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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

TELEPORTATION AND ILLUSION-CASTING… MAYBE

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.

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.

SUPERHUMAN STRENGTH

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.

EXTREME DURABILITY

Of course, superhuman strength doesn’t mean much if there isn’t enhanced durability to match, otherwise, a strong punch would also shatter the hand. Captain Marvel’s durability is tested in every physical battle she finds herself in, whether she finds herself facing off against common thugs with bullets, powerful villains or menacing spaceships. Fans even watched Captain Marvel take every single weapon Mecha Iron Man had at his disposal during Civil War II, and she withstood every one, taking the victory.

FLIGHT

While characters like Iron Man and Vision are able to fly in the MCU, none seem to do it as dramatically as Captain Marvel has shown in trailers. However, while her energetic flight signature has become a key design of the character, the original Ms. Marvel did not fly under her own power, as most Kree are not able to fly. Her flight came from an electronic webbing that ran through her original Ms. Marvel costume, which allowed her to “sail the Earth’s electromagnetic field.”

SUPERHUMAN STAMINA

Captain Marvel’s endurance was also greatly enhanced by her half-Kree physiology, allowing her to operate at peak levels longer than any human and most of her fellow heroes. This ability teams well with her other abilities like energy absorption (more on that soon), which allows Carol to re-energize herself as long as necessary to get the job done. Most recently in Secret Empire, we saw Captain Marvel and a few other space-bound heroes fight off a nearly unending horde of Chitauri invaders during the entirety of the event.

ENHANCED REFLEXES

As a fighter pilot for the United States Air Force, Carol Danvers already had peak human reflexes developed for her career long before her Kree-genes were activated by the exploding Psyche-Magnitron that gave Carol her powers in the comic books. Once powered up, Carol’s enhanced reflexes allow her to process things at beyond superhuman levels. This obviously comes in handy during the many battles she participates in, but even more so when flying at cosmically high speeds that require lightning-fast decisions.

SUPER SPEED

Super speed is a fairly broad term and instantly brings to mind characters like Quicksilver and the Flash, speedsters who operate at a faster level than normal humans. Captain Marvel’s variation of the power does appear in battle with her superhuman reflexes that allow her to process information quickly, but it is mostly represented at the high speeds Carol is able to fly. She once traveled at over three times the speed of sound in the atmosphere and was able to hold that speed for a few hours.

MOLECULAR MANIPULATION

While “molecular manipulation” sounds like a pretty intense power, (and in some cases incredibly dangerous,) in Captain Marvel’s case it’s a fancy way of explaining her ability to transform into her costume at will. Like her ability to fly, this was originally built into her Ms. Marvel costume, though it was later explained as an act of rearranging energy and matter on a molecular level. It’s an ability that seems woefully unexplored, with incredible potential beyond a simple wardrobe change.

WHITE HOLE LINKAGE

Following a traumatic encounter with the mutant Rogue that left Carol’s powers drained and her memories gone, she traveled into space with the X-Men. There, she was experimented on by the Brood, which created a connection between Carol and the hypothetical stellar occurrence known as a white hole. This gave Carol the powers of a star, which manifested into various forms. She became the cosmic being known as Binary, forever altered into one of the most powerful heroes in the Marvel universe.

ENHANCED PERCEPTIONS

With her transformation into Binary came a whole new way of experiencing life, which essentially created a new character out of Carol Danvers. Binary was like a newborn in the galaxy, not only enjoying space travel for the first time alongside the X-Men, but then experiencing life in general with incredibly enhanced perceptions. Binary was able to see across the electromagnetic spectrum, and once remarked to Colossus that he couldn’t imagine what she was able to see now as Binary.

ENERGY ABSORPTION

Undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of Carol’s powers comes from her time as Binary, where she gained the ability to absorb energy, both active and ambient. Carol was able to absorb energy from the environment around her, the enemies she faced, and the energies of the cosmos during her time in space. After her time as Binary was over, she retained her energy absorption powers and was occasionally able to tap into her Binary form after absorbing high levels of energy.

ENERGY MANIPULATION

There are lots of ways Captain Marvel is able to use that energy once she absorbs it, which includes the ability internalize that energy and use it in various, creative manners. Her flight, photon blasts, and even physical attributes like her strength can all be enhanced; like when she absorbed enough energy to amplify her strength to punch with the force of a nuclear explosion. Carol has even at times used her stored energy to create simple constructs like energy barriers and sharp blades of energy.

PHOTON BLASTS

After her time as Binary ended, Carol kept reduced versions of her energy absorption and manipulation, which mainly demonstrated themselves in her photonic energy blasts. Most often shot from her hands in true comic book fashion, these blasts were made of concussive light energy and could be either focused tightly like a laser or spread wide for maximum coverage with reduced damage. Carol has at times discharged this energy out of her eyes as well, a skill she learned from an alternate reality version of her Warbird persona.

HEAT GENERATION

As Binary, Carol was able to control and manipulate the stellar energies of a star, which included the production of heat and light which she used to great effect in battle. While she mostly shoots photonic energy blasts at her modern Captain Marvel power levels, when she was Binary she was able to fire intense blasts of heat while also controlling the temperature of the environment around her. Binary’s light generation also proved useful to her allies in the dark of space.