Every MCU Character Who Has Fought A Variant Of Themselves

Many exciting variants have been introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Avengers: Endgame, which has culminated in some of Marvel’s most notable characters fighting alternate versions of themselves. Avengers: Endgame marked the first appearance of variant characters in the MCU, as the trimmed-down Avengers team traveled through time and changed events, creating branching timelines and new versions of themselves from 2012, 2013, 2014 and more. Even more variants have debuted in the Multiverse Saga, and they have often been pitted against their counterparts from other realities.

An MCU character meeting their variant from across the multiverse almost always ends with them fighting each other. This has been the case throughout most of the Multiverse Saga, with projects such as Loki, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Deadpool & Wolverine including some epic battles between the MCU’s own heroes and their multiversal counterparts. This pattern is expected to continue as the Multiverse Saga continues to develop, so far more than eight heroes will fight their own variants in the MCU’s future.

8 Steve Rogers’ Captain America Vs. 2012’s Captain America

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

The first MCU project to indirectly explore the multiverse was 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. The Russo brothers’ epic crossover event saw the remaining Avengers travel back in time to collect the six Infinity Stones and reverse Thanos’ snap. One of these adventures brought Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers to 2012, where he claimed Loki’s scepter from STRIKE agents by masquerading as a follower of HYDRA. However, 2012’s Captain America soon got in his way, believing him to be the escaped Loki in disguise.

Infinity Stone	Time Heist Location
Space Stone	2012’s New York & 1970’s Camp Lehigh
Mind Stone	2012’s New York
Time Stone	2012’s New York
Reality Stone	2013’s Asgard
Power Stone	2014’s Morag
Soul Stone	2014’s Vormir

It was fantastic to see Captain America fight Captain America, especially since this spar made it evident just how much Steve Rogers had grown and matured during his tenure in the modern era. He joked about 2012’s Captain America stating he can “do this all day,” revealed Bucky Barnes’ survival to his past counterpart, and resorted to knocking him out with Loki’s scepter before agreeing with Scott Lang by claiming that he did, indeed, have “America’s ass.” This was an incredibly entertaining battle between Captain Americas.

7 Nebula Vs. 2014’s Nebula

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Another adventure in Avengers: Endgame’s Time Heist brought Karen Gillan’s Nebula to Morag in 2014, where she and War Machine waited to claim the Power Stone instead of Peter Quill. While Rhodey was able to return swiftly home, however, Nebula’s memory files combined with those of 2014’s Nebula, leading to her being apprehended by a younger and more brutal version of Thanos. In an effort to earn her father’s approval, 2014’s Nebula took the place of 2023’s Nebula, kitting herself out with the latter’s golden head-plate to blend in with the Avengers seamlessly.

Nebula became an official member of the Guardians of the Galaxy after
Avengers: Endgame
, but departed the team in 2023’s
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
to lead the new society forming in Knowhere.

This allowed 2014’s Nebula to activate the Avengers’ time machine and allow Thanos and his armies to travel into the future, destroying Avengers HQ and leading to the epic Battle of Earth. While 2014’s Nebula almost got her hands on Tony Stark’s completed Infinity Gauntlet, she was stopped by 2014’s Gamora and the future Nebula, who shot her dead. This very weird moment was oddly cathartic, as Nebula finally stripped away the final remnants of her previous, villainous self, and officially became a bona fide hero.

6 Vision Vs. White Vision

WandaVision (2021)

Although not technically two variants fighting each other, Paul Bettany’s Vision got the chance to fight himself in 2021’s WandaVision, the MCU’s first TV series. For most of the series, Vision had been a construct of the Scarlet Witch’s grief, brought to life when she inadvertently created the Hex around Westview, New Jersey. Meanwhile, SWORD had rebuilt the original Vision’s body, now with a sleek, white design, planning to use him as a weapon against the Scarlet Witch. This all came to a head in WandaVision’s finale, as Vision fought White Vision while Wanda Maximoff took on Agatha Harkness.

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What was originally a battle of strength and ability, the two Visions eventually ended up in an intelligent and logical debate. White Vision’s orders had been to destroy the Vision, but the fabricated version of Vision helped restore White Vision’s corrupted memories, proving that the latter, in fact, was the original Vision. Perhaps not willing to destroy himself, this remarkable Ship of Theseus discussion ended with White Vision flying off to locations unknown, next to be seen in the MCU’s upcoming Vision series.

5 Loki Vs. Sylvie & Others

Loki (2021-2023)

Phase 4’s Loki was the first project in the MCU to directly explore the concept of the multiverse, leading on from 2012’s Loki’s triumphant escape from the Avengers during Endgame’s Time Heist. Loki found himself taken captive and brought to the Time Variance Authority, where he was recruited in hopes of tracking down his own variant, Sylvie. Over the course of Loki season 1, Loki and Sylvie would spar several times, but also came to form a close, and weirdly romantic, heartfelt and somewhat narcissistic, bond.

Loki, himself a variant of Tom Hiddleston’s original villain-turned-hero, has been rumored to return in the MCU’s Phase 6, but this hasn’t yet been confirmed by Marvel Studios.

Loki season 1’s finale saw the pair fight for real, as Sylvie wanted to kill Jonathan Majors’ He Who Remains for ruining her life, while Loki figured keeping him alive would prevent greater destruction in the future. This fight ended with Sylvie thrusting Loki into a past version of the TVA and murdering He Who Remains, obliterating the Sacred Timeline, which led to the confusion and complexities of Loki season 2 and other multiversal adventures in the MCU. Loki also battled his variants in the Void at the End of Time, including Kid Loki, President Loki and more.

