Kevin Feige, Head of Marvel Studios, has called Carol Danvers a.k.a Captain Marvel, “The most powerful person in the MCU.” While we’ll have to wait until her movie drops in 2019 to see if that’s true, the comics have given us plenty of evidence of her formidable abilities. Carol Danvers went from being the love interest of another hero named Captain Marvel to earning the title for herself and winning more popularity than her predecessor ever did. Though she started as only Ms. Marvel, she’s really made the Captain name her own.
But before audiences see her throw down with Thanos in Avengers 4, Many are asking what she brings to the table powers-wise. How’s she going to help defeat the Mad Titan? Well, that’s where things get complicated. During her years as a solo hero and an Avenger, Carol Danvers has been empowered, depowered, and re-powered more than probably any member of the Marvel Universe. She’ll gain abilities from aliens only to have members of the X-Men steal them. She’ll command the powers of the cosmos only to lose them jumpstarting the sun. And that’s not even getting into all the other Captain Marvels running around.
But for all the craziness of superhero life, a solid foundation of powers has been established for the good captain. Some are pretty standard, but others can get a bit out there. Almost all of them are connected to outer space. You know, because of aliens. Here are 25 Superpowers Captain Marvel Has That Are Kept Hidden.
25 Her Binary Form Boosts All Her Other Powers
Captain Marvel already had some pretty impressive superpowers before she was abducted by the Brood aliens. But they believed the could push her further. The Brood subjected Carol to experiments to heighten her powers.
This triggered her transformation into her Binary form.
Named for a binary star, this enhanced form boosted all of Captain Marvel’s powers. She could now fly faster, punch harder, and absorb all kinds of cosmic energy. This was permanent at first, but Carol later burned out most of her Binary powers restarting the sun. She can still transform into Binary, but only for a limited time.
24 She Can Travel At Light Speed
There’s fast and then there’s light speed fast. Captain Marvel is light speed fast. She can not only keep up with fighter jets, but she can also outrace them easily. Carol’s great speed comes from the incident that gave her powers originally. An explosion of alien technology bonded alien DNA to her, granting her that species’ abilities. Including their speed. With her original power level she could reach Mach 3, three times faster than the speed of sound. But with her Binary upgrade, she was able to fly at the speed of light. That comes in pretty handy when you’re traveling through space.
23 She Can Survive In Space Without A Suit
Given her connection to aliens and astronauts, it’s not surprising that Captain Marvel spends a fair amount of time in space. But even superheroes need spacesuits, right? Most of them, but not Captain Marvel. Thanks to the genetic tinkering by both the Kree and Brood alien races, Carol Danvers can survive unprotected in the vacuum of space. She might have needed a spacesuit in her early days, but not after getting her Binary upgrade. She didn’t even need oxygen in that form. The Captain does need an air supply for space travel these days, but otherwise, space is as comfortable as a sunny afternoon to her.
22 She Can Absorb All Kinds Of Energy To Get Stronger
The way Captain Marvel can manipulate different kinds of energy is the key to all her other powers. The most common way is absorbing the energy around her to empower herself. She’s absorbed electricity and even the force of a nuclear explosion. The Captain then takes the energy she absorbs and uses it to increase her own strength.
So shooting her with a laser? Just going to make her stronger.
Not just her physical strength either. It makes her photon blasts more powerful too. With enough absorbed energy, she can even trigger a transformation into her Binary form.
21 She’s Immune To All Poisons
Carol Danvers’ body isn’t entirely human. Not anymore. During her origin story, she was caught in an explosion that bonded DNA from the Kree alien species to her own. As a result, she has all the physical attributes of a Kree soldier in a human body. This includes an immunity to all poisons. The Kree are a militaristic species and masters of genetic manipulation, so it makes sense they’d make their soldiers as hearty as possible. This immunity also protects Carol from the fate of her predecessor with the Captain Marvel title. He died of cancer.
20 Her Precognitive Sixth Sense
Of the many powers she inherited from the DNA of the first Captain Marvel, her sixth sense might be Carol Danvers’ strangest. This wasn’t quite being able to see the future. It was more like Carol could subconsciously anticipate what moves her opponents would make in combat.
It was more like Spider-Man’s spider-sense than anything.
Her sixth sense was also unreliable and hard to control, activating without rhyme or reason. Captain Marvel has since honed her sixth sense, expanding its capabilities in ways similar to her predecessor in the role. It’s not something she uses often though.
19 Before She Was A Superhero, She Was A Fighter Pilot
That “Captain” title in her name isn’t just for show like some other superheroes. It’s an official military rank. Yes, before she gained superpowers and put on a costume, Carol Danvers was a captain in the US Air Force. She trained as a fighter pilot and flew missions in the Middle East. Her piloting skills were good enough that she was also trained as a NASA astronaut. Even then she was going to space. It’s not just Earth aircraft she can fly either. The good captain’s also been shown piloting spaceships from a bunch of different alien species as well.
18 She Can Fly On Her Own
Unassisted flight is actually pretty rare in the Marvel Universe. Most people need rocket boots or jet packs to soar around. That’s just one thing that makes Captain Marvel all the more special and powerful. She can fly through air and space, under her own power, no problem. It’s also one of the rare instances where a superhero’s day job helps them fight evil. As a trained Air Force Pilot, Carol is well-versed in flight dynamics making her more efficient and powerful in the air. She also likes to leave a trail of light behind her as she zooms around.
17 Her Binary Form Lets Her Control The Power Of Stars
If you need any proof Captain Marvel is the most powerful Marvel hero, look no further than her Binary form. This power boost gave Carol a connection to a “white hole”, the opposite of a black hole. With her energy manipulation abilities, it let her access to a massive amount of stellar power.
