Who Would Win? Part Two: Captain Marvel vs Wonder Woman
What would happen if two of the most famous female superheroes, Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman, met on the battle field? Who would emerge victorious in a Captain Marvel vs Wonder Woman fight? Let’s find out!
Wonder Woman, or Diana Prince as she’s also known, is an Amazonian demi-goddess from the island of Themyscira. Born to the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta, and imbued with the powers of the Greek gods, Wonder Woman has been a comic book legend for over 75 years.
Captain Marvel, or Carol Danvers, is a half-Kree half-human intergalactic warrior. One of the most powerful superheroes in the collective cinematic and comic Marvel universes, Captain Marvel has been in the superhero game since 1977 when she first debuted as Ms. Marvel.
Both of these battle-ready babes have dedicated their lives to defending the defenseless, obliterating oppressors, and beating down baddies. These superhuman heroines have traded punches with some of the most formidable foes in the DC and Marvel Universes.
They climbed the ranks of their respective crime-fighting teams, the Justice League and Avengers, respectively, all while still making the best-dressed list. Both of them are powerhouse warriors and feminist icons on opposite sides, which is why a Captain Marvel vs Wonder Woman duel would be fascinating to watch.
Who Would Win? Part One: Dr Manhattan vs Superman - In the first installment of our 'Who Would Win?' series, we look at DC Comics' Dr Manhattan vs Superman. Based on their strengths and weaknesses, we imagine a scenario for their battle and declare a winner.
Strengths & Weaknesses
 Wonder Woman |
 Captain Marvel |
|---|---|
| Strengths | |
| Super Healing Diana can recover from many injuries in minutes. | Photon Blasts Captain Marvel manipulates pure energy that she blasts out of her hands. The power of the blasts is often comparable to a nuclear explosion! |
| Superhuman Strength Diana can lift and throw thousands of tons of weight. The only DC character stronger than her is Superman. | Air Force and Military Combat TrainingThrough her elite education and life experience, she is an expert pilot. |
| Omnilingualism She’s fluent and proficient in all languages. | Superhuman Strength She can lift 200 tons. When she activates “Binary” mode, she can lift double that amount. |
| Flight Tapping into air currents enables her to fly. She also has an invisible jet plane. | Energy Absorption Captain Marvel can also absorb energy from other superpowered people. Taking physical hits from them enhances her own power. |
| Invulnerable to Fire She can withstand even the mystical flames of Ares without being harmed. | Gravity Manipulation Tapping into the power of a white hole star enables Captain Marvel to shift the gravity of everything and everyone around her freely. |
| Superhuman Speed and Agility Diana is more agile than an Olympic athlete. While she’s not as fast as The Flash, she can keep up with him when he’s running at moderate speeds. | Superhuman Speed At her fastest, she exceeds the speed of light. |
| Astral Projection Diana can “leave” her body and transport her mind-body to other planes of existence and dimensions. She even once astral projected herself into Hell to save her Amazonian comrade Artemis. | Cosmic Precognition She can sense impending danger (like Spider-Man’s Spidey Sense) and can predict how her opponents will attack. |
| Telepathy She’s especially gifted at mentally communicating with soldiers. | Flight Captain Marvel can fly to even the furthest reaches of space without a hitch. |
| Bulletproof Her bracelets deflect bullets and in some comics and television adaptations, her body is bulletproof as well. | Can Withstand Outer Space She can breathe in and survive in space without any gear or difficulty. |
| Amazonian Artifacts She’s armed with the Sword of Athena, also referred to as The Godkiller in the DCEU’s Wonder Woman, bullet-proof bracelets (made of Amazonian metal and created by Aphrodite), the lasso of truth, and an indestructible shield. | Superhuman Durability She’s bulletproof, can survive falls from enormous heights, and withstand extreme temperatures. |
| Superhuman Senses She has enhanced hearing, taste, touch, smell, and sight. Her “Hunter’s Eye” allows her to hit her mark every time, see across great distances, and see in the dark. | Disease and Poison Resistance Her Kree genetics protect her from many toxins and human illnesses. |
| Leadership A founding member of the Justice League, she’s empathetic, blessed with the wisdom of Athena, and a strong communicator (see: omnilingualism). | Regeneration and Super Healing Many of her wounds heal in minutes, and she can even regrow lost limbs. |
| Animal Communication Her mastery of all languages includes animal ones and an ability to calm rampaging animals. | Flerken Sidekick A brilliant feline-like alien, Captain Marvel’s Flerken -- Chewie -- shoots powerful tentacles out of her mouth to attack and even consume her enemies. Flerkens can hold entire galaxies inside of their bodies, so the amount of humans (and non-humans) they can eat is limitless. |
