Captain Marvel: 8 Superpowers Only True Fans Know She Has
After watching a number of trailers and TV spots for the soon-to-be-released Captain Marvel film from Marvel Studios, it's evident viewers are about to see a new level of power unlike anything seen before in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Given the MCU's mostly science and technology-based catalog of heroes like Captain America, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Spider-Man, Scarlet Witch, Vision, and the Hulk, fans are excited to see a powerful energy-based character like Captain Marvel on the big screen. Yet, despite the incredible flashiness of the powers we've seen exhibited in the various promos for Captain Marvel, the specifics of her powers aren't as simply defined as other characters like Hawkeye or Thor.
When we take a closer look at the various abilities that make up her unique power set, we can see a unique mixture of four different alien races; a Kree/Human hybrid that has been genetically experimented on by the Brood, then physically merged with a techno-organic alien. The ultimate close encounter of humans and aliens is exemplified in one woman with an incredibly varied power set that we'll be examining further today, so we can see why Captain Marvel is considered the MCU's strongest hero. Sorry Hulk, but it looks like Danvers is the strongest one there is, after all.
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8 - IMMORTALITY
One of Carol's most powerful and impressive abilities hasn't been tested very much in the comics, and for good reason. Due to the combination of her Kree physiology, her transformation into Binary, and her merger with the alien Cru, Carol's regenerative abilities are totally off the scale, and she has technically become immortal given the right circumstances.
During the Dark Reign event, Carol was overloaded by Norman Osborn and exploded... only to reconstitute her energy form and return to life.
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7- ENHANCED COMBAT TRAINING
We've seen in the trailers for Captain Marvel that Carol undergoes extensive training during her time with the Kree, seen working with Jude Law's Yon-Rogg as she presumably learns how to handle her new Kree abilities. In the comics, Carol initially relied on her training from the US military, though as her superhero career progressed she trained in fighting techniques with heroes on Earth and in the farthest reaches of the universe alongside teams like the Starjammers and Guardians of the Galaxy.
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6- PRECOGNITIVE "SEVENTH SENSE"
As we take a look at the huge collection of powers Carol Danvers actually has, there are a few that don't pop up as often as the others. Her precognitive "seventh sense" is a good example of that, as this ability is rarely used by modern writers. Initially, the seventh sense was part of what triggered Carol Danvers blackouts, allowing the split personality of Ms. Marvel to appear. These two fractured personalities were eventually merged, reducing the usefulness of her seventh sense.
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5- HEALING FACTOR
It's true that her rapid healing ability was increased when her latent Kree genes were activated, but in the comics, Captain Marvel has an entirely different level of healing than we can expect to see in the MCU, either in her film or in Phase 4. Carol's regenerative abilities were increased exponentially after a physical merger with the techno-organic Brood Hunter known as Cru, and her healing factor could put Wolverine's to shame. She can also focus her energy into others, boosting their own healing abilities.
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4- TOXIN RESISTANCE
Thanks to her unique Kree/human physiology, Carol is nearly impervious to all known poisons and toxins. This is a very useful ability when dealing with other planets and races, and was likely genetically bred into the Kree for that exact reason. Of course, Carol's immunities were kicked up another notch after her enhancement by Cru, which increased her resistance to the point where she was able to fight off the alien infection of a Brood Queen. There's very little that can actually take Carol down, a rarity for an MCU hero.
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3- TELEPORTATION AND ILLUSION-CASTING... MAYBE
Carol Danvers Wearing a SHIELD Hat in Captain Marvel
To be clear, Carol Danvers has never demonstrated either teleportation or illusion-casting in her power set throughout her run as a hero... but Mar-Vell has. And while Carol's origin was recently retconned in the pages of The Life of Captain Marvel, she originally had her genetic structure mixed with Mar-Vell's by the Psyche-Magnitron, and thus gained all of his powers and abilities. At the time, those powers and abilities did include teleportation and illusion-casting, though both abilities were infrequently used by Mar-Vell.
2- WARBIRD
Finally, Carol has been greatly affected at times by the various altered realities the heroes find themselves dealing with over the years. It was in House of M that Carol first saw her potential as one of the premiere heroes in the Marvel universe that re-inspired her super-heroic career. Unfortunately, during the Age of Apocalypse reality change, Carol was an ally of Weapon X (Wolverine) who was forcibly spliced with Reaper tech, turning her into a dark cybernetic Warbird far removed from her more heroic counterpart.
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1- SUPERHUMAN STRENGTH
Captain Marvel clenched fist
Super-strength is one of the most common power sets seen in comic book heroes, which leads to quite a few heated debates among comic fans. Carol's strength mostly comes from her half-Kree physiology, which greatly enhanced her past the peak of human physicality. While her true strength levels change depending on the writer, she has gone toe-to-toe with the Hulk, and during Civil War II an energized Carol knocked Thanos flat. It's a scene we'd love to see on the big screen in Avengers: Endgame.
