Marvel has an impressive lineup of female superheroes on its roster and it’s quite difficult to determine who is considered “the best”.
For a while there, the only female superhero representative in the Avengers was Black Widow. However, the MCU has since expanded to include many Marvel comic book heroes like Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel and She-Hulk.
With many more women taking the spotlight in Marvel, both on-screen and in their own comic book runs, it brings up the question of which female Marvel hero is the strongest.
The Best Marvel Female Superheroes, Ranked
While Thor may like to proclaim himself the “strongest Avenger” many of the women in Marvel could definitely take a shot at that title.
Ahead is a list of some of the most popular female superheroes in Marvel, ranked on the strength of their powers.
15.) Elektra
Elektra is a highly trained assassin who was first introduced in Daredevil comics. She wields twin sai as her trademark weapon.
Anyone who has seen either Marvel’s Daredevil series (where she was played by Èlodie Young) or 2005’s Elektra (where she was played by Jennifer Garner), would know that Elektra is an impressive fighter. However, her lack of superpowers ranks her lowest on this list.
14.) Black Widow
Black Widow is easily one of the most popular Marvel female superheroes. A ruthless and exceptionally skilled spy, Natasha Romanoff was trained at the infamous Red Room before becoming a valued agent at SHIELD.
In some Marvel comics, Black Widow’s fighting skills are bolstered by the super soldier serum. In the MCU, where she is played by Scarlett Johansson, she is just depicted as human – but still a formidable one at that.
13.) Gamora
Gamora originally hails from Zen-Whoberi, but she ends up becoming Thanos’ adopted daughter after he wipes out half her planet. Under the mentorship of one of Marvel’s biggest villains, Gamora has become a deadly warrior with a fierce personality to match.
In the MCU Gamora is portrayed by Zoe Saldana and she’s proven herself to be one of the strongest fighters on the Guardians team.
12.) Jessica Jones
Jessica Jones is New York’s superhuman private investigator, wielding both detective skills and super strength and durability to get the job done. She also has a fiery temper which is an asset – in some cases.
Most are likely familiar with Krysten Ritter’s portrayal of Jessica in The Defenders saga, but in Marvel comics, she’s also a reliable friend to many of the female Avengers and even has the ability to fly (when she wants to).
11.) Kitty Pryde
Kitty Pryde has gone by many superhero aliases and worked with many different superhero teams in Marvel comics. Her powers allow her to phase through solid objects and become intangible, which is useful for dodging objects in fights.
Kitty gained notable status as the youngest member of the X-Men. She’s yet to be seen in action in the MCU but has been portrayed by Elliot Page in Fox’s X-Men movies.
10.) Sue Storm
The casting of Sue Storm is one of the hottest tickets in Hollywood right now as the Fantastic Four prepares to enter the MCU. So who is this female hero that everyone is so excited about?
Sue Storm’s most notable power is invisibility, which she can use to render herself and others completely unseen. She also has control over light wavelengths, which gives her the ability to project invisible force fields. All in all, it’s a pretty effective set of superpowers.
9.) Ms Marvel
Plenty of debate has been had over Ms. Marvel’s powers and how they’ve been depicted in the MCU.
In Marvel comics, Kamala Khan is known for her shapeshifting and elongation abilities. For her adaptation into the MCU, however, her powers shifted to be cosmic-based, giving her the ability to form solid objects out of light, as was seen in Ms. Marvel on Disney+.
No matter which of those powers you prefer, Ms. Marvel makes for one of the best Marvel heroes.
8.) Spider-Gwen
Spider-Gwen’s powers probably seem pretty familiar as they match those of Spider-Man himself.
Like Peter Parker, Miles Morales, and the other Spider-people, Gwen Stacy was bitten by a radioactive spider and gifted arachnid powers. She possesses superhuman strength and endurance, web-slinging abilities, and the famous spider-sense.
As seen in recent examples like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Spider-Gwen has proven herself to be one of the standout spider-heroes in the multiverse.
