Some of the most incredible feats of power were put on display in theMarvel Cinematic Universeand Sony’s Spider-Man Universe projects released in 2024. 2025 is gearing up to be an exciting chapter for the MCU, with projects such asCaptain America: Brave New World, The Fantastic Four: First StepsandThunderbolts*expected to put some of the franchise’s most popular characters' best powers on full display. 2024, despite featuring only a few released Marvel movies and TV shows, did just the same, delivering some of theMCU and SSU’s most powerful moments.
What If…?Season 2
June 05, 2025
While Sony’s Spider-Man Universe didn’t fare so well in 2024, Marvel Studios' MCU achieved new levels of success with the releases ofDeadpool & WolverineandAgatha All Along. These projects delivered some of theMCU’s most impressive displays of power, while the animatedX-Men ‘97revival also included some incredible feats of strength from mutant heroes and villains alike. While2025’s larger release schedule presents more opportunities for these powerful moments,2024’s Marvel movies and TV showsput their characters’ talents to the test in some thrilling ways, too.
10Maya Lopez Embraces Her Ancestors' Powers
Echo Episode 5, “Maya”
Alaqua Cox’s debut as Maya Lopezwas seriously impressive back in 2021, and she got a chance to show off some real superhuman gifts when she returned to the MCU in 2024’sEcho. Throughout the five-part Marvel Spotlight series,Maya learned more about her powerful ancestors, dating back to the first leader of the Choctaw Nation, a woman named Chafa. As she found her ancestors echoing through her - leading to her new superhero moniker - Maya herself acquired some impressive gits, which even allowed her to bring Wilson Fisk’s Kingpin to his knees.
Vincent D’Onofrio has now made two formidableappearances in the MCU proper as Kingpin, and has been defeated both times, first by Kate Bishop and more recently by Maya Lopez. The latter used her new superpowers to thrust Fisk into a traumatic childhood memory, which was a fantastic and beautiful show of strength for the new hero.Maya proved that a hero doesn’t need to use acrobatic fighting skills or physical strength to defeat their enemies, but could instead bring down their adversary with intelligence and emotional power, which was stunning to watch.
9Daredevil Shows Off His Acrobatic Skills
Echo Episode 1, “Chafa”
Echodidn’t only give Maya Lopez a chance to show off her brilliant new powers, but the series premiere also putCharlie Cox’s Matt Murdock, a.k.a. Daredevil, front-and-center. After debuting as the Man Without Fear in Netflix’sDaredevilseries,Cox returned to make appearances inSpider-Man: No Way Home, She-Hulk: Attorney at LawandEchoprior to headlining his new 2025 solo series.Echosaw Daredevil show off his acrobatic skill, his spatial awareness and his boxing-inspired fighting style, though Maya Lopez still proved a formidable match for him.
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Matt Murdock’s father was a boxer, Battlin' Jack Murdock, and this inspired Daredevil’s battle techniques. This was seen throughoutDaredevilon Netflix, and it was great to see this taken to the max inEcho’spremiere.Daredevil’s scenes inEchoalso proved exactly how great cameo appearances can be, as he appeared for just a few moments, not drawing focus from Maya Lopez, but developing his place in the world of the MCU. This scene showed off some of his impressive skills and perfectly set the stage for them to be explored further in theMCU’s upcomingDaredevil: Born Again.
8Venom Sacrifices Himself & The Xenophages
Venom: The Last Dance
WhileKraven the Huntermight be marking the end of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, 2024’sVenom: The Last Dancedelivered the franchise’s final somewhat-successful installment.The Last Dancecertainly had some issues, but the movie also acted as a fantastic closing statement to theVenomtrilogy and delivered a fond goodbye between Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and the Venom Symbiote. After bidding farewell,Venom proved his strength by bonding with three powerful Xenophages and showering himself in acid, seemingly killing him and the monsters simultaneously.
Venom: The Last Dancewas preceded by 2018’sVenom, directed by Ruben Fleischer, and 2021’sVenom: Let There Be Carnage, directed by Andy Serkis, who also portrayed Knull inThe Last Dance.
Of course,Venom: The Last Dance’spost-credits scenemay have teased Venom’s return somehow, perhaps even in the MCU’s primary continuity of Earth-616. This doesn’t detract from the sheer show of strength during the final scenes of Venom and the Symbiotes' epic battle against Knull’s Xenophages, however.Venom has always been depicted as one of the most versatile, flexible, adaptable and powerful characters in any Marvel movie franchise, and this scene showed the limits of this to a tee. Hopefully, this won’t be the last time audiences see Venom’s true power unfold.