She was basically a human star.
As in, those giant balls of burning gas in the sky. As Binary, she could generate heat and light and control the electromagnetic spectrum. The Captain can still access this powerful form, but only for brief periods of time.
16 She’s Got Super Strength
When it comes to physical strength, Captain Marvel is probably only second to She-Hulk when it comes to female heroes. With her Kree/human hybrid physiology, she packs quite a wallop in her fists. Hank Pym of the Avengers recorded her base strength as being the same as 92 tons of force. That’s just her normal strength, she can get stronger. Captain Marvel can increase her physical power by absorbing energy. Depending on how much she’s absorbed, she can hit with the force of star’s gravity. So maybe not the strongest, but certainly up there.
15 Photon Blasts
Captain Marvel’s signature superpower is her photon blasts. Her go-to move in a fight is shooting beams of energy out at the bad guys. Again, it’s a side-effect of her energy absorption powers. She’s taking in energy all the time, this is the easiest way to let it out. The Captain can also control how powerful the blasts are. They can be weak enough to just knock someone back or powerful enough to burst open spaceships. Interestingly, this was not a power the original Captain Marvel who Carol got her powers from had. She developed it all on her own.
14 The Most Indestructible Hero
A good offense is only as good as your defense. Thankfully, Captain Marvel is pretty hard to score a solid hit on. She might just be the most indestructible hero in the Marvel Universe. Thanks to the Kree alien DNA bonded to her system, her skin has toughened and her bones are nearly unbreakable.
She’s also bulletproof.
Extreme temperatures mean nothing to her and she can survive hard impacts without a scratch. With her power to absorb energy, even lasers and similar weapons are basically ineffective. No wonder she can fall through a Blockbuster store no problem.
13 She’s As Good A Leader As Cap
The Cap is widely considered to be the most inspirational hero in the Marvel Universe. Whenever the situation arises, he naturally falls into the role as leader. In that regard, Carol Danvers is his female counterpart. She’s an inspiration for both a lot of Marvel heroines and a lot of their younger heroes. Kamala Khan, in particular, is such a big fan of Carol’s, she took up her old codename of Ms. Marvel. The Captain has led the Avengers and is the commander of the Alpha Flight Space Program, Earth’s defense force against hostile aliens. Both on Earth and across the galaxy, Captain Marvel is admired.
12 She Can Control Gravity
Stars have a lot of power. Not only do they put out massive amounts of heat and radiation, but they also produce their own gravity. So it’s no wonder that Captain Marvel, with all her stellar power, can control her own gravity. Of course, this is how she flies, but it can extend to a greater scale. In her Binary form, Carol can harness the power of a white hole to control all the gravity around her. She changes the direction of how things are moving, suddenly making things fall sideways. It is somewhat limited to things around her though.
11 She Was Trained In Combat Before She Was A Superhero
Most superheroes don’t get a lot of training before they start to fight evil. Most of them just get powers, put on a costume, and figure it out as they go. Not Captain Marvel. She was trained to handle herself in a fight before she even got her superpowers. Carol Danvers started in the military, the Air Force specifically, and learned how to fight hand to hand and how to use a gun. She even managed to fight her way out of a villainous camp with one broken arm. Her experience and training just add to her skill as a leader.
10 She Never Gets Tired. Like Ever.
We all need a pick-me-up now and again. Even superheroes can get exhausted after mighty feats of strength. That is if they’re not Captain Marvel. Thanks to her Kree-infused physiology, Carol Danvers never gets tired. Her muscles just work more efficiently than a human’s do. She can keep going for 24 hours before she even starts to feel a little drowsy. Even that limit won’t stop her though. She can just absorb nearby energy to reinvigorate herself. Only using her Binary form seems to wear her out.
9 A Power For Just Changing Into Her Costume
Not all superpowers have to be flashy or powerful. Some can just be useful. Like this mundane use Captain Marvel has for her energy manipulation abilities. One if the effects of her absorbing energy is giving Carol some minor molecular control. How minor?
It transforms her normal clothes into her superhero costume.
Yeah, not exactly impressive or earth-shattering, but it is neat. Plus, it solves a story problem. What do the heroes do with their normal clothes when they need to battle evil? Captain Marvel transforms her. Though you got to wonder if she could use this ability for anything else.
8 She’s A Former Spy
Few superheroes had as exciting a life before getting their powers as Carol Danvers. After serving in the Air Force as a fighter pilot but before becoming an astronaut for NASA, she was a secret agent. She worked for the CIA, running missions in the Soviet Union (it was still around when those comics were written) and investigating supervillains. Heck, it even led to her getting superpowers. While at NASA, Carol used her spy skills to look into strange alien activity and she met the first Captain Marvel. One explosion later and she had all his alien powers.
7 Cosmic Awareness
While Captain Marvel is content to work with The Cap and Iron Man, she could be on a whole other level. Like the same level as the Silver Surfer or Galactus. Because she possesses, or at least has the capacity for, cosmic awareness. Basically, she can become one with the harmony of the universe.
At full strength, it can alter reality with only thoughts.
This cosmic awareness is an extension of the Captain’s precognitive sixth sense. Yet another inheritance from the first Captain Marvel. Carol hasn’t reached this level yet, but it’s been hinted she could.
6 She (Might) Be Able To Cast Illusions
One of the things that makes Carol Danvers’ powers hard to keep track of is that she got most of them from the original Captain Marvel. But his powers changed a few times himself, so no one’s sure which of his abilities Carol gained. The Illusion casting power is a perfect example. The first Captain Marvel gained this ability when he was granted cosmic awareness. He had it when he and Carol were caught in the explosion of Kree technology that empowered her. Theoretically, she should have this power too. But we’ve never seen her use it, so who knows?
