15 Deadliest Marvel Female Villains [Ranked]

Marvel has had countless supervillains appearing in the comics, from street-level thugs to cosmic entities. Among those supervillains, we’ve come to know numerous female characters that were not necessarily villains at heart, but their actions spoke a different story.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ultimate list of the 15 deadliest Marvel female villains, ranked from least to most lethal.

15. Lady Deathstrike

Lady Deathstrike is kind of like the female version of Wolverine – and one of his common enemies. Her real name is Yuriko Oyama, and she first appeared in Daredevil #197 in 1983. However, the first time we saw Yuriko as Lady Deathstrike came in Alpha Flight #33 in late 1985.

Lady Deathstrike used her deceased father’s work to go through cybernetic enhancements, experimenting with adamantium. The cybernetics gave Yuriko a mighty punch, capable of lifting well over a ton. Her durability was increased, too, while Lady Deathstrike got adamantium claws to make her even deadlier.

I’d say she has quite similar qualities as Wolverine – experiments with adamantium that made her stronger, more durable, and incredibly deadly. The difference is Wolverine was a mutant even before his experiments, whereas Lady Deathstrike wasn’t, so she lacks his healing factor, along with some other disadvantages.

14. Mystique

Mystique is not always a villain. In fact, Raven Darkholme is a respected member of the X-Men, for the most part. However, when she goes rogue, Mystique can do a ton of damage without even having to fight.

Her mutation allows her to shape-shift into virtually anyone or anything. In one moment, she can look, walk, and talk like your mother and then your lover in the next. The manipulation she can do with that kind of ability is limitless, and Mystique knows how to exploit it.

Her mutation gives her more of an enhanced strength rather than superhuman but also grants her a very long life and slow aging. However, when she shape-shifts into someone else, Mystique can also gain some of their powers. For instance, if she were to shapeshift into the Beast, her strength would go way up. 

When she’s the bad guy, Mystique is as deadly as anyone. She can either fight and win or defeat you with manipulation before the fight even begins.

13. Moonstone

Dr. Karla Sofen first appeared in Captain America #192 as a renowned, brilliant psychiatrist. However, she was completely unethical and borderline evil, causing paranoia and fear in her patients instead of actually treating them.

She got a hold of a powerful alien stone after drugging and using the villain, Moonstone. She took the stone for herself, turning her into a much more powerful villain with the ability to fly, project energy blasts, fight the likes of Captain Marvel, etc.

She was a part of many villainous organizations, including Baron Zemo’s Masters of Evil, the Dark Avengers, etc. She once got a hold of another moonstone, making her twice as powerful as she was before.

12. Stunner

Angelina Brancale is a really special character who first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #397 back in 1994. She started working for Carolyn Trainer and subsequently with Dr. Otto Octavius, who had developed a virtual reality technology, making Angelina incredibly beautiful but also quite powerful.

When she has the VR tech on, the Stunner can lift over 50 tons, which is really phenomenal. However, despite her incredible strength and durability as the Stunner, Angelina could be easily defeated as soon as you unhooked her from the VR technology. Still, she fought hard against the pristine competition, such as Spider-Man, definitely earning her spot on this list.

11. Black Priestess

The Black Priestess had a dark, disturbing history ever since she was a child – about 17 000 years ago – so it’s no wonder she was eventually a villain. Selene Gallio was a member and leader of several different villain groups. However, the X-Men seem to be her primary enemies, as she first appeared in New Mutants #9.

Selene has powerful psionic abilities that include life-force absorption, psychic control, telekinesis and telepathy, superhuman physiology, immortality, and so much more. If you need a testament to her unfathomable mystical powers, all you need to know is that the Black Priestess was considered to become the Sorcerer Supreme at one point.

10. Superia

It’s always the same with the brilliant ones – they are either as good as saints, or they eventually turn sour and become supervillains. That’s what happened with Dr. Diedre Wentworth, a brilliant geneticist who eventually used her own experiments on herself to gain unfathomable superpowers. 

She was also the founder and leader of the Femizons, a group of female-only supervillains. Later, Superia worked for A.I.M. and as a member of the Dark Avengers, where she posed as Ms. Marvel.

Superia’s skills include incredible superhuman strength, flight, energy blasts, healing, and so much more. She’s a Class 50 supervillain, meaning she could potentially take down most of the Avengers one-on-one.

9. The Enchantress

The Enchantress, also known as Amora, is one of the most powerful sorcerers in the universe. She is originally a Thor villain, as the Enchantress is native to Asgard. However, she was banished due to her insubordination and misbehavior. She studied under other mages, enchanting them to reveal their spells and secrets to her.

She can manipulate Asgardian energy, but her real deadliness lies in her magical skills – the Enchantress has all the spells in the book, including time control, matter manipulation, paralysis, telepathy, charming spells, shape-shifting, and much more.

One might say that the Enchantress is a female version of Loki, additionally having mind-control tricks. She fought Thor numerous times, sometimes even teaming up with Loki or Hela to defeat him.

8. Titania

Now, we’re approaching the heaviest hitters. Mary MacPherran was this weak, shy, bullied woman who had so much rage and resentment bottled up in her. Mary wanted nothing more but to have revenge over everyone who had bullied her – and then she met Doctor Doom.

