16 Most Powerful Characters in the Marvel Universe

The Marvel Universe is packed with thousands of powerful heroes and villains. Given the sheer number of gods, monsters, mutants, and primordial cosmic entities that inhabit the multiverse, it can be tough to determine the most powerful characters. But there is a pecking order.

Some of these super-beings have proven themselves the most powerful characters in existence, usually through some form of conquering and/or controlling the universe. Selected from the many Marvel beings with inhuman abilities, here is a list of the 16 most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe.

16. Deadpool

Deadpool earns his spot among the most powerful Marvel characters with a unique ability: Deadpool knows he is a comic book character. At multiple points throughout his history, this has allowed him to travel between the comic book world and the real world, even forcing his writers to change his destiny.

In “Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe,” the Merc With a Mouth assassinates every superhero and supervillain in the Marvel Universe, one after another, all in an attempt to rebel against his comic book creators. He bests Thor, the Hulk, and even the Watcher. Deadpool then breaks into the real world, ready to kill the very Marvel authors currently writing his story. Before he does, he turns to the reader, us, promising, “I’ll find you soon enough.”

15. The Sentry

The Sentry was a mortal man named Robert Reynolds until a botched super-soldier experiment granted him the power of “a million exploding suns.” What would normally be hyperbole but is instead a demonstrable fact for Sentry, whose power is unequaled among all of Earth’s heroes.

During the siege of Asgard, Sentry was able to quite literally rip Ares, the literal god of war, in half. Sentry is so powerful that he among the whole population of Earth is rated by Nick Fury as power level: 10+. For all others, the scale stops at 10.

14. The Elders of the Universe

The Elders of the Universe are a race of ancient aliens with immense power. Each is the last surviving member of their species, the first species to evolve after the Big Bang. As a result, the surviving members have access to the Power Primordial; the raw and immeasurable energy left over from the universe’s creation.

Over their multi-billion-year history, the various Elders have become so powerful that even Thanos, while wielding the Cosmic Cube, could not kill them. Their longevity and strength had made reality tedious to some, explaining why individuals like the Grandmaster and the Collector have turned to extravagant hobbies for their amusement.

13. Legion

David Haller, aka Legion, is the son of Charles Xavier, and like his father, is one of the most powerful telepaths in existence. Unlike Xavier, however, Legion’s gifts aren’t limited to one power set. The mutant has dissociative identity disorder and continually generates new, distinct personalities- each one with its own unique powers.

Legion has demonstrated time control, teleportation, energy manipulation, and even reality alteration depending on which personality is in control. The upper limit of Legion’s power is unknown and likely only kept in check by his fragile psyche.

12. Odin

Odin is the king of Asgard and the strongest of all the Asgardians, even his son, the mighty Thor. In addition to a godly amount of physical strength and endurance, Odin wields powerful and ancient Norse magic, casting a range of spells like strength and size augmentation, various mental enchantments, energy blasts, etc.

Odin is immortal and cannot die by any natural means; any blow that would otherwise fell the all-father simply sends him into a period of rest, after which he emerges, fully healed.

11. Galactus

In terms of pure, physical power, Galactus is one of the strongest beings in the universe. The giant cosmic being famously requires the consumption of entire worlds to sustain himself. Talk about powerful characters, right? He predates our current universe and several before that. Contrary to popular belief, he is not villainous; his destruction is merely part of his duty as a cosmic constant, keeping matter and sentience in check.

10. Thanos

Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will recognize the mad titan Thanos as the being that wiped out half of all life in the universe. He is a mutant Eternal and possesses extremely high natural speed, strength, and fortitude. However, his willpower and intellect make Thanos so deadly; his mind is one of the few to generate a successful plan for gathering all the Infinity Stones, and likewise, one of the few to successfully use them.

9. Uatu The Watcher

Uatu is a member of a race known as The Watchers. They are believed to be the oldest race in the universe and have spent most of their long existence observing and chronicling the actions of their inhabitants. Though they have all taken vows of non-interference, several brief exceptions by Uatu have shown him to be nearly omnipotent, with the abilities to instantly teleport anywhere and read any mind, among others.

8. Cyttorak

Cyttorak is one of the strongest magical beings in the Marvel Universe. He may be the single strongest, although he is currently confined to his own pocket dimension and his strength outside it is hard to measure. Tiny fractions of his power are enough to give others superhuman abilities; the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak gives the Juggernaut his powers, and the Crimson Brand of Cyttorak gives Dr. Strange many of his.

7. Franklin Richards

Franklin Richards is the child of Fantastic Four members Reed Richards and Sue Storm. Unlike the more mundane powers of his parents, Franklin developed at an early age the ability to warp reality. So far, his greatest contribution to the Marvel multiverse is almost single-handedly recreating it, world after world, after it was destroyed by the Beyonders.

6. Molecule Man

As far as mortal beings go, none can compare to Molecule Man. Despite his name, his power is simple but horrifyingly strong: he can control all molecules, even atoms themselves. That makes Molecule Man’s power only limited by his imagination.

If we wished it, the Molecule Man could destroy the Earth with a thought or even create an entirely new Earth. Indeed, when the multiverse collapsed during the “Secret Wars” event, it was revealed that the cause was a bomb- a bomb constructed from multiple realities’ Molecule Men. Indeed, it was only Molecule Man’s power that restored some fraction of the multiverse in the form of Doom’s Battleworld.

5. The Phoenix Force

The Phoenix Force is perhaps the most feared being in the universe. Though it represents the force of life itself, it is very often the bringer of death. The Phoenix ensures that all life and death are cyclical, that everything has its end to make room for a new existence. Perhaps the most frightening aspect of the Phoenix is its penchant for inhabiting unprepared hosts, the most famous of which being Jean Grey.

4. Eternity and Infinity

Eternity and Infinity are the literal embodiments of time and space. They represent and control everything that ever happens, and as such, have a power that could be seen as unmatched. Their only limit is their dedication to the natural cosmic order and its hierarchy, knowing that there are beings even stronger than they whose will must be heeded.

3. The Beyonder

Unlike the other most powerful characters on this list, the Beyonder isn’t a resident of the multiverse. He hales from his own dimension beyond the reach of existence, and as such, his powers are so alien as to threaten even cosmic deities and abstracts. Even more, it was revealed that the Beyonder was a child belonging to a whole species of Beyonders. During the one occasion when multiple adult Beyonders entered our multiverse, they destroyed it entirely.

2. The Living Tribunal

The Living Tribunal is the second strongest being in the Marvel Universe. He is omnipotent and acts as the day-to-day moderator of existence. His word is the supreme authority in the Marvel Universe and not even Thanos, empowered by the Infinity Gauntlet, opted not to engage the Living Tribunal in combat.

1. The One-Above-All

As its name suggests, there isn’t one being more powerful than the One-Above-All. Sitting at the very apex of the cosmic pecking order, the One-Above-All is the most powerful being in the Marvel multiverse. Both omnipotent and omniscient, it alone possesses greater power than the Living Tribunal and Beyonders and acts as the Marvel Universe’s supreme being.

The One-Above-All is believed to represent the most revered real-life architects of the Marvel universe, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. In the past, he has taken the form of Jack Kirby to symbolize his true power: the supreme creator of the Marvel universe.