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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 brought every character’s A-Game, and it proved exactly why Mantis is the most underrated member of the team. So far, we’ve seen every character showcase their excellence, skills, and might. Peter Quill turned out to be half-celestial while Rocket Raccoon proved to be a maestro with his weapons and agile attacks.
Meanwhile, Groot has always evolved his defense and offense, while Nebula, Drax, and Gamora have all showcased their super strength time and time again, and Yondu/Kraglin have taken down armies with the Yaka Arrow. However, the character that always goes under the radar is Mantis. Her character has been used to perfection in every MCU outing, but if she were to turn evil, then she could become next to unstoppable.
The powers of Mantis
Being the daughter of Ego, she has to be among the most powerful characters. Even though she doesn’t possess the Celestial light within her, she has other abilities that have proven to be very useful in all of her endeavors.
As far as her abilities are concerned, Mantis is an empath who can feel and sense the emotions of others with a touch, causing her antennae to light up in response. Not just that, she can also alter the emotions and feelings of other beings and practically make them do her bidding.
Besides this mental prowess, she is not someone who could be trifled with in a physical contest because we’ve already seen what she is capable of when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. She moves exactly like a praying Mantis that can jump great distances with a lot of agility and hit hard enough to incapacitate her enemies. Along with that, she also possesses great durability.
Disclaimer: Spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 follow.
Every time Mantis proved to be an asset
Back in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Mantis was able to put a Celestial like Ego to sleep even when he was in his planet form. In Infinity War, she also held the Mad Titan Thanos in temporary stasis and almost allowed the Avengers to win. Then, in Endgame, she was putting many of Thanos’ space gorilla soldiers to sleep.
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special was the first time we saw her use her physicality while she was trying to kidnap Kevin Bacon from his home. That’s when fans witnessed another impressive aspect of Mantis. However, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 she simply made an Orgocorp guard fall in love with Drax and adopt three huge Abilisks towards the end!
Why Mantis is the strongest Guardian of the Galaxy
What Mantis did in Guardians 3 arguably makes her the most valuable member of the group. This is because, the way she made a guard fall in love with Drax, she could simply do that to others and manipulate them to either join her army or make her rich. With the money that she’d make, she could employ real armies and provide them the greatest weapons.
Using her abilities, she could turn team members against each other and make them fight one another. If she were to turn evil, then she could simply turn characters such as Shuri or M’Baku in her favor and rule over the strongest country in the galaxy.
She could stop villains by simply making them forget about their goals similar to how she made Drax forget in Vol. 3. Her control doesn’t last forever, but it doesn’t need to. By the time her effects wear off, she’d already be done with her mission.
Now, with the three Abilisks by her side, she has become next to unbeatable. It’d be interesting to see where her journey of self-discovery takes her next, and who she would cross paths with in the upcoming projects.
