Whenever it comes to conventional hero attributes, super-strength is generally towards the top of the list – and considering that the MCU comprises some of the most well-known superheroes in the world, it’s a safe guess that some of them are super-strong. The MCU’s characters have put on some astounding demonstrations of strength throughout roughly two dozen films spanning three stages, regardless of whether they’re throwing or hitting something that is many times their entire mass.
As all of the heroes in the MCU are muscular by human standards, there’s a noticeable contrast between Hawkeye’s muscular arms and the Hulk’s gamma-infused deltoid muscles. In other words, everyone in the MCU is quite challenging, but only a chosen handful are actually supernaturally tough. There’s a heated argument over who is genuinely the toughest – and where each MCU hero falls on the power scale – but there’s no scarcity of exceptional cases on which to make such judgments.
#1 Captain Marvel Personally Stops Thanos From Snapping Again
Carol Danvers arrives late to the climactic battle with Thanos, but she makes a significant impression. With Thanos in control of the Infinity Stones once more, he prepares to snap and wipe out the whole cosmos – but Danvers sweeps in at the last moment to physically block him. She endures a headbutt from the Mad Titan without flinching seconds later, adding a further piece to her record as the MCU’s fiercest hero.
#2 Spider-Man Catches A Jetway
When Captain America and Spider-Man first encounter different sides of a heroic battle, Cap ingeniously tests the young hero’s toughness – which he apparently finds tremendous because he then drops a jetway on top of Spider-man. The actual weight of Spider-Man’s aerobridge is unknown. However, it is estimated to be approximately 10 tons.
#3 The Hulkbuster Punches Out The Hulk
The armored Avenger can rival the rampaging behemoth strike for punch as the Hulkbuster and Hulk combat in South Africa. Stark can utilize the armor to continually beat the Hulk senseless once the Hulk begins to settle down – a win that comes with several qualifiers but is nevertheless spectacular.
#4 Thanos Knocked Out The Hulk
The Hulk constantly claims to be the “strongest one there is,” but that status loses value when he meets the Mad Titan. Thanos astounds both the Avengers and the viewer as he dispatches the Incredible Hulk in the first scene of Infinity War, even lifting the green monster over his head and tossing him to the floor.
#5 Captain America Stops His Best Friend From Helicoptering Away
Captain America‘s grip on an ascending chopper to prevent his brainwashed best buddy from fleeing is unforgettable, not only for Steve Rogers’ excessive show of biceps. Holding down a moving aircraft is a feat that only a supersoldier could do, and the physics involved are genuinely incredible.
#6 Spider-Man Holds The Staten Island Ferry Together
Although Spidey needs Iron Man‘s swift involvement to rescue the day properly, the fact that he manages to hold the boat together for a period is astounding. The Staten Island Ferry’s newest version is reported to weigh over 3,000 tons, meaning Parker is hauling at least 1,500 tons with each arm. Once all tourists and their cars are taken into account, the overall weight is likely to be quite a little higher.
#7 Captain America Holds Back The Infinity Gauntlet
The only act of resistance that elicits any emotion from Thanos is Captain America’s achievement of temporarily holding him back with his bare hands. Thanos is surprised that Steve Rogers can struggle with the Infinity Gauntlet, but it doesn’t prevent him from choking Rogers with a hard immediately afterward.
#8 Hulk Hip-Tosses The Fenris Wolf
During their battle in and around the Bifrost, the Hulk successfully hits the undead beast. He pulled the Fenris Wolf by its tail, turned it over by its nose, and finally knocked it out with a head strike. As if that weren’t plenty, Hulk smashes holes in the gigantic Surtur’s skull a few minutes later, rendering him as devastating as Ragnarok itself.
#9 Hulk Holds The Entire Avengers HQ On His Back
The Hulk frequently touts himself as the “strongest one there is,” but his true strength isn’t revealed until the events of Avengers: Endgame. The whole multilayer structure and its base fall on top of numerous Avengers after past-Thanos strikes the Avengers HQ, but Professor Hulk succeeds to shield them by lifting the total weight of the wrecked complex on his shoulders.
#10 Classic Loki Creates The False Asgard Illusion To Distract Alioth
This isn’t about physical prowess but rather the metaphysical art of illusion casting. The classic Loki, played by Richard E. Grant, spent most of his existence in seclusion, honing his abilities until he could create the entire Asgard realm with his own might.
#11 Ant-Man Stops A Leviathan With A Single Blow
Scott Lang is deserving of special recognition. In Avengers: Endgame, he does the same feat in Giant-Man mode, sending one of the living warships hurtling towards the planet with a powerful left hook and stopping a Chitauri Leviathan charge with a single punch. Each Leviathan weighs hundreds of tons, with one beast in particular traveling at a rapid rate and requiring a great deal of momentum to stop with a single blow.
#12 Thor Holds Open The Iris On Nidavellir
Thor undertakes this dangerous duty in the hopes of building a Thanos-slaying gadget, and he not only manages to keep the mechanism active for long enough, but he does it while absorbing the entire force of the supernova. As the God of Thunder, Thor may anticipate a certain degree of deistic feats at any given moment, but what he performs on Nidavellir is legendary – and that’s saying something considering when we’re thinking about a truly legendary man.
#13 Black Panther Wrestles Down A Rhinoceros
The biggest rhinoceroses may weigh up to 5,000 pounds, but the belligerent, armored rhinos of Wakanda are likely to be far heavier. T’Challa, on the other hand, can seize one by the neck and drag it to the dirt with remarkable effort. This incredible power is just one more justification for why the Black Panther is still Wakanda’s rightful ruler.
