Wanda Maximoff “The Scarlett Witch”, Could Beat Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Captain America For The Title Of, “The Strongest Avenger”!

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has brought comic fans, movie fans, action fans, and people looking for entertainment over a decade of incredible action, incredible movies, and incredible stars. We will forever remember the moments that awed us, brought our hands together in applause, caused us to break out laughing, and even those that brought a few tears in a crowded room. From Iron Man to the Endgame, millions and millions of fans followed the movies with anxious anticipation for the next one starting to grow before the end credit scenes finished playing. Marvel, as a matter of fact, took the end scenes and made them into something that holds people in their seats, incapable of moving before they know what that scene is about, and then to the end of the credits for that final scene. The MCU changed the world of movies and left an indelible mark on culture.

Endgame was just over two years ago and one of the longest standing conversations in the world of Marvel fans, and every time I have been present when someone wanted to rewatch a movie, centers around the question, "Who is the strongest Avenger?" The question, in the real world, doesn't matter much because there are too many possible answers. The brute force of the Hulk comes to mind. The power of Thor is definitely in the discussion. Is it possible one of the super-soldiers, Captain America, was the strongest Avenger. Some might say that Captain Marvel, with her many abilities, is the strongest Avenger. It really is one of the hardest to win arguments that Hollywood has caused, at least in my lifetime.

At the center of the stories that built our heroes to the epic ending of Endgame, one thing has been ever-present, Thanos. Iron Man was born out of a necessity to survive, as Tony was a prisoner in the middle-east. Thor came looking for the roguish Asgardian Prince Loki, his adopted brother. Captain America had seen the infinity stone power fighting the Red Skull before being frozen after crashing a plane into the ice. Wanda and Quicksilver were literal products of the stones, as is Vision. The Guardians, lead by half-human Peter Quill, AKA Starlord, stumbled across the stones fighting against Ronan the Accuser, half of them with a reason to kill Thanos.

When it came time to face Thanos, Thanos and his minions beat back not only the Hulk but Thor as well as Thanos came for the Tesseract. He beat Hulk back so badly that we wouldn't see that version of the giant, green, hero again in the series. Thanos killed Loki and blew Thor into the cold reaches of space, where he remained until being found by the Guardians.

Thor, the God of Thunder, was not at his best during his first fight with Thanos but he had just recently fought the Goddess of Death and lost an eye in the battle with his sister. His battle weariness no doubt left him depleted. But, was his destiny to be the strongest Avenger? He certainly achieved his objective at killing Thanos during the beginning of Endgame, but his entire team was holding Thanos at bay when Thor realized that Thanos was right, he should have gone for the head.

The effect the battle with Thanos had on our Norse God was immense. Thor became a recluse, a drunken recluse, who no longer was leading his people nor trying to rebuild. Thor began hiding with Korg, his pal from the games on Zicara during Thor Ragnarok, and wasting away his days feeling sorry for himself. If anyone had a right to, however, it would be Thor. Thor was not of our world, he'd lost his world, he has lost his mother, his father, and now his brother, after having to kill his sister. Thors' tragedies during the Avengers and Marvel movies just kept adding up.

Five years went by before he would have to face Thanos again, thanks to the ability to time travel. Thor, however, could not beat Thanos and before a pivotal and shocking assist, was nearly killed by the mad titan.

Remember the moment, because if you don't it's been too long since you've watched the movie. We'd all witnessed the hammer budge during a light-hearted scene involving our favorite heroes in Age of Ultron. Then, just as it appeared the Avenger we would lose in Endgame was going to be Thor, the music changes, the hammer floats and lands in the heroic hands of that kid from New York.

"Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of THOR!"

Anthony Hopkins-Odin

Built to be America's greatest soldier and a shining beacon of hope Steve Grant Rogers, AKA Captain America, is the first chronological avenger and an old-fashioned hero. In Avengers, even Steve asks Coulson, "aren't the stars and stripes a little old-fashioned?" Cap fights like a warrior and beats back everything in his path with no intention of ever stopping, until the fight is over, that is. Much like Thor, when fighting Thanos, with all his might, with all his morals, and with all his skills and Thor's hammer, Cap couldn't stop Thanos.

