The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand with ever more powerful heroes and villains. Now, ‘Thunderbolts*’ finally introduced the superhero with the power of a million exploding suns, Sentry, and fans are naturally wondering if he is the most powerful being in the MCU.
Or does Scarlet Witch still hold that title, even after her apparent demise in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’? It’s a face-off that pits godlike power against reality-warping magic, and the result isn’t as straightforward as it may seem.
Scarlet Witch Possesses The Power To Control Realities
Wanda Maximoff’s transformation from a grief-stricken Avenger to the Scarlet Witch is one of the most dramatic arcs in the MCU. When she first appeared, her powers seemed limited to telekinesis and mind manipulation. However, over the course of the franchise, Wanda has evolved into something far more terrifying and magnificent. Her powers, at full strength, allow her to bend reality at will.
Related: How ‘Thunderbolts*’ Gave Marvel Its Most Honest Look At Mental Illness With The Sentry’s Struggle
She created an entire alternate world in Westview, complete with people, personalities, and logic-defying physics. She manifested children with full consciousness and superpowers and reanimated a version of Vision. When powered by the Darkhold, her abilities soared to new heights. This included a multiversal travel through dreamwalking and near-godlike strength. She took down the entire Illuminati of Earth-838 in mere minutes.
What makes Scarlet Witch so formidable isn’t just her raw power. It’s her unpredictability. She’s driven by love, grief, and pain, making her emotionally volatile. Additionally, her emotional fuel has led to cataclysmic consequences. Even if she was believed to have died under Mount Wundagore, fans suspect she’ll return. Because in the Marvel Universe, characters with reality-warping capabilities never stay gone for long.
There’s always a variant, a spell, or an unexplored timeline waiting to bring them back. In essence, Scarlet Witch is not just powerful, she’s untethered from the rules that bind most heroes and villains. She can reshape reality, alter destinies, and even defy death. That level of control over the very fabric of existence puts her in a league of her own.
Sentry Is the MCU’s Unstable Version Of Superman
After ‘Thunderbolts*’, Sentry is the MCU’s new wildcard. In the film, we meet Bob Reynolds, a seemingly mild-mannered individual with unimaginable power. Within minutes of his debut, he demonstrates strength and abilities that rival, if not surpass, any Earth-based hero we’ve seen so far. With super speed, strength, flight, invulnerability, telekinesis, and even heat vision, he’s essentially Marvel’s answer to Superman.
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Sentry’s sheer dominance is on full display when he dispatches the Thunderbolts with ease. He shrugs off attacks, bends vibranium-infused metal like paper, and halts bullets mid-air with his mind. And yet, it’s not his powers that are the most terrifying, it’s his instability. Bob harbors within him a dark entity known as the Void.
This sinister force is a manifestation of his darkest impulses and fears, and it possesses all of Sentry’s powers, amplified by cruelty and malice. The Void doesn’t just hurt people; it imprisons them in “shame rooms,” psychic prisons forged from their worst memories. It turned New York into a playground for living shadows, and yet, bizarrely, left victims physically unharmed.
This duality is what makes Sentry so dangerous. He is both protector and destroyer, light and shadow. Yet, Sentry has one major flaw: himself. Unlike Wanda, who at least operates with intent, even when clouded by grief, Sentry’s powers are tethered to his mental stability. So, from a pure power perspective, it’s close. Sentry is a nearly invincible superhuman capable of warping physical matter and unleashing devastating force.
Whereas, the Scarlet Witch controls reality. She doesn’t just destroy, she rewrites. While Sentry is terrifying in combat, Wanda bends the rules of the fight itself. The deciding factor? Control. Wanda, despite her trauma, exhibits focused intent when she unleashes her power. Sentry, on the other hand, is unpredictable and therefore unreliable as a stable force of power. In short, Sentry may bring the thunder, but Scarlet Witch is the storm.
