TheMCUhas created unique superpowers with no comic book precedent for some of its characters. Superhuman abilities and sci-fi technology have evolved a lot throughout the MCU’s history. Phase 1 launched the MCU with an armored millionaire, a Gamma monster, a Super Soldier, and a Norse god, and Phase 3 ended withAvengers: Endgame’s dozens of wildly different charactersfrom all corners of the universe, including sorcerers, witches, aliens, and monsters.Tony Stark’s Iron Man armorsalone displayed an incredible evolution, from a pile of scraps to state-of-the-art nanotechnology.
The MCU has generally been pretty faithful to the source material when it comes to superpowers. Even difficult abilities to explain on screen, likeScarlet Witch’s Chaos magicand Vision’s density-shifting powers, or outlandish abilities like Ant-Man’s size-shifting suit, have been translated to live-action as realistically as possible. However, Marvel Studios has also taken creative liberties with several characters' abilities, whether due to their powers' drastic difference from the comics or their complete absence in the source material.
10Star-Lord’s Near-Omnipotent Celestial Powers
Peter Quill’s Discovery Of His Celestial Heritage Is Just As Shocking To Comic Book Fans
Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord meets his father inGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, where Ego the Living Planet reveals Peter Quill’s true heritage.Embracing his half-Celestial biology, Star-Lord learns to control cosmic energy, regenerate his body, fly, and manipulate all states of matter. Star-Lord even transforms into a giant Pac-Man to fight Ego in space. For a short time, Star-Lord is one of the powerful heroes in the whole MCU. However, Star-Lord decides to give up his near-omnipotence in order to defeat Ego after Ego confesses to killing Peter Quill’s mother when the hero was a child.
In the comics, Star-Lord is a half-human, half-alien hero whose real father is the Spartax king J’son. Peter Quill has relied on his space pirate skills for most of his comic book history. It was only until very recently that Star-Lord developed superhuman powers such as energy generation, levitation, cosmic awareness, and an extended lifespan — plus a glowing left eye that regenerated by itself after he lost it in one of his many adventures. Still, comic-book Star-Lord is far from an omnipotent Celestial descendant.
9Ms. Marvel’s Energy Constructs And Mutant Gene
The MCU’s Kamala Khan Lacks Her Size-Shifting Abilities And Inhuman Origins From The Comics
The most notable power change in the MCU might be Kamala Khan’s. Whereas Kamala gains size-shifting and super-stretching abilities from the Terrigen Bomb that awakened her Inhuman powers in the comics,the MCU’s Ms. Marvel obtains energy-based abilities from the bangles she inherits from her family.Instead of stretching her body like Mister Fantastic and turning into a giant like Ant-Man, Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan can create energy constructs and switch places with Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau. Kamala can also use her energy constructs as projectiles and platforms, as well as a wide array of tools.
In the comics, Ms. Marvel can now use both her Inhuman and mutant powers simultaneously
Shortly after Kamala Khan made her MCU debut inMs. Marvel, her comic book counterpart developed similar abilities. Marvel Comics recently revealed that Kamala had a dormant mutant gene all along, which was activated after she came back from the dead. In the comics, Ms. Marvel can now use both her Inhuman and mutant powers simultaneously, so she’s able to create a hard-light amor around her"embiggened"body. Given thatMs. Marvelreferenced Kamala Khan’s mutant gene, it’s possible that she will eventually develop super-stretching powers in the MCU as well.
8Janet Van Dyne’s Quantum Energy Manipulation
The Original Wasp Harnessed The Quantum Realm’s Energy
When Michelle Pfeiffer’s Janet van Dyne returns from the Quantum Realm inAnt-Man and the Wasp, she displays energy-manipulation powers that help her to stabilize Ghost’s phasing abilities. Janet also heals Hank Pym and is able to survive for decades in the Quantum Realm without food. Additionally,Janet van Dyne communicates with Scott Lang remotely and even possesses his body while still inside the Quantum Realm.Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniareveals that Janet van Dyne befriended Kang the Conqueror in the Quantum Realm, which suggests that Kang gave her a power boost at some point.
