Marvel Comics has no shortage of powerful characters. Debates are always flying across the Internet as to who could best who in battle. Could Sentry win against the One Above all? Can Deadpool outlast Apocalypse? Will Mr. Immortal win a fight against... anything? It's part of the fun of comics to think up dream bouts between the behemoths that grace Marvel's pages. On occasion, we've been treated to showdowns between incredibly devastating characters including an Infinity Gauntlet-wielding Black Panther facing down Dr. Doom, emboldened by the power of a god. Audiences can sometimes be split on opinion on who is strongest, who is the most skillful and some cite the source material for times when their favorite has bested their friend's. It's great to see overpowered characters doing fantastic things, it keeps us reading!

However, not every character is as strong as they appear. Some gain their powers under specific circumstances and remain vulnerable in other aspects. There are characters that have surprisingly simple weaknesses, capable of humbling them even when they possess immense power. Your favorite superhero might be powerful to you, but there's always someone out there who can best them! It is also important to consider that the Marvel Comics universe is a living, breathing, ongoing world and characters that were once unstoppable are no longer in their prime. Heroes and villains alike have been ousted, been de-powered or, in some cases, simply slowed down with age. CBR takes it upon themselves to test the strength of their investigative skills as we look at Marvel characters that are weaker than you might think!

20 HULK

There is no doubt that Hulk is incredibly powerful and is capable of titanic strength. The issue with Bruce Banner's alter ego is that despite his incredible prowess, he's susceptible to certain tactics that others may not be. A lot of the time, when Hulk is in the driver's seat, Banner's vast intellect is thrown out the window.

If you'd tell the casual MCU fan than Hawkeye has once bested the Hulk, they'd tell you to get out of town! However, using a special arrow designed by Banner, Clint was able to put down the Hulk during transformation in Civil War II. In addition to this, most people feel throwing Hulk into space removes his threat for a while, a tactic employed by Thor, the Illuminati and even young Nova in the past.

19 WOLVERINE

Wolverine is known for his amazing ability to heal from the most damaging of injuries. He's also famous for his adamantium skeleton, increasing his superhuman endurance even further. Despite his endurance, Wolverine isn't as strong as he seems on paper.

Intense energy beams that melt away all his tissue, swords designed to cut adamantium and drowning, are just samples of the things that can dispatch Logan. His adamantium bones are also a weakness for the X-Man, the metal being poisonous to his body. Though his healing factor cancels out the poisons now, as time goes on and his healing factor depletes, and the poison will eventually take over.

18 CAPTAIN AMERICA

A lot of people's belief that Cap is particularly powerful comes from misconception. You'd be forgiven for thinking Steve Rogers has super strength, though he does not currently. He only had that super power briefly, and only enjoys heightened strength from his Super Soldier Serum these days. The super strength occurred when poison from Viper reacted with the Super Soldier Serum in his body, magnifying his strength.

Cap's real power comes from his trusted leadership, tactical aptitude and his battlefield experience. He was given incredible tactical acumen, but hardened and refined it in the field. Rogers is usually under-powered when going up against most of Marvel's villains, but he nearly always has a brilliant plan.

17 GHOST RIDER

Ghost Rider is a tricky character when it comes to mapping their power against other characters. In most cases, the Rider is relentless in their pursuit of vengeance and enacts a demonic flavor of justice. This is not always possible, however, as demonology is never simple.

One occasion, the spirit of Zarathos that inhabits a rider is simply taken back by Mephisto, turning off their power instantly. During Shadowland, when pitted against a possessed Daredevil, the demon inhabiting the hero simply snuffed the Rider out. It's also a little impractical that Ghost Rider needs to get close enough to another being's eyes to perform their token Penance Stare.

16 THOR

The Odinson has been one of the powerhouses on the Avengers roster for years now. Having the superhuman strength of a god and a hammer with a cosmic storm inside really helps with that. However, Thor himself has often fallen short of his potential. Following Original Sin, Thor was found to be unworthy and lost Mjolnir for a long time.

In this time, he lost an arm to the dark elf Malekith, became imprisoned on a strange alien world and was even briefly indoctrinated by Hydra. Though the Odinson is still a great hero without his hammer, having it returned to him definitely put him back on the map. Thor once bested DC's Doomsday, so consistency from the God of Thunder would make a world of difference.

