The 34 Best Marvel Super Heroes Commanders Ranked

Loki, Lord of Misrule | Illustration by Toni Infante

A new set means new commanders, and that has never been truer than Marvel Super Heroes, which has more commanders than even Final Fantasy by a terrifying margin.

Many of these commanders are uncommon signposts or other Limited-level cards, but many of them are exciting legends worth building around. I’ll help you sort the commander-worthy cards from the chaff!

How Many Commanders Are There in Marvel Super Heroes?

Kang Prime | Illustration by Lixin Yin

Brace yourselves: 386. Yes, almost 400. That includes all legendary creatures, vehicles, and spacecraft from the main set, the Commander products, the Jumpstart stuff, the Source Material bonus sheet, and the Scene Boxes. Of the 386, a mere 24 are reprints—primarily cards from Marvel’s Spider-Man that snuck into Jumpstart and the Commander precons, though the five Secret Lair drop Marvel commanders were also reprinted on the bonus sheet. So 262 new commanders!

This is by far the largest number of commanders ever introduced in Magic. The runner up is Final Fantasy, with 178 commanders—which also shattered records when it dropped. The high legend counts are a consequence of Universes Beyond, and it means there are plenty of commanders from the set to examine.

#34. Lady Loki, Agent of Chaos

Every set comes with a commander to build around and try to game, and MSH’s is probably Lady Loki, Agent of Chaos. The dream is, of course, to turn a Gut Shot into an Emrakul; the question is, how will you do this? And should you even try to game the system or simply embrace the chaos?

#33. Shuri, the Black Panther

Shuri, the Black Panther works best in decks with artifact token producers like Stridehangar Automaton and Cultivator of Blades; they make artifacts to enable Shuri and benefit from its buff. The big thing holding Shuri back is how few of those cards are Selesnya ().

#32. Ironheart, Clever Champion

Any commander with cost reduction is a little interesting because it evades the commander tax, which makes it harder for your opponents to profitably remove one of your most important cards.

Ironheart, Clever Champion extends that ability to your noncreature spells, which seems a little silly: You can use improvise to cast artifacts, which improvise more spells in the same turn. It’s time to break out the Paradoxical Outcome.

#31. The Mighty Thor, Jane Foster

A commander that flickers other permanents is hardly new, but The Mighty Thor, Jane Foster is a pretty cheap iteration of this effect. It isn’t as powerful as, say, Brago, King Eternal, but it comes down faster and recasting it is easier, too. Plus, the lower threat level might mean your opponents are less likely to target Jane, so it sits in play longer.

#30. Kang Prime

Kang Prime is an excellent cheaty commander. Giving a spell suspend 2 does a wonderful job of balancing the ability to cheat mana costs, plus it’s flavorful for a time traveler.

#29. Namor the Sub-Mariner

I highly doubt that Namor the Sub-Mariner will unseat Hakbal of the Surging Soul as the best merfolk commander, but it’s certainly a front-runner for mono-blue merfolk commanders. The board presence is incredible and plays perfectly with all the mono-blue lords the color has to offer.

#28. Super-Skrull

Super-Skrull has gotten attention as the mono-black Kenrith, but this has nothing on the Returned King. It’s still a good infinite mana outlet, but the lack of a reanimation ability kills Kenrith’s self-enabled loops, and the abilities are generally weaker. That said, it’s a decent choice for 5-color villains or just a more casual Kenrith for players who want the value without the prestige.

#27. T’Challa, the Black Panther

T'Challa, the Black Panther leads the first Selesnya artifact precon, which sticks out because Selesnya so rarely cares about artifacts. It keeps the flavor in Selesnya by making tokens and stacking +1/+1 counters, but it should still distinguish itself pretty well. Look to ramp hard and get aggressive!

#26. Absorbing Man and Titania

Absorbing Man and Titania gives aggro decks a source of damage doubling to help them push through three opponents. Critically, it doubles all creature-sourced damage, not just combat damage; prepare to obliterate your opponents with triggers from Terror of the Peaks and Purphoros, God of the Forge.

#25. The Serpent Society

The Serpent Society has an exceptional ward cost that prevents players from targeting it twice. That may mean the table will band together against you, or it could make this a powerful aristocrats commander—this is Grave Pact in the command zone that gets around tokens, which the right setup makes oppressive.

