Who IS the strongest Avenger?

Continuing spoilers for Endgame

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It’s a debate that began in Thor: Ragnarok—who is the Strongest Avenger? Thor thinks it’s him. Tony thinks it’s the Hulk. But Carol Danvers is now on the scene, and Scarlet Witch has finally grown into her powers. Also, Doctor Strange seems infinitely powerful? We don’t even have a good gauge on all that he can do. Plus, you have super-soldiers and alien beings and all manner of enhanced humans running around the MCU now. Over the last few years, we’ve seen some matchups that showcase how various heroes stack up against one another. I will now apply three decades of comic book knowledge and many re-watches of Marvel movies to decide, once and for all, who is the Strongest Avenger. One ground rule: I am eliminating everyone aided solely by technology. If Iron Man didn’t consider himself in the running for Strongest Avenger, I won’t, either. Although free drinks to Scott Lang for life for coming up with the time heist.

Captain America

Cap is the strongest a human can possibly be. He is a perfect physical specimen whose faculties operate at the highest possible end of the scale, and though he can be hurt, he is very “hard to perish”, to quote Korg. He is very strong, and very fast, but at the end of the day, pretty much everyone can knock Cap down. He does, however, possess America’s Ass.

Bucky Barnes/Whatever we call him now

As strong as Captain America, but a hundred times more lethal. Bucky Barnes has none of Cap’s altruism to hold him back, plus decades of training as a master spy. Also, he is a top-notch sniper. Take Cap’s power, Black Widow’s ruthlessness, and Hawkeye’s aim and roll it into one, and then add a nearly indestructible death arm into the equation—yikes. Still, Barnes might be the Scariest Avenger, but at the end of the day, he doesn’t have laser hands or lightning or anything beyond physical enhancement to push him over the top. 

Spider-Man

We know from Civil War he is slightly stronger than the super-soldiers, but that’s his only edge. The new movies are going with a mechanical origin for his web shooters, taking away one of the grosser but more effective spider-enhancements. Most of his abilities come from the cool suit Tony Stark gave him, but he does earn a spot for sheer physical strength. Spider-Man is the strongest of the enhanced humans. 

Hulk

This is where we start getting controversial. Hulk is for sure VERY strong. He and Thor fight in Ragnarok and Hulk comes out the victor. But I’m not sure he is actually stronger than Thor, because Thor was holding back for a lot of that fight, at first not wanting to hurt his friend, and then because he only just discovered how his lightning power works. If they had a rematch now, I’m not sure who would win. But there is no disputing when it comes to strength, Hulk is way, way up there.

Thor

Getting an edge for his lightning power. Sure, Hulk can knock him around, but once Thor mastered calling down lightning without a hammer, he was pretty unstoppable. Hulk might have a pure power edge—and also the benefit of being Tony’s favorite—but Thor’s lightning evens the field once again. 

Doctor Strange

Not the most physically imposing Avenger, but there is no denying the extent of Strange’s power. The Strange that pops up in Ragnarok and Infinity War seems to have unlimited mystical ability, which means he can dimension hop, see the future, and manipulate space-time. He can also shove his enemies into unending time loops. I wouldn’t want to fight this guy, would you?

Scarlet Witch

Wanda almost single-handedly took down Thanos, TWICE. In Infinity War and Endgame she directly confronts Thanos alone, and both times she leaves serious damage. In Endgame, she specifically attacked his armor, making him more vulnerable to the attacks the others were levelling against him, which was not only a display of power, but also tactics, which only makes her more dangerous. A focused Wanda Maximoff is almost unstoppable. Also, she can mess with your mind.

Captain Marvel

Without even looking, I am sure the diaper babies are churning out content rationalizing why Carol Danvers isn’t ACTUALLY the strongest Avenger—and I bet not one of them are arguing in favor of Wanda as a counterpoint—but look at the evidence in Endgame. The Big Three (Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man) take on Thanos and repeatedly get their asses handed to them. Thor even has TWO hammers to help. Carol, meanwhile, holds her own even while Thanos is wearing the fully-powered Infinity Gauntlet. With the magic glove on, Thanos is nearly indestructible and all-powerful. Yet he cannot get an edge on Carol until he uses the power stone directly against her. That’s a pretty definitive display of power. She can down huge spaceships singlehandedly, and withstand the combined strength of Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet.

The Strongest Avenger is…

Black Widow, duh. She held the team together and fought to bring them back, and in the end, she made a sacrifice that should never have been asked of her so that these idiots could keep arguing about who is stronger, as if Natasha wasn’t the one powering the whole team all along. We salute you, the Strongest Avenger: Natasha Romanoff.