People constantly debate who the strongest and weakest Avengers are, both by those in the Marvel Universe and by fans trying to argue their favourite character’s case. But, of course, every Avenger has strengths and weaknesses. While some may be physically stronger, others find their strength in their intelligence or sarcasm. So, who is the strongest Avenger?
17. Hawkeye
On numerous occasions in the comics, Clint Barton has said he’s just a regular guy with a bow and arrow. Unfortunately, his lack of power usually leads to him suffering injuries regularly and has led to fans deeming him the weakest member of the Avengers.
While that may be true, his skills with a bow and arrow are unmatched. Clint is one of the most experienced members of the Avengers, having worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. for years before being recruited. He was the one who went after Natasha Romanoff and recruited her after realising that she was more than just an enemy assassin.
Barton is the glue of the Avengers team, keeping everyone intact and alive. While he is very serious about his job, he is unafraid to be snarky with enemies or exchange quips with friends. He and Natasha have even discussed renovation plans and asked if they were still friends while battling each other on opposing teams.
He may be the weakest Avenger, but he’s one of the best characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and was one of the only Avengers able to land a hit on Pietro and Wanda Maximoff in Avengers: Age of Ultron. So, fans and characters would do well to remember and not underestimate him.
16. Ant-Man
Scott Lang is a reformed thief who Sam Wilson recruited during the events of Captain America: Civil War after he unintentionally showed off his skills. He cares deeply for his daughter and family and will always do everything in his power to ensure their safety, even if it means going sub-atomic and shrinking for the rest of his life.
He’s one of the more comedic and human Avengers, learning magic to pass the time and fanboying over characters like Falcon, Captain America and Wanda Maximoff (which results in him forgetting how to speak or accidentally revealing his identity without any sort of prompting).
He became an essential team member during the events of Avengers: Endgame when his return led to Tony Stark’s eventual invention of time travel.
While his suit makes him a significant asset to the team (having a hero who can grow into a giant is always helpful), he doesn’t have the same experience as many of the other Avengers, so he is not on the same level as a lot of them. However, he’s still quite intelligent, so he at least has that going for him.
15. Falcon / Captain America
Before joining the Avengers, Sam Wilson was a pararescue airman and a soldier who ran a support group for veterans. He was recruited by Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff while on the run from HYDRA. He would continue to stand at Steve’s side through every decision he made, whether it be hiding from the government or combatting members of the Black Order.
His mildly strained relationship with Bucky Barnes makes him significantly more entertaining, especially when the two start screaming at each other or refuse to move their sear up. His most valuable weapons are his wings, which allow him to assist the rest of the Avengers from the air, and Red Wing, which he occasionally uses to irritate several teammates, including Natasha and Bucky.
He cares deeply for people, even his enemies in some cases, and shows this off when he tries to reason with Karli or dives for Rhodey after Vision accidentally knocks him out of the sky. He also takes no nonsense from those who don’t value human life the same way he does.
Even without his wings (which have occasionally been broken off by a one-armed super soldier), he is still valuable on the battlefield. He is quick to pick up a weapon and show off his expert marksman skills while backing up his teammates.
14. Black Widow
Natasha Romanoff is a spy and an assassin who can get herself in and out of anywhere with relative ease. She’s incredibly intelligent and has managed to outsmart both her teammates and several villains during her tenure as a hero.
She is not one the trusts easily, which is understandable given her past. Still, she will always do everything she can to protect those she considers her family and ensure their safety and survival, even if it means sacrificing herself for the sake of everyone else.
She is capable of holding her own against those stronger than her, something she has proved when battling enemies like the Chitauri, Ultron’s drones, the Black Order and even the Black Panther when he was on a quest for revenge.
Thanks to her training, Natasha is skilled in many forms of hand-to-hand combat. She also relies on several gadgets and her wits to get the information she needs before taking down her enemies. The experience she gained at S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Red Room has given her an edge over many characters and made her a formidable opponent and an incredible ally.
13. Nick Fury
While he is not technically an Avenger, the former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. has enough combat skills and knows how to be one. He started the Avengers Initiative after meeting Carol Danvers in the 1990s, with the plan to bring together a group of remarkable people who would be able to protect Earth from any threats that came its way in the future.