In Marvel Comics' original Ultimate universe, Janet van Dyne is a mutant with actual Wasp physiology
Wasp doesn’t have Quantum energy abilities in the comics, but she does have a different set of abilities other than size-shifting. Usually, Wasp is able to shoot bio-electric blasts she calls “Wasp’s Sting”, and her wings are attached to her body. In Marvel Comics' original Ultimate universe, Janet van Dyne is a mutant with actual Wasp physiology. Ultimate Wasp is able to shrink and grow without Pym Particles and even lays eggs.
7Shang-Chi And Wenwu’s Ten Rings Power
The Ten Rings Have Very Different Abilities In The Comics
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringsintroduced a modernized version of the titular weapons. In the MCU, all ten rings are connected, and together they provide their wielder with super strength, flight, energy manipulation, and force field creation, among other abilities. Apart from granting Xu Wenwu the power to become a slow-aging, nearly invincible conqueror,the MCU’s Ten Rings also serve as an apparently multiveral beacon, asShang-Chi and the Legend of The Ten Rings' post-credits scenesuggests. However, their exact origin hasn’t been discovered yet.
Matter reshaping
Time displacement
Darkness manipulation
Void manipulation
Illusion creation
Daimonic
Mind control
In the comics, the original Ten Rings were more akin to the Infinity Stones (Infinity Gems in the source material). Instead of a set of identical discs, Marvel Comics' original Ten Rings are actual finger rings with one unique ability and one specific color each. The comic-book Ten Rings comprise the matter-modifying Remaker, the shapeshifting Influence, the time-changing Spin, the air-based Spectral, the darkness-creating Nightbringer, the void-based Zero, the illusion-making Liar, the electrical Lightning, the heat-based Incandescence, and the mind-controlling Daimonic.
6Mantis’ Empath And Mind-Reading Abilities
Mantis' MCU Powers Aren’t As Physical As They Are In The Comics
Pom Klementieff’s Mantis is known for her empathic and telepathic powers in the MCU. With only one touch of her hand, Mantis is able not only of reading and sensing what other beings are feeling, but also of influencing those feelings. For example, Mantis senses Drax’s grief over his family inGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2and is key to the Avengers' plan to steal the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos inAvengers: Infinity War, as she can also put her targets to sleep almost immediately.
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An unexpected new Marvel project sets the MCU up for a perfect explanation for one of their universe’s longest-running and strangest mysteries.
Mantis was introduced in 1973’sThe Avengers #12as an expert martial artist. The comics later retconned Mantis to be an alien with false memories of a life as a human, but she retained her destiny to become the Celestial Madonna — mother of a messiah-like figure who’s fated to bring peace to the world. The MCU completely ignored this aspect of Mantis, which may have been for the better, due to the contrived nature of theCelestial Madonnastoryline in the source material.
5Doctor Strange And Scarlet Witch’s Dreamwalking
The MCU’s Dreamwalking Ability Is Based On A Marvel Villain Who Hasn’t Appeared In The Movies Yet
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessintroduces the concept of Dreamwalking — the ability to possess the body of one’s alternate self in another universe, specifically through dreams or death.Earth-616’s Scarlet Witch uses Dreamwalking to take over the body of Earth-838’s Wanda Maximoffand steal her children, while Earth-616’s Doctor Strange uses it to possess one of his dead variants and stop Wanda. Dreamwalking is an extremely dangerous and forbidden practice, as it can lead to an incursion. Earth-838’s Doctor Strange nearly destroyed his universe after he relied on Dreamwalking to defeat Thanos.
Oftentimes, Nightmare attempts to use his connection to dreams as a bridge to other universes and dimensions
Possession is a fairly well-known ability in the comics, but its connection to dreams is more specific to one Marvel supervillain. Nightmare, the ruler of the Nightmare World in the Dream Dimension, obtains his power from people’s nightmares. Oftentimes, Nightmare attempts to use his connection to dreams as a bridge to other universes and dimensions. Given thatDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessoriginally featured Nightmare as the main villaininstead of Scarlet Witch, the MCU’s Dreamwalking ability seems to be an element that survived the sequel’s rewrites and was adapted into Scarlet Witch’s use of the Darkhold.
