In a genre half-made of universe-exploding brawls, there is not a single character in the Marvel Universe who has not at least thrown one punch. Some heroes swing mystic weapons to defeat their foes while others use blasts of energy that can raze a city block. Still, it takes a particular type of person to go into street-level heroics.
Most heroes adhere to a code against brutality and killing, but there are quite a few who have no such compunctions. For every high-flying do-gooder, count on the Marvel Universe having a character up to their knees in blood.
10 Elektra Is The Mother Of Comic Book Ninjas
Comics' original ninja assassin, Elektra Natchios first made her appearance in Frank Miller's Daredevil run. As the creator took the Guardian of Hell's Kitchen in a darker direction, he introduced a sai-wielding love interest who would prove to be as much an enemy as an ally.
Elektra began her career as an assassin in her college days following the death of her father. Since then, she has used her talent for death to gut supervillains, stab ninjas, and become the head of the nefarious Hand ninja clan. Ever treading the line between her inner darkness and her desire for light, Elektra is undoubtedly one of Marvel's deadliest heroes.
9 Cable Created X-Force
The late '80s saw the X-books change in a major way. As characters like Wolverine made comics darker, artists like Rob Liefeld and Whilce Portacio brought a whole host of new, edgier characters into the fold, including the gun-toting Cable.
The time-traveling son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, Nathan Summers and his collection of enormous guns turned the New Mutants into the paramilitary X-Force. Cable sought to kill Apocalypse and trained the teen team to be more murderous in battle. After shooting his way through the '90s, Cable teamed up with Deadpool for a violent partnership that would kill anyone in their path.
8 Psylocke's Psychic Knives Cut Deep
Betsy Braddock's history is complex, but one thing about the character has always been clear: she is not afraid to use deadly force. After defeating Sabretooth during the Mutant Massacre, Betsy was trained as an assassin by the Hand, brainwashed to kill by the cultish Crimson Dawn, and became a key member of Logan's second iteration of X-Force.
Betsy's psychic powers, skill with a blade, and no-nonsense nature have made her a key member in the fight against mutant enemies like Apocalypse, the Purifiers, and the Marauders. Even now, as Captain Britain, the former Psylocke wields the Starlight Sword to cut down the hordes of fantasy monsters from Otherworld.
7 Archangel's New Wings Made Him Bloodthirsty
Warren Worthington III was originally a cheery, if somewhat boring, original member of the X-Men. His fate changed when, after losing his identity-defining wings in the Mutant Massacre, he apparently killed himself. Worthington was resurrected by Apocalypse as the razor-winged Archangel, Horseman of Death.
Archangel's transformation saw him become more violent as the Apocalypse-created wings affected his mind. In battle, he launched deadly steel flechettes at his enemies. He continued to have trouble with this new identity as a member of the X-Men and X-Force, experiences which saw Charles Xavier's third student lose parts of himself and become progressively more callous and violent.
6 Laura Kinney Was Born Out Of Super-Science Violence
Though first appearing as a character on the kid-oriented X-Men: Evolution, Laura Kinney's transition from screen to page began a deeply violent era in the character's history. After being cloned from Wolverine, Kinney (then X-23) was forced to act as an assassin for the mysterious Facility.
After a spell where the character lived a bloody life on the street, she joined with the X-Men, killing the enemies of mutantkind as a member of Logan's X-Force. Following an ordeal in the blood-soaked Avengers Arena, Laura turned over a new leaf as a hero and took up the codename Wolverine, serving as one of Krakoa's X-Men.
5 Moon Knight's Brutality Waxes With The Moon
Very few Marvel characters have canonically cut off someone's face. Khonshu's favorite Fist has been violent since he first appeared, attempting to kill the Werewolf By Night in his debut. In his crusade to deliver the Moon's vengeance, Moon Knight has never sworn off murder.
Weapons like his crescent darts have always given Moon Knight a deadly edge. Moon Knight's adventures under Charlie Huston became particularly violent as the character shot Taskmaster in the chest, flew his Mooncopter into a building, and killed Midnight, his former protégé, by stabbing him in the neck.
4 Hulk's Rage Only Grows
When triggered by rage, Bruce Banner becomes the rampaging monster known as the Hulk. While stories featuring the character have often painted the Jade Giant as simply misunderstood, plenty of others have depicted him as the portrait of violent mayhem.
616 Hulk's violence has made many characters wary. Indeed, it was one of his rampages that caused the Avengers to assemble. However, The Ultimate version of Hulk is much more violent. Here, Hulk's Avengers-assembling rampage included cannibalism and the deadly destruction of entire city blocks. In a later Ultimate Hulk story, the supposed hero ripped Wolverine in half and threw what was left of him across a mountain range.
3 Deadpool Has Killed Everyone
Though the character's humor often makes him seem silly, Deadpool's origins lie in the same ultra-violent creative wave that spawned Cable and X-Force. Deadpool's regenerative healing factor allows the character to suffer as much violence as he creates, leading to endless panels of blood, guts, and brains.
Prime-continuity Deadpool is rarely far from his guns and swords, killing wave after wave of ninjas, soldiers, and undead U.S. presidents. Other versions of Deadpool are even more violent, with Deadpool graphically killing various versions of himself, characters from classical literature like Sherlock Holmes and the Little Mermaid, and the entirety of the Marvel Universe. Twice.
2 Wolverine Brought Blood Back Into Comics
The brooding loner known as Logan has long struggled to balance his inner violence with his desire for peace. After appearing first as a Hulk antagonist, Wolverine joined the All-New, All-Different X-Men and quickly became its breakout character.
Wolverine proved himself as a different breed of hero by dismembering goons in the Dark Phoenix Saga. This violence would cling to the character for the rest of his days, appearing in stories like Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's Wolverine and Barry Windsor-Smith's Weapon X as well as in alternate universes like that of Old Man Logan. The character's violent nature altered Marvel Comics and made heroes deadlier throughout the medium.
1 Punisher Is Committed To Killing
Few characters are as defined by death as Frank Castle. With a skull on his chest and a gun in each hand, Frank Castle has brought violent death to the inhabitants of the Marvel Universe. After his family was shot in front of him, the Punisher vowed to eliminate crime by any means necessary.
Every Punisher title is defined by violence. The Punisher was the first character to kill the Marvel Universe and his violent crime-fighting was the flagship of Marvel's adult-oriented Max line. The Punisher's violence is pervasive to the point where his influence is a problem in the real world as political extremists and police groups identify with the character's bleak and murderous mission.