After two years of highs and lows, Phase Four of the MCU concluded with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, and overall, fans are still very eager for Phase Five and the unfolding multiversal story. An important aspect of Phase Four was the introduction of the next generation of great MCU characters, including several whose power levels, are hitherto unrivaled in many regards. That would include, most recently, Namor, who was defined as being as strong as Thor and the Hulk, and the Eternals, but especially, Ikaris and Sersi.
Their future in the MCU is currently ambiguous, although logically, they’ll at least return for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and/or Avengers: Secret Wars - the Avengers would be happy to have such powerhouses on their side. Nevertheless, of those who have served on the Avengers, there’s been an eternal debate about whom the strongest is. The fans, actors, creators, and characters themselves all have their own opinion. As such, here’s who the fans on Reddit think could claim the title of the MCU’s strongest Avenger.
Scarlet Witch
Currently, there is one character who holds the majority consensus about not only being the strongest Avenger but also being the strongest mortal character in the entire MCU. Wanda Maximoff, now officially known as the Scarlet Witch having gained full access to her vast potential, can manipulate reality through chaos magic. While she took a villainous turn in WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, in doing so her incredible power was demonstrated, in easily decimating the Illuminati and causing repercussions across the Multiverse.
u/TheMajesticCape supports Wanda and wrote, “The Scarlet Witch beat Thanos by herself. He had to use his ship to kill a bunch of his guys just so she didn’t kill him outright.” She was that powerful in Avengers: Endgame, and she hadn’t even crossed paths with the Darkhold, which states that she as a nexus being and the Scarlet Witch inherently has more power than the Sorcerer Supreme. They even had to take her off the board for a while as she’s too powerful, though fans are eager for her return and ideally a Scarlet Witch film.
Thor
As an Asgardian, the God of Thunder, and wielder of Mjølnir, Thor is a clear contender for the title of Strongest Avenger. Specifically, fans harken to his extreme power up in Thor: Ragnarok and subsequently Avengers: Infinity War when he’s truly unlocked the scope of his lightning powers. u/Abhistrike thinks “if every character were to do a 1 v 1 - Thor would win almost all interactions.”
Thor has gone toe-to-toe with some of the strongest characters in the MCU from the likes of the Gorr the God Butcher and Thanos and the Hulk and Captain Marvel, and in many of those fights, Thor came out on top. Interestingly, following Thor: Love and Thunder, he’s now on a new adventure with his adopted daughter, Love, who given her connection to Eternity, might turn out to be versions of Singularity or Captain Universe, two vastly powerful comic heroes.
Captain Marvel
Speaking of incredibly strong cosmic heroes, whether present or yet to be introduced, there are very few who could ever rival Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel. Thus far, the only person who was able to “beat” her was Thanos and that’s only he surprised her with a hit from the Power Stone. Overall, Captain Marvel shares a similar problem for the MCU as Hulk and Scarlet Witch does. She is so relatively overpowered that she has to be relegated elsewhere otherwise the battles would be over too soon - hence why she wasn’t involved in Avengers: Endgame really until well into the climactic battle.
u/Aggarwalace also credits What If… for showing how strong she is, writing, “Captain Marvel was able to overpower Thor, even with mighty Mjølnir. So I would say, Captain Marvel.” Her powers do come from the Tesseract, the Space Stone, and the true potential of them have yet to be explored. Thankfully The Marvels is coming soon in Phase Five and will delve more into her capabilities, along with those of Monica Rambeau, who could be deserving of her spot here too, and Kamala Khan.
Hulk
Many fans believe that the Hulk has been downgraded throughout the MCU and that he shouldn’t be losing fights as he has from time to time. It can’t be denied that from his introduction in The Incredible Hulk to most recently She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, the Hulk has changed a lot when it comes to his role in the action. That’s because the franchise has followed Bruce as he’s come to terms with and learned to control the Hulk. Nevertheless, u/MarkSKelly says, “Strength alone, Hulk is the strongest one there is.”
On sheer physical strength there are very few characters who could rival the Hulk, especially during his days of rage and rampage. In The Avengers he easily takes down a Chitauri Leviathan with a single punch. Plus, he’s incredibly fast, reflexive, and durable. The only thing that truly hurt him was using the infinity stones in Avengers: Endgame. He now also has a potential rival contender in his cousin, Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk, and possibly his newfound son, Skaar.
