Marvel movies and comics over the years delivered some of the best and most powerful female villains in history.
While Marvel Studios continues to add new female villains to the MCU roster, plenty of thrilling antagonists have shined in Marvel Comics' 85-year history.
Fans know some of Marvel's biggest female characters from the hero side. However, the popularity of villains continues to rise as Marvel Comics and the MCU expand to new heights.
15 Best Female Marvel Villains Ranked
Ahead is The Direct's ranking of the 15 best female Marvel supervillains, considering how well-written they are, their popularity, and how powerful they are based on the comics and movies.
15.) Black Cat
Felicia Hardy's Black Cat has become one of Marvel's most popular female villains/antiheroes, mainly due to her on-again/off-again relationship with Spider-Man. Unfortunately, her status as a mere human ranks her near the bottom of the list, but that does not mean she cannot hold her own.
Felicia is a highly skilled gymnast, acrobat, and martial artist with supreme balance and agility and a hoard of impressive weaponry. Her skills allow her to evade most incoming enemies, although she is also strong and clever enough to win most physical battles.
14.) Nebula
Portrayed by Karen Gillan in the MCU (most recently in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) is the deadly adopted daughter of Thanos — Nebula. While she originally started as a humanoid alien, countless battles lost to her sister, Gamora, made Thanos modify her body and turn her into a cyborg-esque living weapon.
Best known for her regenerative capabilities, Nebula is a vicious fighter who can often transform her arms into powerful weaponry to slash and shoot those in front of her. Her tenacious attitude and her regenerative abilities make her a force to be reckoned with across the Multiverse.
13.) Madame Masque
Whitney Frost, better known to Marvel fans as Madame Masque, comes into the Marvel world with incredible powers and ties back to Iron Man. After a tragic plane crash, she wound up with a massively disfigured face, forcing her to don a golden mask as she sought vengeance in the criminal underworld.
Madame Masque's skill set includes proficiency in martial arts and gymnastics, and she can disguise herself and her army of clones that she created. Additionally, she trained herself to resist most mental attacks, including powerful forms of telepathy.
12.) Mystique
One of Marvel's most powerful mutants comes in the form(s) of Raven Darkholme/Mystique, arguably the franchise's most famous shapeshifter. While Mystique was portrayed in the early 2000s by Rebecca Romijn, the 2010s saw Jennifer Lawrence take on the role of the villain's earlier years.
The blue-skinned character is best known for her ability to change her body into that of any other person or mutant, allowing for a wide variety of skills and camouflaging expertise. Additional traits include decreased aging and resistance to toxins and disease, making her incredibly hard to take out.
11.) Ravonna Renslayer
Brought to life in the MCU's Loki by Gugu Mbatha-Raw is Ravonna Renslayer, who hails from 40th-century Earth in the pages of Marvel Comics. Known for her ties to Kang the Conqueror, Ravonna is no slouch when taking on enemies.
While Ravonna is human, she is still from the future, giving her abilities far beyond most of her Earthly counterparts from the 21st century. Her powers are largely physical, boasting superhuman speed, strength, stamina, reflexes, and durability.
10.) Madame Hydra / Viper
Ophelia Sarkissian has gone back and forth over the decades between the monikers of Madame Hydra and Viper. While a version of Madame Hydra came to life via AIDA in Agents of SHIELD Season 4, a version more accurate to the comics was seen as a secondary antagonist in 2013's The Wolverine.
Along with her martial arts and weapons skills, Viper is highly knowledgeable in the properties and uses of different toxins, poisons, and snake venoms. She is also capable of creating her own poisons that she can spread through her fangs or poisoned lipstick, making her deadly through multiple capacities.
9.) Deathbird
Cal'syee Neramani, better known to fans as Deathbird, is an exceptionally powerful alien mutant from the Shi'ar race. However, she became an even bigger threat to the universe after being exiled from the Shi'ar, and Lillandra took over her position as Shi'ar Majestrix.
The Shi'ar are known as an avian-based race of creatures outside the classic superhuman speed and strength. This allows Deathbird to fly at high speeds, and she also has claw-like nails that can cut through almost anything.
