Both DC and Marvel have traditionally been a bit stingy in doling out female superheroes, especially on the big screen. But in the past few years, we’ve seen the rise of two kick-butt heroines. From DC, we got Wonder Woman in 2017, and the sequel is scheduled for release in 2020. And Marvel is set to debut their first female-led superhero flick, Captain Marvel, later this year. Both are very welcome and long overdue additions to the world of superhero movies. And yet some fans can’t help adding a competitive edge to these cinematic milestones. Who, they ask, would win in a fight: Wonder Woman or Captain Marvel? That’s the question we’ll be examining today.
CAP: THOSE ENERGY BLASTS!
Among Captain Marvel’s many powers is energy manipulation. She can absorb energy from outside sources, including attacks from her enemies. That energy then gets rerouted to Cap’s photon blasts. These are bright bursts of light that wreak havoc with everything from walls to force fields.
WONDY: IMMORTALITY
As an immortal princess, Diana has had a lot more time to perfect her fighting skills than most of her opponents, including Carol Danvers. All that extra practice would surely come in handy when going up against a heavy hitter like Captain Marvel.
CAP: FLYING SKILLS
Before becoming a superhero, one of Carol Danvers’ most notable skills was her ability to fly a plane like no one else. She joined the Air Force when she was just 18. Her experience with them and with NASA has made her one of Marvel’s most accomplished pilots. It can be assumed that this talent extends to alien aircraft, given her long stay in outer space.
Of course, Wonder Woman can fly too. She famously has an invisible jet that is also capable of space travel. But as cool as a transparent plane/rocket is, and as talented as the woman flying it is, Captain Marvel can still fly circles around them both.
WONDY: THE LASSO OF TRUTH
No one is immune to the Lasso’s effects, not even Wonder Woman herself. If Wonder Woman can get this unbreakable and indestructible lariat around any part of Captain Marvel’s body, it’s pretty much game over for her.
CAP: HALF-KREE PHYSIOLOGY
For years, everyone assumed that Carol Danvers acquired superpowers after an accident fused her DNA with that of a Kree. More recently, it has come to light that she was always part Kree; her mother was Mari-Ell, a famous Kree warrior. Either way, Carol is far more powerful than your average human.
In addition, at least in the MCU, Carol’s combat training on Earth was supplemented by combat training with the Kree army. Odds are she is proficient in fighting styles and techniques that Wonder Woman has never even heard of. That’s sure to come in handy against Themyscira’s greatest warrior.
WONDY: DIPLOMACY
Princess Diana is one of DC’s premiere fighters, but she is not an inherently violent person. She much prefers to resolve disagreements through negotiation and compromise rather than explosions and concussions. In fact, at one point she was Themyscira’s official ambassador to Man’s World. Deescalating dicey situations without bloodshed was literally in her job description.
So at the first sign of trouble between her and Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman’s first move would probably be to try to sit down and talk things out. She might just be able to end a potential match-up between her and Captain Marvel before it really begins.
CAP: CAN FIGHT ARMIES
In her upcoming film, Captain Marvel has no memory of her many years on Earth. The only life she’s ever known is among the stars, fighting alien armies alongside her fellow Kree soldiers. One of the trailers shows her blazing a trail through a horde of alien ships, each of which presumably has advanced weaponry. She looks totally awesome while doing it, and doesn’t appear to be in need of assistance.
So how would this help in a battle against the Goddess of Truth? Attacking Wonder Woman is almost like attacking an army. So anyone who can take on entire alien armadas has a good shot in a fight against her.
WONDY: CAN FIGHT GODS
She has even been compelled to fight her own gods, especially Ares, the god of war, and Zeus, who seems to enjoy screwing around with those who worship him. And Captain Marvel, despite her many great powers, is not a god. Wondy has taken down more powerful beings than Cap, so there’s no reason she can’t take down Cap too.
CAP: WILL FIGHT DIRTY
In Marvel versus DC, each companies’ heroes are compelled to fight each other. Wonder Woman finds herself pitted against Storm of the X-Men. During the fight, Diana gets hold of Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, which grants her the power to easily best her foe. But rather than exploit this fact, Wonder Woman drops the hammer and ends up losing to Storm.
WONDY: GIFTED BY THE GODS
Wonder Woman’s origin story is well-known by now. Her mother, Hippolyta, sculpted her from clay, then brought her to life with her own blood and the blessing of the Greco-Roman gods. But the gift of life was not the only thing the gods bestowed on the young princess that day.
CAP: BINARY POWERS
After losing her powers the first time, Carol Danvers was experimented on by an alien race called the Brood and emerged with a set of fantastic new abilities. Drawing power from a white hole, Carol— now going by the name Binary— was as powerful as the sun itself. That included light and gravitational powers, and the ability to travel at light speed.