7Magneto Takes Down Bastion’s Sentinels With An EMP
X-Men ‘97 Episode 8, “Tolerance Is Extinction - Part 1”
X-Men ‘97became an instant hit for Marvel Studios back in March, reviving the classicX-Men: The Animated Seriesfrom the 1990s and picking up shortly after the events of the former show’s finale. With Professor X gone,Magneto took over the X-Men, and saw huge growth throughout the series, but he still ended up being pushed to villainy after being taken captive by Bastion, the season’s primary antagonist.To bring Bastion to his knees, Magneto, freed by Valerie Cooper in episode 8, sent out an electromagnetic pulse that destroyed anything electrical on Earth, including Bastion’s Prime Sentinels.
This was an incredible show ofMagneto’s world-reaching powers, as he obliterated anything electrical across the entire globe in only a matter of moments. This officially marked his shift from X-Men leader back to staunch adversary of humanity, as the half-human, mutant-hating Bastion had only proved exactly why Magneto had been so anti-human all these years. Magneto is one of Marvel’s most formidable mutant characters, soit was great to see him show off his remarkable powers inX-Men ‘97before he possibly gets reinvented in the live-action MCU.
6The Void Resistance Team Take On Cassandra Nova’s Army
Deadpool & Wolverine
Sticking on the mutant theme, 2024’sDeadpool & Wolverinebrought a plethora of mutant heroesfrom 20th Century Fox’sX-Menfranchise into the MCU proper, while also bringing back heroes from other classic Marvel movie franchises. As a true multiverse movie,Deadpool & Wolverinebrought together a team of resistance fighters comprising Deadpool, Wolverine and other formidable past Marvel heroeswho all got the chance to show off their strengths in a battle against Cassandra Nova and her army of variants. This team made many viewers’ Marvel dreams come true.
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The fight between the Resistance team andCassandra Nova’s forces inDeadpool & Wolverinewas exhilarating. Blade showed off his brutality, Elektra put her acrobatic skills front-and-center, Laura reminded audiences of her animalistic qualities fromLogan, and Channing Tatum’s Gambit finally got his time in the spotlight. Thiswas a powerful scene that showed how brilliant bringing back legacy heroes from classic Marvel movies could be, which is something thatAvengers: DoomsdayandSecret Warsare expected to repeat in Phase 6.
5Death Heals Agatha Harkness & Billy Maximoff
Released around the Halloween season in 2024,Agatha All Alongquickly became one of Marvel Studios’ most popular installments. The series marked a huge development for the MCU, asAubrey Plaza debuted as Lady Death, an iconic character from Marvel Comics and Thanos’ long-time love interest, but is romantically involved with Agatha Harkness in the MCU.Agatha All Along’spremiere teased Plaza as Death, as she healed a deep wound on Agatha’s hand with a sultry lick, showing her healing capabilities and teasing her as the bridge between life and death.
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Aubrey Plaza debuted as the personification of Death in Agatha All Along, opening the door for her to cross paths with many notable MCU characters.
This incredible power was seen again inAgatha All Alongepisode 4, which saw Death heal Billy Maximoff after he became injured by the curse in the second trial on the Witches' Road.While the coven thought that Jennifer Kale’s quick-thinking spell healed Maximoff, it’s far more likely that Death healed the teen, particularly since Agatha urged Death not to take him. Marvel Studios has only scratched the surface ofDeath’s incomprehensible power-set in the MCU, so it would be fantastic to see Aubrey Plaza reprise the role in any number of upcoming projects.
4Madelyne Pryor Becomes The Goblin Queen
X-Men ‘97 Episode 3, “Fire Made Flesh”
The early episodes ofX-Men ‘97packed a huge punch, as the woman who audiences thought was Jean Grey was actually revealed to be a clone of the iconic X-Men hero. It was revealed thatMister Sinister had swapped Jean Greyfor his clone in the hopes of having the clone and Scott Summers’ Cyclops bear a child that Sinister could manipulate. This plan almost went off without a hitch, as,shortly after Nathan Summers’ birth, Sinister activated the evil Goblin Queen inside the Jean Grey clone, and her power level was almost too much for the X-Men.
