In the very fictitious yet mirrored world of comic books, female characters are often seen as unequal. Fictional women, including the most notorious of superheroines or supervillains, are often molded to fit societal expectations of what boys and men would like to look at or read at the time. The damsel in distress and boy-crazy crime fighter trope are just a few ways that writers have missed the mark with their lady characters. However, despite this sucky way that misogyny has permeated the world of comics, there are still some extremely powerful, interesting, and inspiring female superheroes out there that are absolutely worth following.
We put together the best of the best for this list. Little girls as well as little boys have been inspired by these legendary superheroines for years, and not just because of their interesting backstories and timelines. These female superheroes are the most powerful of them all.
Check out the 15 Most Powerful Female Superheroes of All Time.
15. Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is the first on our list for good reason. Not only is she one of the most iconic female superheroes ever, but she’s also one of the strongest and most powerful. Much like Superman, Wonder Woman is teetering on the edge of having too much power.
Not only does she have almost no weaknesses, she also has a personality and personal morality that is incredibly inspiring. She demands truth in all aspects, including internally. The appeal of Wonder Woman isn't her ability to fly, defeat almost any foe, or lack weaknesses. Her appeal lies in the fact that, despite having an insane amount of physical and superhuman power, she always does what is right and just. When faced with difficult decisions, she makes the one that will save the most people, even if it means harming herself.
It's unfortunate that Wonder Woman as a character has been abused by writers at times, but she still remains as one of the most iconic, powerful, and inspiring female superheroes of all time. Hopefully her upcoming movie will do her justice.
14. Jean Grey
The X-Men franchise’s Jean Grey is a beloved fan favorite for many reasons. In the Marvel universe, she is known as an Omega mutant, meaning she is just as powerful as Magneto and Professor X. Her telepathic abilities are similar in power to Emma Frost's abilities (we'll get to her soon) but her telekinetic powers put her at the top.
After combining with the Phoenix and increasing her already crazy powers, Jean Grey is able to rearrange matter at will-- meaning she can literally make anything disappear and is capable of destroying anything at catastrophic levels. While combining with the Phoenix made her very unstable and a massive threat ('cause really, what person, mutant or not, can deal with that kind of power?), she quite literally emulated the mythical Phoenix and rose from the ashes to assert her place as one of the most genuine, interesting, and powerful superheroines of all time.
13. Emma Frost
Emma Frost, aka The White Queen, is an X-Men mutant with incredible telepathic powers. These powers are strong enough to create hallucinations in the minds of her opponents, allow her to read minds and implant thoughts, and can influence people to do what she wants. Her telepathic abilities also allow her to astral project and access telekinetic abilities as well. She is also capable of going into an "organic diamond state" that allows her to be increasingly strong and impermeable to many attacks.
The strength of Emma Frost is even more interesting when you consider that she began as a villain who changed sides to become a much-needed hero and leader in the X-Men universe. She has several degrees and teachers at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Mutants, making her not only incredibly powerful but also admirably intelligent too. Unfortunately, we don't see much of Emma Frost in the X-Men films, and we wish she had more of a presence.
12. Mera
Unfortunately within the DC Comics universe, Mera gets little recognition other than for being Aquaman’s wife-- which is even suckier because Aquaman gets so much hate for being “useless”. Not only is Aquaman not useless, but Mera is incredibly powerful too.
Mera is the queen of Atlantis and the former Queen of Dimension Aqua. She is incredibly strong and impermeable outside of the water. She is a trained underwater soldier and infiltrating spy.
Mera may not be able to influence water creatures with psychic abilities, but she is able to control the waves and tsunamis of the sea. She can turn water forms into intensely terrifying sea creatures. Her ability to control water doesn't stop there-- she can pretty much suck the water out of most lifeforms, including humans, effectively destroying all water-based life. After her son died and she was institutionalized in her grief, she escaped to battle her husband, whom she blamed. After he accidentally “killed” her, Mera was believed to be dead-- until she literally rose from her coffin, her alien physiology reigning supreme.
11. Raven
Raven rarely got any love in the DC Comics universe, but she did find quite a bit of popularity when Cartoon Network came out with Teen Titans. But this superheroine has a crazy amount of special abilities that earned her a spot on this list.
Raven can heal herself and others almost instantly (even near fatal wounds), can travel to different dimensions, can teleport, has the ability to fly within atmospheres and in space, and can astral project to extend her ability to see and hear far from her physical body. She can fight in her astral form as well.
