Is Elsa The Strongest Disney Princess? Who Could Beat Her?

Elsa has the most supernatural ability of all the Disney Princesses, but who would be able to stand their ground in a fight against Frozen's Queen?

Every Disney Princess has one characteristic that she’s most known for—whether it’s her kindness, her independence, or her intelligence—and for Frozen‘s Elsa, her most well-known attribute is her magical strength. Elsa’s supernatural control of ice is a central plot point for both Frozen movies, but although she has shown some truly awesome displays of magic, the extent of Elsa’s powers is yet to be revealed. Is Elsa really the strongest Disney Princess?

The Disney Princess franchise began in 1937 and now includes twelve official princesses. To qualify as a Disney Princess, a character must be female, human (except Ariel, who is a mermaid), must either be born into or marry into royalty (except Mulan, who qualifies through heroism), and must star in an original film. There are other shared characteristics between these characters, such as the fact that many Disney Princesses have animal companions, but these aren’t technically required. Despite meeting all of these qualifications, Elsa isn’t an official Disney Princess—perhaps because her supernatural abilities make her stand out too much from every other princess in the line-up. Not to mention that Elsa is a queen, whereas Elsa’s sister Anna is depicted as a princess.

Throughout the Frozen franchise, Elsa creates and manipulates water into ice and controls the weather, such as when she plunges Arendelle into the depths of winter. She’s also able to freeze a person’s mind or heart, a state which she accidentally inflicts on Anna twice in the first movie. Perhaps most impressively, Elsa can also create life, as she did with Olaf, Marshmallow, and the snowgies. Elsa also has the ability to tap into water memory, and as the fifth spirit she can awaken the spirits of wind, water, fire, and earth. If she appeared in any of the other Disney Princesses’ movies, there’s no doubt that Elsa would be cast as the Evil Queen, because some of her abilities have quite dark implications, especially at times when Elsa’s emotions cause her to lose control of her powers.

Can Any Disney Princess Beat Elsa?

There are only a few other Princesses who also have magical powers and would be able to put up a fight against Elsa, but even they wouldn’t be able to beat her. Rapunzel’s hair-powers are impressive in Tangled and she has magical healing abilities. However, she can lose her powers when her hair is cut off, as Eugene does for her at the end of the movie. This means all Elsa would have to do is create an ice blade and give her opponent a quick haircut. Moana has no magical ability of her own, but she does have a special connection with the ocean, which comes to her aid when she’s in need. In a contest of Moana’s water against Elsa’s ice, ice wins. This means the Princesses who have the best chance of beating Frozen‘s Queen are the ones without magic, but who are already used to combat, which are Brave‘s Merida and Mulan (and Raya from Raya and the Last Dragon — although, like Elsa, Raya isn’t an official Disney Princess).

Merida’s skill with a bow and arrow means she would probably only need one clear shot to take Elsa down. It’s already been seen that Elsa has quick enough reflexes to throw an ice shield around herself when she’s in danger. That leaves Mulan. Mulan is the most battle-ready of all the Disney Princesses since she went through an intense army training regime. She’s also willing to do what it takes to win a battle, including burying an army of men under an avalanche to defend her country. It would certainly be the hardest battle that Mulan ever faced, but with her determination and her training, she’s truly the only Disney Princess who stands a chance at taking Frozen‘s Elsa down.