As heroes like Batman have taught us, you don't necessarily need superpowers to be a hero; there are other forms of power that can be used to help others, or for selfish and/or harmful acts in the case of villains. Some of the greatest superheroes are mere mortals, humans with skills, traits and/or an augmentation they created with their own hands and minds, like Iron Man, and the same could be said about human villains who create their own power through training or technology. This is something that's especially true of the Marvel universe, with some of the most well-known superheroes and villains being humans with incredible skills, intelligence or innate abilities. So, when we cut out all the heavy hitting superhumans and aliens like The Hulk and Thor, then the question remains, who are the strongest humans in the Marvel universe?
In order to rank the human heroes and villains of the Marvel universe, we have to set a few rules; first off, superhumans, though born humans, will not be considered for this list, so nobody with strength, speed, durability, etc. greater than the peak potential human limits, though this rule can be stretched a bit. Additionally, we are also considering humans who have been augmented with technology made by themselves or other humans, since their super strength or flight is a creation of human hands. Lastly, we are also throwing in a few curveballs for our definitions of "power" and "strength," since both can be more than just the hero or villain's ability to punch someone super hard. With all those rules set, let's see which humans of the Marvel universe are strongest based on their combined skills, traits, technology and abilities.
25 BLACK CAT
Starting off at the bottom of the list is Black Cat. There's no denying she's a highly skilled thief and combatant, but beyond her fighting ability, stealth, intelligence, and burglary gadgets, Felicia Hardy doesn't have all that much power.
Even taking into consideration her time as a crime lord, which gave her a significant amount of influential power on New York's underbelly, Black Cat is, at the end of the day, not much more than a thief who looks out for herself and could likely be taken down by other human on this list.
24 THE PUNISHER
Frank Castle has had some strange augmentations over the years, from being turned into a Frankenstein's monster-like creature to wearing War Machine's suit, but for most of his comics career, he's been human. As his usual human self, Frank Castle is a highly trained Marine who specializes in infiltrating heavily-guarded territories by using precision, stealth or brute force.
On top of his extensive firearms training, Frank Castle is also an expert tactician and has an incredibly high pain tolerance, However, his power doesn't go far beyond his weapons training, so he's still in the bottom five.
23 SILVER SABLE
Next up is Silver Sable, who is, in a lot of ways, very similar to The Punisher, since both characters are highly trained in firearms, stealth, infiltration, and assassination.
The main difference between her and Frank Castle, and thus the thing that puts her above him in terms of "power," is that she is the owner of a mercenary corporation full of soldiers who are just as well-trained and well-armed as her. Where the Punisher would be alone in a fight, Silver Sable could have an army of mercenaries surround her opponent with a snap of her fingers.
22 RED SKULL
This might come as a shock to some, since the Red Skull was, and, in many iterations, still is Captain America's greatest foes and is a key player in the WWII era of HYDRA, but when you put all of his skills, abilities, and resources on paper, he's not much in the larger picture.
Red Skull is most dangerous when given power, but without it, he's sort of a weakling. He gets points for his political manipulative skills, but he doesn't always have access to the soldiers and resources that make him a threat, leaving him in the bottom five.
21 VULTURE
Adrian Toomes is one of Spider-Man's earliest foes and one of the stranger entries on this list. We say that since Adrian is somewhat advanced in years and thus doesn't have the same physical prowess as the likes of other humans on this list, but his superior intelligence has given him the power of flight.
It might be strange to say that the Vulture is stronger than the Punisher, who could possibly shoot Adrian out of the sky, but his suit is an impressive piece of technology that also augments Toomes' strength on top of giving him the aerial advantage.
20 FALCON
The MCU has given us a much more realistic version of Sam Wilson's Falcon suit and powers, depicting the psychic link with his pet falcon as a camera-and-weapon-equipped drone that provides Sam with the same comics ability to see through its eyes. For this reason, we are still going to consider Sam Wilson as human, since his abilities can be easily replicated by technology and don't significantly augment his attack capabilities.
All that said, Falcon still ranks above Vulture, since, in most iterations, Sam Wilson has attack capabilities greater than what the Vulture suit grants Adrian Toomes.
19 KRAVEN THE HUNTER
Kraven the hunter is perhaps the world's greatest hunter, even without the help of his more extraordinary abilities that might be considered superhuman. However, Kraven's superpowers, part of his "Ultra Instinct," are merely tools, additions, and augmentations to his impressive tracking and Olympic-level athleticism.
Additionally, Kraven gained his Ultra Instinct from ingesting poison, which he had to gain a tolerance for with his own willpower and training, making his powers earned and much less superhuman. However, these abilities are still impressive, as they have allowed him to hunt down the greatest beasts in the world and take on tough opponents.
18 BRUCE BANNER
Though the Hulk is the "main event" to Bruce Banner, here are two things that make him "powerful" in his human form: the fact that people know that he turns into The Hulk and his intelligence. In a fight, Bruce Banner isn't much, but there are a number of people that know not to fight him at all, making him virtually untouchable.
Additionally, Bruce had been commissioned for his intelligence as well as the power of the Hulk, making him a commodity with a form of power over those interested in him. It's not much, but it's worth being in the top 20.
17 BUCKY
Next, we have Bucky Barnes, who is, by all means, an equal to Captain America. Though the character never got the super soldier serum (as depicted in the MCU), he has quite a few things to make up for the difference between him and Cap, mainly his training, robotic arm, and firearms training.