15 DR. STRANGE

In Stephen Strange's earlier days as the Sorcerer Supreme, he was ineffably powerful. There was always a spell for this, a magical artifact for that, the entire magic landscape was his plaything. Since then, however, Marvel have scaled back his incredible abilities to keep him more grounded to the world around him.

These days, magic works a little differently, as there is always a price for all magic performed. This adds a great deal of cost to his actions in this more chaotic magical system. Recently, during Damnation, Strange tried to restore the destroyed city of Las Vegas. The cost? He brought Mephisto and almost his entire realm of Hell to Earth.

14 IRON MAN

Tony Stark is a genius inventor and, as such, his suits are incredibly well-designed. He's created armored suits specifically to take down the Hulk on several occasions. So, it stands to reason that given the right tools and enough preparation, he could defeat most other Marvel characters.

This is not the case however, Tony's been slapped about by everyone from Captain America to Namor the Sub-Mariner. Even with preparation, his suits sometimes fail him, as in Avengers Vs. X-Men his suit to stop the Phoenix ended up dispersing it into five hosts. In other conflicts, his enemies have re-purposed his own tech against him, making his own ingenuity a problem.

13 CAPTAIN MARVEL

Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, has enhanced human-Kree physiology which affords her powers akin to the original Captain Marvel. She's a heavy hitter, for sure, but she isn't as strong as you'd think. While MCU fans eagerly await her appearance in the next Avengers film, expecting her to clean Thanos' clock, if she mirrors her comic counterpart, that may not be how things go.

The Dark Avengers once defeated her by overloading her powers with vast amounts of energy. She's also been on the receiving end of several thumpings from the X-Men's Rogue. Her powers have even been shown to have detrimental affects on her body, leaving her with internal lesions, some of which affecting her brain.

12 ULTRON

When Ultron's not trying to wipe out organic life he sees as inferior, he's using an alien race of techno-organic beings to assimilate people and planets. Conquest and annihilation are the specialties of this angry automaton.

Despite trying to remove himself from any shred of humanity, Ultron isn't without faults. One surprising weakness he has, is that he has often sought the approval of his father and creator, Hank Pym. Using this need for validation of his destructive ways, the Avengers have managed to trick Ultron on occasion. This manipulation of the villain was most recently displayed way back in Rage of Ultron.

11 CABLE

Traversing through time and tussling with just about everyone from Apocalypse to his fellow X-Men, Nathaniel Summers is as resourceful as he is powerful. With impressive mental prowess, he's able to fend off attacks of the mind to match his skill in physical self preservation.

Unfortunately for him, the techno-organic virus inhabiting his body undercuts his powers. Using a large portion of his powers to keep the disease from overrunning his body, Cable cannot bring his full power to bear, as the virus would end his life. He could be incredibly powerful as shown in the fact his clone, Stryfe (who does not have the virus), is almost unstoppable.

10 PROFESSOR X

The man who assembled the X-Men, Charles Xavier is one of the most powerful telepaths in all of Marvel Comics. Able to operate the extremely demanding Cerebro machine, he can locate mutant minds all across the globe. However, for someone who is so powerful, he has an awful lot of counters.

Characters like Magneto and Juggernaut have helmets specifically designed to block his powers, which puts Charles in a very tough spot. In addition to this, he's been trapped in mindscapes by the likes of Shadow King before, sometimes not re-emerging for increased lengths of time. He can be blocked and he can be removed from the board by the right opponent, leaving both himself and the X-Men vulnerable.

9 RED HULK(GENERAL MAVERICK)

General Maverick had a taste of the Red Hulk's power as part of Sunspot's U.S.Avengers team. He provided the muscle for the team, though it came with a distinct caveat. Maverick's Red Hulk duration was limited to an hour, due to the stress it put on his body. This means he was only able to maintain the form as long as his regulation technology allowed.

During Secret Empire, a rogue A.I.M. agent under the influence of Hydra helped him lift the time limit. Though Maverick's intentions were good, wanting to help whenever he could, rather than be limited, he ended up harming himself. Prolonged exposure ravaged his body, he was returned to regular form with the help of Toni Ho, though he remained red and his health took a dramatic downturn.

