Marvel's heroes jumped to prominence in the Silver Age, quickly becoming the most famous heroes in comic. This has been compounded in recent years with the MCU, but even before that, the decades of success are extremely impressive. Marvel has kept their heroes fresh, upgrading the characters in a variety of ways.
Many upgrades have seen the heroes increase in power and potency. The best upgrades do all of that, but also have given readers memorable stories. They've made the heroes better, allowing them to do things they wouldn't have been able to do before.
Updated on April 14th, 2023 by David Harth: Power upgrades have been integral to Marvel Comics for years. They're a natural part of the evolution of many superheroes, making them more potent than they were before. Sometimes, these changes are permanent, adding something to the hero and making their adventures different. Other times, they aren't as long-term but no less important to the character's development.
15 Jean Grey With The Phoenix Force
Jean Grey has always held a high place among the X-Men's Omega class mutants. Her telepathy and telekinesis have made her a clutch member of the team, but her relationship with the Phoenix Force has made her much more powerful than she otherwise would have been. However, Jean's had fewer tenures with the Phoenix than most people realize.
The most popular "Jean Grey as Phoenix" stories, from the Claremont/Byrne years of Uncanny X-Men, aren't actually Jean, but the Phoenix in a Jean Grey simulacrum. She'd actually gain the Force fully for the first time during Grant Morrison's New X-Men after years of teases. Jean took her place as the team's most powerful member, often saving the day for the group.
14 Emma Frost's Secondary Mutation
Not every X-Men's power makes sense, something that struck with Emma Frost. For years, her telepathic powers had been growing exponentially, but after the destruction of Genosha, she developed a new power. This secondary mutation let Emma turn her skin into a diamond, upping her durability and strength. She became as much a physical titan as she was a mental one.
Of course, it made no sense considering Emma's original powers, but it added a new facet to the character. No longer did Emma just have to stand in the background and attack her foes telepathically. Now she could wade into the fray and bust heads with the best of them.
13 Invisible Woman
For years, Sue Richards was known as Invisible Girl and was basically the built-in hostage for the Fantastic Four. Her invisibility powers just gave her the ability to turn invisible, making her mostly useless on the battlefield. However, as time went on, Sue would learn more about her powers and harnessed the energy that made her invisible.
Sue Richards changed her name to Invisible Woman and proved herself a force to be reckoned with. She's now considered the most powerful member of the team. She can raise near impenetrable force fields and can shape her invisible energy into a variety of constructs, allowing her to smash the team's opponents when she needs to.
12 Rogue After Mastering Her Powers
Rogue has always been among the X-Men's most potent members, her powers allowing her to drain the life force from humans and the powers from superhumans with a touch. The problem was that for years, she couldn't control her powers at all. Rogue wasn't able to touch anyone, something that prevented her from having a normal life.
Rogue's time with the team let her take a more crucial role in the superhero community, but most importantly, it also helped her master her powers. Rogue now can touch people without fear of injuring them and can control how much power she drains from a person. Additionally, Rogue has even drained people's powers from a distance on occasion. It's changed Rogue's life as a superhero and allowed her to do things she never could before, like manifest multiple powers at once.
11 Vampire Jubilee
Jubilee joined the X-Men when her powers first manifested. Her ability to fire off firework-like plasmoids was a power with a lot of potential, but it took her years to master it. Then tragedy struck — she was depowered on M-Day. Jubilee's entire life focused on being an X-Men member, and losing her powers was a tragedy.
During a vampire attack on the X-Men, Jubilee was bitten. Suddenly, she gained vampiric superpowers like super strength, super speed, and more. She rejoined the X-Men, using a special amulet that allowed her to go out in the sun, and became a better fighter than ever. She spent years in vampiric form, but eventually was transformed back, regaining her old mutant powers.
10 Scarlet Witch Post-Avengers Vs. X-Men
The Avengers have had some controversial members, but none can compare to Scarlet Witch. A former member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, becoming an Avenger redeemed her. However, Wanda also ended up fighting the team multiple times. She eventually killed three Avengers, rewrote reality, and depowered the mutant race, committing genocide on a massive scale.
After some shenanigans involving Doctor Doom and the Young Avengers, Scarlet Witch made a comeback during the battle against the Phoenix Five. She proved integral to the heroes' victory, using the Phoenix Force's power alongside Hope Summers to repower mutants. Since then, Wanda's remained impressively powerful.
9 The Immortal Hulk
There have been many versions of the Hulk, but not all of them are created equally. The most powerful Hulks have basically infinite strength, depending on their anger, but none of them were as dangerous as the Immortal Hulk during the height of his power. The Immortal Hulk lived up to his name. Even if he was killed, he woke up the next night.
Imortal Hulk quickly proved to be the most devious Hulk. Even in his dumber forms, he still had the advantage of immortality. Even if he was dismembered, his body parts would come back together by the next night. It's this power that gives Immortal Hulk an advantage over the Savage Hulk or Worldbreaker Hulk.
