WARNING: The following contains spoilers for WandaVision Episode 5, "On a Very Special Episode...," now streaming on Disney+.
One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's biggest debates has been about which of the Avengers could defeat Thanos one-on-one. During Avengers: Infinity War and through most of Endgame, it seemed as if Earth's Mightiest Heroes would never be able to get the upper hand on the Mad Titan, even after Captain America lifted Mjolnir. However, a couple of heroes got some good licks in before Thanos used his bag of tricks to escape.
Now, the latest episode of WandaVision reopened this can of worms, pitting two female heroes against each other as the investigating team assesses Wanda's threat level.
The debate begins when Monica Rambeau, Jimmy Woo and Darcy Lewis discuss the set, props and costumes within the "Hex," the name Darcy has coined for the sitcom reality bubble Wanda created after recovering Vision's corpse. When the group realizes, through Monica's clothes, that Wanda's creating solid reality, they really start to wonder how far her abilities can go.
Wondering if she's really a supervillain, they dissect her powers which are evidently growing. "She could have taken out Thanos on her own if he hadn't initiated a blitz," Monica admits. Jimmy contests the notion that only Wanda was strong enough, though, mentioning Captain Marvel as another possibility. Obviously, this is something fans have discussed for some time after Endgame, mostly because both heroes had a fair shot to beat the Mad Titan.
When Wanda confronted Thanos in Endgame's finale, she used her powers to break his blade, strip his armor off and crush him. After realizing how much danger he was in, he called down an airstrike to escape the attack. Corvus Glaive tries to warn him that there will be massive casualties on their side, but Thanos realizes he needs to escape if he plans on making it out alive.
As for Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers flew in to try to pry the Nano-Gauntlet from Thanos' hand towards the end of the battle. She held her own for the most part, but it's when he tried to rock her with a headbutt that fans saw how strong she was. The Mad Titan's attack didn't faze her, so much so that he had to use the Power Stone to swat her away.
Regardless of the tongue-in-cheek dialogue, it was interesting to hear MCU characters discuss just how powerful the universe's heroes are. As for the actual answer, it seems like Wanda had more impact by frightening Thanos and making him a bit more desperate. Even Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has admitted Wanda would've broken the villain, so, outside the TV show at least, the argument is settled.
Written by Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman, WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, Paul Bettany as Vision, Randall Park as Agent Jimmy Woo, Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau and Kathryn Hahn as Agnes. New episodes air Fridays on Disney+.