Raven is also able to manipulate shadows and create darkness, manipulate almost any form of energy from human emotions to actual reality, and can create hallucinations in other people's minds. She can also induce unconsciousness with magic and create terrifying flames and electric explosions.
And that's not all! Raven also has clairvoyant abilities, can induce the seven deadly sins into the consciousness of her foes, and telekinetic powers. Talk about a powerful superheroine.
10. Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel isn't super well-known outside of hardcore Marvel fandoms, but Carol Danvers deserves some serious love. It looks like she's finally get it, too: Marvel announced that Captain Marvel will be the first female-lead character film in the Marvel comicverse.
Captain Marvel, also known as Carol Danvers, has the power of incredible strength, flight, and impermeable defense. This is typical for most superheroes, but Captain Marvel can also absorb energy and essentially redistribute it as a sonic blast. By absorbing energy, Captain Marvel can also gain even more strength and invincibility, essentially making her something like a nuclear bomb. Just as well: she can also absorb magic-based energy too.
On the more human side of Captain Marvel, she is proficient in melee fighting and infiltration as a spy. She's also a talented pilot and can fly without trouble in outer space. We can't wait to see these powers in action in 2019.
9. She-Hulk
Could it be that there's another big green Marvel superhero that's just as strong as the Hulk? She-Hulk is often thought of as the Hulk's "weaker" counterpart because she is female, but this isn't the case at all.
While in earlier story arcs She-Hulk was indeed weaker, she is now just as strong as the Hulk and her transformation isn't triggered by rage. Later on in her comic arcs, she is eventually given the ability to become more powerful with anger. The big kicker with She-Hulk is that while she has all of the power and rage-fueled abilities as the Hulk, but also retains her intelligence and emotions when in her transformed state.
She-Hulk is Bruce Banner's cousin Jennifer Walters when she's not in the big green body, and she works as an attorney for superheroes. Not only is She-Hulk super strong, uncompromised (mostly), and a total badass, but she's also an incredibly smart and quick-witted lawyer as well.
8. Ms. Marvel
Kamala Khan makes this list not necessarily for her superpowers (which are, for all purposes, pretty badass) but rather for her tenacity and the conversation about race in comic books that her character’s introduction started.
Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel is an incredible powerful female character who was the first Muslim character to have their own Marvel comic book. That's pretty history-making.
In addition to what Kamala represents as a symbol for inclusiveness in the comic book world, she also has a plenty of abilities. She has an extended lifespan and has speed, strength, wits, and endurance that are nearly superhuman.
After being exposing to Terrigen Mists and becoming an Inhuman, she was able to change any of her body parts into different shapes and was given the power of superhuman healing. She also has the biological ability of fluorescence as well.
We can only hope Kamala will be included in the upcoming Captain Marvel film.
7. Supergirl
Supergirl (aka Kara Zor-El, aka Kara Danvers) is the Kryptonian cousin of Superman (aka Kal-El, aka Clark Kent) who was sent to Earth as a 13-year-old girl to protect her infant cousin. When her spacecraft is knocked off course by Krypton's explosion, she's stuck in the Phantom Zone for 24 years before finally getting to earth. Once she arrives, Superman is, well, a man, but time doesn't seem to operate normally in the Phantom Zone, so Supergirl is still a 13-year-old girl.
She makes our list for her interesting storyline as well as her very Kryptonian abilities under the Earth's sun-- flight, superhuman strength, speed, heightened senses, and superhuman defense. She also has telescopic vision, x-ray vision, increased hearing, microscopic vision, superhuman breath, superhuman stamina, and heat vision. Talk about a laundry list of superpowers!
She's one of the (technically) youngest female superhero characters on this list, but she's no weakling by any means. Many characters in the Superman universe have noted throughout story arcs that Supergirl seems to be even more powerful than the Man of Steel himself at times.
6. Death of the Endless
You can’t get much more powerful than being the literal personification of death.
This particular personification of death first appeared in The Sandman series and quickly became one of the most popular characters from the series. Death of the Endless is one of DC Comic's seven Endless, incredibly powerful beings that are much more like deities than superhumans. Death is the physical manifestation of the end of life and also leads departing souls to the other side. Unlike typical anthropomorphic personifications of death, she isn't scary or even menacing. She's pleasant, relatable, and nurturing.