#24. Kang the Conqueror

Commanders rarely generate extra turns, but Kang the Conqueror is an exception to the rule. It’s extremely easy to get the power up ability every turn with a flicker engine like Thassa, Deep-Dwelling to take two turns per turn cycle. It has a safeguard against infinite turns, though that's nothing a few other extra turn spells can't help you circumvent.

#23. Bast, Panther Goddess

Bast, Panther Goddess is a Voltron commander that runs off tokens instead of equipment or auras or anything. At least, I presume you’re attacking with the trampling, indestructible commander rather than a 1/1. This is a great take on Voltron; a common weakness in the archetype is putting all their eggs in one basket, but Bast forces you to diversify your threats.

#22. The Sentry, Golden Guardian

The Sentry, Golden Guardian adds an exciting political element to the game: This commander comes with a horrific threat called The Void, but that token can’t attack into The Sentry player without bouncing off. That incentivizes one opponent to attack the others, leading to interesting games because the entire table has to react to The Sentry instead of ignoring the rest of the table in favor of resource accumulation.

#21. Jennifer Walters / The Sensational She-Hulk

While most commanders are tuned for casual play, I find Jennifer Walters intriguing for high-powered games. Grand Abolisher in the command zone is very convincing protection for a quick combo kill ,and it’s cheap enough to cast on turn 1 and two or three more times after it’s removed. I’m sure there’s something interesting to do with The Sensational She-Hulk, too.

#20. Baron Helmut Zemo

Baron Helmut Zemo presses you towards mono-black devotion between the color-intensive cost and the boast ability that relies on many black pips. Narrow as that archetype might be, Zemo’s a great choice for a commander as payoff and enabler, plus it has an incredibly unique ability.

#19. Scarlet Witch, Chaotic Avenger

Scarlet Witch, Chaotic Avenger is the perfect commander for players uninterested in a fair game of Magic where spells cost mana. Blue has plenty of tools to manipulate the top of your deck and protect the commander while red offers haste enablers, extra combats, and double strike to front-load your value.

#18. King T’Challa / Black Panther, Hope Enduring

King T'Challa is unlikely to be the centerpiece of your EDH deck, but it’s a very powerful draw spell. A Faerie Mastermind in your opening hand gives any tempo deck a surge of card advantage. Once T’Challa has drawn cards and found some protection, Black Panther, Hope Enduring offers a threat, but I don’t know that this deck wants to transform it.

#17. Thor, God of Thunder

Thor, God of Thunder reminds me of Terror of the Peaks: a fairly expensive threat that deals lots of damage for enacting your game plan, except this one sits in the command zone and draws a card when it enters. I generally expect Thor to lead some kind of storm deck; it’s about as close to Grapeshot in the command zone as we can get.

#16. Immortus, Master of Eternity

Can somebody say holy storm commander?

Immortus, Master of Eternity has an astonishing mana ramp ability for a non-green card that’s easily broken in half with a Timetwister. Toss in blue’s untap effects and you’ll have a wonderful time while your opponents wait an eternity for the next game.

#15. Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

While Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a less impressive typal ability than Captain America, Team Leader, I appreciate a 5-color commander that lets you play all the heroes you want. The inclusion of equipment and vehicle synergies play well with cards from the set but also give Nick actual flexibility compared to other “play all the cards from this set” commanders like Cosmic Spider-Man.

#14. Molecule Man

I rarely consider colorless commanders much more than a meme, but Molecule Man has some sauce due to giving your spells miracle, which boils down to letting you cast the first spell you draw each turn for free. I had to triple check several sources before I was satisfied that this wasn’t a custom card that gained a lot of traction. I can’t wait to lose to a free Rise of the Eldrazi!

#13. Loki, the Deceiver

Loki, the Deceiver keeps the pressure on your opponents with its attack trigger. It works best with villains that have powerful enters abilities, like Doctor Doom and Black Cat, Cunning Thief. Expect this card to age extremely well as further Marvel sets flesh out the villain archetype.

#12. Storm, Windrider

Group hug decks can be hit or miss because it’s often easy to give your opponents resources and hard to turn that into a win. Storm, Windrider balances that perfectly: Giving your opponents a power buff makes it easier for them to attack, but they can’t attack you! It’s aggressive and political, and such an interesting take on both group hug and combat tricks in Commander that I can’t wait to see it in action.