As the Winter Soldier, Bucky was trained in the art of infiltration and assassination, making him a force to be reckoned with. Thrown in his robotic arm, and Bucky is granted man-made superhuman strength that puts him a cut above the rest.
16 MOON KNIGHT
Beyond his training and intelligence, Moon Knight does have one ability that can be considered a superpower, since his strength is increased depending on the lunar cycle. However, the strength that Marc Spector is given has not been shown to exceed that of a peak human physical strength, and since it's not a constant ability, we can still place Moon Knight under the human category.
In fact, it's Moon Knight's human abilities that make him dangerous, since he is a skilled detective and martial artist with an absurdly high pain tolerance.
15 KINGPIN
Wilson Fisk gets a relatively high ranking just by the fact that he is a massive, brick wall of a man that can take just as much damage as he can dish out. Even without his great martial arts skill, The Kingpin of crime is just too big for most ordinary humans to fight.
Add to this Fisk's massive fortune, his control of the criminal underworld and parts of New York's police force and his overall crime empire, and you have one of the strongest humans in both physical prowess and influential power.
14 DOCTOR OCTOPUS
Though Otto Octavius is no match for the Kingpin on his own, he is hardly without his four cybernetic arms, which have only gotten more dangerous and powerful over the years. Doc Ock's intelligence is responsible for said cybernetics, and it is also what makes him one of Spider-Man's greatest human foes.
Doctor Octopus is not only a brilliant tactician and strategist, but he was also able to take over the body of Spider-Man, a feat that makes Otto's mind one of the most dangerous and powerful in the Marvel Universe.
13 ELEKTRA
Elektra is one of the Marvel characters on our list that stretches the definition of "human," if only by a bit. But since she mostly relies on her fighting skills, and her mystical abilities are the result of her resurrection by The Hand, we can look at pre-death Elektra for the sake of our argument.
Elektra is highly trained in bladed weapons and martial arts and is able to spot and exploit weaknesses in most augmented humans, which is part of the reason why she can make it through a mass of armed opponents with nothing but her bladed sai.
12 BLACK WIDOW
Black Widow is similar to Elektra in terms of assassin training, but where Elektra's skills are in ancient martial arts, hand-to-hand combat, and bladed weapons, Natasha Romanoff is a much more modern assassin, which we think puts her on top. Black Widow is not only a fantastic spy and tactician, she also knows how to take down enemies with nearly any kind of weapon.
Even opponents with technological augmentations wouldn't stand a chance against Widow's skills, arsenal, and experience, the last of which is her most dangerous asset, since she has fought countless powered enemies without any powers herself.
11 HAWKEYE
This was a bit of a tough choice, since Black Widow has no issue (moral or skill-wise) with permanently taking down an opponent, while Hawkeye is, in most cases, not a killer. However, precision and range usually have the advantage in a fight, which is why we are gonna have to rank Clint's archery above Black Widow's close-quarters combat.
As for how Hawkeye would be able to beat the likes of Doctor Octopus or Elektra, we've seen him take on stronger opponents, usually via his ability to disarm or otherwise incapacitate opponents from afar with ease.
10 BULLSEYE
If Hawkeye, who doesn't often use deadly force, and his expert aim beats Black Widow, then what's even more powerful than his precision? The same precision but without a moral compass standing in the way of using lethal force. Enter Bullseye.
Bullseye could almost be considered superhuman with how accurate and pinpoint his aim is, especially since he can use literally any throwable object as a lethal weapon. His, shall we say questionable mental state can be considered a weakness at times, but otherwise, Bullseye is one of the deadliest assassins, if not the deadliest in the Marvel Universe.
9 TASKMASTER
Though Taskmaster's ability to instantly learn and copy the movements of anyone he sees comes from an injection, this skill is technically not beyond anything a human is capable of, since muscle memory and eidetic memory actually exist. These very real traits make Taskmaster one of the most dangerous, powerful and capable opponents.
Were he to take on Bullseye, Taskmaster might not be quite equal in marksmanship, but with a large library of skills learned from other villains and heroes, as well as an arsenal of weapons that include a duplicate of Captain America's shield, Bullseye doesn't stand a chance.
8 STAR-LORD
Star-Lord is technically half-human, but since his alien half doesn't give him any superhuman abilities, we think it still counts. All of Peter Quill's power comes from pure skill and experience, since he has years of experience guarding the galaxy, fighting off monsters and villains and just finding himself in dangerous situations.
But, Star-Lord always gets out of these situations with his tactical skills, his martial arts abilities, and his equipment, which sometimes includes a strength and durability-enhancing suit and always includes his signature element guns, which can project fire, water, earth and air at his opponents.
7 DAREDEVIL
Daredevil's senses are both a result of his body compensating for the loss of his sight and a slight superhuman element created by the radioactive isotope that blinded him in the first place. However, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to still consider Matt to be human, especially since his mentor, Stick, stated that it's possible for any human to obtain his senses.
So, with that in mind, Daredevil is still very much human, one with master-level martial arts abilities and senses that can find a weak spot in a superhuman, which he can expertly exploit.
6 IKARI
What's better than having a bunch of powerful senses to make up for a lack of sight? Having all those senses and still being able to see. Enter Ikari, a creation of Mark Waid and Chris Samnee for their legendary run on Daredevil, which introduced the character as a product of Bullseye's revenge towards Matt.
Though Ikari eventually met his demise, his skills and powers put him on par with Daredevil, and his ability to still see, as well as process all the information from his senses, makes him one of the world's most dangerous assassins.