The Strongest Avenger According To The Marvel Comics
Since they made their comic debut in the 1960s, the Avengers have always been Earth's mightiest heroes. And with mutants, gods, billionaire playboy philanthropists, magicians, and more within their ranks, there isn't too much to dispute that claim. This only becomes truer as the organization invites every superpowered sucker and their mother to join its ranks. Seriously, depending on what you would qualify as an Avenger, the group has had more than 100 members (via The Cold Wire). Though only a handful of those heroes are active members at any given time, it's still insane how many people have managed to make their way onto the team.
This begs the question, who is the strongest Avenger? With roughly 60 years of history under their belt, one of those heroes has to have risen to the top to become the undisputed champion, right? Unfortunately, that's not exactly the case. While there is no single "strongest Avenger" according to Marvel comics, there are some likely contenders.
The Scarlet Witch is a reality-warping powerhouse
Assuming that the title "strongest Avenger" is not meant to be interpreted literally, then Wanda Maximoff may be the best contender. Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe already know that Wanda has some pretty hard-core reality-warping magic since "WandaVision" saw her brainwashing and altering the entire population of a New Jersey suburb. In the comics, however, Wanda's powers go far beyond a few square miles.
In the well-known comic book series "House of M," Wanda doesn't just rewrite a town — she rewrites the entire world. After suffering similar traumas as her MCU counterpart, the Scarlet Witch of the comics uses her powers to rewrite history so that mutants are now the dominant population on Earth. Thankfully, a group of heroes manages to restore their memories and get her to change everything back, though this has widespread consequences. In addition to restoring the world to its default state, Wanda also weakens 90% of the mutant population's powers, an event that would be remembered as "M-Day" (via Marvel Database)
Given this series of events, it's pretty easy to see why Wanda — who first joined the Avengers in "Avengers" #16 way back in 1965 (via Marvel Database) — could be considered the strongest Avenger. Not many others have reality-warping abilities on the same level. More recently, Wanda also absorbed an Elder God named Chthon, making her even more unreasonably overpowered than she already was.
Sentry the Superman copycat lives up to his inspiration
While the Scarlet Witch's reality-warping makes her nigh-unbeatable in many respects, that's only one definition of strength. If we're looking for a more traditional concept of power without quite reducing the issue down to pure physical strength, then there are few Avengers who can really compete with Sentry. Robert Reynolds, aka Sentry, is essentially Marvel's version of Superman. Like Superman, Sentry has a variety of superpowers derived from his ability to extract energy from sunlight, granted to him by the Golden Sentry Serum (via Marvel Database). These include super strength and speed, flight, invulnerability, and much more.
You see, Sentry isn't just your average, everyday Superman clone. In "World War Hulk" #1, Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, claims that Sentry is the most powerful human in the universe, and he definitely isn't being ironic. On top of the aforementioned powers, Sentry also has powers of light manipulation, energy absorption, and teleportation. He can alter objects on the molecular level and has a variety of psionic and biokinetic powers. He's so versatile that it almost makes the Man of Steel seem flimsy in comparison.
These powers have resulted in a variety of mind-boggling feats. From resurrecting his dead wife in "Mighty Avengers" #6 to halting the Worldbreaker Hulk (an offshoot personality of the Hulk that could destroy entire planets) to a standstill, it almost seems like there's nothing Sentry can't do.
There are definitely more contenders
In the end, there are strong arguments for why people should consider either the Scarlet Witch or Sentry to be the strongest Avenger. Both heroes have accomplished feats that few other heroes could ever dream of, and both are treated by their peers as being among the most powerful superhumans in existence. However, there's one more problem with picking either of these characters: Any Avenger could theoretically become "the strongest."
Case in point, when Stan Lee first created Thor in the 1960s, he did so because he wanted to create a hero more powerful than anybody comic readers had seen before. "I wanted to create the biggest, most powerful superhero of all and I figured who can be bigger than a god?" said Lee in an interview with the Washington Post.
Nowadays, however, you'd be hard-pressed to find a Marvel fan who would call Thor the definitive strongest Avenger. Sure, he's up there, but as time has gone on, other heroes have gotten stronger to the point where they could rival the God of Thunder. This brings us to another point made by the late, great Lee (via MarvelousTV). It's the scriptwriter who ultimately determines which superhero is stronger than another. If the writer says Sentry is the strongest, then it's Sentry. If they say Wanda is the strongest, then it's Wanda. If they say Squirrel Girl can beat Galactus, then by golly, that rodent girl is definitively stronger, and that's just the way it is.