8 Captain America With Super Strength
Captain America is great because he really doesn't have superpowers. The super soldier serum and the Vita-Rays made him the pinnacle of human physical achievement, which meant he had to work harder and be smarter to fight superpowered foes and groups of enemies. This meant a Captain America with superpowers would be extremely formidable.
While Steve Rogers has gained those kinds of powers from Mjolnir, which he's worthy to hold, he has had super strength in the past. After his battles against the Secret Empire, when he watched the President reveal his leadership of the group then commit suicide, Captain America gained super strength. This made him a much more powerful fighter. It especially came in handy when Cap was pulled from his time and helped battle Immortus and the Timekeepers during Avengers Forever (Vol. 1).
7 Carol Danvers As Binary
Carol Danvers has used many costumed identities, but one is much more powerful than others. After Rogue drained her powers, Carol ended up hanging out with the X-Men for a while. During this period she gained entirely new powers, ones which allowed her to control all manners of energy. Taking up the name Binary, she joined the Starjammers.
Carol Danvers as Binary became monumentally powerful. She had amazing energy powers and could survive in the vacuum of space. Binary could absorb energy from any source and use it for whatever she needed it for. Becoming Captain Marvel was a good upgrade for her, but her greatest power level was as Binary.
6 She-Hulk Post-Civil War II
She-Hulk can exceed the Hulk in power, but she's often held back by the fact she's basically in control of herself. After Civil War II, when she was nearly killed by Thanos and the Hulk himself was killed, She-Hulk became a more savage version of herself. She was physically much bigger, and while she lost her intellect, she gained much greater strength.
She-Hulk joined the Avengers during this period and proved to be a powerhouse for the team. This new savage form was much easier to anger, which made her strength rise more quickly. She took her position as a premiere heavy-hitter for Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
5 Iceman
The X-Men's Omega-level mutants have world-shaking powers. Not all of them started out as powerful as they'd become, their power levels increasing as they mastered them. Iceman was always a tough member of the X-Men, but was subconsciously holding himself back. Years later, Emma Frost's consciousness hid in his mind and she took control of his body, unlocking his true potential.
Since Emma left his mind, Iceman's powers have grown exponentially because he realized what he was capable of. Iceman now stands among the most powerful X-Men. He's even frozen the fires of Hell, something no one would have expected him to do when he still looked like a snowman.
4 Wolverine Post-2000
Marvel has created many influential heroes who've changed the comic industry. Wolverine was one of these. The X-Men's resident bruiser, for years, his adamantium skeleton and healing factor made him a great frontline fighter. Wolverine's healing factor was rather slow, but it ramped up after his adamantium was removed, meaning his body no longer had to deal with adamantium poisoning.
Once the adamantium was put back on his bones, Wolverine's healing factor stayed powerful and actually got better than ever. It's hard to pinpoint exactly when this happened, but it started after the year 2000. Now, Wolverine can regenerate from nearly any attack within minutes.
3 Iron Man's Godkiller Armor
Iron Man has long been a top hero, with Tony Stark constantly tinkering with his armor and making it more powerful. On top of that, he's known for creating all kinds of specialty armor, suits specifically created to defeat certain enemies. These armors are quite powerful, but none of them can match the power of his Godkiller armor.
The Godkiller armor was created to fight Celestials. As such, it's much bigger than Iron Man's normal armor. It has weapons created to battle some of the most powerful beings in the universe. It's amazingly powerful, and can take damage that would disintegrate any other suit of armor Tony Stark has.
2 Thor, All-Father And Herald Of Galactus
Thor is Marvel's greatest warrior. The Asgardian God of Thunder has always been a heavy hitter, but after the war against the Dark Elves, he became All-Father of Asgard. This brought with it a huge jump in his power level, but he'd soon gain even more power. Galactus came to Asgard for help with the Black Winter and made Thor one of his heralds.
Suddenly, Thor not only had the power of the All-Father, but also the Power Cosmic. He could smack Galactus around, even after the being had devoured five special planets that made him more powerful than ever. Thor drained Galactus's power and killed him, something no being without a Cosmic Cube or the Infinity Gauntlet had ever done before.
1 Cosmic Spider-Man
Spider-Man has some great powers, but he's not considered one of the most powerful heroes. However, there was a time when he experienced a huge jump in power. Spider-Man was gifted with the Uni-Force, an all powerful energy supply that turned its bearer into Captain Universe, a being who was basically an antibody for the universe.
Called Cosmic Spider-Man, Peter Parker stomped Firelord, a Herald of Galactus, and easily defeated the Hulk. Spider-Man never would've been able to do these things with his usual strength. Becoming Captain Universe increased Spidey's strength by a thousandfold, and he gained amazing energy-controlling abilities that made him nearly invincible.