Disney owning the MCU practically makes Maleficent, one of the company’s most iconic characters, into a bonafide supervillain. While she was terrifying to children that grew up watching Sleeping Beauty, the new live action Disney films starring Angelina Jolie have made her something of an antihero. For all her internal conflict, she still retains her her immense magical powers, which are only augmented by her temper. The films have augmented her abilities beyond what they were in the animated film, including new forms of transformation, elemental manipulation, and dominion over the natural realm.
In the time between Maleficent and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, the MCU has grown with a multitude of different supervillains, from Hela the Goddess of Death, to Thanos the Mad Titan. Some would be able to smite the sorceress with one cosmic blast, but those that are merely “superhuman” would find themselves no match for her abilities. Here are the five MCU villains she can defeat and five she couldn’t.
COULD DEFEAT: LOKI
Loki has some incredible skills with magic, but he often needs a lot of time to prep. As he’s depicted in the MCU, the only power he demonstrated with great gusto was the ability to manipulate and subjugate weaker minds. We know he can transform himself into all manner of forms, but so far in the films he’s in he’s depicted as a trickster and little else.
All Maleficent would have to do, even if she didn’t have her staff, is turn him into an ant and step on him. Where she beats Loki is with the immediacy that her magic takes form. If he somehow defended himself against an attack with his own shapeshifting or an astral projection of himself, she’d turn into a giant dragon and roast him.
COULDN’T DEFEAT: THANOS
The Mad Titan Thanos has been responsible for the destruction of dozens of worlds, and has maimed countless superheroes in his pursuit of intergalactic devastation. In his mind, the loss of half a planet’s population is not something to be mourned, but to be memorialized as an act of compassion.
Maleficent has also twisted her own ideologies to justify her endeavors, but that is where her similarities to Thanos end. To begin with, Thanos is a God-like entity, able to project and repel vast amounts of cosmic energy. Nothing in Maleficent’s arsenal of abilities could protect her from, or counteract, such an ability.
COULD DEFEAT: ULTRON
Ultron began as a construction of Tony Stark’s in the MCU, designed as a defense system that soon decided humans didn’t need defending from anyone but themselves. It’s then that he went on the offensive attack, and Maleficent could have brought him down.
One of Ultron’s greatest strengths is his greatest weakness. The internal molecular re-arranger that helps him make the Adamantium components of his workings more malleable, i.e. allows him to change shape, renders him a metal paperweight if Maleficent destroyed it.
COULDN’T DEFEAT: HELA
While Maleficent may be the ruler of a sizable domain, she has nothing on Hela, Goddess of Death. Hela is a goddess of Asgard, and rules two of its nine realms; Hel, known as the land of the dead, and Niffleheim, known as the land of eternal ice.
Like Thor and Loki, she possesses incredible strength, resilience, speed, and healing powers. She is also responsible for the souls of the Asgardian fallen, and can raise armies of the dead at will. She can kill with a touch, as well as restore life once taken. Her cloak grants her the Hand of Glory, which can render flesh from even the thickest Asgardian hide, and allow her to teleport.
COULD DEFEAT: RED SKULL
Red Skull may be a brilliant tactician, but he’s also a megalomaniac, and his greatest weakness is his quest for power. While skilled in hand to hand combat, the Skull was often bested by Captain America, and even when he managed to transfer his essence into other bodies (in the comics), he was soundly defeated again.
Because he’s a human, without any superhuman enhancement, Maleficent could easily manipulate him through hypnosis or telekinesis. If that didn’t work, a simple transformation would do, into something completely nonthreatening and benign, like a tiny yappy dog.
COULDN’T DEFEAT: EGO
Though he may look harmless in his human form, Ego is an ancient being with all the cosmic powers of an entire planet at his disposal. He traveled the breadth of space, mating with a variety of species to produce offspring carrying his genetic material and continue his expansion.
Because Ego wants to become the only life in existence, not even Maleficent could stand in his way. He can reorganize matter itself as well as organic life, so her powers over the natural world would be rendered useless, especially if they now contained his seedlings.
COULD DEFEAT: RONAN
For such imposing physicality, Ronan the Accuser was always just an acolyte. An underling of Thanos, he was nevertheless a hero to the Kree people. The Kree physiology is unique in that it makes Kree warriors stronger and faster than humans, with Ronan’s armor providing amplification.
While it took a considerable amount of energy from the Power Stone to reduce Ronan to a pile of dust, if the Guardians of the Galaxy could do it, so could Maleficent. Ronan is powerful physically, but most of his might comes from his hammer, which she could easily remove.
COULDN’T DEFEAT: DORMAMMU
Dormammu is one of the most powerful entities in the MCU, and like Thanos and Ego, is nearly indestructible. He has powers and abilities that surpass other supervillains, both in their devastating effects and their numeration. Plus, he is pure concentrated malevolence.
Maleficent, for all her sorcery, couldn’t protect against the projection of cosmic energy, life force absorption, control of the elements, time travel, the ability to teleport, and the ability to create an inter-dimensional portal and throw her through it.
COULD DEFEAT: KILLMONGER
Though not as powerful as Black Panther, Killmonger still benefits from imbibing a sacred, powerful herb that grants him enhanced physical abilities. This still only makes him “slightly less powerful than superhuman”, which is to say grants him peak performance.
Maleficent would doubtless be able to manipulate him with hypnosis or telepathy, as well as throw him through walls, or bind him with elemental magic. As a dragon she could roast him alive, or turn him into a bug crawling on the backside of a water buffalo grazing at a water hole in Wakanda.
COULDN’T DEFEAT: KAECILIUS
While no match for the Sorcerer Supreme, Kaecilius was still able to overpower The Ancient One. His power over Eldritch Magic is second to none, and he is able to defeat several Masters of the Mystic Arts single-handedly. Even at her peak, combating The Zealot’s abilities would most likely drain her to depletion.
Like Doctor Strange’s Eye of Agamotto, Kaecilius has a Sling Ring that allows him to transport through dimensions and time itself. When he taps into the Dark Dimension of Dormammu, he acquires the ability to manipulate space. Even when battling Strange amidst reconstructing environments, he gained the upper hand, forcing the Sorcerer Supreme to strike a deal with Dormammu.