| Super Breath She can exhale breath as strong as gale-force winds. | Going Binary Captain Marvel’s ultimate form is pure power. |
| Amazonian Combat She’s adept at using a bow and arrows, swords, javelins, and was the most powerful warrior on Themyscira. | |
| Wonder Woman |
Captain Marvel |
|---|---|
| Weaknesses | |
| Photon Blasts Captain Marvel manipulates pure energy that she blasts out of her hands. The power of the blasts is often comparable to a nuclear explosion! | Power Depletion Captain Marvel’s powers aren’t limitless. In the past, she’s needed time to “recharge” in-between battles. |
| Her Own Lasso She can be bound and held captive by it. | Susceptible to Mind Control For all Captain Marvel’s photon blasting badassery, she has no protection against mental manipulation. Several villains have brainwashed Captain Marvel, turning her against her superhero allies and in one case, even forcibly impregnating her. |
| Broken or Lost Bracelets Her powers are fully unleashed without bracelets keeping them in check, and she’ll go berserk and into a blind rage without them. | Magical Attacks Magical energy is entirely different than the “elemental” energy Captain Marvel manipulates. |
| Ancient Greek Relics The Bind of Veils induces a hypnotized/hallucinatory state in Diana. | Alcohol Captain Marvel has struggled with alcoholism and blackouts in the past. |
| If a Man Ties Her Hands This one is disgustingly outdated, but it was one of her first and only weaknesses when Professor William Marsten created her in the early 1940s. | Rogue In one of Carol’s early comic storylines, the power-stealing mutant Rogue absorbed all of her powers and wiped her memories. |
| Sharply Pointed Weapons Diana isn’t entirely invulnerable. She can be pierced by spears and arrows. | |
| Her Astral Body Can Be Injured Diana’s body physically sustains any “astral” injuries she accrues. | |
The Scenario
In New York City, four Skrulls (shape-shifting aliens from the planet Tarnax IV in the Andromeda Galaxy) have been dispatched to Earth by their leader, Emperor Dorrek VII. Led by Super-Skrull Kl’rt, the quartet is part of the first wave of a Skrull invasion, tasked with eliminating some of Earth’s greatest defenders. One of the many superheroes on their hit list? Captain Marvel.
Cut to a battle amongst the four Skrulls and Captain Marvel that rages across the city. Three of the Skrulls, each of them transformed to look like “humans,” have been defeated. Kl’rt is quite nearly knocked out, and Captain Marvel is about to deliver the finishing blow when…
Diana Prince, AKA Wonder Woman, races onto the scene. Newscasters and the public are all swept up in a panic over this seemingly superhuman battle. Wonder Woman herself has seen Captain Marvel unleashing her full strength on these “humans.”
WONDER WOMAN
“How…how could you do this? You! You promised to protect these people!”
CAPTAIN MARVEL
“I am. And this doesn’t concern you. Now, get out of my way.”
KL’RT TRANSFORMED AS “YOUNG WOMAN”
*sobs* “M-my friends…s-she…she killed them all!”
CAPTAIN MARVEL
*to Kl’rt* “Enough!”
Captain Marvel clenches her fist, and it instantly begins to glow, pulsing with photon energy just waiting to be released. She steps closer to Kl’rt.
CAPTAIN MARVEL
“Enough of your lies. Enough of your wars. I’m ending this, NOW.”
She punches him, full force, and his body, the “girl’s” body goes limp.
WONDER WOMAN
*eyes widen* “We have a saying, my people. Don’t kill if you can wound, don’t wound if you can subdue, don’t subdue if you can pacify, and don’t raise your hand at all until you’ve first extended it.” – Source *stands straighter and lifts chin*
CAPTAIN MARVEL
“You have no idea who Kl’rt is and what he wants. I saved us all. No? Don’t believe me? Fine. Do your worst.”
The women lock eyes. Their bodies tense. The air practically crackles. Then, Captain Marvel’s fist glows again, she fires off a photon blast, and the fight begins.
The Verdict
So, who would step, or erm, limp, out of the NYC rubble with a win under their belt following a Captain Marvel vs Wonder Woman duel? In this scenario, I’m prepared to argue that both Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel have equal opportunities to come out victorious. Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman are both superhuman warriors, with special emphasis on both human and warrior.
The magnitude of their powers in each of their respective universes is unmatched, and their commitment to their values largely defines them and dictates their actions. As part-humans, they’re not without weaknesses. For all their otherworldly genetic makeups, Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman are still susceptible to their emotions — be it getting tangled up in them or, like wielding a torch in a dark tunnel, using them to guide the way to their final destination or goal.