Fury can hold his own against super-powered or enhanced individuals, having survived onslaughts with characters like the Winter Soldier and even Loki. He also managed to rally the bickering Avengers together by manipulating Phil Coulson’s demise to his advantage and giving them the push they needed to continue to victory.
He is one of the most no-nonsense characters in the MCU and doesn’t take kindly to those who betray his trust, but he also cares very deeply for the men and women who operate under him. He always does what he can to ensure that they stay motivated and on mission.
He has a very dry sense of humour that is guaranteed to make a Marvel fan chuckle.
12. War Machine
Rhodey is Tony Stark’s best friend and an officer in the United States Air Force. He often finds himself having to clean up after Tony and fix the messes he causes with the government. One of these incidents ended with Rhodey stealing Tony’s suit and officially becoming War Machine.
He and Tony have fought every battle side-by-side, occasionally trying to upstage each other with their weaponry or showing off what else their suits can do (unfortunately for him, Tony usually comes out on top in these situations).
Shortly after officially joining the Avengers, Rhodey was accidentally shot out of the sky and lost his ability to walk. He now has to use the leg braces gifted to him by Tony. When Tony flew into space during Avengers: Infinity War, Rhodey decided enough was enough and went against his orders to assist Steve Rogers and co. in dealing with the threat of Thanos.
Despite not having any powers, he is still a significant team member. His Iron Man suit was modified to suit military purposes better, so it is more obviously weaponised than Tony’s. However, even without the armour, Rhodes is an expert combatant, marksman, tactician and pilot. While he’s not as smart as Tony, Rhodey is still quite intelligent, having graduated alongside Tony.
While Rhodes is serious about his job, he will never pass up the opportunity to crack a joke with his teammates, specifically Tony.
11. Winter Soldier
Before he became the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes was a loyal, friendly and headstrong individual who made sure Steve Rogers didn’t get hurt on the battlefield as Captain America or by people bigger than him pre-serum.
Unfortunately, due to HYDRA’s brainwashing and his immense guilt over what happened when he wasn’t in control, Bucky became a shell of the man he once was. He was trained as a living weapon and struggled to cope with what HYDRA forced him to do as the Winter Soldier.
His now Vibranium arm and the super-soldier serum flowing through his veins give him an incredible combat advantage over his opponents. In addition, his training from HYDRA has led him to become one of the best assassins in the MCU, able to go toe-to-toe with the Black Widow.
He has a slightly strained relationship with Sam Wilson, but it makes for a fun dynamic between the two and leaves them with an almost sibling-like bond.
10. Captain America
Steve Rogers was one of the first known superheroes on Earth and a founding member of the Avengers. When he first took on the mantle of Captain America, he was used for funding military campaigns before eventually proving himself as a soldier when he rescued the Allied prisoners that HYDRA had captured. Then, he stood against the reign of Red Skull and sacrificed his life for the greater good.
He has saved the world numerous times through the combined use of the super-soldier serum flowing through his veins and his shield (which seems to defy the laws of physics). He greatly values people’s freedom and will always do everything he can to ensure they remain free, even if he has to take out a couple of helicarriers or take on his teammates.
9. Iron Man
Tony Stark is a definite favourite among Marvel fans, and the loss of the beloved hero hit fans and people in-universe hard. He started as an arrogant and reckless young man with a brilliant mind who didn’t care about anything except having a good time. He used his wealth and technical knowledge to become one of the most powerful men in the world.
When he was captured in the desert after a weapons test and his captors threatened his life, he saw the danger of what could happen when the weapons he’d created landed in the wrong hands. He became more empathetic and caring of those around him. However, he still always managed to antagonise his teammates with his arrogance. He became great at hiding the loneliness behind his overly confident personality.
He cares deeply for his family and those in his team, even the ones who betrayed his trust during the events of Captain America: Civil War. This became obvious when he made that Barton was adequately taken care of after he got shot in Avengers: Age of Ultron or when he made sure that a comatose Happy was as comfortable as possible in Iron Man 3.
