From its debut at E3 2019, the upcoming superhero title Marvel’s Avengers has gotten a lot of comments from excited fans. For the longest time, little was known about what to expect from Square Enix’s latest game, but with the first round of beta access, a lot of questions are being answered. A small handful of players currently have the ability to play through several beta missions and get a feel for how Marvel’s Avengers works. Those waiting on the sidelines are curious about which of the allotted playable characters have the most potential.

Marvel’s Avengers will feature a wide array of superheroes players can choose from including iconic figures such as Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Ms. Marvel, and more. In fact, the developers plan to include additional characters post the game’s launch in September, including the PlayStation exclusive character Spider-Man. Since the beta will only be granting access to Iron Man, Hulk, Ms. Marvel, and Black Widow, it will be some time before players see how the other characters behave. Among this initial cast of heroes, it may be surprising to hear that preliminary comments are stating that Black Widow may in fact be the toughest character in Marvel’s Avengers.

Related: Marvel’s Avengers Won’t Get Exclusive Characters On PC Or Xbox [EXCLUSIVE]

This news may come across as a shock to many, especially given that Black Widow is often not advertised as an extremely powerful character in any Avengers game. While Hulk is tanky and can pack a mean punch alongside Iron Man's lethal Hulkbuster suit, Black Widow is an extremely versatile character. She is a super fast hero who, while not dealing as much damage per hit as her fellow teammates, can very quickly rack up combos and points. This lets Black Widow take down a lot of enemies in a short period of time. Plus, her agility means she’s an extremely difficult target to hit. While these characteristics are offset by a lower health threshold, her evasion tactics mean players are more likely to do a wider range of damage playing as Black Widow rather than as a slower, more beefed up character like Hulk.

Black Widow Is The Strongest Character In Marvel's Avengers

Marvels Avengers Black Widow

Additionally, Black Widow is equipped with a wide range of gadgets which allow her to be extremely versatile in both close and long range combat. The range on her guns allows Black Widow to stay away from dangerous situations while still being able to do a vast amount of damage. If an enemy gets too close or a player opts to join the middle of a skirmish, Black Widow’s speed and array of hand-to-hand combat options means she’s nearly unstoppable. Plus, Black Widow has a unique grappling hook mechanic which allows her to attach to enemies both on the ground and in the air. This lets her always stay within range of all enemies, jump in to deal some heavy damage, and quickly retreat back to avoid getting hit.

Black Widow’s speed, versatility, and crowd control makes her the frontrunner for the strongest hero in Marvel’s Avengers. Whether this will stay the case is unclear. Since this early-access beta run is limited to a small handful of characters, there’s no way to determine how Black Widow stacks up against the likes of Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye, or Ant-Man. Plus, the beta allows Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix to further balance the game, which means Black Widow could be expecting a nerf if the studios feel she is overpowered.

Her abilities are definitely countered by her health, which is lower than the rest of the Avengers. This does make her less durable in the long run, but for players who familiarize themselves with Black Widow’s abilities, health won’t be of any issue. Going forward, it will be interesting to see whether Square Enix intends to create a level playing field where all playable characters are balanced or whether one character will clearly be better than the rest. There are several beta weekends coming up for Marvel’s Avengers which will bring in more information, but for now, it seems Black Widow is coming out on top.

Next: Marvel's Avengers Beta Features 3 Full Missions & Side Content