A while back, Kevin Feige confirmed that Scarlet Witch is actually the strongest Avenger. He said that if Thanos hadn’t rained fire (basically if he did not cheat), Wanda would’ve taken him out then & there. But the fans have made the argument that Captain Marvel is crazy strong too. Upon her entry, she took down The Sanctuary II like it was nothing. She didn’t even flinch when Thanos hit her with a massive headbutt. And that’s what makes her stronger than Scarlet Witch. Well, I am not saying that, but it’s the argument that people have been putting up. We’re gonna have to ask you to rewatch these moments that made you feel that Captain Marvel is the Strongest Avenger.
Yes, it is natural that you’d think of Captain Marvel as the strongest because literally no one would stand still when a massive strong purple head would bash you in the face. Carol did, but we’re going to prove that it wouldn’t have happened in a different situation. Shout out to The Canadian Lad who pointed out this amazing detail. You may have noticed that when Smart Hulk, Thanos & Iron Man wore the Infinity Gauntlet, it started to glow and the power of the stones continued to run through the arms and the bodies of all three individuals.
The gauntlet stops to glow as soon as the connection between the 6 Infinity Stones, the Gauntlet & the wearer is broken. Look at how the Gauntlet is not glowing and the power of the Infinity Stones is not running through Thanos’ body here. That’s because Tony’s suit has interrupted the connection between Thanos, the Infinity Stones & the gauntlet. Tony’s suit is actively pulling the stones out of Thanos’ gauntlet here so naturally it stopped to glow. But now look at the Gauntlet when Captain Marvel touches Thanos’ gauntlet.
As we can see, the Gauntlet isn’t glowing here either. Now why is this happening? Captain Marvel is not touching the Infinity Stones and neither is she trying to pull them out of the Gauntlet. So how is the connection between the Gauntlet and Thanos broken? We did a theory upon this and we stated that because Captain Marvel’s powers are from an Infinity Stone, she was able to get into the circuit of the six Infinity Stones and break it. But that isn’t the case here.
One of Captain Marvel’s trademark abilities is that she can absorb massive amounts of energy and reflect it back at her opponents. It’s just like how Black Panther’s suit absorbs kinetic energy and he is able to use it against his opponents. Captain Marvel just does it on a much higher level. Superman’s heat vision would have no effect upon Carol as she’s going to absorb it and become stronger than she was. Thor’s lightning strikes are also going to make Captain Marvel stronger. And this is what happened when Captain Marvel came in contact with the Infinity Stones. She was constantly absorbing energy from the six Infinity Stones and that’s what made the gauntlet to stop glowing. Absorbing the energy made her stronger, and hence she was able to withstand Thanos’ headbutt.
Now come back to when she entered the battle. Thanos’ ship was firing directly at her constantly. Those energy blasts did nothing to Carol as she absorbed them, and thus got the power up to take the ship down within seconds. It also happened in the third act of the Captain Marvel movie. She used one of the Kree Warheads to destroy the others, and then flew through the explosions, absorbing the energy from them. Thus her power up allowed her to take down the Kree ships with ease.
This proves that Carol Danvers is strong, but not as we thought she is. She would thrive against opponents who’d fire energy blasts at her. But strong opponents like Captain America, Wolverine, Hulk, and others can give her a tough fight since they have no source of shooting energy blasts. If Thor doesn’t shoot lightning blasts at Captain Marvel, then he also has a major chance at taking her down. Someone with the strength of Superman could do the same and the durability to absorb Captain Marvel’s photon blasts could do the same.
This is why Captain Marvel is not the strongest Avenger, but has the potential to become the strongest by using her special ability. Wanda on the other hand doesn’t have super strength, but her massive energy comes from within, and she could manipulate reality and make people vulnerable by messing up their heads. So, she can take Captain Marvel down in an instant. Thus, Scarlet Witch really is the unstoppable Avenger as she stopped Thanos with 5 Infinity Stones and destroyed the Mind Stone at the same time!
Carol’s power absorption ability is an amazing asset and will guarantee a win against most opponents. But she could become vulnerable against someone like Rogue, who could absorb her abilities by touching her. That’s not the only interesting aspect. Her most advantageous ability could be turned into a disadvantage. Since she absorbs energy like a battery, what will happen when you overheat a battery?
Those who saw The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will remember how Spidey took down Electro. He made Electro absorb so much of energy that he exploded from within. This logic could apply to Captain Marvel as well. But the only thing is, that we don’t know how much energy she could absorb at a given time and how much would be required to overheat her. Possibly, the Strombreaker & the Infinity Gauntlet are the only two sources of unlimited energy that could defeat her this way. We’ll have to wait and find out if this logic could work in the MCU.