While Tony’s armour helps him in battle and gives him a chance against many of his enemies, his biggest asset is his intelligence. While captured in Afghanistan, he made a miniaturised version of the arch reactor from a box of scraps while trapped in a cave.
Over the years, he had created numerous suits of armour, each with a different purpose that made them slightly better than their counterparts. He also managed to invent Time Travel even when Bruce Banner struggled.
Tony’s always happy to exchange quips with his teammates, having the most fun with those who match his energy, like Natasha.
8. Black Panther
When fans first met T’Challa, he was a grieving man on a quest for vengeance against the man who had taken the life of his father. However, throughout the few films we saw him in, he became a wise and understanding king who would do what he could to protect his country and his allies. While he is willing to take out his enemies if necessary, he will always try to give them an out, pushing them to admit defeat or offering to heal them through the advanced technology of Wakanda.
Not only did he have an armoured suit made entirely out of Vibranium, but he also consumed the Heart-Shaped Herb, which enhanced him physically. As a result, he can easily hold his own in combat with the likes of Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers and can even move faster than both of them, evidenced by his catching up with Bucky on foot and staying just in front of Steve during the Battle of Wakanda.
T’Challa was not a man of many words, but he often exchanged sarcastic quips with his younger sister, Shuri, and a couple of the Dora Milaje, specifically Okoye.
7. Spider-Man
Peter Parker is one of the physically stronger members of the Avengers and one of the most intelligent. Tony scoped him out before recruiting him to help during Captain America: Civil War and eventually made him an Avenger.
Peter has always been one of the more optimistic characters who will always try to do the right thing and has even done what he can to save the people who have hurt him. When he started to lose those he loved, Peter struggled with his grief and would have acted recklessly against those responsible without hesitation if an alternate version of himself hadn’t intervened.
Peter easily holds his own against enhanced individuals, including both super soldiers on the Avengers team. He rarely uses the full extent of his strength against his enemies, but the few times he has, fans have been shocked by the damage he can do.
He has a genius-level intellect which he used to improve his web fluid and different elements of his suit to give himself an advantage in battle. He also created devices to help villains from other universes.
6. Vision
Vision is a walking computer that can project beams of energy out of his head. Ultron initially built him as a replacement body, but the Avengers stole him and brought him to life through the combined efforts of Tony, Bruce Banner and Thor.
He’s built from Vibraium, which makes him virtually indestructible, and is further enhanced by the powers of the Mind Stone, one of the six Infinity stones. As a result, he is stronger and more durable than many teammates and can manipulate his appearance, giving himself a cape or altering his form to look more human. He can also phase through solid structures such as walls or an enlarged Ant-Man’s body.
Vision is always looking at the logical side of things. Throughout the films, he has grown to understand the complexity of human emotions. For example, he developed a relationship with Wanda Maximoff and disappeared so he couldn’t be found by Tony when he wanted to see her while she was on the run. As a result, vision is a somewhat empathetic machine.
5. Hulk
Bruce Banner is one of the most intelligent people in the MCU (for some reason, he has 7 Ph. Ds) but is cursed with unfortunate anger issues. While attempting to recreate the super-soldier serum, Banner tested it on himself and found that it had given him the ability to transform into a raging green monster known as the Hulk. After being on the run for several years, Natasha eventually recruited him as an Avenger and helped to track down the Tesseract.
The Hulk is one of the biggest, tallest, smartest and strongest Avengers. Banner is virtually indestructible, unable to be taken out by any weapon, even as a human. The only person who has ever scared the Hulk and come close to defeating him was Thanos (though Thor also came quite close to beating him).
Bruce is a mild-mannered and shy individual, happy to stay in the background and out of the spotlight. However, he and Tony developed a friendship over their shared love of science and Tony’s habit of treating him as a human rather than someone to be feared because of what they could become.
Hulk is a more simple-minded creature who is quite aggressive but only ever when provoked. All he wants is to be left alone. However, he has kept some aspects of Banner’s personality and has shown more emotion than just anger, even being able to speak.
