How Marvel Cinematic Universe developed, characters like Iron Man, once considered by audiences to be one of the most powerful heroes in the world, were far behind. Newcomers, heroes and villains alike, are constantly pushing the MCU’s power rating ceiling higher and higher.

The strongest characters tend to have cosmic-scale abilities. Thanos’ universe-spanning plot was teased for years before fans finally saw it unfold on the big screen. But since then, the existence of the multiverse has been revealed, knocking even Marvel’s big Phase 3 malice down one or more positions.

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10 Hela

Hela walks through an open field in Thor Ragnarok
Image via Marvel Studios

Torah the evil older sister Hela is a good example of a character that makes previously dominant heroes look like rookies. In her very first moments on screen, she shattered Mjolnir without batting an eyelid, startling viewers with the fact that Thor: Ragnarok will raise the MCU’s power rating to levels never seen before. She is also the reason Thor unlocked his lightning powers.

The only way Thor could stop Hela from taking over Asgard and rampaging through the Nine Realms was by summoning the fire demon Surtur and playing Ragnarok at the end of days. Had she not been stopped here, Hela would likely have become a major player in the MCU’s cosmic landscape.

9 Ikaris

Richard Madden as Ikaris, using his golden yellow energy blasts in The Eternals.
Image via Marvel Studios

Often compared to Superman as the benchmark for the most powerful comic book characters, Ikaris was stronger than his fellow Eternals. He fought three of them at once and still held on. His powers included super strength, speed, agility, stamina, reflexes, durability and healing, as well as flight and laser vision.

In the end, he was not defeated in battle, but rather found himself unable to fight Sersi, his ex-wife. Having failed in his mission and betrayed his friends, he flew into the Sun and died, so fans will never know how he would have dealt with other powerful beings in the MCU.

8 Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel stands in the desert
Image courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.

While fans are divided when it comes to their opinions on Captain Marvel, there is no doubt that she is one of the most powerful characters in the MCU and perhaps even the strongest hero to date. The impact of the Tesseract gave her the ability to create and manipulate cosmic energy without visible restrictions, and the blood transfusion from the Kree warrior gave her additional superhuman abilities that allowed her to stand against Thanos himself.

Captain Marvel is so powerful that if she wasn’t permanently off-planet, many of Earth’s enemies would have a much harder time making any headway. upcoming Miracleswill likely give viewers a deeper explanation of Captain Marvel’s powers and how they intertwine with other Marvels.

7 Surtur

The fiery demon Surtur talks to the shackled Thor in Thor: Ragnarok.

Surtur is often left out of MCU Power Rating discussions, which is understandable since he was a relatively minor character in Thor: Ragnarok and was cleverly dispatched by Thor at the beginning of the film. However, this Surtur was in a severely weakened state. The fire demon was defeated by Odin a thousand years ago, but claimed that he was destined to devastate Asgard in accordance with the prophecy of Ragnarok.

When we next see Surtur, he is reborn in full strength as part of Thor’s plan to defeat Hela. Ragnarok is realized and Asgard is sacrificed to keep Hela from wreaking havoc, meaning that Surtur did succeed in his goal, but also killed himself in the process. However, an entity capable of destroying one of the Nine Realms deserves a spot on the MCU’s cosmic leaderboards.

6 Kang the Conqueror

Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror stares into the distance in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantum Mania.
Image via Marvel Studios

Kang the Conqueror, villain Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantum Mania, was a member of the Kang Council, a group of all versions of the scientist Nathaniel Richards from every universe in the multiverse. These people have come together to help each other’s universes and rule the multiverse together. But when some of them tried to take over each other’s universes, the Multiverse War broke out. In the face of all this, the Council deemed Kang the Conqueror too dangerous and exiled him to the Quantum Realm.

Being the most dangerous member of the group that rules the multiverse is no small feat. Kang the Conqueror also wore powerful armor that gave him super strength, durability, speed, agility, stamina, and reflexes, in addition to powerful and deadly energy manipulation, telekinesis, and force fields. He used these abilities to build an empire in exile.

5 ego living planet

Kurt Russell as Ego: The Living Planet
Image via Marvel Studios

Star-Lord’s father, Ego, was a Celestial, the oldest race of beings in the universe. The Celestials existed before the Big Bang, but Ego appears to be unique among them. His story differs from the information presented about the celestials in Eternal. He claims to have been “born” by a large brain, drifting and alone, eventually learning how to manipulate matter and form a planet around him rather than taking on a humanoid form like the other Celestials. His vulnerable brain at the core of his planetary body will prove to be his downfall.

It is unclear if he is aware of the existence of other Celestials. And while Ego had near-limitless celestial powers to manipulate matter and energy, including a form of mind control, he is one of the many Marvel villains more powerful in the comics than in the movies. While the other celestials seem preoccupied with spreading their species and other life, Ego’s plan was to seed his own consciousness within other planets and expand until he himself encompassed all life in the universe.

4 Thanos

Thanos brandishing the Infinity Gauntlet in Avengers: Infinity War.
Image via Marvel Studios

Thanos at full strength, armed with the completed Infinity Gauntlet, has long been considered the most powerful character in films. Fans have been making this claim since before he appeared outside of one of the MCU’s best credits scenes. He believed that the best way to save beings in the universe from exhausting all its resources and death is to destroy fifty percent of all life.

Even before he collected all six Infinity Stones, the Mad Titan was named the most powerful being in the universe in canon. Without the Stones, Thanos was still an extremely powerful being, both physically and thanks to the vast store of resources he had amassed during his conquest.

3 The one who stays

Jonathan Majors as The One Who Stays in Loki
Image via Marvel Studios

He Who Remains is another version of scientist Nathaniel Richards, the one who ended the War of the Multiverse. He created the Office of Time Deviation Loki to prevent the existence of further versions of itself. He is almost immortal and omniscient, up to a certain point.

He Who Remains built himself a castle at the end of time, from where he literally scripted everything that happened in the Sacred Timeline, which was a group of similar realities that He isolated after the Multiverse War because none of them resulted in birth any evil. variants of yourself as Kang the Conqueror. After living millions of lives, he brought Loki and a variant of Loki named Sylvia to his stronghold and gave them the option to take his place or kill him, allowing the evil Kangas to rule the multiverse again. Managing the entire multiverse puts “He Who Remains” very close to the top of the MCU’s power rankings.

2 Eternity

Gorr the Butcher God (Christian Bale) kneels before Eternity in Thor: Love and Thunder.
Image via Marvel Studios

As the MCU progresses, viewers encounter creatures that live on the absolute fringes of existence. Eternity is the first of these, introduced at the end Thor: Love and Thunder. Eternity has existed since the beginning of time and embodies the temporal aspect of the universe itself.

Thus, the forces of Eternity are practically limitless. Omniscient, omnipresent, and almost omnipotent, Eternity can grant wishes, resurrect the dead, and bestow cosmic powers. Eternity can only be the first of many truly cosmic beings to come. Others that have been teased include Infinity, Death, Entropy, The Observer, and The Living Tribunal.

1 Arishem Referee

Arishem of Heaven speaks to the Eternals in the Eternals
Image via Marvel Studios

Arishem the Judge is a celestial, the oldest race in the universe. They were extremely powerful and existed long before the dawn of creation. They caused the Big Bang, created the stars and gave rise to life throughout the cosmos. Arishem is the first Celestial who created the first sun, Deviants and Eternals. He oversees the development of life and especially other celestials.

He is outside of time, and his power is incomprehensible to the human mind. His understanding of the fundamental mechanics of the universe gives him virtually unlimited knowledge and power.