Marvel's history with sidekicks is nearly as long as DC's, but their sidekicks haven't always played as big a role in the Marvel Universe. Marvel treated its sidekicks differently as the years went on as it mostly moved away from teenage sidekicks and more into heroes taking on newer heroes as proteges. This has paid off rather well, as these sidekicks have gone on to become some of Marvel's most powerful heroes.

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Be they teenagers or otherwise, many of these sidekicks started out weak and grew in power over the years. They learned their lessons well and became everything their mentors could have imagined and more.

10 Rick Jones Has Gained And Lost More Powers Than A Lot Of Heroes

Rick Jones from Avengers Forever

Rick Jones was Silver Age Marvel's quintessential sidekick, teaming up with everyone. Over the years, he's gone from freaky beatnik with a guitar to Bucky to the all-powerful holder of the Destiny Force to switching bodies with Mar-Vell to A-Bomb to being an expert hacker. He was trained in hand-to-hand combat by Captain America, and while he doesn't always have superpowers, he's way stronger than he used to be.

Rick Jones gets abused pretty badly by Marvel writers, especially in modern comics, but he always ends up coming back and will almost certainly have cool superpowers again at some point.

9 Kate Pryde Has Become Way More Skilled Than She Ever Was

Kate Pryde with Lockheed the Dragon

Kate Pryde joined the X-Men as a young teenager, and her years of training paid off. When she joined the team, Kate barely knew how to control her powers or even throw a punch. After years of Danger Room training sessions and Wolverine teaching her how to fight, Kate Pryde has become one of the X-Men's most potent members.

Kate's learned to control her phasing powers much better than she ever imagined, is a massively skilled ninja trained fighter, and is a pretty good computer scientist too. She's come a long way since she was a teenager from Chicago.

8 Kate Bishop Has Pulled Ahead Of Her Inspiration

Hawkeye Kate Bishop 1 Cropped

Kate Bishop became Hawkeye before ever meeting Clint Barton, but there was always the feeling that she was just a placeholder. Even among the other Young Avengers, she never seemed like one of the team's important members and wasn't the best in a fight right off the bat, even if her archery skills were top-notch. That's definitely changed since teaming up with Clint.

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Kate's time around Clint made her into a better hero, partly because of just how impressed he was with her and her skills. This spurred Kate on and made her realize just how great she was. She's gotten way better as a fighter and archer, surpassing even her inspiration.

7 War Machine's Armor Has Gotten A Lot Better Over The Years

War Machine armor is a powerful armor not worn by Tony

War Machine has benefited from Tony Stark's tinkering as much as Stark himself has. War Machine has more proven his merit over the years, and while his armor isn't as overtly technologically advanced as Iron Man's, it's still grown in leaps and bounds since he first put it on. As his armor has gotten better, he's stepped out of his mentor's shadow.

War Machine's armor might not be on the bleeding edge like Iron Man's, but it's still light years more advanced than it was. Its weapons, targeting systems, and efficiency have all increased immensely, and the armor is top-notch.

6 Wasp Has Gotten Way Better Since Her Early Days

A chipper Janet Van Dyne as the Wasp in Marvel Comics

Hank Pym may have invented Pym Particles, but he's nowhere near their best user. In fact, his one-time partner the Wasp has grown far beyond him. Played as his sidekick for years, Wasp stepped out of his shadow and became a way more important Avenger, even leading the main team eventually, something Pym still hasn't pulled off.

Wasp has worked on mastering her powers, her wasp stings have gotten more powerful, and she's even gained the ability to grow when she needs to. She's become a much greater force than ever and is way better than she was in her early days.

5 Falcon Has Progressed A Lot Since His Debut

Sam Wilson as Falcon and as Captain America

Falcon is one of Marvel's best-known former sidekicks, having starred in many great stories and becoming Captain America for a time. He's also changed a lot since he first joined up with Cap. In his first appearances, Falcon didn't even have the trademark wings that would give him his flying ability. He was just a guy who liked falcons.

Since then, Falcon's gotten better and better, becoming a stronger, tougher hero. He's mastered flight and Cap's shield, becoming a great leader. No longer a sidekick, Falcon has progressed in ways that have made him one of Marvel's top heroes.

4 The Stepford Cuckoos Have Grown In Power

Stepford Cuckoos Cropped

Emma Frost, whether hero or villain, has always been a great teacher, and one of the best examples of that is the Stepford Cuckoos. Young clones of Emma, she took them under her wing at the Xavier Institute and taught them everything she knew about telepathy. Two of them, Phoebe and Esme, were killed but the other three kept training with Emma and their power increased tenfold.

With Phoebe and Esme resurrected on Krakoa, the Stepford Cuckoos are back together and at full power again. As the Five In One, they are one of the most powerful telepathic forces on the planet, having trained for years to get there.

3 Jubilee's Powers Have Gotten Way Better As She's Trained With Them

jubilee gen x feature

Jubilee was long the kid sister of the X-Men, but she's become so much more in recent years. Training with Wolverine, she got tougher and tougher and practiced more with her powers. Her powers have grown a lot, as they went from little more than pretty lights to a useful offensive ability that has served her and her teammates well.

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While Jubilee lost her powers on M-Day and was changed into a vampire not long after, she regained them and her humanity. Her control of her powers has continued to grow and she's now one of Excalibur's most important members.

2 Winter Soldier Has Gotten Way Tougher Since His Days As Bucky

Winter Soldier Speed Agility

Winter Soldier has basically become a different hero since his days as Cap's sidekick Bucky. He lost his arm but gained a super-strong robot one, and the Russians gave him the Infinity Formula, which kept him young and enhanced his physical abilities to the peak of human perfection. He even proved a match for Captain America and was much tougher than he was before as Bucky.

Winter Soldier has served a stint as Captain America, been an Avenger, and worked for SHIELD. While he was a skilled black ops operator as Bucky, his growth in power as Winter Soldier put him on a different level than he was before.

1 Captain Marvel's Become One Of Earth's Most Powerful Humans

Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel wasn't always a captain. For a time, she was Mar-Vell's sidekick and was known as Ms. Marvel. Her powers were in flux for a long time, ebbing and flowing. Now, she has become one of the most powerful Captain Marvels ever, and way more powerful than she was in her Ms. Marvel days. She's parlayed that into taking up her mentor's mantle.

Captain Marvel has taken her place as one of Earth's most prominent heroes. She's led the Alpha Flight space program and is one of the Avengers' heavy hitters. She was always fairly powerful, but now she's one of the most powerful people on Earth.

NEXT: 10 Marvel Characters That Are Clearly Inspired By Superman