Now, I’m going to break down my hot take by unpacking both characters and examining how their traits and abilities contribute to the big picture and their potential win (or loss) in a Captain Marvel vs Wonder Woman face-off.
Combat History and Fighting Style
Often impulsive and reckless, Captain Marvel’s unpredictable fighting style could either work in her favor, leaving Wonder Woman baffled as to how exactly the half-Kree will make her move, or, it could prove to be Captain Marvel’s undoing and set her up for a hell of a smackdown. Captain Marvel isn’t the most avid planner.
Wonder Woman has the edge when it comes to training, fighting style, and tactical skills, with over two decades of training* on Themyscira from some of the fiercest women warriors the world has ever seen. Her aptitude for using traditional Amazon weapons, as well as hand-to-hand combat techniques, allow Wonder Woman to be an effective fighter in both close range and longer distances. A formidable strategist and skilled communicator, Wonder Woman also has the Greek Goddess Athena to thank for her abilities. After all, Athena granted Wonder Woman the highest of wisdom and battle smarts.
Captain Marvel’s elite air force training and history with the US Military have equipped her with a strong sense of duty, courage, and priceless knowledge about aircraft and piloting. In the MCU and some comics, Captain Marvel also spent a decent amount of time training with the Kree. She’s skilled at using their technologically advanced weaponry and fighting techniques. While that’s nothing to sneeze at, it still doesn’t hold a candle to the legacy of the Amazons.
Strength and Power
Wonder Woman checks off nearly all the boxes on the “what makes a superhero” drop-down list, especially super speed, strength, senses, healing, and invulnerability. What sets her apart is how she can fly, astral project herself, and survive even Ares’ godly flames.
Captain Marvel has those same abilities and then some. She can not only fly, but she can also breathe and survive in outer space without any gear, can warp gravity, and go faster than the speed of light. Not to mention her knack for firing off photon blasts left and right. Captain Marvel’s signature energy manipulation and brute force power and aggression give her a staggering advantage over the Amazonian princess.
The real game-changer here is Binary– a form of pure energy and nearly unstoppable cosmic power that is unparalleled in every way. If Captain Marvel was to go Binary, it would be the ultimate power play, and she would win the fight against Wonder Woman in a matter of minutes. A few good punches and blasting Wonder Woman off into space would be the ticket to an easy victory. For those reasons, Captain Marvel sweeps this category.
Well, What If Captain Marvel Doesn’t Go Binary?
Wonder Woman’s odds for victory are exponentially higher. Especially if she can stay out of range and evade Captain Marvel’s attacks long enough to temporarily deplete the half-Kree warrior’s powers, and then seize the opportunity to subdue her and stop any more destruction and potential losses of life. At this point, Wonder Woman still wouldn’t know that Captain Marvel hadn’t slain innocent girls but was actually stopping a Skrull invasion.
Ultimately, both Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman are confident, competent, and mighty forces to be reckoned with. Both of these heroes are committed to spreading justice, quelling wars, and protecting their people– even if they go about it quite differently.
In this Captain Marvel vs Wonder Woman scenario, I’d like to imagine that Captain Marvel would work through her fury over the audacity of the Skrulls to attempt to seize Earth so blatantly and her frustrations with Wonder Woman (a complete rando for all intents and purposes) for interfering while she was trying to do her job and defend the planet.
Once she expressed her anger and turbulent emotions, Captain Marvel would have a little more patience to halt the battle and begin to explain the situation. There’s no quick way to sum up the decades of war between the Kree and the Skrull, and the Skrull’s sporadic and repeated attempts at world domination, but Captain Marvel would get the gist of it across to Wonder Woman.
A natural-born leader and listener, Wonder Woman is the moral compass of the Justice League and one of the most kindhearted and noble superheroes in both the DC and Marvel universes combined. She’d be more than willing to stop and hear what Captain Marvel had to say about what happened, and she would have the wisdom and empathy to process it without lashing out.
Both Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman would part respectfully, if not a bit battered and bruised, as allies, not enemies.
Note: *In classic comics, Wonder Woman is 25 when she leaves Themyscira. More recent writers have changed this to make Diana hundreds or even thousands of years old.
Victoria Tomis
Contributor
Hiya, my name is Vicky and I’m your friendly neighborhood Marvel-loving, Studio Ghibli-obsessed, Queer Potterhead.
I may be in my mid-twenties but I’ve been an enthusiastic Potterhead for over a decade. I can’t go a day without firing off at least half a dozen Harry Potter references and have a small museum of Potter and Wizarding World merch… one with FAR too many Funkos.
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