8.) Lady Deathstrike
Yuriko Oyama from Marvel Comics is a samurai warrior better known as Lady Deathstrike. While she has only been utilized in a few live-action Marvel movies, her abilities spell doom for anyone within a few feet of her.
In the comics, Lady Deathstrike is a cyborg. Still, in most past character iterations, she also boasts an acute healing ability and long adamantium claws from her fingertips. Like Wolverine's claws, she can cut through nearly anything, putting the "Death" in "Lady Deathstrike."
7.) Emma Frost
Utilized two different ways in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine and 2011's X-Men: First Class is the brilliant Emma Frost. While she has not been explored to her full extent on screen, she ranks as one of the strongest and most fearsome characters in Marvel lore.
Emma's telepathic abilities are said to be on the same level as those of X-Men leader Charles Xavier — abilities that make her an Omega-level mutant. On top of those incredible powers, her secondary mutation allows her skin to turn into diamond, making her nearly impossible to defeat physically.
6.) Cassandra Nova
Cassandra Nova made her big screen debut in Deadpool & Wolverine through Emma Corrin's portrayal. Known as a Mummudrai, Cassandra is Charles Xavier's twin sister whose spirit finds a body to inhabit and causes mass terror across the universe in multiple forms of media.
Along with extraordinary telepathic abilities, she can phase through solid matter, regenerate herself, and unlock the genetic potential of latent mutants. While these powers were not all shown off in the MCU's Deadpool 3, she has almost no weaknesses in battle against Marvel's best.
5.) Agatha Harkness
Kathryn Hahn's journey with the role in the MCU made Agatha Harkness widely popular. The centuries-old witch made a name for herself as one of the franchise's most powerful magic users. She mentored the Scarlet Witch and babysat Franklin Richards in the comics, showing off her skills all along the way.
Agatha's powers come from witchcraft, allowing her to perform incredible magic that gives her immense power, strength, and longevity. In the MCU, Agatha used her power to kill witches and take their life force, showing her evil side in full force.
4.) Hela
Not many heroes or villains in the Marvel Universe can stand up against Hela, the Goddess of Death, and come out in one piece. Played by Cate Blanchett in the MCU, Hela proved her worth as a villain on countless occasions in the comics over the decades.
Best known for her ability to form any weapon imaginable out of obsidian rock, Hela is immortal, nearly indestructible, and a master of multiple forms of magic. Those in the MCU avoid getting on her bad side, as she can take out anyone in her path almost with the snap of a finger.
3.) Enchantress
Amora, more commonly known to Marvel fans as the Asgardian Enchantress, is not yet seen in the MCU or other major Marvel movies. While she was banned from Asgard for her use of magic, Amora has consistently demonstrated her mastery of magic and sorcery throughout Marvel Comics' history.
Along with peak superhuman physical abilities, Enchantress' skills include sorcery, teleportation, flight, telepathy, illusions, and life force absorption. Although she uses her natural beauty to weaken the defenses of those around her, her powers make her more than formidable against any foe thrown in front of her.
2.) Scarlet Witch
One of the most famous villains in recent history is Marvel's Wanda Maximoff, whose moniker — the Scarlet Witch — is now the stuff of pop culture legend. Originally known as one of Magneto's children in the comics, Wanda honed her magic skills to insane levels and is now one of Marvel's strongest characters.
The Scarlet Witch's massive powerset includes strong witchcraft, telepathy, energy manipulation, and mastery of chaos magic. As shown by Wanda's place as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' villain, opposing her is a bad choice, as she is nearly unstoppable when she wants to be.
1.) Dark Phoenix
Jean Grey is often utilized in animated form and in the live-action X-Men Saga. She is more feared than almost anybody in the Marvel world as her alter-ego, Dark Phoenix. The character is a mainstay across all forms of media, which has put her story in the spotlight to varying levels of success over the years.
The real question about Jean's powers is what she can't do, as she is arguably the scariest in the universe when at full strength. Nothing can even come close to slowing her down on every scale imaginable. Considering her power level out-levels Charles Xavier's...good luck.