4. Doctor Strange
Stephen Strange started as an arrogant but successful neurosurgeon whose hands became crippled after he was in a car accident. He finally travelled to Kamar-Taj, hoping they would succeed where Western medicine had failed him, and he could return to normal life.
What started as a way for him to heal his hands turned into him actually enjoying being a sorcerer, and he quickly became a Master of the Mystic Arts. After the passing of the Ancient One and the defeat of Kaecilius, he became the protector of the Sanctum Sanctorum.
Strange is an extraordinarily stubborn but determined individual who refuses to give up if there is even the slightest chance at victory. Despite clashing with several heroes (especially Tony due to their similar personalities), Strange often became the voice of reason.
He is incredibly talented with his magic, even the Ancient One having claimed that Strange was supposed to be the best of them. He had a chance at the position of Sorcerer Supreme but then lost it after he was Blipped out of existence for five years.
He is one of the few individuals who could safely use the Time Stone contained within the Eye of Agamotto. He has outsmarted several powerful beings, including Loki, Dormammu, and even the Scarlet Witch (though he needed some help with that one).
He is one of the most powerful Avengers, but unfortunately, not the most powerful.
3. Captain Marvel
Carol Danvers was a pilot in the Air Force before she obtained cosmic powers from the Tesseract, which were further enhanced enhance when Yon-Rogg transfused her some of his DNA. While at first, she didn’t know the truth of her origins, Danvers soon learnt that she was originally from Earth but had been kidnapped by the Kree for her powers after she’d tried to help her later mentor, Mar-Vell.
She soon assumed the role of Captain Marvel and returned to Earth after Fury called her at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. She would end up rescuing Tony and Nebula from their fate. She is a highly stubborn and rebellious individual who acts recklessly due to her upbringing. Though she is brash and prideful, she cares deeply for those she holds most dear.
Thanks to her Kree DNA, Danvers is a powerful individual who manages to restrain Thanos and destroy his ships with relative ease. Her cosmic powers allow her to project photon blasts out of her hands. She is one of the strongest Avengers, but still not the strongest.
2. Scarlet Witch
Wanda Maximoff was a witch born with the ability to harness and use Chaos Magic, an ability that wasn’t fully awoken until the event of WandaVision. After her parents were caught in an explosion created by Stark Industries, she and her twin brother Pietro volunteered to undergo experiments. During these experiments, her magic woke, and she saw a hint of what she would one day become.
Throughout the films, Wanda’s magic slowly grows and develops as she becomes more powerful and learns to control them. She can use her powers to cast spells, protect herself and others from enemies through the creation of force fields, telekinetically move objects or disintegrate them at will. She can also mentally manipulate and warp a person’s mind to have them do her bidding or get out of her way.
Not only did Wanda almost manage to take on Thanos alone, she easily took down the Illuminati. She wiped them out in creative ways as her mind became corrupted by the Dark Hold, and she desperately began to search for her sons that she had created and then lost.
Wanda Maximoff is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with, but surprisingly, she is not the most powerful Avenger. So, who is the strongest Avenger?
1. Thor
The title of strongest and most powerful Avenger belongs to none other than the god of thunder. He was once the King of Asgard before passing the crown to Valkyrie. He was a founding member of the Avengers, the Revengers and a temporary member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Thor often finds himself at odds with his younger brother Loki and has to retrieve him from Earth thanks to all the chaos he causes.
He started as an arrogant and immature god who had to be banished from Asgard to learn what it meant to be a king. Over the years, he has grown progressively wiser and more powerful.
Thanks to the fact that he was born Asgardian, Thor is a lot stronger than expected, able to take on Hulk single-handedly with ease. He was one of the few Avengers who managed to hurt Thanos more than once. Not only is he the strongest Avenger, but he is also the strongest Asgardian, third only to Odin and Hela, who are both dead.
Thor can withstand the intense heat of a star and the extreme cold of Jotunheim. His ability to generate intense blasts of lighting that can take out entire armies makes him even more powerful.
Who do you think is the strongest or weakest of Marvel’s Avengers?
For a broader look at powerful characters, check out our comprehensive list of the 15 Most Powerful Characters in the Marvel Universe.
