Marvel Comics has created some of the most formidable heroes of all time. Power level debates have always been a big part of the comic industry, with readers always taking about who is stronger than who or who could win in a fight or whose power has the highest level. The House of Ideas has often tried to help fans out with this, publishing numerous power graphs over the years, as well as coming up with classifications for various levels of power. However, just because Marvel made it doesn’t mean that every creator has seen it, giving characters feats that break the scale, often starting something of a flamewar among fans debating whether they should be able to do that.
The MCU and various video games haven’t helped either. Often times, new fans walk into a comic store thinking that the MCU or game power levels are canon. All of this has muddied the water to such an extent that there are some heroes out there that fans believe have a higher strength level than they do. These five Marvel heroes aren’t as strong as you think they are, something which has led to numerous debates over the years.
Wolverine has survived some brutal battles, becoming the most dangerous member of whatever team he’s decided to hang out with that day. Wolverine is known for punching way above his weight class, tangling with foes like the Hulk on a regular basis. He’s often found himself in battle against super-strong enemies; Sabretooth, Cyber, Omega Red, Roughhouse, and more all have super-strength as a power. It seems like he’s always going up against someone with a greater level of something than him, and yet he always wins.
It would be easy to think that Logan had super-strength as well. After all, he was experimented on by Weapon X and his mutants powers do give him super-agility, so they may boost his strength as well. His healing factor allows him to grow muscle much more quickly than a regular human. However, as far as we know, Logan has only ever had peak human strength. He’s not super strong in the slightest, but a lot of creators forget that and have the character pull of fsome feats that he definitely shouldn’t be able to.
Ben Grimm is the most beloved member of the Fantastic Four. Unlike the other members of the group, his cosmic radiation powers transformed him into a monster, gaining vast super-strength and invulnerability at the cost of humanity. As the Thing, Ben was the team’s heaviest hitter, using fighting skills developed on Yancy Street to take down the biggest threats out there. The Thing has battled some of the strongest heroes and villains in the Marvel Universe, doing a lot of damage and helping to save the day. It would be easy to think that he was at the same level as Hulk or Thor or Silver Surfer, all of whom he has fought, but this isn’t the case at all.
Back in the day, Ben was what we referred to as a Class 50 or a six out of seven on the various power scales. This usually meant that he was able to lift 50 to a 100 tons, but usually closer to 50. The Hulk, Thor, and Surfer were all Class 100s or seven out of seven. A lot of folks think that he’s as strong as the heaviest hitters in the Marvel Universe, but this isn’t actually the case. He’s much closer to someone like Luke Cage or Colosus than he is to the strongest people he fights. While his feats have definitely risen above those levels (and probably always had been), he’s not as strong as a lot of fans think.
Iron Man has been a top Marvel hero since the beginning, becoming more popular than ever because of the MCU. Power levels in the MCU are even less-defined than in the comics and Iron Man was the most popular MCU characters, which meant that he had to be the strongest or, at least, able to beat the strongest enemies. MCU Iron Man was able to do some things that the comic version couldn’t, like the Hulkbuster being strong enough to beat Hulk or going toe to toe with Thanos in a fist fight. This has given a lot of fans the wrong idea about how strong Iron Man is.
Iron Man, in the comics, has usually been a mid-level hero. He’s strong, but was usually either Class 25 or Class 50, a five and six on the seven-point scale respectively. His repulsors were powerful, but he’d have to dump his whole power supply into them to have the effect he does in the movies and even then, they wouldn’t be as powerful. Iron Man in the movies is way stronger in every way and it’s led to a lot of fans not understanding how strong ol’Shellhead really is.
Spider-Man’s power level has always been really hard to pin down. He was usually classified as a Class 10, four on the seven point scale (he was a five in the Marvel Overpower TCG back in the ’90s, but their scale was different). It was usually said that he could bench press a tank or throw a Buick pretty far. However, we’ve also seen him hold up buildings that were crumbling or the Superior Spider-Man meme, where Doc Ock realized that Spidey had been holding back, leading a lot of fans to call the Wall-Crawler “Holds-Back Man”.
Spider-Man is extremely strong yes, but only when you compare him to regular humans. He’s been able to pull off some feats that he shouldn’t have because of adrenaline and physics, but he’s still a guy who can only left 10 tons, which isn’t much compared to the heroes he often hangs out with. Even the scene with Ock isn’t exactly as impressive as it seems; he was punching a normal human without invulnerability, so yeah, he’s going to do some damage.
Captain America is the Sentinel of Liberty, joining the fight against evil after he was given the supersoldier serum (and the Vita-Rays; no one remembers the Vita-Rays). Steve Rogers was 4F, physically incapable of being a soldier, but the serum (and the rays) made him into the perfect fighting machine. He’s been called “peak human”, meaning that he’s as strong and fast as a human can potentially be. Of course, we don’t really know the actual peak of humanity, so different creators have taken this to mean different things.
So, for example, he was a 2 out of 7, meaning that he maxed out under a ton, with 800lbs being the number given. While this is definitely super-strength to most, it’s not in a world of superhumans. Cap often ends up fighting enemies more powerful than him, ones with superhuman strength and durability, and has been able to affect them when he definitely shouldn’t. I’ve seen him punch the Hulk and actually have an effect, which should never happen. The MCU hasn’t helped this either; he definitely has superhuman strength in the movies, probably a Class 10 level judging by the helicopter scene. All of this has added up to make everyone think that Cap is stronger than he seems.
What Marvel heroes do you think people misjudge? Have any qualms with this list? Did I get it wrong? Sound off in the comments below.
