The Avengers have always had formidable female heroes on their roster. In fact, Wasp created the “Avengers” name while she was the only woman on the original team. Marvel’s efforts at gender representation didn’t end with its heroes though. Over the years, the Avengers have faced some unbelievably powerful female villains who have tested the limits of their abilities.
Some of the most dangerous women the Avengers have faced have been utterly immoral or alien, while others have been former teammates who made some incredibly bad decisions. One thing is certain though, the female villains squaring off against the Avengers have been some of the deadliest foes the heroes have ever faced.
10 Proxima Midnight
Fans of the MCU will already be familiar with Proxima Midnight, who was part of Thanos’s strike team during the Avengers: Infinity War movie. This deadly alien is a member of Thanos’s Black Order, where she was recruited due to her impressive combat skills, and tasked with finding the Infinity Stones.
As Thanos’s lieutenant, Proxima Midnight hunted for the Infinity Stones on Earth, first by attacking Namor in Atlantis, then by attacking Wakanda after Namor sabotaged the African nation. Proxima Midnight killed Black Panther Shuri during Thanos's attack on Wakanda, along with countless others while hunting for the stones.
9 Viper
Viper was orphaned as a young child before being recruited into Hydra. Over her years with the villainous organization, Viper rose through the ranks until she was running Hydra, under the moniker Madame Hydra. After tangling with the Avengers, Viper left Hydra to form her own terrorist organization, before eventually ruling over Madripoor.
Although Viper has incredible combat skills and expertise with poisons, her true strength lies in her mind. Viper’s strategic thinking allowed her to rise through the ranks of a cut-throat organization, take over others, and eventually rule a nation through which she was able to fund further terrorist activities.
8 Yelena Belova
In Marvel Comics, Russia’s Red Room trained some of the most deadly assassins on Earth. The most famous graduate of the Red Room is Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow who defected to join the Avengers. Yelena Belova was another Red Room operative who idolized Black Widow and eventually departed the Red Room as well.
Unlike Natasha, Yelena did not join the heroes after her defection. Instead, she joined A.I.M. and Hydra, who turned her into a powerful Super-Adaptoid. She was killed during a fight with the Avengers, but Black Widow’s relationship with Yelena led her to revive Yelena’s clone. Yelena now fights for good, but she killed a lot of people to get there.
7 Typhoid Mary
Typhoid Mary has a history of being badly treated by men, from childhood abuse to reluctant sex work. When she was thrown through a window by Daredevil during one of his fights, she discovered her psionic powers and swore she would never let a man hurt her again. Mary eventually married Daredevil’s nemesis, the Kingpin.
Mary has dissociative identity disorder, and her behavior changes wildly depending on which personality is in control. Mary herself is timid, while Typhoid Mary is bold and adventurous. Bloody Mary is brutal and sadistic. Over the years, Mary was sadly used as a pawn by many other villains such as Kingpin and Doctor Doom. However, she is powerful and deadly in her own right.
6 Hela
Anyone who watched Thor: Ragnarok knows the Asgardian Hela and her deadly, destructive capabilities. Although Hela is not as powerful in comics as she was in the MCU, she is still a formidable enemy for Thor and the Avengers. The daughter of Loki, Hela rules over the realm of the dead, and shares many of her father’s powers.
Hela has mastery over the souls of the dead, and she has not been shy about causing more deaths to increase her power. She has killed Thor, and she has started wars leading to countless deaths. She joined with other lords of Hell to unleash monsters, and corrupted the Valkyries to attack innocent people. Hela has earned her title as Goddess of Death.
5 Dark Phoenix
Jean Grey is one of the most powerful psychics on Earth, and an Omega-level mutant. When the cosmic Phoenix Force required a new host, it joined with Grey to create the powerful Phoenix. After manipulation by the Hellfire Club, however, Jean became the Dark Phoenix and began a terrible path of destruction.
The Dark Phoenix destroyed a star, which in turn killed countless people on a number of inhabited planets, making Jean Grey one of the deadliest villains Marvel’s heroes have ever faced. She sacrificed herself and eventually was resurrected without the Phoenix Force influencing her, but the destruction she caused still haunts her.
4 Moonstone
Moonstone began her career as a talented psychiatrist, however, she used her practice to manipulate and sabotage her clients. She tricked the original Moonstone into giving her the potent Kree device of the same name. The device provided her with powers similar to those of Captain Marvel.
Although Moonstone flirted with heroism briefly, she has almost always been a villain. Before she became a part of Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers, Moonstone joined Baron Zemo and his Masters of Evil. As a result of her involvement in numerous villain organizations, Moonstone has been a powerful and deadly threat to the people and heroes of Earth.
3 Superia
Superia is a villain with a mysterious past. She first appeared as an adversary for Captain America during a plot to sterilize most of the people on Earth so her team of “Femizons” could take over and turn the world into a matriarchy. She is a genius with super strength, flight, and she can shoot energy blasts from her hands.
After repeatedly tangling with the Avengers and Captain America in particular, Superia joined Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers. Eventually, she ended up on the High Council of A.I.M. Through her plots and associations with terrorist organizations, Superia has caused far more destruction than many of her more famous peers.
2 Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch is mostly viewed as a hero these days, however, despite her desire to do good, she is responsible for some of the deadliest disasters in Marvel Comics’ history. Wanda’s reality-warping abilities are so powerful they can re-shape the entire world and all the people in it. Unfortunately, these results are not always positive.
Over the years, Scarlet Witch has created people out of thin air, inverted heroes’ and villains’ morality, de-powered almost all mutants, created an army of zombie mutants, and killed many of the Avengers. And all of those events came after she decided to be a hero, as opposed to her prior life as a mutant terrorist.
1 Death
Most people are familiar with the Marvel villain Thanos, thanks to the Avengers movies. What casual fans might not know is how Thanos became genocidal. In the comics, Thanos’s actions are mostly thanks to Death, who groomed Thanos since childhood. Many of Thanos’s most horrific acts were primarily aimed at impressing Death–the woman he loves.
In Marvel Comics, Death most often takes the form of a beautiful woman. In addition to her close ties to Thanos, Death also has a long flirtation with Deadpool, with whom she can never be together, thanks to his inability to die. Although she doesn’t take a direct hand in killing, Death’s influence has led to more peoples’ demise than any other character.