In Marvel Comics’Infernoevent from 1989, Madelyne Pryor’s transformation into the Goblin Queen allows her to facilitate a demonic invasion of the Earth. InX-Men ‘97, these demons were only illusions cast by the Goblin Queen, rather than being actual demons unleashed on the X-Mansion.
The Goblin Queen cast grand illusions that completely transformed the X-Mansion, toyed with the X-Men team dynamics and almost brought the team to its knees.She only stopped her attack when the real Jean Grey appealed to her better nature and, together, they saved Nathan from Mister Sinister’s scheme, though ultimately had to send him to the future where he’d become Cable. TheGoblin Queen, who eventually named herself Madelyne Pryor, was a formidable inclusion inX-Men ‘97who very nearly defeated the X-Men when many others had failed.
3Cassandra Nova Invades Wolverine’s Memories
Emma Corrin’s Cassandra Novaproved herself to be one of the MCU’s most terrifying, remorseless and sinister supervillains in 2024’sDeadpool & Wolverine, and this was shown throughout the movie thanks to her physical action of jamming her fingers into the skulls of her victims.While Charles Xavier can invade a person’s mind telepathically, Cassandra Nova, his dark mirror, must get her hands dirty. Wolverine experiences this first-hand when Cassandra invades his memories of the X-Men meeting their demise and him doing nothing to stop it.
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What made this moment even more shocking and powerful was that Cassandra Nova demonstrated the ability to alter Wolverine’s memories from within. Where he used to hear the voices of those he’d wronged, Cassandra silenced them, stripping him of his torment. She showed off this power earlier on, too, as she changed Deadpool’s own memory of his conversation with Vanessa, butseeing her actively walk through Wolverine’s memory was even more frightening. It would be brilliant to seeCassandra Nova somehow returnto show off more powers in the MCU’s future.
2Deadpool & Wolverine Stop Cassandra Nova & Save The Universe
Deadpool & Wolverinemanaged to become one of Marvel Studios’ most successful installments ever thanks to its brilliant full-circle storyline.Deadpool and Wolverine fought valiantly to stop Cassandra Nova from destroying Earth-10005 and, eventually, destroying the whole multiverseby using the TVA’s Time Ripper. This culminated in a scene which sawDeadpool and a shirtless Wolverine seemingly sacrifice their own livesto stop Cassandra Nova the tune of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer,” which became even better when the pair actually survived.
Hugh Jackman first appeared as Wolverine in 2000’sX-Men, though this new iteration debuted inDeadpool & Wolverine, while Ryan Reynolds first appeared as Wade Wilson in 2009’sX-Men Origins: Wolverinebut reinvented the antihero in 2016’sDeadpool.
Audiences, like Deadpool, had waited years for this team-up between the Merc with a Mouth and the clawed X-Men hero, so it was essential that they joined forces to save the universe at the end of the movie.This scene was full of power, emotion and the real possibility that both heroes would be killed, as no sequels had yet been (and still haven’t been) announced, which raised the stakes significantly. Cassandra Nova was defeated, pleased viewers saw Hugh Jackman’s abs and the universe was saved, which made this one ofDeadpool & Wolverine’smost memorable scenes.
1Billy Maximoff Creates The Witches’ Road
Agatha All Along Episode 2, “Circle Sewn With Fate/Unlock Thy Hidden Gate”
While there were many incredible feats of power from a variety of characters in Marvel’s 2024 projects, none showed the level of power displayed byBilly Maximoff inAgatha All Along. Joe Locke debuted as the reincarnated son of the Scarlet Witch in the Phase 5 series, and followed in his mother’s footsteps by inadvertently creating an entire world without even thinking about it.Agatha All Along’sfinal two episodes revealed that Billy Maximoff had created the Witches' Road based on the legend, the ballad and his research, and that the Witches' Road had never actually been real.
Agatha Harkness and her son, Nicholas Scratch, had written “The Ballad of the Witches' Road” prior to the latter’s demise. Agatha then used the song and the growing legend of the Witches' Road to lure countless witches to their deaths over the following centuries, and planned to do the same to her new coven inAgatha All Alongepisode 2, butBilly Maximoff made the Witches' Roadreal using his reality warping abilities. Few other heroes in theMarvel Cinematic Universeor other Marvel franchises have displayed this level of power, so the future is very bright for Billy Maximoff.
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a multimedia superhero franchise that began in 2008 with Paramount’s Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. The franchise quickly grew in popularity, with Disney eventually buying out Marvel Entertainment in 2009. The MCU consists of dozens of movies and TV shows, most notably Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision, and Loki.