During the Secret Wars, Doom needed all the help he could get. So, he bestowed MacPherran with incredible powers, turning her into Titania, who is a Class 100 strength supervillain. She can easily match the She-Hulk in combat, which is probably why they have established an ongoing rivalry pretty soon.

After emancipating from Doom, Titania fought in several criminal organizations, including the Masters of Evil and the Femizons. Still, probably her most well-known endeavor was being a member of the Gamma Flight – a team that fought the Immortal Hulk.

Although She-Hulk is her arch-nemesis, Titania could never defeat her despite being obsessed with it.

7. Bloodaxe

Honestly, the first time I saw Bloodaxe in the comics, I had no idea she was a female antagonist. Her appearance is so scary and menacing, with the blood-red skull and huge ax as her weapon of choice. Her real name is Jackie Lukus, and she was Eric Masterson’s love interest who later joined him in the Thunderstrike group.

Lulus turned into Bloodaxe after coming into contact with an enchanted Asgardian ax that belonged to Skurge the Executioner. While Jackie rarely appeared in the comics and hid her identity as much as she could, Bloodaxe fought numerous incredibly powerful heroes such as Thor and held her ground pretty well.

The appearance, the choice of weaponry, and overall power of Bloodaxe deserve such a high spot on the list, despite the fact that she’s not as popular as other characters above her on the list.

6. Betty Ross

I won’t lie – Betty Ross gave me nightmares as a kid. Her first appearance as the Harpy came in The Incredible Hulk #168 in 1973, but Betty became the Red She-Hulk in Hulk Vol. 2 #15 in 2009, too.

The appearance of the Harpy is just something straight out of a horror film, but many don’t realize how powerful Betty was. She easily held her ground against Bruce Banner and She-Hulk. Betty was Bruce’s love interest who suffered from similar gamma radiation as the Hulk.

While she was always powerful throughout her comic book history, her latest iterations probably have her at the highest power level ever. The Red Harpy died and was resurrected, turning her immortal and amplifying her powers to unfathomable levels.

5. Emma Frost

Emma Frost shifted between being a hero and a villain numerous times, but she deserves a spot on this list because I believe Emma had done more harm than good throughout the years. Frost first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #129 and was their member for a long time. 

She is one of the most powerful telepaths the X-Men ever had, but after she had gone rogue, Frost created her own supervillain team. The White Queen was the arch-nemesis of the X-Men for a long time before becoming an integral part of the team.

Emma can control minds but also transform into a living diamond, allowing her to become invulnerable and to lift spectacular weights. She’s not a villain anymore, though, so I can’t put her higher on the list.

4. Hela

Hela is one of the most sinister characters we’ve seen in the comics, as well as the MCU. The long-lost sister of Thor had nothing else in mind but wreaking havoc and causing death and destruction. She’s an extremely powerful being and one of the few who could go against Thor and dominate physically.

Hela can reawaken the dead, but her main goal is to hurt her father, Odin, by taking Thor’s soul to the underworld. Also, the Goddess of Death can create dangerous bolts made out of energy that can either kill or quickly age her enemies. I can’t think of many characters that could beat Hela one-on-one because even Thor had difficulty dealing with her.

3. Xenith

Now, Xenith might not be the most popular Strontian in Marvel Comics, but she is just as powerful as her male counterpart, Kallark. Xenith is an alien who belongs to the Strontian race, with spectacular abilities and powers that make them some of the most powerful beings in the universe.

Xenith was first a hero, operating in a group named the Star Masters. However, after Kallark, aka the Gladiator, imprisoned her, she turned bad and became an Imperial Guard of a ruler named Vulcan.

The upper limits of Xenith’s strength and durability are unknown, and they only get higher as her confidence grows. She can also fly and cast powerful energy beams out of her eyes.

2. Jean Grey

Jean Grey is a beloved member of the X-Men who helped save the world numerous times. However, when she turned into the Dark Phoenix, Jean was one of the greatest threats the universe had ever seen. Pairing the Phoenix Force with her unfathomably strong mutant abilities made the Dark Phoenix Jean Grey one of the deadliest villains in Marvel history.

The more time passed, the more powerful she became. The Dark Phoenix became an epitome of destruction. Even without the Phoenix Force, Jean Grey was so powerful that Professor X had to block a big part of her abilities. Paired with the Phoenix Force, she was nearly unstoppable.

1. Scarlet Witch

Finally, the number one on this list has to be Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch. I know, I know – Wanda is a hero. However, she lost sense of herself and lost control of her powers so many times that one has to consider her a villain, at least in some situations.

When her absolute potential is unlocked, many consider Scarlet Witch to be the most powerful being in the universe. She has incredibly strong reality-warping abilities, capable of changing the entire world and reality with mere thoughts.

She had done a lot of damage over the years, especially during the House of M storyline, where she changed the reality to make Magneto the ruler of Earth. Later, she took away the powers of 90% of Earth’s mutants simply by whispering the words “no more mutants.”

Scarlet Witch’s powers have no boundaries. Although she’s generally a hero, Wanda had lost her marbles countless times and has probably done more damage than most of the other characters on this list combined.