Maleficent may not be part of the MCU, but given her ties to Marvel as a prominent Disney character, she’s become more associated with superheroes than ever before. In Disney’s live-action films Maleficent and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, the Queen of Darkness has been made into an antihero, but it doesn’t mean that her temper hasn’t turned her right back into a supervillain when provoked.
The Dark Fae who capable of putting her goddaughter into eternal slumber is also capable of everything from telekinesis to feats of transformation. She can summon gale-force winds and armies of forest creatures, and of course, there are her impressive wings capable of taking out armored soldiers with one flap.
COULD DEFEAT: BLACK WIDOW
Black Widow may be fast, athletic, and trained to be an elite assassin, but she’s one of the most limited Avengers members due to her lack of true superhuman abilities. At the end of the day, she isn’t a supernatural being, but a human with a highly trained set of skills.
Black Widow isn’t an even match against someone who, when she made her first running assault, could simply transform her into a goat. It’s a little trickier when considering automatic weapons, but unless Natasha had bullets made of iron, Maleficent would turn her pistols into water guns.
COULDN’T DEFEAT: IRON MAN
Like Maleficent, Iron Man is aided by the gift of flight. His suit allows him to not only reach the same heights she can, but it also comes fully equipped with a variety of defensive and offensive gadgets that are more than a match for the sorceress’s attacks.
If Tony had enough time to plan his stand against her, he’s smart enough to upgrade his suit with the appropriate armament to block her green fire, as well as protect himself against any of her transformation spells. She’d have a difficult time blocking his suit’s weapon systems.
COULD DEFEAT: HAWKEYE
Like Black Widow, Hawkeye is limited in his ability to stand competently against a being of Maleficent’s stature. She’s faced dozens of archers sent by monarchs to destroy her home, so his marksmanship wouldn’t concern her. Besides, as he was trying to aim, she’d send Diaval to dive-bomb him.
Besides, Maleficent would surely know that the way to take care of Hawkeye would be to cast a spell on his wife. She could easily win that way. We all saw how devastated he was when she was taken when Thanos obtained the Infinity Gauntlet, so the leverage over him would destroy any advantage he had.
COULDN’T DEFEAT: DOCTOR STRANGE
One of the most worthy adversaries Maleficent could face would be Doctor Strange. As the Sorcerer Supreme, he’s the most powerful sorcerer in existence, and possesses abilities beyond even Maleficent’s comprehension. His powers of teleportation would render most of her spells useless when he abruptly disappears.
While they can both fly, he has the ability to summon any object to him in the blink of an eye, as well as cast powerful protective fields against any of her attacks. Her green fire would be met by his energy blasts, and if that didn’t work, he could teleport her into another dimension, or escape to one himself.
COULD DEFEAT: FALCON
Falcon may have become the new Captain America by being given the mantle, but he doesn’t possess the Super-Soldier Serum that gave Steve Rogers his hypertrophied abilities. Therefore, his strength, agility, and speed are only heightened if he’s wearing his wings.
That being said, Falcon is an expert in hand to hand combat, but he’d have to get close enough to Maleficent to inflict any damage, and she’d send a gale wind to knock him out of the sky before he had the chance. The only thing she’d have to worry about is his telepathic link with birds, but in that case, she’d simply make sure Diaval wasn’t in crow form to be turned against her.
COULDN’T DEFEAT: CAPTAIN AMERICA
Prior to taking the Super-Soldier Serum, Steve Rogers wasn’t very impressive, but with his newfound abilities, he’s one of the Avengers that could probably take down Maleficent. He’s stood up to Thanos and was worthy enough to pick up Thor’s hammer.
Cap has the usual superhuman strength and superhuman speed, but his ridiculously fast metabolism doesn’t allow his cells to age. Therefore, he also shows no signs of fatigue, and heals ridiculously fast. His armor is fire and energy resistant, so she’s going to have a tough time winning against him.
COULD DEFEAT: THE WINTER SOLDIER
While the Winter Soldier may have been injected with the same formula used to give Steve Rogers his superpowers, he has a few weaknesses that make him a perfect target for Maleficent. His strength, speed, and regenerative abilities would be no match for her sorcery.
For one thing, the electromagnetic pulse fitted in his cybernetic arm only works to disable technology, not the organic supernatural power of a Dark Fae. For another, he’s programmable, combined with being mentally unstable, which would make it very easy for Maleficent to hypnotize him into doing her bidding.
COULDN’T DEFEAT: THE HULK
The Hulk has made fighting supernatural monsters a gladiatorial sport, so even if Maleficent decided to take the form of a dragon or phoenix, he’d pound it for meat and roast it over a spitfire fueled by his rage. There’s not a lot she could do against the unstoppable force of the angry green giant.
Once Hulk is angry, he only grows more and more powerful. He not only has superhuman strength, speed, and stamina, but superhuman durability as well. Blasts of green fire won’t harm his thick skin, and any sort of thorn thicket or wild vines would be destroyed by his lethal green thumb.
COULD DEFEAT: STARLORD
Starlord, aka Peter Quill, may be the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy, but he’s not an equal to the Dark Fae who leads an army of forest creatures from the Moors. His abilities are also heavily reliant on technology, and his emotions have made him do some incredibly stupid things.
Maleficent could easily dispatch him with a gust from her wings or with telekinesis, or by transforming him into a houseplant. She could resort to attacking him as a giant supernatural creature herself, but more than likely she’d weaken him by going after Gamora first, and inducing a sleep-like trance until he surrendered.
COULDN’T DEFEAT: THOR
Like Doctor Strange, Thor is an opponent that has an element of magic about him, putting him in a class of superhuman ensured of victory against Maleficent. Thor is a God among his people, capable of controlling the weather to respond to his every command.
Even if Maleficent could transform into a dragon or phoenix and attack the God of Thunder, one God Blast from Mjolnir and she’d be done. Thor is practically invulnerable, cannot be controlled by most forms of telekinesis, and is capable of parting large swathes of the Earth that could swallow up Maleficent and her beloved Moors.