8 GALACTUS

Galactus is a being that the universe has come to fear. His need to consume planets to sate his immense hunger has made him the bane of civilizations all over the cosmos. On several outings, he's tried to consume planet Earth, though thankfully he has been held off each time.

Galactus is not as unstoppable as appearances would project. He's actually part of the universal balance, his consuming of planets contributes to the laws and fabric of time and space. This means his destruction is governed by strict universal laws. He's also been captured by the cowardly Annihilus and used to power cosmic doomsday devices.

7 MEPHISTO

The ruler of Hell and one of the most manipulative villains you'll ever meet, Mephisto holds a great wealth of power. He bonded the Zarathos spirit to Ghost Rider and he can take that power away on a whim. He deals in, well, deals and makes sure his victims pay off their debts to him with catastrophic interest.

One caveat that prevents Mephisto from simply bringing Hell to Earth whenever he pleases, is that his power dwindles when outside of his own realm. While he retains some of his powers, he is a small reflection of his true potential when outside of Hell.

6 BISHOP

Bishop's from a future where mutants are treated like they do not belong in the civilized world. Surviving a future like that is enough to harden anyone, but Bishop isn't as formidable as his survivability indicates. Though capable of immense energy absorption and projection, his power isn't simple.

Bishop's power level depends entirely on how much energy is available to the mutant time-traveler. Sure, he's powerful if he absorbs a large amount, but if there's no juice in the tank, he's not the powerhouse he could be. As a result of his upbringing, he also has an unfortunate level of paranoia, which has put him in contention with several of his fellow X-Men, which he always comes off worse in.

5 TASKMASTER

Taskmaster has the potential to best just about every hand-to-hand combatant in the Marvel Universe. His photographic memory and ability to document and replicate fighting styles is handy in his line of work. The skull-masked mercenary has faced off against the likes of Deadpool and Captain America in the past and lived to tell the tale.

The issue with Taskmaster's power is that it makes him complacent. Relying on his power a bit too much means he's not as adept at improvisation as he should be. Deadpool once defeated him simply by moving erratically, employing a random fighting style akin to ballet that Taskmaster had never seen before.

4 MOLLY HAYES

Molly Hayes has the advantage of not looking as strong as she is. The young mutant is incredibly strong, providing the physical power for the Runaways team. One indication of Molly's power is that it manifested early, as most mutant powers don't activate until teen years.

The thing that makes Molly a little less frightening, is her power's side effect. Due to the physical exertion of her power and her age, her body isn't adapted to the wonderful feats of strength she displays. As a result, Molly is chronically fatigued after short usages of her power, making her vulnerable in the aftermath.

3 WONDER MAN

Wonder Man is a powerhouse of ionic energy, capable of destruction on a large scale. His potential for energy projection and his ability to convert the energy to improve his physical strength makes him a power player on any team. The versatility of the energy in Simon's body affords him a lot of abilities, including flight.

However, Simon no longer uses any of his powers. Acknowledging the destructive force of his powers and his lack of respect for them in the past, Simon is now a pacifist. His potential remains untapped and he recently tried to talk down the Hulk during Secret Empire, unsuccessfully.

2 QUASAR

Wendell Vaughn, aka Quasar, is one of the many cosmic heroes that inhabit the Marvel Universe. He gets his large well of power from his Quantum Bands, making him a formidable force on the cosmic landscape. Due to his abilities, he has been called upon several times when the universe has been in jeopardy.

Unfortunately for Wendell, his track record doesn't speak to his power. When confronting Annihilus during Annihilation, he had his bands stolen and his life was taken. Though he would eventually return, he passed his mantle on to former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Avril Kincaid. Kincaid turned out to be far more powerful as Quasar, with Wendell agreeing to train her after witnessing her potential.

1 SEBASTIAN SHAW

Sebastian Shaw's powers depend on the amount of kinetic energy he can absorb, meaning that he is extremely powerful when engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The Black King of the Hellfire Club has absorbed assaults from the likes of Colossus before, redistributing the absorbed energy as strength for himself. Think of him as a more physical Bishop.

However, this also presents him with a glaring weakness. Without sufficient kinetic energy, Shaw isn't all that different to a regular person. He can be bested with elemental attacks or assaults on his mind.. He was mos recently defeated via poison in X-Men Black: Emma Frost.