Carol lost her Binary powers for a while, sparking an existential crisis. But she later got them back, returning her to her previous ridiculous power levels. We reckon even Wonder Woman would have a little trouble against a star.
WONDY: MAGIC
Magic isn’t one of Wonder Woman’s primary skills, but she has more than a passing familiarity with it. Themyscira is awash in magical devices, such as the Magic Sphere, which can both show the past and predict the future. And Diana herself has been known to cast a spell or two when the situation warrants it.
Unlike, say, Superman, who is especially vulnerable to attacks of a mystical nature, Captain Marvel does not have any special susceptibility to magic. She is, however, just as susceptible as everyone else. So a working knowledge of magic is just another edge Wonder Woman has against her non-magical nemesis.
CAP: FIGHTS BETTER IN SPACE
If the Wonder Woman vs. Captain Marvel fight takes place in outer space, Marvel has a distinct advantage. In the film, Captain Marvel has spent the past few years exploring the universe with the Kree. In both the comics and the MCU, she hung out in space a lot, including a stint with the Guardians of the Galaxy.
It’s not that Wonder Woman has no experience at all with space fights. She’s a longtime member of the Justice League, which often has their headquarters in non-Earth locations, and she has fought plenty of intergalactic baddies. But compared to Captain Marvel’s experience, Wondy is a space novice.
WONDY: BULLETPROOF BRACELETS
The bracelets are most famous for deflecting bullets, but they’re good for more than that. Specifically, they can also shield against energy attacks. Even an energy blast from Darkseid couldn’t penetrate Wondy’s bracelets. So as great as Captain Marvel’s photon blasts are, Wonder Woman is not helpless against them.
CAP: FIGHT BETTER POWERLESS
When Ms. Marvel lost her powers, things went a bit differently. She changed her name to Warbird and continued working with the Avengers, even helping to bring down Kang the Conqueror. So in a fight between Powerless Wonder Woman and Powerless Captain Marvel, our money is on the latter.
WONDY: CAN FIGHT BLIND
Lots of people brag about being able to win a fight blindfolded, but few have the chance to prove it. Wonder Woman is one of those few. She defeated the evil Medusa, whose merest glance can turn her opponents to stone, by blinding herself before finishing the battle. Her eyesight didn’t come back right away, thus compelling her to fight other battles blind as well.
This clearly proves that Wonder Woman is clever and tough enough to win even when she’s nowhere near the top of her game. Just because she can’t see someone’s attacks doesn’t mean she can’t counter them with ruthless efficiency.
CAP: CAN BE SELF-SUSTAINING
In a fight with Diana, Carol would probably assume that her opponent was air-dependent, since most people are. The smart thing to do, then, is to hold Wonder Woman underwater for a few minutes, or drag her into space unprotected until she passes out. Obviously, that’s easier said than done, but if anyone can do it, Captain Marvel can.
WONDY: HAS BETTER SELF-CONTROL
One of Carol’s biggest weaknesses is her formidable— and occasionally uncontrollable— temper. For example, after losing her Binary powers, Ms. Marvel fell into quite a bit of carelessness, crashing through buildings and getting captured by hostile aliens. More recently, she started Civil War II by sticking to her morally questionable guns rather than talking things out with the other heroes.
Wonder Woman has a much better track record of controlling her emotions long enough to win a fight. She has strong feelings, certainly, but she knows how to channel them into success on the battlefield rather than allowing them to consume her.
CAP: WAS A SPY
Carol Danvers spent a good chunk of her military career conducting secret missions. She worked for multiple governmental organizations before becoming a superhero; her specialties were security and intelligence. So while all superheroes are by necessity good at keeping secrets and leading double lives, Carol Danvers is better at it than most.
By contrast, when a mission requires a more subtle approach, Wonder Woman probably is not the first hero you’d turn to. Captain Marvel, despite her flashy powers, is an expert at working undercover. So maybe her best shot at defeating Wonder Woman is subterfuge rather than physical force.
WONDY: CAN TALK TO ANIMALS
Aquaman has been much maligned for his ability to talk to sea creatures. Perhaps that’s why Wonder Woman’s own similar ability has been so downplayed. But she can do it. Thanks to the goddess Artemis, Diana is able to communicate with any animal, either calming them if they’re about to attack or giving them orders on how to help her in a fight.
This might be one of Diana’s most underappreciated abilities, but it does come in handy at times. How is Captain Marvel going to beat her when she’s too busy fending off an army of cute little bunny rabbits?
