MCU power fluctuations

Spoilers Ahead for Infinity War, Civil War, Spiderman Homecoming, Black Panther, Age of Ultron, Thor, and Thor Ragnarokand pretty much the rest of the MCU

Does it bother anyone else how severely the powers of individual characters in the MCU fluctuate? Usually to either make that character seem cooler, or to emphasize how dire the situation they are in is. I understand these are comic book movies and in comics powers sometimes change with the writers. But this is the same movie studio, Kevin Feige has final say in all of these movies.

These characters consistently change the strength class they should be in. Specifically the lower powered characters. The easiest example is

Captain America. This dude changes from a strong human in the Captain America: First Avenger to a guy that can hold back the arm of a titan. If Thanos was able to "arm wrestle" the Hulk's punch away from himself, how on earth could Cap do the same. Shouldn't Thanos' punch instakill Cap? How can Cap hold down a helicopter with two arms?

Iron Man: If we assume (and we should) that Tony's armor gets progressively better, how can he survive a Tank Round from the first movie, but punches from Cap and Bucky are worse. Are they stronger than tanks now? Also when Friday starts analyzing Caps moves, how on earth does Bucky touching Tony's leg and making him look away, prevent Friday from continuing to predict Cap? Just because Tony looked away doesn't mean "she" can't "see" Cap still.

Thor: The entire lesson/moral of Ragnarok was thrown out the window. "Are you the god of hammers?" It went from Thor finding out he had his powers without the hammer to, OMG I need my hammer. Also how did Stormbreaker overpower the infinity stones? Shouldn't Thor just start out the next movie by throwing it at Thanos' head? Fight over

Spidey: Did he have his Spider-sense the entire time or did he discover it between homecoming and infinity war? They made a point to show us he had it in infinity war. If he had it before, how on earth did Cap, Falcon, and Ant-man all tag him? None of them were using any special tactics.

Maybe this bothers me way more than it should, but I'd love to have other people weigh in on this.

In regards to Cap, he wasn't holding back Thanos and Thanos wasn't exerting any effort at all. This has already been confirmed. And a punch from Thanos would only kill him if he punched Cap hard enough to kill him. But he clearly only punched him hard enough to KO him. The Directors confirmed that at that point he didnt want to kill anybody he didn't have to in order to get a Stone (like Vision and Gamora).

Tony's "power fluctuations" can easily be explained by him wearing different suits with different stats and abilities.

Thor. I see no contradictions or fluctuations at all here. Thor learns that he is just as powerful or more without Mjolnir. Then he gets his ass kicked and learns that even though he is powerful without Mjolnir, he isnt powerful enough to beat Thanos. Stormbreaker =/= Mjolnir. It was explicitly stated that SB was meant to be far more powerful than Mjolnir or any other weapon. It made Thor more powerful. Again, I see absolutely no issue here.

Spidey. We dont know enough about how his sense works to make assumptions lile that. Maybe it only goes off for catestrophic danger like an alien invasion threatening him and the entire city, but doesnt go off for small events like a punch. Again, there is only contradictions if you make assumptions that cause them.

Everything you mentioned has perfectly reasonable explanations.

Cap holding back thanos’s hand is actually kinda consistent with all his impressive feats lol

I didn't know it had been stated that Thanos wasn't exerting any force against Cap at the end of IW, that kinda sucks haha, that's one of my favorite Cap moments! Anyone happen to know the source? I would love to read the article! Not trying to thread hijack OP!

@huthimamwa: why would any of Tony's suits be succeptible to peak human punches?

Spidey: Ummm so his spider sense can only detect something half a mile away? Does it use a formula to decide what is designated as catastrophic? Why would I biological reaction be triggered by only that sort of thing?

Cap: what's the source on that Thanos punch?

Thor: So is stormbreaker more powerful than the infinity stones? According to the Infinity War in a one v one matchup it is. If that's the case why do they need Captain Marvel or anyone else?