The most powerful women in the Marvel Universe?

[JudicatorPrime]

Excluding abstract beings like Death and Infinity, in terms of powers, knowledge, combat skills, etc., who are the most powerful women in the Marvel Universe? Secondly, are they the best of any gender, or is there a male equivalent who is more powerful/stronger/smarter/better fighter, etc., at that same ability?

For example, take fire. If I wanted to nominate the woman who was the best at fire manipulation, I'd go with Frankie Raye (Nova II), assuming that she is, indeed, alive. There are a few other women with fire abilities, like Firebird, but I think Frankie Raye is the pinnacle...at least for women. When I think of all of the men with pyrokinetic abilities, however, the second part of my question would be a resounding yes there is a man that is more powerful at what she does.

Your turn. 3, 2, 1... aaaaaaaand..... GO!!!

[SickAlice]

I'm confused as to where you set the bar. Nova was endowed with power by being a Herald so would a character like The Goddess count? Does consistency rate or at their highest like Ereshkigal for example? Or deities like Hela? Sorry if I'm annoying here but when tier gets included with a cap on it I can get confused.

[gurkle]

Part of the problem is that even more than the men, the women fluctuate wildly in terms of power levels. Characters like the Invisible Woman and the Scarlet Witch can be the most or least powerful members of their teams depending on who is writing. Female characters in Marvel often started out with kind of weak, passive powers that were constantly increased or expanded over the years, until no one really knows what their powers do any more.

I might actually pick Moondragon, who in some contexts is portrayed as clearly the most powerful telepath in the Marvel Universe - able to take over the minds of an entire planet and restore Daredevil's sight by zapping his brain, she can do things that would be impossible even for the most powerful male telepath, Charles Xavier.

[dragonmp93]

Well, i would say that powerwise, it would be either Jean Grey or the Scarlet Witch.

[jphamlore]

Clea, although one might argue she is closer to being a demigod(dess).

[cheesebiggins]

The Black Swans seem like they're pretty darn powerful.

I'd probably either Black Widow, or Elektra are best at hand to hand combat.

[KurtW95]

Jean Grey.

[gurkle]

Well, i would say that powerwise, it would be either Jean Grey or the Scarlet Witch.

The Scarlet Witch has never been one of the top-tier powered characters in the Marvel Universe except in House of M, so even though that event has obviously cast a long shadow over her character, I would say Jean is the more powerful; she's the one who is consistently (since the Phoenix Saga) portrayed as having potential cosmic-level power. Though for some reason she always seems to lose when the two of them face off in various alternate continuities.

[mace11]

There is captain universe.

[Star_Jammer]

The Scarlet Witch has never been one of the top-tier powered characters in the Marvel Universe except in House of M, so even though that event has obviously cast a long shadow over her character, I would say Jean is the more powerful; she's the one who is consistently (since the Phoenix Saga) portrayed as having potential cosmic-level power. Though for some reason she always seems to lose when the two of them face off in various alternate continuities.

Or, y'know...die.

[Strangefan]

Spectrum, and I say that for flexibility of power types available to her, and that she seems to have more fine control. Scarlet Witch fluctuates so much on who is writing her, and how much crazy the writer feels is necessary in the story. Jean Grey or Phoenix? As telepaths, both Jean Grey and Moondragon are enormously powerful, but I see that as more being able to manipulate someone else who has great power into doing what they want. So, using that basis, I think Spectrum is the most powerful and reliable.

[SickAlice]

I was thinking about Wanda and Jean before as well, thank you's for bringing them up. It made me think about showing vs. base. Now those two characters, say what you like for comparison (age old debate really), have big showings. Illyana is another with big feats when she shows. But someone mentioned the Black Swan. She has showing but it is it as big as the former three here? We know from the books she's the handmaiden of the Great Destroyer. That she's walked through one universe ending after another. But her on panel showings, are they as high as others? In Battle debates people tend to go for the " scanned feat ". Also dice logic: 5 beats 4.5. And "thus ": Hulk beat character_X, character_X beat character_Y thus Hulk beats character_Y. But is it as simple as that and back to base? By writ many characters are superior of power levels. Galacta for example, yet has little to show for it. Sorry if I'm sling into the median strip but I've always had a bigger curiosity myself on what the primary determine of stronger/more powerful and so on actually goes by when it comes to comic characters as the various points and counterpoints made by fans seems to flip flop between these factors.

[jphamlore]

There is captain universe.

Agreed, but welcome to the new Marvel boss female, sort of, character:

Singularity sounds like a female version of the Beyonder:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2...gers/22970157/

Wilson came up with Singularity. Instead of being a flesh-and-blood human, she's actually a cosmological event — according to Wilson, she is a pocket universe that gained self-consciousness during the radical upheaval of Secret Wars ...

With her Wilson says they want to "strip it all the way down to the basics: What does it mean to be a woman and what would that look like to somebody who was learning about the human race as an outsider and is learning about what it means to have relationships with other people."

Wilson likens Singularity to the enigmatic Q from Star Trek: The Next Generation: "Her entire existence is so unlike that of ours that she really has to learn about what we think of as being an individual and having an identity from the ground up, with no point of access except those she meets..."

Singularity can act as "a whole world within herself and she can also move between different worlds and dimensions like taking a walk," the writer says, "so she has access to all corners of the Marvel U in a way that other characters do not."

If these really are Singularity's powers, I suspect I'm going to be quite frustrated with numerous situations in Secret Wars where Singularity's powers could have come in handy.

[Captain Haddock]

If Lady Thor has the same powers/strength of The Asgardian Formerly Known As Thor then she's pretty dang powerful, given that in theory his feats show the power level she can operate on. Though how she actually stacks up is still not entirely clear yet, and the high end cosmics would still be above her in any case.

[SKJoker]

The Black Swans seem like they're pretty darn powerful.

I'd probably either Black Widow, or Elektra are best at hand to hand combat.

Gamora is above both of them in H2H.