Who is the strongest Avenger in the MCU?

In a hilarious moment in Thor: Ragnarok, Thor attempts to pilot a S.H.I.E.L.D. quinjet, but first he has to say his team codename as a password. Although he’s sure it’s “Strongest Avenger,” Tony Stark has actually set it to “Point Break.”

The Asgardian is certain of his status as the biggest gun out of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, but is that really the case? Sure, it’s pretty easy to argue that’s a fact based on the original six founding members of the team, but the MCU has grown exponentially in the decade plus change since the Avengers first assembled, with the franchise’s roster of heroes now encompassing many more characters who could make strong claims to steal Thor’s preferred title.

Of course, a few of these might never have actually been card-carrying members of the Avengers in the MCU to date, so they’re disqualified. But out of those who have served on the team at some point, who are the top 5 strongest Avengers of them all?

5. Hulk

There’s no denying that the Hulk is one of the strongest Avengers. We all saw him fling Loki around Stark Tower like he was a rag doll in 2012.

Bruce Banner has given us small details throughout his MCU appearances that explain just how truly strong the Hulk is. Remember, the Hulk was made in an attempt gone bad at a super soldier serum recreation, and that the Green Guy is almost 100% gamma radiation. The transformation, or “incidents” as Banner calls them, happen when he is made exceptionally angry (until he learns to “always be angry”). Anger is an incredible power in the Hulk’s hands for both good and bad. All that needs to be mentioned are the stairs in Avengers: Endgame. Banner had a temper tantrum because he couldn’t take the elevator, which ended up not only blowing out a wall and further injuring civilians, but also made him to blame for Loki escaping.  

In The Avengers, there’s a brief, but important scene where Banner tells Fury that the Hulk can’t be killed. “I know, I’ve tried,” he says, which brings the tone to something darker that isn’t usually talked about in regards to Banner or the Hulk: Banner’s torturous existence as both monster and man, “I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out,” Banner revealed.

The Hulk is unkillable. He is the epitome of brute strength, which is one of the only reasons the Hulk isn’t higher on this list. While he’s beyond powerful, he sheer strength and capability is not a controlled power like the rest of the Avengers.

4. Vision

The Infinity Stones are shown in the MCU as the strongest forces in the Universe. Considering Vision’s life is granted by the Mind Stone, that means he’s 1/6th as powerful as the Stones combined.

While he partially started out as Tony Stark’s AI assistant, Vision later became sentient after battling it out with Ultron and being left in fragments across the internet. Vision claimed he was neither Ultron or Jarvis, but a new sentient being that vowed to protect humanity. While we usually see Vision remain relatively peaceful, he’s obviously very strong as well as intelligent. We don’t see how he kills Ultron, but we see a flash of light that the threat’s been dealt with.

Because Vision is a synthezoid, he possesses abilities and powers most of the other Avengers couldn’t even dream of. From being a master in combat, as shown in his fight sequences with Clint and the White Vision, to all of his superhuman abilities, there’s not much Vision can’t do. Just ask Ant-Man: During the airport scene in Captain America: Civil War, we get to see more of Vision’s fighting when he takes down an oversized version of the size-changing hero, treating him as if he were a paper-weight. And once WandaVision aired, we glimpsed a whole new side of Vision. The version of Vision was far more humane, which also meant he was quicker to react with emotions, and he was able to manipulate the density of his body with ease.

Above all else though, Vision is the Mind Stone, which gives him a set of powers comparable only to Wanda or Doctor Strange (who narrowly missed out on a place in this ranking).

3. Thor

Sorry, Thor! We love you, but you’ve only made it to number three. That may seem controversial, but things will make sense soon enough. Not that this is to suggest Thor is a pipsqueak. He’s a 1500 year deity, for crying out loud.

The best place to start is him being worthy enough to lift Mjolnir, even after his drunken antics got him kicked out of Asgard in his first movie. Flash forward seven years to Avengers: Infinity War’s release, and he’s like a brand new hero, one who is nearly as loyal as Captain America. In Infinity War, we see Thor in space trying to forge a new weapon after the destruction of his hammer. Since Thanos has already demolished Nidavellir, it is Thor who holds open the mechanism and takes the full power of a star through him. He’s a literal god, not many characters can compete with that.  

If there was any doubt though, seeing him face Thanos at the end of Infinity War and into Endgame only proves his strength. Thanos even sees and fears it when he calmly tells Thor, “Should’ve gone for the head” after the god landed a blow that did actual damage. This quote comes full circle in Endgame when they find Thanos in The Garden and Thor uses Stormbreaker to cut his head off with little to no hesitation.

Sure, there can be an argument made for Thanos being weaker without the stones, but he is still a Titan and Thor still chopped his head off.

2. Captain Marvel

Introduced in 2019’s Captain Marvel, Brie Larson’s heroine has been widely regarded as the most powerful Avenger currently in the MCU and for good reason. Captain Marvel’s energy powers come from the Tesseract itself and grants her both incredible speed and the ability to fire blasts of energy at her foes.

Alongside this acquired strength, Carol Danvers also has Kree blood running through her veins gifting, her extreme durability and strength that is on full display during her altercation with Thanos at the conclusion of Endgame. Where a headbutt sent many Avengers flying back, Captain Marvel was able to withstand this attack and continue dueling with the Mad Titan fairly evenly. Memorably, she even left Thanos quaking in his boots when she shot through his mothership like a comet and brought it down single-handed.

Don’t believe me that Carol is stronger than Thor? Then take it up with the highest authority there is on the subject. Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige specifically, without any doubt, labelled Captain Marvel as “the most powerful character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe” back in 2019. At the time of her introduction this was unequivocally true. However, Carol has since been outranked by a certain competitor on a power-level, even if her emotional strength and overall capabilities remain top tier.

1. Scarlet Witch

Wanda Maximoff is without a doubt the most powerful Avenger in the MCU right now. From Infinity War onward, she has continued to display immeasurable power. Her first impressive feat came when she destroyed the Mind Stone from the head of Vision while holding back Thanos with her energy. Destroying an Infinity Stone is a task most characters wouldn’t even dream of, and yet she was able to do so while holding off the universe’s greatest threat.

The next time we see Scarlet Witch unleash her power is in the battle against Thanos at the end of Endgame. In this fight, she is able to duel with him to the point of forcing him to send down an airstrike allowing him to get out of danger.

However, the best argument for Scarlet Witch being the most powerful Avenger comes from the strength she showcased during WandaVision. At the conclusion of this series, she is able to fully embrace her persona as the Scarlet Witch using her chaos magic to take out Agatha Harkness while still maintaining her spell over Westview so that her children and Vision may remain alive.

This feat was only topped when we saw Wanda fully embrace the Darkhold during Doctor Strange in the Mutliverse of Madness. When and if we see Wanda again in the MCU its likely her power will have either grown or maintained from this point so she rightfully takes the number one spot on this list.