7.) Rogue
Rogue’s mutant abilities allow her to absorb the energy of others through physical touch, giving her the memories, traits, and powers of the person she is in contact with.
This actually makes her potentially one of the strongest Marvel superheroes, depending on whose powers she is able to absorb at the time.
However, this power has the potential to turn lethal, with some of her victims rendered comatose due to her touch. This was a big part of Rogue’s characterization in X-Men (2000) where she was played by Anna Paquin.
6.) Storm
Storm is one of the most powerful mutants in the X-Men roster and would be familiar to many thanks to Halle Berry’s long-term role as the character.
As her name suggests, Storm’s abilities allow her to control the weather and manipulate the natural elements. She can generate anything from lightning storms to tornadoes and blizzards.
Storm is yet to appear in the MCU, but with mutants on the way, she’ll be a force to be reckoned with when she arrives.
5.) She-Hulk
Tatiana Maslany brought Marvel’s female mean, green fighting machine to the screen in Disney+’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law in 2022.
Everyone knows that the Hulk is one of the strongest heroes on the Avengers roster, and She-Hulk is essentially a female version of the same character. She’s proved she has an equal amount of superhuman strength as her cousin, Bruce Banner, despite having less of his monstrous alter-ego.
She-Hulk also gets points for her intelligence – something she retains in her Hulk form – which gets her out of sticky situations when working her day job as a lawyer.
4.) Jane Foster (The Mighty Thor)
Jane Foster was already an incredibly gifted physicist before she became The Mighty Thor.
Similar to She-Hulk, The Mighty Thor possesses all the powers of Thor, including strength, flight, and the ability to wield Mjolnir, which she can use to summon lightning.
Natalie Portman portrayed Jane Foster in the first two Thor movies before picking up the hammer as Mighty Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder.
If Thor is in fact the “strongest Avenger” as he claims, this would, by default, make Jane Foster a top contender as well.
3.) Captain Marvel
After obliterating a battalion of Kree warships and taking a headbutt to the face from Thanos, all without breaking a sweat, there’s no doubt that Captain Marvel deserves a place at the top of this list.
As was shown in her MCU origin story, led by Brie Larson, Carol Danvers received her powers from the Tesseract (aka the Space Stone) which gives her infinite cosmic powers of energy absorption and manipulation, along with abilities like flight and superhuman strength and endurance.
This has made Captain Marvel an all-mighty weapon for the Avengers but her powers may be tested in her next MCU adventure.
2.) Jean Grey (Phoenix)
Jean Grey is widely considered to be one of, if not the, strongest mutants amongst the X-Men.
She wields immense powers of telepathy and telekinesis and is connected to a cosmic entity known as the Phoenix Force, which is the nexus of all psionic energy. Sometimes, the Phoenix Force takes over Jean and turns her into the Dark Phoenix.
This has been seen in action in X-Men: The Last Stand, where Jean was played by Famke Janssen, and in Dark Phoenix, where Sophie Turner played a younger version of the character.
Classified as an Omega-level mutant, it’s not a surprise that Jean Gray is one of the best Marvel heroes.
1.) Scarlet Witch
As was seen in WandaVision, Wanda Maximoff has a pretty unsanctioned amount of power which, as seen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, can be put to devastating use.
Scarlet Witch’s ability to use magic to manipulate reality and the minds of others is pretty much unmatched in the MCU. This was stepped up a level in WandaVision when Wanda learned she had destructive chaos magic and she fully embraced the moniker of the Scarlet Witch.
In Marvel comics, the Scarlet Witch is considered to be a nexus being, aka someone who has immense power within the Multiverse and can impact its timeline. This has been hinted at in the MCU for the character as well, making Scarlet Witch truly the strongest Marvel female superhero to date.
With more female-focused superhero projects on Marvel’s slate than ever before, the heroes on this list could very easily shift in the years to come. An all-female Marvel A-Force concept was even gaining steam for a little while there.
Although, for now, fans will have to make do with the trio of women leading The Marvels on November 10.
