The Captain America: Civil War Power Rankings

Superheroes collide in Captain America: Civil War, the thirteenth installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.Civil War will have the biggest collection of Marvel superheroes in one place to date, as Captain America and Iron Man duke it out over the fate of the Winter Soldier.Since this is a movie all about superheroes beating up each other, what better way to celebrate the movie’s release than with the super-official Captain America: Civil War Power Rankings.

Our judging criteria were simple: heroes were ranked based on who they could probably beat in a one on one fight. Characters higher on the list should be able to defeat blow them with little problem, while they would struggle against characters ranking above them.Heroes with combat experience and training tended to rank a little higher, but ability and superpowers were also considered.We also tried to stick with abilities shown only in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so Scarlet Witch’s reality altering abilities weren’t counted since they’ve only appeared in the comics.So, sit back and enjoy reading through our Rankings and loudly yelling about how wrong we are:

NR: Thor/Hulk

Since neither of the Avengers’ former powerhouses is appearing in Captain America: Civil War, it doesn’t feel very fair to include them in our rankings.  However, since this Power Ranking includes every other Marvel superhero who has appeared on film, it seems like we should at least mention that Hulk and Thor would easily top the chart at #1 or #2 if they were included.

12: Hawkeye

After narrowly surviving the Battle of Sokovia, Clint Barton retired from superheroics at the end of Age of Ultron to enjoy his newborn family.  Clint’s a loyal soldier and acted as the “everyman” grounding the Avengers, but a bow and a quiver full of trick arrows is only going to get him so far in one on one superhero combat, especially when he’s probably the weakest hand to hand fighter on the team.  Hawkeye is useful for thinning out herds of faceless drones/soldiers/aliens, but he’s not as useful in open combat.

11: Falcon

Captain America’s partner and an aerial ace, Sam Wilson got the call up to the big leagues at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron.  Operating an experimental winged rocket pack, Falcon is one of the more maneuverable fliers in Civil War, but he doesn’t have the firepower to stand up to War Machine, Iron Man or the Vision.  The Falcon can provide some aerial cover for Cap’s team, but his skills are more suited for quick strikes and deployment than prolonged battle.  We saw how well Falcon did against a superpowered hero in Ant-Man, and the results were….well, they weren’t pretty.

10: Ant-Man

After stealing our hearts in his first appearance last year, Ant-Man returns to help the Falcon and Cap oppose Tony Stark’s pro-oversight team of heroes.  Scott Lang ends up pretty low on our rankings mainly because he’s a relatively untrained thief thrown into a world of professional combatants.  Sure, Scott graduated from the “Van Dyne School of Learning How to Throw a Punch”, but that doesn’t compare to the years of military training most of the other heroes have received.   Still, Lang’s ability to shrink in size is a wild card that will help him at least survive Captain America: Civil War, and who knows what other unexpected abilities Ant-Man has learned since last summer. 

9: Spider-Man

Ant-Man’s not the only untrained insect-themed superhero entering this superhuman conflict.  Tony Stark’s trump card is a fifteen year old Spider-Man, armed with mechanical webshooters and presumably a lot of annoying quips.  It’s great that Spider-Man is showing up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but what does Iron Man expect a teenaged superhero to do against supersoldiers and cyborg assassins?  Spider-Man’s agility and spider-sense should keep him safe, but I worry about how the teen hero will do in a one on one matchup against a cornered Bucky Barnes. 

8: Black Widow

Black Widow is one of the best unarmed combatant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and she repeatedly showed herself to be the most competent member of the Avengers in Age of Ultron.  While she’s ranked in the bottom half of the power rankings, she’s really the bar on which I judge the rest of Marvel’s superheroes.  Every superhero who’s higher on this list either packs some serious firepower or has their name in the title of the movie.  

7: War Machine

Iron Man’s loyal friend and the Avengers’ military liason, War Machine has all the firepower that Iron Man has, but lacks Tony Stark’s genius intellect or charisma.  James Rhodes is a good soldier and even acts as Tony’s conscience at times, but he’s almost always relegated to covering Stark in battle instead of taking point in combat.  Plus, it doesn’t help that countless trailers have shown something really bad happening to War Machine, so it’s a bit hard to rank him any higher on the list. 

6: Scarlet Witch

An enhanced human with poorly defined but dangerous powers, Scarlet Witch proved to be the superior Maximoff twin by surviving the Battle of Sokovia and joining the Avengers.  With a wide range of psionic abilities including mind manipulation, Wanda Maximoff is probably the second most “powerful” character appearing in Civil War, second only to the Vision.  However, she’s still learning how to use those powers, which is why she doesn’t rank higher on our Power Rankings.  Don’t let the middling rank fool you, Scarlet Witch is probably the most dangerous character in Civil War and she’s definitely capable of beating any of the other heroes on this list in a one on one fight.

5:Bucky/The Winter Soldier

The catalyst for Captain America: Civil War‘s conflict, Bucky Barnes is better known as the dangerous assassin the Winter Soldier.  While Bucky Barnes was Captain America’s best friend, the Winter Soldier is a cold-blooded assassin with countless kills over nearly 60 years in action.  At the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Bucky seemingly broke free of his HYDRA programming, but it’s unclear whether he’s totally in control of his own senses.  Bucky’s abilities, training and mechanical arm earns him a high spot on the list, but that pesky brainwashing that leaves him susceptible to outside control keeps him from taking one of the top spots. 

4:Black Panther

Black Panther is one of the two new superheroes to appear in Civil War, so it’s a bit tricky to peg just how powerful he is.  In the comics, Black Panther has hand to hand combat skills on par with Captain America, which automatically puts him on the top tier of our rankings, plus he has a set of Vibranium claws capable of cutting through anything (except for Cap’s shield).  If Black Panther has the augmented strength, speed and agility that his comic counterpart occasionally has, there’s an argument he should rank even higher, but we’ll have to wait to revisit that decision until after Civil War comes out.

3:Captain America

While the indestructible shield and superstrength helps, it’s really Captain America’s indomitable will and courage that earns him the third spot on our list.  As the unquestioned leader of the Avengers, Steve Rogers inspires the best in everyone, including brainwashed HYDRA assassins.  As one of the top fighters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America can hold his own against anyone, but I can’t think of very many other heroes who could convince half the Avengers to defect and break international law to help a wanted fugitive. 

2:Iron Man

Captain America might have the heart, but Iron Man has the firepower and that’s why he’s second on our Power Rankings.  With a horde of Iron Man suits and Iron Sentinels at his command, Iron Man could literally rain down repulsor rays on his fellow superheroes….if that’s what he wanted to do.  Although Captain America acts out of friendship in Civil War, Iron Man is motivated out of guilt for his role in creating Ultron, who nearly destroyed the world in Age of Ultron.  The blood of thousands are on Tony Stark’s hands and that will make him stop at nothing to do what he thinks is right. 

1:The Vision

Only one character possesses an Infinity Stone in Civil War and that character is the Vision, the top superhero on our Civil War power ranking.  While he has the voice and mannerisms of Tony Stark’s JARVIS, the Vision is his own ma–…I mean, synthezoid, thanks to the Mind Stone mounted on his forehead.  While we don’t know the full extent of the Vision’s powers, we do know that he could pick up Mjolnir, something that neither Iron Man nor Captain America could do.  Expect to see just how powerful the Vision is as he sides with Iron Man against his former Avengers teammates.