The Mad Titan has been behind the end of existence on a number of occasions, mostly as the cause behind it, but sometimes as an observer as well. Thanos wants, needs, desires nothing more than to have his goddess, the Lady Death, give him the time of day — half his motivations are built around pleasing his idolized skeleton-woman.
Carol Danvers, a major incarnation of Captain Marvel, lies on the other side of the spectrum: her ambitions are far more philanthropic; she travels the universe helping restore imbalances on the scale of solar systems. Both of them can call themselves cosmic powerhouses, albeit in intrinsically different ways, so it would really be quite interesting to measure them against each other.
10 Thanos: Has More Experience
Thanos is considerably older than Captain Marvel, meaning he has spent hundreds of years training himself in terms of combat, strategy, and so on. His experiences have led him to the conclusion that the path to victory is forged with allies, even if said allies are coerced or tricked into working for him.
Thanos, under the bony hand of his Mistress, has also vanquished innumerable planets and civilizations, becoming more efficient with each culture decimated. It is this battle knowledge that helps him get the better of the obviously more powerful Scarlet Witch in several instances.
9 Captain Marvel: Is Physically Stronger
Thanos is exaggeratedly powerful, effortlessly taking down the likes of Thor, Iron Man and Captain America in Endgame. He has been shown to knock out the Incredible Hulk, both cinematically as well as in the comics, as well as take on Infinity Gem-wielding (temporarily unhinged) superheroes.
Still, Captain Marvel wins this round because, at her peak, she has been able to perform feats of strength far beyond most characters in the universe, including the Mad Titan. If this isn't convincing, the fact she keeps Thanos from snapping his fingers for a considerable period of time is evidence enough.
8 Thanos: Is More Durable
Although Captain Marvel is unlikely to take damage from most of Thanos' attacks, as evidenced in how coolly she shrugs off a headbutt in Endgame, his resilience is unmatched.
After receiving numerous boons from Lady Death, he can survive some of the most brutal impacts without so much as a bruise — including energy attacks based on the Odinforce, Black Bolt's hypersonic screeches, but the most impressive example is probably the time he shows a total lack of concern upon being impaled by adamantium claws.
7 Captain Marvel: Has Cosmic Awareness
One of Captain Marvel's best known features is her Cosmic Awareness, an innate ability vaguely similar to Spider-Man's Spidey Sense except magnified on a galactic scale.
Also known as "Seventh Sense" or "Flash Precognition", it allows her to accurately predict any moves and countermoves offered on the battlefield, which, together with the remaining array of her powers, makes her almost impossible to overcome in battle. The only drawback, however, is that it gets triggered without warning, so Captain Marvel can't always depend on it.
6 Thanos: Is A Better Fighter
In terms of pure martial talent, Captain Marvel is quite the accomplished fighter, but her training regimen is based mainly on her military experience. To the contrary, Thanos is an exquisite warrior, a champion of countless battles across the entire universe.
His skills, steeped in the complex choreography of Titan, are honed to perfection, but he's a real threat because of his versatility and quick-thinking, as well as effortlessly blending combat techniques with other methods. For instance, he punches Captain Marvel halfway across the alien plateau by incorporating the Power Gem directly into his body.
5 Captain Marvel: Is An Excellent Spy
Carol Danvers can be quite the shady figure, but most of her work for the military is obviously shielded by layers and layers of clearance. This is because she has done a decent amount of spy work for the United States Air Force Intelligence Department, performing several undercover missions on their behalf.
Her flair for linguistics certainly helps out a bit, considering she can comprehend English, Mandarin, Arabic, Russian and even a couple of alien languages.
4 Thanos: Has Psionic Powers
Thanos has a range of telepathy-based techniques that are both offensive and defensive in nature. It is highly improbable that a telepath, however powerful, would be able to breach his mind.
Furthermore, he has shown to direct the actions of others, a kind of mental manipulation, like when he instigates a fight between the Avengers and the Incredible Hulk. In another case, he uses a psionic technique known as the "Time-Sync Mind Warp" in a bid to rip Drax's consciousness to shreds.
3 Captain Marvel: Has Energy Powers
Captain Marvel's photonic energy is practically limitless, let alone what happens if she activates her Binary (more on that later.) She can easily consume different kinds of energy and rework them towards augmenting her own powers, to levels only produced by the likes of an atomic bomb.
Captain Marvel has exhibited some rather elegant abilities — producing force fields, swords, and even extracting energy from the local environment and converting it into "nutrition" for herself, meaning that she doesn't really need to endure basic human needs like food, water or even air to survive.
2 Thanos: Is More Devious
It is clear that Thanos is no ordinary villain, having got the best of nearly every superhero out there. The feature behind his success is his sparkling genius, a cosmic chessmaster who is regularly fifty moves ahead of most of his opponents.
More than this though, is how Thanos forms some of the most convoluted (and evil) plots, each of which are rarely discovered until the first stages have even begun. He doesn't shy away from using his wits in an arena, either, as seen when he basically makes the Champion of the Universe defeat himself.
1 Captain Marvel: Binary
Captain Marvel's base powers, although overwhelming in a general sense, pale in comparison with the retina-burning radiance displayed when she goes Binary. In this state, she can siphon off of a white hole, wielding a great degree of influence across all the electromagnetic wavelengths of light.
For a period, she was not able to connect with this form, but it was later revealed that she had not (fully) lost the Binary, after all. That being said, there is no direct defense against Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet, not even if it's the strongest Avenger.