4Red Skull’s Connection To The Soul Stone
The MCU Tied Red Skull To The Infinity Stones Twice
In WWII, Red Skull steals the Tesseract from Norway and uses it to provide an infinite source of energy for his weaponry, including several bombs he plans to drop on major world cities.When Red Skull grabs the Tesseract with his bare hands, the artifact creates a portal that teleports him to Vormir and forces him to be the guardian of the Soul Stone for eons. By the time Thanos, Gamora, Black Widow, and Hawkeye arrive to retrieve the Soul Stone, Red Skull has already become a spectral entity.
The Tesseract wasn’t supposed to be an Infinity Stone back inCaptain America: The First Avenger. It was later adapted into one when the Infinity Saga began to take shape.
Red Skull’s obsession with the Tesseract inCaptain America: The First Avengerhas its basis in the comics, where the Tesseract isn’t an Infinity Stone, but a separate artifact called the Cosmic Cube. In the source material, the Cosmic Cube is an artifact more akin to the Reality Stone, as its power can be used to reshape reality. Red Skull hasn’t become an Infinity Stone guardian in the comics, but he has defied death multiple times through cloning and resurrection.
3Captain Marvel’s Tesseract Energy
Carol Danvers' Powers Aren’t Connected To The Infinity Stones In The Comics
Captain Marvelshowed howCarol Danvers got her immense power from the Tesseract’s energy after she accidentally shot a Light-Speed enginebuilt by the Kree scientist Mar-Vell. Showered in the Tesseract’s energy, Carol Danvers gains abilities such as flight and energy projection, as well as a Binary transformation. Besides her energy-based powers, Captain Marvel’s body is also enhanced by a Kree blood transfusion, which grants her super strength, super speed, and super durability.
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Lashana Lynch returned to the MCU as a new variant of Maria Rambeau in The Marvels, who has now been imagined in beautiful MCU fan art.
Unlike Ms. Marvel, Carol Danvers' MCU powers have always been very similar in the comics. However, Carol Danvers got her energy power-up from being subjected to the Psyche-Magnitron machine by Yon-Rogg while the villain fought the original Captain Marvel. Thanks to Mar-Vell’s presence near the machine, Carol Danvers' body copied the hero’s powers. Instead of a high-tech engine designed for cosmic travel, the Psyche-Magnitron machine was a Kree device that materialized anything its user desired.
2Echo’s Ancestral Communication And Healing Abilities
Maya Lopez Received A Significant Power-Up In Her MCU Series
InEcho, Alaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez displays mystical abilities that complement her impressive combat skills and photographic reflexes.The MCU’s Maya Lopez can communicate with her ancestors and connect to their memories, as well as heal the minds of even the most ruthless criminals. This is how Maya Lopez taps into Wilson Fisk’s deep unconscious mind and tries to heal his childhood trauma intheEchofinale. However, Kingpin’s resistance to Maya’s efforts diminishes the effects of her powers. Maya also possesses a deep-rooted instinct that provides her with clues about where to go and when to hide.
At one point, Maya Lopez was the host of the Phoenix Force in the comics
In the comics, Maya Lopez’s photographic reflexes and eidetic memory is much more advanced than it is in the MCU, to the point that it matches those of Taskmaster. On the other hand, Maya doesn’t have any particularly mystical abilities like ancestral communication or healing in the source material. At one point, Maya Lopez was the host of the Phoenix Force in the comics, which provided her with many of the powers the X-Men hero Jean Grey usually possesses, like flight, super strength, and pyrokinesis.
1Thor’s Power-Granting Abilities
Thor Develops Odin’s Best Ability Late In His MCU Journey
Near the end ofThor: Love and Thunder, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor Odinson liberates a group of captive Asgardian children and grants them his power so they can help him fight Gorr the God Butcher. Although Thor’s possession of Zeus' lightning bolt suggests that the Olympian weapon is allowing Thor to do so, it seems like Thor just learned how to bestow his powers once he matured. Previously,Odin cast a spell on Mjolnir to make it inaccessible to unworthy warriors, including Thor himself. This spell inspired Thor to do something similar with his powers in his final battle against Gorr.
