Scarlet Witch vs. Thanos: Who Would Win in a Fight? (MCU & Comics)

Both Scarlet Witch and Thanos are among the most powerful characters, both in the comics and in the MCU. Thanos is known as the brawler dead set on eradicating half of all life in the Universe, and it took a whole team of Avengers to even come close to subduing him, which speaks enough about his powers. Scarlet Witch was initially introduced as a powerful magic user, capable of even warping reality, but her full potential was seen only after she unlocked her powers to the fullest during ‘Multiverse of Madness.’ Due to this, we decided to check out who between Thanos and Scarlet Witch is stronger and who would win in a fight, both in the comics and in the MCU. 

Thanos is more powerful than Scarlet Witch in the comics and would have no trouble defeating her. His physical aspects, like strength, speed, and durability, are highly superior, and his power-set is much more versatile. The MCU tells a different story. MCU version of Thanos was downgraded quite a bit, and by all accounts, ‘Multiverse of Madness’ Wanda is more powerful than Thanos and would win this fight. With Infinity Gauntlet, however, Thanos beats Scarlet Witch in every scenario.

Now that we’ve covered every possible scenario both in the comics and in the MCU, it’s time to analyze both characters in a bit more detail. If you’re interested in more, stay with us and keep reading!

Powers and abilities

During the ‘Multiverse Saga’ MCU introduced the concept of Nexus Beings to the narrative that was present in the comics for quite some time. We’ve already covered what this entails in the context of Scarlet Witch, so we’re not going to explain this in great detail, but in short, Wanda’s status as Nexus Being allows her to manipulate reality and probability. She also serves as a focal point for the magical energies of the Universe. 

Scarlet Witch can also project extremely destructive energy blasts; she can read minds, and despite her physical weakness, she can manipulate heavy objects with nothing but her mind. Her probability-altering powers ensure that the Universe will be working in her favor most of the time. 

After Wanda acquired Darkhold in the MoM, her full potential was unlocked, and she became a multiversal-level threat.  

Thanos is mostly known for wielding the Infinity Gauntlet, but there is so much more to his character regarding raw power than we have been shown in the MCU. In the comics, Thanos has mastery over several forms of energy, including magnetic, cosmic, elemental, and soul energy. He can also manipulate matter to some extent and has a unique control over space and time. 

Thanos is also well-versed in the mystical arts and often uses curses and spells to his advantage. In the MCU, we haven’t seen him manipulating energy to this extent, like in the comics, as he mostly focused on leveraging his power with the Infinity Gauntlet. 

In the comics, Scarlet Witch and Thanos are more or less on the same level regarding the destructive potential of their powers. However, in the MCU, Scarlet Witch is far more powerful. 

Strength and Stamina 

At least physically, Wanda was never known to be among the strongest characters in the Marvel comics. At the end of the day, she is merely human and is, therefore, bound by the limits of her physiology. But it is important to note that Scarlet Witch can utilize her telekinetic powers to manipulate heavy objects, humans, and the like and disable them if needed.

These powers also got enhanced in the MCU eventually, so even though she is physically weak, Scarlet Witch has the potential to manipulate, with her mind, what other heroes manage to manipulate with their raw strength. In terms of stamina, Scarlet Witch can last longer than a regular human in the battle. 

The extent of Thanos’ strength is not exactly known, and it is believed that his strength doesn’t have limits, but it’s generally accepted that he can lift well over 100 tons. He relies on his strength quite a lot despite having various other powers. In the MCU, Thanos’ strength has been nerfed.

Still, he demonstrated some impressive feats like snapping Loki’s neck with one hand, crushing the Tesseract, and overpowering the strongest Avengers using only his physical prowess. When it comes to stamina, Thanos has godlike levels and is able to fight for a longer time without getting tired. This is due to his deviant-eternal physiology, which makes him produce significantly fewer fatigue toxins than most other species in the Universe. 

Both in the comics and in the MCU, Scarlet Witch is physically inferior to Thanos. 

Speed

Scarlet Witch was never known to have impressive speeds, this is once again due to her human physiology, and she is severely limited while moving on foot. However, her powers provide you with teleportation and levitating in the air, and her precognition powers allow her to predict her opponent’s moves and react to them on time, accordingly. 

Scarlet Witch’s speed has seen a drastic improvement in MoM, where she was able to counter attacks with incredible speeds.  

Thanos, despite his large size, is able to move at astonishing speeds both in combat and outside of it. Like Scarlet Witch, he also has teleportation at his disposal, and his physiology provides him with reaction times fast enough that he can predict the movements of even the best hand-to-hand combatants in the Marvel Universe. 

