10 Mightiest Avengers Without Super Powers, Ranked

The Avengers have always been known as Marvel’s most powerful team of superheroes, but not everyone on the team has actual superpowers. When the team first formed in Avengers #1 in 1963, only two of the original members actually had any superpowers, with Thor as a god who controlled lightning and Hulk as a gamma-powered mutate. The other three members used scientific tech, with Iron Man a powerless man who used armor with weapons built in, while Wasp and Ant-Man used Pym Particles to shrink down, although eventually both Wasp and Hank Pym ended up with powers thanks to their bodies adapting to the Pym Particles.

While some readers might argue that having high-tech armor is a superpower, without the armor, Tony Stark is just a regular human, albeit a really smart one, and he remains one of the most powerful Avengers, regardless. Here are 10 of the mightiest Avengers with no superpowers of their own.

10) Kate Bishop

Kate Bishop is the new Hawkeye, but she ranks below the original for several reasons. First, she isn’t as masterful an archer as Hawkeye, who has been doing this for several years longer than Kate. Second, she isn’t as experienced in battle as Clint Barton, who has fought some of the deadliest villains in Marvel Comics. However, that doesn’t discount how good an archer Kate is, how she is actually a better teammate than Clint, and how she is getting better and better every day for the Avengers.

9) Hawkeye

Hawkeye became the brunt of jokes over the years because he was just the Avenger who shot arrows. However, it wasn’t always this way. When he first appeared, he was one of the coolest members of the Avengers, the guy who was against the status quo and the most anti-authoritarian member of the team. He is also a lot more powerful than people give him credit for. He is one of the best archers in Marvel Comics and can hit anything from any angle, and with his trick arrows, he can win just about any fight that his superpowered teammates can.

8) Mockingbird

Mockingbird has something that Hawkeye doesn’t have in her skills as one of Marvel Comics’ mightiest non-powered Avengers. She is a deadly trained spy. While Hawkeye in the Ultimate Marvel Universe worked for SHIELD, the mainline Hawkeye did not. However, Mockingbird is trained in several fighting techniques, and she knows how to kill someone in different ways. That might not sound very heroic, but it makes Mockingbird a step above Hawkeye in the power rankings.

7) Ironheart

Ironheart is the next-gen replacement for Iron Man, and she received his blessing when she took on the role with the armor she created in college. Yes, Ironheart had more tech at her disposal than Iron Man, since Tony Stark was in a cave when he created his first armor, but there is a lot of evidence that shows that Riri is smarter than Iron Man in some areas, especially for taking some risks that even Tony isn’t willing to take. Her armor is extremely powerful, and with her youthful outlook on life, she will help regular people a lot more than Iron Man these days, which makes her a perfect Avenger.

6) War Machine

War Machine is Iron Man if he were a military soldier instead of a superhero. His armor is full of high-tech weapons, and this means he is more equipped to kill people than to save lives. However, James Rhodes is also a genuine hero, and he is a lot more responsible and heroic than Iron Man most of the time, which makes him a more prototypical hero. He is very experienced as well, although not up to the level of Iron Man himself, and when armored up, there aren’t many Avengers more powerful than him in battle.

5) Winter Soldier

Bucky Barnes is a weapon developed to cause maximum destruction. What makes the Winter Soldier so mighty is that he doesn’t need armor or high-powered canons to get the job done, and he can even shut down most armored characters’ weapons thanks to his skills as a spy, mercenary, and unstoppable soldier. He is not like Captain America, who has superpowers from the Super Soldier Serum. While he has the same Infinity Formula as Nick Fury, it just makes him a superior athlete, but not the actual superpowers of others.

4) Black Widow

Black Widow is like Winter Soldier in that she received the Russian version of the Super Soldier Formula, but it didn’t give her actual superpowers. All it did was give her longevity, which is why she still looks young even though she is nearing a century in age. The formula gave her skill levels similar to Bucky’s, but not superhuman-level powers like it gave Captain America. However, what Black Widow lacks in superpowers, she makes up for with her training as an assassin. She is even more ruthless than the Winter Soldier, which is why she ranks ahead of him as one of the mightiest Avengers.

3) Sam Wilson

It could be argued that Sam Wilson has superhuman powers since he can talk to birds, but that really has nothing to do with his role as a hero, so it really doesn’t count here. Instead, Sam is someone who uses mechanical wings that allow him to fly, and when he became Captain America, he added the shield as well. As someone without superpowers, he is vulnerable to a lot of attacks, but he almost always comes out on top in battles thanks to his never-say-die attitude and skills built by working with Captain America. Sam is just as great a Captain America as Steve Rogers, but without the Super Soldier Serum.

2) Shang-Chi

Shang-Chi deserves respect when people say his name. If anyone wants to know how powerful this Avenger is, just look at the Enter the Phoenix storyline. Snag-Chi uses “Chi,” but this is not a superpower, as it is just a mental discipline that allows him to tap into it to become an almost unbeatable kung fu fighter. In Enter the Phoenix, he beat several heroes who had tremendous superhuman powers, and he did it with his discipline and skills. There are stories where he seems to have regeneration and telepathy, but those are rarely part of his character’s journey.

1) Iron Man

Iron Man is a founding member of the Avengers with no powers whatsoever, and he simply became one of Marvel Comics’ most powerful superheroes thanks to his scientific brilliance. Everything Iron Man does is thanks to the armor that he built, and without that armor, he is just a man with a big brain, one that often gets him into a lot of trouble. However, his non-stop work on his armor makes him so mighty, and it has made him one of the most heroic and most dangerous heroes ever to exist in Marvel Comics for the Avengers’ mightiest heroes.

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