old one - effectively becoming a god not even the Watchers can overcome.

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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.

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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.

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We can hear your disbelief. “Loki?! Surely you’d pick his sister Hela before Loki!” But hold on - let us cook. 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. However, it’s the abilities his variant acquires in the show that shares his name that make Loki the most powerful character in the MCU. By the show’s end, Loki can stop time and travel through it at will. He’s also single-handedly holding the multiverse together! If that’s not strong, what is?!


Is there a supremely powerful MCU character we forgot? We’ll gladly swallow your picks in the comments.




[a]NOTE TO VO ARTIST: Pls read everything in blue!