Choosing the best singers out of all the heroes, villains, and rogues of Marvel Comics is difficult. For one thing, you can’t hear their voices through the word balloons. For another, you can’t necessarily associate the voices of the actors who play them on TV or in the movies with the actual characters. But it’s not a shot in the dark, either.
Practically every actor in MCU’s Avengers can carry a tune (particularly Jeremy Renner who recorded an entire album of music), but that doesn’t mean comic fans should expect to see Hawkeye singing show tunes while chasing down bad guys. Even so, the comics do give a few hints about the quality of their characters’ sopranos and baritones.
While the winners may surprise fans, here are the six best singers in the Marvel Universe (according to the comics).
Dazzler
This first choice won’t come as a big surprise since the X-Men’s Dazzler was originally developed by a partnership between Marvel and Casablanca Records to make a disco-singing hero. Born a mutant with the ability to transform sound into powerful blasts of light, Alison Blaire chose to pursue the path of a musician and took on the name “Dazzler” as a stage name. Using her superpower to enhance her performances, Alison became a popular celebrity with many fans (including the X-Men’s Kitty Pryde). Eventually, her mutant identity is outed, causing her singing career to suffer. She eventually joins the X-Men for a time, but singing remains her first love.
A trained vocalist, Dazzler clearly has talent as a singer. While Wolverine has sneered at Dazzler’s choice of music (claiming “disco sucks”), her fans say otherwise. Plus, not all fans of Dazzler’s music are earth-bound. In one What If –? storyline, Galactus actually made Dazzler his herald, and arranged it so her Power Cosmic allows her voice to be heard in the vacuum of outer space! Now, that’s singing!
Siryn
This next choice might be more surprising. Theresa Cassidy (aka Siryn) is the mutant daughter of Sean Cassidy (Banshee of the X-Men). The two share the same mutant gift of a “sonic scream” which enables them to generate powerful sound waves that can shatter buildings. However, Theresa’s mutant vocal cords also make her an excellent singer – as Kitty Pryde discovered in Wolverine: First Class #16.
In the story, Theresa and Kitty Pryde are assigned to Dazzler’s security detail following a possible threat on the mutant’s life. When she hears Dazzler needs an extra backup singer, Theresa gives Blaire a demonstration of her talents, causing a shocked Kitty to comment, “It’s… it’s beautiful. Her voice is so pure.” Theresa joins Dazzler briefly on stage at the “Mega Bowl” but hasn’t done a lot of singing since.
Lila Cheney
Yet another mutant (perhaps mutants contain a singing gene?) Lila Cheney is a British rock star with the ability to teleport vast distances – as in to other planets. While she’s a popular singer (even performing with the real-life folk rock band Cats Laughing) it’s her “rock star mansion” that gets her the most notice. Somehow, Cheney got her hands on a Dyson Sphere – an artificial world floating in outer space – which she uses as her own private paradise. Just imagine the after-parties…
Sophia “Chat” Sanduval
Few fans know about this Marvel songbird, who appeared in the Spider-Man Marvel Adventures. A mutant with the power to talk to animals, Sophia “Chat” Sanduval is basically Marvel’s version of a Disney Princess. Able to befriend birds and woodland creatures better than Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty, Chat breaks away from her own “evil queen” Emma Frost (the X-Men’s enemy/ally The White Queen) and starts dating Peter Parker/Spider-Man.
At one point, Chat – seeing that Peter is depressed – tries cheering him up by singing an impromptu song complete with backup bird singers. Although neither Peter nor the animals comment on the quality of her singing, given how closely Chat matches up with Disney Princesses, she probably sounds just like Idina Menzel in Frozen.
Star-Lord
This latest choice may come as a surprise to audiences who heard Chris Pratt’s MCU version of Peter Quill (aka “Star-Lord”) belt out a hilariously bad version of “Come and Get Your Love” in Avengers: Endgame. In the comic books, however, Star-Lord is actually a talented singer – so talented, in fact, that he once headlined his own nightclub act!
Shortly after the multiverse was destroyed in Marvel’s latest Secret Wars event, numerous characters, including Peter Quill, find themselves on a patchwork planet called Battleworld. To make ends meet, Peter gets a job at a nightclub singer where he sings classic Disney songs like “Part of Your World” and “Once Upon a Dream” every night (yes, really). Why Disney? Apparently, no one on the planet has seen a Disney movie, so Peter takes the credit for writing the songs and becomes known as a musical genius!
Wolverine
Bet you didn’t expect to see this name on the list, did you? While Logan would never willingly admit to having this talent, in Exiles Vol. 1 #3, Wolverine is revealed to have a “surprisingly excellent singing voice” that he keeps quiet about. An obvious shout-out to Broadway star Hugh Jackman who plays Wolverine in the X-Men film franchise, Logan apparently now shares Jackman’s singing talent. Considering how much Hugh Jackman owes his super-stardom to Wolverine, it seems only fair that Logan get something out of the deal as well.
So, what songs does Wolverine secretly belt out in the shower? According to Wolverine: First Class #16, Logan has a soft spot for Aretha Franklin’s jazz and blues music. Surprisingly, this is also how Jackman himself views Wolverine’s taste in music. When asked if he would ever return to the role for Wolverine: The Musical, Jackman jokingly stated that the Marvel musical would probably take place in a “Blues Brothers world” where people throw beer bottles at Logan and he slices them in half with his claws!