The two biggest pops in the movie Endgame come in this three minutes of footage and the video was aptly done to show the fans' reactions. As heroic as Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man were during the first round, round two brought people to the edge of their seats from the reality that Steve Rogers was worthy to wield the hammer all the way to the big moment when their sacrifices to get the stones again paid off.

So they all played a part in beating back Thanos, but who amongst them could stop the mad Titan from destroying the planet and half of all life in the Universe. We all know by now, that distinction fell to one person and one person alone.

Tony Stark, the billionaire, genius, ex-playboy, philanthropist turns out to be everything that Steve said he wasn't. From Avengers to Avengers Endgame, Tony turns from the guy that would cut the wire because there's always a way out, to the guy that would lay down on the wire and let his buddies cross. Did that make Iron Man the strongest Avenger? It certainly put him in contention, but for different reasons than his fellow heroes.

Tony was out. He wanted nothing to do with trying to fix things. He had Pepper, his daughter, and was starting to get past the trauma of having fought Thanos on Titan and nearly dying. He agreed to help his friends, not because he had to, but because he couldn't rest with the knowledge of what happened, knowing they failed. So, Tony's sacrifice may be the biggest example of strength shown in the entire movie. What he was willing to surrender, paying the ultimate price, completed the arc of what was an unlikely hero, to begin with.

Then, we have to look at the fact that the stones, all of them, were on the glove. Sure it killed him, but the fact that a mortal, earth-born mortal at that, held the stones and could do the snap, makes Tony Stark one of the strongest beings in the MCU. Star Lord is half-god, half-human, and could barely hold one stone. Sure, there's the suit that protects Iron Man. But, that much power through Tony barely affected him until the snap. Even the Hulk was tortured by the effects of the stones in his short time wearing the gauntlet.

Tony may be the strongest Avenger, maybe not. There's always an argument that it might be the next guy, or gal, in The Avengers. So, if not one of the Avenger OGs, then who would be the strongest Avenger. For that, you would have to consider strongly, the character of Wanda Maximoff.

Wanda Maximoff, played by the beautiful and talented Elizabeth Olson, first came to the Avengers in an end scene with her on-screen brother Pietro or Quicksilver. Appearing in her first full-length Avengers role alongside Quicksilver, the character that would become the Scarlett Witch and her twin quickly became fan favorites. By the end of Age of Ultron, we see Wanda becoming an Avenger, using her powers that were sought for a personal mission of revenge, to help the Avengers beat back Ultron and his robot army.

Wanda finds herself engaging with Vision from there on out, the two newest Avengers and outsiders forming a bond. That love story carries through to the beginning of Infinity War when Thanos is on his way to collect the mind stone, part of Vision and the source of Wanda's powers. The failed attempts to get the stone out of Vision before the end of Infinity War leaves Wanda with yet another loss in her young life and we see how insane things get for her during the Disney Plus series WandaVision.

Wanda shows her immense powers during the conflict with Thanos, stepping right up to the mad titan and challenging him as much if not more than any single character has to date. Her powers are on full display in the final fight, giving us an opportunity to further embrace how "cool" the Scarlett Witch character can be. Sure, she's being driven from a dark place, but as we'll come to learn, even in darkness, Wanda is still the girl that signed up to be an Avenger.

So, what Avenger is the strongest Avenger? Well, looking back at this fight sequence, it's quite possibly Wanda Maximoff. She nearly kills Thanos, without having to lay a finger on him, as she is pulling off his armor and trying to rip the mad titan apart.

Thanos screamed like a scared warrior calling in a hail Mary. "Rain Fire!" Even when being asked about their troops, he could only reply, "Just do it." Nobody, not Thor, Not Captain America, Not The Hulk, got this close to taking out the mad titan alone. Thor injured him, putting an ax in his chest, one on one, Captain America put a beating on him, Hulk wore out Thanos's boots with his a@*. Even newcomer, Captain Marvel, couldn't do the damage Wanda was doing and Captain Marvel had just torn thru a city-sized space ship that was firing on the earth's mightiest heroes.

This is why my top five list of Strongest Avengers goes:

1: Wanda Maximoff

2: Iron Man

3: Captain America

4: Thor

5: Hulk

There you have it, my opinion on who really was the strongest Avenger. I'm sorry if you don't agree because as I said, this debate could go on and on. If you want to offer an alternate idea and reason feel free to reach out to me on social media.

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