Thanos’ movement speed & combat speed pale in the MCU. However, he still showed us how fast he really was when he caught Thor off guard, evaded Hulk’s strikes, and demonstrated agility against smaller opponents. 

Both in the MCU and in the comics, Thanos seems to have speeds superior to Scarlet Witch, although the difference is much smaller when we take the MoM Scarlet Witch upgrade into account. 

Durability

Scarlet Witch doesn’t have any special durability, as she is known as a glass cannon, a character that can shell out massive amounts of damage but isn’t capable of tanking that much damage at all. Still, she has powerful barriers and force fields that provide her with a degree of protection, including healing abilities. In the MCU, the story is quite different.

Strengthened by the Darkhold, can greatly enhance her durability. She demonstrated this during battles in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, such as the one at Kamar-Taj, where she was able to withstand strong energy blasts without being harmed, and the one at Mount Wundagore, where she absorbed multiple blows from America Chavez without any injury. Her recent MCU appearances proved that she could use her powerful magic to shield herself from even the most powerful blows. Paired with her ability to dreamwalk, it’s questionable whether she can ever truly die as she can easily transfer herself to some parallel universe.

In the comics, Thanos is almost invulnerable. This is due to the unique physiology that provides him with insanely strong and hard bodily tissues that can’t be pierced even by some of the most powerful weapons in the Marvel Universe. Thanos doesn’t have any obvious weaknesses, and even though he can’t be killed, it’s questionable how long he will stay dead since he has the ability to will himself back to life. 

In the MCU, Thanos’ biggest durability feat was that he could wield the Infinity Gauntlet without dying. This shows that he could withstand and absorb enough energy to power an entire continent for a week. 

In the comics and in the MCU, Thanos is much more durable than Scarlet Witch, but both also have tactics on evading death if it ever comes to that. 

Intelligence

Thanos is known to be among the smartest beings in the Marvel Universe. Ever since he was young, he was both fascinated with science and longed to discover all the mysteries that Universe has at its disposal. He had the foresight to predict the downfall of his home planet, Titan, due to overpopulation and excessive strain on resources. He relied on his sharp perception and logical reasoning skills to evaluate the actions and motivations of others, helping him stay one step ahead. Throughout his life, he demonstrated an exceptional ability to think critically and make calculated decisions. 

Scarlet Witch might not be a genius when it comes to raw intellect numbers, but she is still quite well versed in the matters of magic, the occult, and the cosmos. When she comes up with a plan, she executes it with almost perfect precision, even if it leads to cosmic turmoil. But her greatest weakness lies in the stability of her mind, which has often been called into question. 

Thanos is more emotionally stable than Wanda and more intelligent both in the comics and in the MCU. 

Combat Skills 

It goes without saying that Scarlet Witch doesn’t have to rely on her combat skills to be victorious in any battle; however, as an Avenger, she did receive training from Captain America and has extensive knowledge of armed and unarmed combat.

Thanos, like Scarlet Witch, in theory, doesn’t have to rely on physical combat all that much, but he is still known as among the best combatants in the Marvel Universe. Proficient in various fighting techniques and weaponry, he is particularly skilled in using bladed weapons, like his double-edged sword, and has successfully defeated some of the strongest martial artists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His hand-to-hand combat abilities are evident as he managed to defeat Hulk and easily overpower Black Panther.

Thanos has been waging wars on entire planets for centuries before he set out to acquire all Infinity Stones. This makes him a brilliant strategist and a warrior. 

Scarlet Witch vs. Thanos: Who is more powerful & who wins? 

In the comics, there is no doubt that Thanos is much more powerful than Scarlet Witch and would be able to take her down without any issues. He practically overpowers her in every aspect, especially when it comes to physical attributes, as he is a lot stronger, faster, more durable, and more intelligent than her, including a vastly better combatant. Scarlet Witch is truly not that powerful in the comics, besides ‘House of M‘ storyline, which is also a source of some of her greatest feats.

In the MCU, it’s a bit different; characters are much more balanced, and even without Darkhold, in Infinity War, Scarlet Witch presented quite a danger to Thanos, based on her magic powers alone, with Chaos Magic reaching its full potential, Wanda would most likely be able to deal with Thanos efficiently.

If Thanos has the Infinity Gauntlet, he wins, however, so there’s that. 

Who do you think would win, both in the comics & MCU? Let us know in the comments below!