10 Captain Marvel’s Weaknesses Ranked by Severity

There are a lot of reasons to believe that Captain Marvel is currently the strongest Avenger in the MCU. In the comics, she is right up there at the top in terms of her power level when compared to all of the other Avengers. As such, there is no denying the fact that Carol Danvers is one of the strongest heroes in the history of Marvel.

But while it may be true that Captain Marvel is incredibly strong, she isn’t invincible. Like many other heroes, she still has her own fair share of weaknesses. Some of these weaknesses can be seen in the comics and even in the MCU. So, with that said, let’s look at all of Captain Marvel’s weaknesses. 

10. Split personality

During the earlier part of her run in the comics, Carol Danvers actually had trouble with her powers and identity. This created a split personality that identified themselves differently. The other personality remained Carol Danvers, whereas the other one was carrying the personality of Ms. Marvel (Carol’s hero name before she became Captain Marvel). 

Because she had trouble juggling her two identities, Carol had episodes wherein she blacked out as she couldn’t remember anything that Ms. Marvel did. In that regard, it was clear that this was a big weakness that she needed to address, as different enemies would have taken advantage of the fact that both Carol and Ms. Marvel saw themselves as separate entities.

9. Mental health

Strong as she is, Captain Marvel wasn’t exactly always in a good place as far as her mental health was concerned. There was a point wherein she lost her powers and memories to Rogue, and that meant that she was no longer a hero in terms of her abilities. As such, she struggled to accept the fact that she was no longer the same. Even after she recovered her powers, she became a different person.

Due to her independent nature, she didn’t want to seek help for her psychological problems. Instead, she drowned her problems in alcohol as she became an alcoholic at one point in time. There were even moments where she committed simple mistakes while on a mission because she was under the influence of alcohol. As such, she was never a perfect hero in terms of her personality and mental health.

8. Brainwashing

Again, while she may be powerful, Captain Marvel didn’t have the strong minds that the other superheroes had. That means that those who wanted to defeat her could actually target her mind instead. We saw this in the comics when Marcus, the son of Immortus, decided to brainwash Carol Danvers into falling in love with him due to his obsession with the powerful hero.

In the MCU, we even saw evidence of the fact that Captain Marvel didn’t have the strongest mind. That’s because the Skrulls were able to use a fracking pod (mind probe) on her to check her memories. That means that a hero with incredible mental abilities could actually attack Carol’s mind, as there’s a good chance that her mind is just as strong as an ordinary human being’s own mind.

7. Memory loss

Even though it may be true that Captain Marvel was able to recover her memories during the events of the ‘Captain Marvel’ movie, the fact is that there was a point in time wherein she actually lost her memories and couldn’t even remember that she was Carol Danvers and that she once lived on Earth instead of on Hala. 

The Kree were able to manipulate Carol’s mind and make her forget who she really was. In the comics, her memory problems even affected her without any outside interference as she developed two separate identities that had their own memories. So, as strong as she may be, her mind isn’t as strong as her other powers.

6. Mind control

As mentioned, Captain Marvel’s mind was always one of her biggest weaknesses because she didn’t have a strong mind that was capable of resisting mental attacks. We saw this in the MCU when the Kree were able to alter her memories and manipulate her into working for them as a member of Starforce.

In the comics, we saw that Marcus was strong enough to control and manipulate Carol’s mind so that she would fall in love with him. MODOK also used this very same weakness against her when the living computer used psionic powers against Captain Marvel to make life difficult for her. In fact, he even made her believe that he was a handsome and desirable man instead of the freaky computer thing that he was.

5. Power depletion

Unlike the Hulk and Thor, Captain Marvel’s powers rely on cosmic energy that her body needs to have reserves of so that she can remain strong. That means that her powers are a product of the cosmic energy she can absorb and store in her body. In fact, her Binary Mode allows her to use the cosmic powers she stored in her body to give her powers that are simply off the charts.

However, while it may be true that she can use cosmic energy to become strong enough to take on Thanos all on her own, the problem is that she can overexert herself. When her powers are depleted, she becomes a lot weaker. We saw this in the comics when she saved the Earth’s sun and returned to Earth depleted. She needed to rest for months to recover her powers.

4. Magic

Even though we know that Captain Marvel can absorb energy and manipulate it to become stronger, the problem is that this doesn’t work on magic. She cannot absorb and manipulate magical energy, so her powers are often ineffective against magic. In the comics, she often needed the help of her allies to defeat magic-powered enemies.

At one point in the comics, Doctor Strange worked with Carol to cover her weakness in magic. In fact, in a fight with a powerful sorcerer named Warren Traveler, Strange needed to save Carol as she struggled against the magical abilities of this opponent. Then, in the MCU, the Maria Rambeau version of Captain Marvel struggled against the magical abilities of Scarlet Witch and couldn’t break through Wanda’s defenses.

3. Possession

Of course, one of the things that we also know is that mind control is something that Carol Danvers often struggled against in the comics. In fact, she has little power to resist brainwashing or mind control. In the same way, her awesome powers don’t work against someone who wants to possess her body using different methods.

In the comics, the telepathic being known as Shadow King used his powers to possess and inhabit Captain Marvel’s body to attack Rogue. This means that anyone with the ability to possess someone else can succeed against Carol, as her cosmic powers don’t work against such abilities.

2. Power absorption and stealing

Again, Carol Danvers’ powers allow her to absorb energy and manipulate it to become stronger. But there have been instances wherein her powers were absorbed or stolen by other people. In the comics, Rogue’s ability to steal abilities weakened Captain Marvel as Rogue ultimately absorbed her powers, thoughts, and memories after touching her.

While no one has been able to steal Captain Marvel’s power in the MCU, we did see Scarlet Witch absorbing her energy during their showdown. Wanda’s magical abilities depleted Maria Rambeau’s energy reserves, causing her Binary Mode to fail. Because she was no longer in her Binary Mode, Maria was easily defeated when Wanda toppled a large statue to crush and kill her.

1. Infinity Stones

In the MCU, Carol Danvers’ powers came from the Tesseract, which housed the Space Stone. This explains why she became so powerful, as her powers were given to her by one of the strongest items in the entire universe. This is similar to the fact that Wanda’s powers in the MCU were granted to her by the Mind Stone.

But while Captain Marvel’s powers allowed her to become stronger than almost all of the other Avengers, she was still inferior to the power of an Infinity Stone. In her showdown against Thanos, she overpowered the Mad Titan while she was in Binary Mode. However, when Thanos uses the Power Stone against Carol, she is quickly overpowered as it is clear that not even her cosmic powers are on par with an Infinity Stone.

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