#11. Astonishing Spider-Man

Astonishing Spider-Man lives up to the name with its potential card advantage. Red excels at discarding cards and even does so in combat with cards like Cool but Rude and Inti, Seneschal of the Sun. Captain Howler, Sea Scourge might have competition in the Izzet () discard space.

#10. Crystal, Inhuman Princess

A mana dork in command zone often works out pretty well since you can consistently build your curve around it; in this case, that means maxing out on 1-mana accelerants so you generally cast a 5-drop on turn 3. Crystal, Inhuman Princess even comes with a win condition for a multicolor deck; that plus its 4-color identity make this one of the strongest ramp commanders.

#9. Wolverine, Fierce Fighter

Wolverine, Fierce Fighter deserves attention for the combos it enables with cards like Fiendlash and Blazing Sunsteel. It’s a great commander for a Stuffy Doll deck because it works with those artifacts so well, plus it shrugs off lots of damage. Heck, it’s even strong in a fight-themed deck if Neyith of the Dire Hunt doesn’t appeal to you.

#8. Tony Stark / The Invincible Iron Man

As cool as Tony Stark is, all the sauce rests on The Invincible Iron Man. You could go for a Voltron build by dropping equipment like Buster Sword and Umezawa's Jitte or do the more reasonable thing: Ramp hard and cheat massive artifacts like Portal to Phyrexia into play and make your opponents groan about blue players.

#7. Doctor Doom, King of Latveria

Marvel’s Spider-Man established two distinct archetypes for villains: artifacts and discard synergies via connive. Doctor Doom, King of Latveria supports the latter archetype, with a focus on acting as a win condition via life loss. Though not as stylish as Green Goblin’s mayhem ability, it’s a strong option for a commander. I also appreciate that Doom and Loki, the Deceiver are extremely distinct villain commanders from each other.

#6. Captain America, Team Leader

If you want a hero commander, Captain America, Team Leader has hero written all over the textbox. A couple of heroes could lead hero-typal decks, but this iteration of Cap is one of the best: A simple, team-wide buff that sticks around even if your commander gets iced, and one that rewards you for playing to the board, as typal decks often do.

#5. Iron Man, Bleeding Edge

If one artifact is good, why not have two? That’s the philosophy behind Iron Man, Bleeding Edge, one your opponents won’t like. Dropping this, playing a double Gilded Lotus, then seeing how many Portal to Phyrexia copies it takes to make your opponents concede sounds like a time. Look to Displacer Kitten, as always, to break the “once each turn” restriction.

#4. Mister Fantastic

While all four of the Fantastic Four from the precon are viable commanders, Mister Fantastic stands out from the pack because card advantage is just that good! You get a free card every turn, access to four colors, and a powerful ability copying effect to close the game after you’ve drawn your deck. There’s nothing to complain about.

#3. The Scarlet Witch

The Scarlet Witch can’t make cheap rituals like Desperate Ritual and Seething Song cheaper, so it probably won’t lead a traditional storm deck. It’s still very powerful, however; cost reduction is an extremely potent form of ramp since it can be applied to multiple spells. On 4 mana, you can cast two 4-mana spells, so Wanda basically makes 4 mana. You can crank those numbers up with combat tricks like Wild Ride and Monstrous Rage. Be prepared to see this kickstart some disgusting turns.

#2. Bruce Banner / The Incredible Hulk

The big draw to Bruce Banner and The Incredible Hulk are the infinite combos. It takes very little to enter infinite combats with the Hulk, with Caltrops being the easy option. You even get premium protection for the gameplan thanks to Banner adding blue.

#1. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is nearly perfect. Making a bunch of squirrel tokens gives new players coming to the game for the character a clear path to build them, and it makes for the big, exciting turns you expect from a casual commander. But the lack of restrictions on the activated ability means players with a more competitive mindset can look to break Squirrel Girl with infinite combos. I highly appreciate the flexibility.

Commanding Conclusion

The Scarlet Witch | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

There’s lots of noise surrounding the commanders in Marvel Super Heroes, mostly because there’s so many of them. I could only scratch the surface here—perhaps your next favorite commander is one that’s lost in the bulk.

If it is, let me know in the comments below and tell me about the commanders you want to build! If you want more Marvel Super Heroes coverage, check out Draftsim’s YouTube channel and newsletter, both called The Daily Upkeep!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!