The Marvel Cinematic Universe is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
RELATED: 5 actors who have featured in DC and Marvel movies
7 most powerful Avengers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
With that in mind, now in the depths of Phase Four, these are the seven most powerful Avengers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ranked.
- Hulk
With Thor seemingly elsewhere in the galaxy, Hawkeye and Hulk could very well be the last men standing in terms of the original group of Avengers that defended Earth against Loki by this time next year. And a lot, including Hulk’s standing within the MCU’s power scale, has changed since then.
Back in 2012’s The Avengers, Hulk is positioned as the ace-in-the-hole against Loki’s cosmic army.
Now, given the arrival of various ancient, mystical, or outer space-hailing beings and technologies into the MCU, Hulk’s brand of smash ’em up offensive is nothing more than a hammer in a world that now requires the superhero equivalent of a crane: the entire scale of the war the Avengers are waging has changed, and as a result, Hulk’s status as one of the most powerful has slipped.
RELATED: Top 10 romantic anime movies of all time
Wanda Maximoff was able to not only nullify Hulk but weaponize him in Avengers: Age of Ultron and she had barely even begun to scratch the surface of her witchcraft ways.
- Shang-Chi
One of the newest addition to the ranks of the MCU’s strongest Avengers, Shang-Chi’s (Simu Liu) inclusion on this list is contingent upon him having access to the Ten Rings, an ancient (and possibly alien) telepathically controlled weapon that allowed The Mandarin (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) to stay in power for centuries, a weapon that is sending a beacon to an unknown and likely equally powerful receiver.
Combine that weapon with a man considered to be the world’s greatest martial arts, and you have a concoction of ground-level skill and otherworldly power that immediately makes Shang-Chi one of Earth’s mightiest mighty heroes.
- Thor
The son of Odin uses his mighty abilities as the God of Thunder to protect his home Asgard and planet Earth alike.
Truly unlocking his potential in Thor: Ragnarok, the God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) only went on to further establish himself as one of the most powerful Avengers when he was presented as the ultimate game-changer in the final Avengers: Infinity War battle, a game-changer that would’ve killed Thanos had he simply gone for the head.
Those Top 5 strongest Avengers powers were on display in the seventh episode of What If…? (which is canon, by the way) as he goes toe-to-toe with Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) despite his inebriated state. As Thor himself has stated, he’s 1,500 years old and has killed twice as many enemies as that.
As we saw in Thor: Love and Thunder not only does this power belong to Thor, but he can grant others with the same ability like the children who were captured by Gorr (Christian Bale). Being able to temporarily gift or deputize others with the god of thunder’s ability is definitely impressive.
- Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel is so powerful that her origin story film was strategically positioned in between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame as to not disrupt the logic of the films.
Had Captain Marvel been a part of the crew who went toe-to-toe with Thanos on Titan, they would’ve been able to defeat him regardless of Peter Quill’s (Chris Pratt) shortsighted antics, as evidenced by her borderline domination of a fully-loaded Infinity Gauntlet-wielding Thanos. No wonder Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) looks up to her!
Captain Marvel premiered in London on February 27, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on March 8, as part of Phase Three of the MCU. The film grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide, making it the first female-led superhero film to pass the billion-dollar mark.
- Ant-Man
On its surface, the ability to shrink and expand isn’t all that threatening, especially when compared to the abilities of ancient gods and otherworldly aliens. But when taking into account the quantum abilities that come with the Ant-Man suit, the stronger Scott Lang’s (Paul Rudd) case becomes.
Similar to Doctor Strange (don’t worry, we’ll get to him later), Ant-Man’s powers simply exist in a different realm than that of Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, and even the likes of Thor and Captain Marvel, and also within fan culture (subconsciously or otherwise), as a common joke in the lead-up to Avengers: Infinity War was “Why doesn’t Ant-Man just crawl inside Thanos and, well, expand?”
In the same way that Doctor Strange is the key to combating the mystical and multiversal threats set to reign down upon the MCU, Ant-Man will likely be key in their stand against Kang, not only making him one of the most powerful, but one of the most important.
- Doctor Strange
While ranking the Sorcerer Supreme above both Captain Marvel and Thor may cause some to double-take, the Marvel Cinematic Universe itself has already given an example of how helpless the brute of Thor’s strength is when leveled against the more magical, mental elements of Doctor Strange’s skill set when the pair briefly cross paths in Thor: Ragnarok.
In an accident, Stephen Strange, a famous neurosurgeon, loses the ability to use his hands. He goes to visit the mysterious Ancient One to heal himself and becomes a great sorcerer under her tutelage.
RELATED: Hugh Jackman to return as Wolverine in Deadpool 3
After Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we clearly learned that Strange is not only powerful but a threat to multiple universes, making him more powerful than even Thanos, with the ability to destroy universes, dreamwalk, and even inhabit dead bodies.
- The Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. Her first appearance was in The X-Men #4 in the Silver Age of Comic Books.
The fact is that, without the help of America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), Doctor Strange would not have been able to defeat Wanda, and it stands to reason that any future rendition we meet of Wanda will be equally as strong.