Death of the Endless' virtual omnipotence and omnipresence makes her more or less the most powerful being on this list. However, there are some beings she can't claim due to their own incredible power, such as Lucifer Morningstar and Michael Demiurgos.
Her look also deserves some mention-- she's the physical antithesis of the very Western idea of death, the Grim Reaper. This incarnation of death appears to be a pale-faced goth teenage girl. Pretty awesome, if you ask us.
5. Storm
Not only is Storm (also known as Ororo Munroe) a fan favorite from the X-Men franchise, but her ability to control the elements and climate makes her one of the most powerful female superheroes (and mutants in the X-Men universe) ever. Her ancestry also supports the use of magic, specifically witchcraft-- most of her ancestors were sorceresses and priestesses. She is able to breathe while moving at any speed and she is protected from dangerous air friction. She's also an incredibly skilled and cunning expert thief who is proficient in hand to hand combat. She's a great marksman, too, and is fluent in many languages.
On top of her awesome powers, Storm was awesome due to the representation her presence meant in the world of comics, as a black woman. Her pristine leadership abilities and strength also make her a memorable, tough, and inspiring character. She also leads her own team of female X-Men in the current comic series. Who doesn't love Storm?
4. Molly Hayes
This super powerful superheroine is another character who is severely underrated. Molly Hayes is a member of the original Runaways in the Marvel series of comic books, and as such is the daughter of evil villains with superhuman abilities. She starts out as the team's only mutant and has incredible superhuman strength and invulnerability. She admires the X-Men greatly, but she's a force to be reckoned with even for our favorite super-powerful mutant team-- she's often named as one of the most powerful and toughest female mutants in the Marvel universe, surpassed only by Jean Grey and Rogue. Molly is the only one who was able to rip off Cloak's cloak from his ultimate form, something that even the Gods couldn't manage.
13-year-old Molly is also a humorous, insightful character who stole the hearts of fans of the award-winning Runaways series. She's a great role model for young female comic book fans.
3. Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch (also known as Wanda Maximoff) is an especially powerful mutant born with the ability to alter reality. She was once believed to be the daughter of X-Men villain Magneto, but it was later revealed that she is actually not a mutant at all and was experimented on by the High Evolutionary. Though she can only manipulate reality in unspecific ways, Scarlet Witch's ability is an especially dangerous and powerful one.
Using hexes, Scarlet Witch can cause bad luck, light flammable objects, remove air from a specific place, deflect items, stop bullets and other projectiles in their path mid-air, open doors, explode things, manifest force fields, deflect magical attacks, and literally warp reality.
While the effects of her vast powers vary, she is usually successful in vanquishing her opponents. Scarlet Witch is also Chthon's Earth vessel, a valuable Avenger, the one to short-circuit (and ultimately defeat) Ultron. Oh, and she also defeated the rogue Dark Phoenix Jean Grey, and is the nexus being of the Marvel Universe.
2. Jesse Quick
Jesse Quick, also known as Jesse Chambers, is the daughter of two superhuman parents-- Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle. She inherited two different sets of superhuman abilities from her family, including the ability to activate the Speed Force from her father and super strength from her mother. Her father taught her how to properly harness the ability, but the mechanism of how her super-strength is possible is as much a mystery for her as it was for her mother.
Jesse Quick is able to move at insane speeds and can also fly. The combination of super strength and super speed makes Jesse Quick a formidable force-- she can toss incredibly heavy objects at her enemies and escape quickly before they can attempt to land a blow.
She joined the Titans to stop a nuclear threat and worked with Wally West, the first Kid Flash, to defeat the evil villain Zoom.
1. Rogue
Our number one comes with the power of infinite potential. Originally a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Rogue eventually became one of the most beloved members of the X-Men ever. Though it took many years, Rogue finally gained control of her superhuman ability to absorb thoughts, memories, psyche, abilities, and powers of other humans and mutants through skin-on-skin contact. While the transfer of abilities is almost always temporary, if Rogue holds onto to the mutant for long enough, the power transfer will be permanent. This potentially means that Rogue could absorb the powers of anyone and everyone, giving her an almost omnipotent potential if she could overcome the comatose effect that too much power has on her. However, she has been proven unable to harness the power of especially powerful beings, such as the alien Magnus.
Rogue is currently part of the Avengers Unity Squad as well as the X-Men team.