Doctor Strange
When it comes to magic, the Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange dominate. While the latter is no longer Sorcerer Supreme, losing that title to Wong during the Blip, that doesn’t mean he’s any weaker. In fact, as an extremely intelligent person with a debilitating need to always be right and know more, his powers and magical capabilities are always growing.
u/BringMeThanos422003 claimed, “Doctor Strange is versatile and unpredictable. He is a wild card, and he could be [anyone] in a fight with a spell to counter their move.” Using his magic he’s held his own with Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, Gargantos, and Scarlet Witch. Whether in Doctor Strange 3 or a future Avengers movie, his powers will be instrumental in fighting new supernatural villains like Mephisto or Umar the Unrelenting.
Spider-Man
Across the various adaptations of Spider-Man, whether in the MCU or not, they’ve each ranged in strength. He might not be able to produce his spider-silk like Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, but Tom Holland’s is the most powerful overall. u/oklander8rs2000 wrote, “a dark horse is Spidey. Dude was toying with Winter Soldier, caught Cull Obsidian’s anchor weapon pretty easily, and lifted him out from under a building.”
Spider-Man has the strength and quick reflexes to stop a car from crashing into a bus or to help keep a sinking boat intact and afloat in Spider-Man: Homecoming - plus the resilience to survive getting hit by a high-speed train in Spider-Man: Far from Home. He was even involved in one of the most outright brutal fights in the MCU between him and Green Goblin in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Captain America
He might be human, but clearly, Steve Rogers was something special as Captain America. As Erskine states in Captain America: The First Avenger, the Super Soldier Serum makes good, great, and bad, worse. It took Steve’s relentless courage and gave him the strength to back up his hopes and convictions. u/ASUSunDevil25 thinks “he’s someone who, without the super soldier serum, really showed that it’s not always about physical strength or your powers, but your courage…when he says, ‘I can do this all day’, it’s way more than just his strength.”
Nevertheless, when it comes to strength, Captain America has had some incredible feats. In Captain America: Civil War he was able to hold back a helicopter from flying away, and in Avengers: Infinity War when Thanos arrived on Earth, he was able to briefly stop one of the Mad Titan’s attacks. Plus, he can lift Mjølnir which adds to his strength tenfold.
Vision
It’s difficult to compete with powers granted by infinity stones as in the case of Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel, and of course, Vision who had the Mind Stone affixed to his head. From that the android was able to phase shift, fire lasers, fly, and lift Mjølnir, so he was an incredibly powerful force for the Avengers before Thanos tore the Mind Stone from him. Even in WandaVision, while he might’ve been a construct of Wanda’s imagination, Vision was just as strong and the only character that could rival him was himself, White Vision.
u/JavajunkyYT wrote, “I mean he has an infinity stone in his head and has the entire collection of the inherent in his database/mind and his body is made of Vibranium.” Fans will soon get to see Vision again, at least in Vision Quest, an upcoming Disney+ series. Along with bringing in some newcomers and returning faces, Vision Quest should explore the full scope of his powers now that he’s on his own.
Shang-Chi
Shang-Chi is by far the best hand-to-hand fighter currently in the MCU. Add on top of the fact that he controls the legendary Ten Rings following Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, so Shang-Chi is one of the strongest heroes in the MCU now. u/Lawyer-Salt supports Shang-Chi in this regard, writing “Shang-Chi’s mother says the rings make his father as strong as a god. Combined with having the best combat skills in the MCU, I think Shang-Chi is on Thor’s level of power.”
Fans are eager to learn the true potential and origins of the Ten Rings - whether they come from outer space and are connected to the Makluan dragons as in the comics or if they have some sort of connection to Ms. Marvel’s bangle and/or Kang’s technology as seen in the trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Star-Lord
On Reddit, many MCU fans are supporting an unexpected entry for the strongest Avengers debate - Star-Lord. Specifically, they are talking about him in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 when he unlocked his celestial powers with his father’s help. In that case, u/Bezza777 wrote, “Celestial Star-Lord would have the power to wipe the floor with any of them” and he’d do it in some hilariously strange way like transforming into a giant Pac-Man.
Without the connection to Ego’s powers, however, Star-Lord is just a man - a bold and clever man, but still just a man. He couldn’t hope to stand a chance against any of these characters, but in his empowered state, very few could’ve rivaled him.