4 Peter Parker’s Spider-Man Vs. Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

For the most part, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker meeting his multiversal variants, Sony’s Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, was very amicable. They bantered, shared stories of their superhero antics, and provided essential moral support to each other, but there was one moment where this all could have fallen apart. Seeking revenge on Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin for the murder of Aunt May, Holland’s Spider-Man came close to impaling the villain with his own glider, but Maguire’s Spider-Man got in the way, stopping his younger variant.

Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Peter Parker Actor	Debut Movie
Tobey Maguire	Spider-Man (2002)
Andrew Garfield	The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
Tom Holland	Captain America: Civil War (2016)

There was a moment in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home where it seemed as though Tom Holland’s Peter Parker would overpower Maguire’s. This could have led to both Maguire’s Spider-Man and Norman Osborn being impaled on the Green Goblin’s glider. However, it was the Goblin himself who took the opportunity to stab Maguire’s Spider-Man, ending the battle, as Holland’s Spider-Man instead chose to cure the villain, reverting him to the harmless Norman Osborn. Spider-Man: No Way Home almost ended very differently, though this would have been similarly tragic.

3 Doctor Strange Vs. Sinister Strange

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (2022)

Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange has been set up as a key figure in the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, especially since he now seemingly has more knowledge than anyone else about the intricacies and dangers of the multiverse. 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness sent Strange on a journey through a variety of alternate realities, including Earth-838, and an incursion-ruined universe inhabited only be an evil variant of himself, corrupted by the Darkhold. Sinister Strange had to go, particularly after admitting to killing many other Strange variants.

Sinister Strange isn’t the only evil Doctor Strange that has been seen in the MCU, as the animated
What If…?
series saw Strange Supreme destroy his entire universe, and Earth-838’s own Doctor Strange became corrupted by the Darkhold.

In one of Marvel Studios’ most beautiful, colorful, entertaining and clever battles, Doctor Strange and Sinister Strange used weaponized musical notes to attack each other. This was an effective way of showing the good of Doctor Strange’s golden notes against the evil of Sinister Strange’s purple, and allowed this fight to end in a massive crescendo that thrust Sinister Strange out the window, impaling him on his own fence. This dramatic battle is one that won’t be forgotten anytime soon, and Strange could battle even more of his own variants in the MCU’s future.

2 Wanda Maximoff’s Scarlet Witch Vs. Earth-838’s Scarlet Witch

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (2022)

Doctor Strange wasn’t the only character in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to battle their variant, as Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff also got this honor. Similarly to the good Strange vs. the evil Strange, Olsen portrayed Maximoff both as the innocent Earth-838 variant and the twisted and corrupted Earth-616 version: the Scarlet Witch. The Scarlet Witch spent the majority of Multiverse of Madness dream-walking into her Earth-838 counterpart’s body, hoping to find America Chavez and steal her universe-hopping power.

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When America Chavez eventually gave the Scarlet Witch exactly what she wanted, however, opening a portal to Earth-838, Maximoff was met with nothing but terror from the children she had hoped to reunite with. Earth-838’s Wanda Maximoff tried to protect her family, but the Scarlet Witch easily threw her across the room, proving that she was far more powerful and unhinged than her variant. Nevertheless, she still learned the error of her ways, and ended Multiverse of Madness by sparing her variant and sacrificing her own life.

1 Wade Wilson’s Deadpool Vs. The Deadpool Corps

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

While Multiverse of Madness explored many corners of the vast multiverse, 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine focused on the concept of the multiverse more than any previous MCU project. Taking place primarily on Earth-10005, the universe of 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise, and in the Void at the End of Time, Deadpool & Wolverine displayed some of the untapped potential of the multiverse. This was most evident in the appearances of Wolverine’s variants and the Deadpool Corps, the latter of which put up a good fight against Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s titular heroes.

The Deadpool Corps included some fun cameos, including Blake Lively as Lady Deadpool, Matthew McConaughey as Cowboypool, and Ryan Reynolds and Lively’s children, Inez and Olin as Kidpool and Babypool, respectively.

After causing the brutal murder of Nicepool, a Deadpool variant who doesn’t have a regenerative ability, Earth-10005’s Deadpool and the “Worst Wolverine” assumed the other Deadpool Corps members also can’t regenerate. The pair tear through the likes of Lady Deadpool, Cowboypool, Zenpool, Kidpool, Headpool, Deadpool 2099 and many more, eventually bursting out the back of a bus adorned with Marvel legend Stan Lee’s face. Of course, the Deadpool Corps does regenerate, but is thankfully calmed down by Rob Delaney’s Peter, contributing to one of the most intense, exhilarating and hilarious scenes in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a multimedia superhero franchise that began in 2008 with Paramount’s Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. The franchise quickly grew in popularity, with Disney eventually buying out Marvel Entertainment in 2009. The MCU consists of dozens of movies and TV shows, most notably Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision, and Loki.

Created by Kevin Feige Upcoming Films Deadpool & Wolverine , Captain America: Brave New World , Thunderbolts* (2025) , Blade (2025) , The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) , Avengers: Doomsday (2026) , Avengers: Secret Wars Upcoming TV Shows Agatha: Coven of Chaos , Ironheart , Daredevil: Born Again , Wakanda , Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man , Marvel Zombies , Wonder Man , Vision Quest