To kick off the decade, I wanted to write a list of the most powerful beings in the comic book/superhero world. And I know what you’re thinking: “This article would’ve been better of New Years Day.” Well, I’ve been sick for over a week, but I had to make sure that you guys saw just how what kind of damage these characters could do. This list is in no particular order and not listed in increasing or decreasing strength. This list also does not have Thanos because I thought he was too obvious. *WARNING: There are spoilers ahead of some shows and films listed.*
Shinichi and Migi (‘Parasyte: The Maxim’)
‘Parasyte: The Maxim’ is a manga series about a teenager whose right hand is taken over by a worm-like creature known as a parasite. While Shinichi is human and does not have his own powers, he and Migi, unlike others who have been intertwined with parasites, still retain their separate identities and personalities. Their strange circumstance gives them an edge in battles against parasites who attack them. Migi can turn his host’s hand into different types of weapons for battle and eventually is able to separate from Shinichi’s body for a short period of time.
T’Challa (Black Panther)
I couldn’t write about the most powerful characters and leave out T’ Challa aka The Black Panther. While human, T’Challa is empowered by vibranium, a natural resource known for its extraordinary abilities to absorb, store, and release large amounts of kinetic energy, mined only in Wakanda. Appearing frequently in MCU, it has been used in the construction of Captain America’s Shield and The Black Panther’s uniform. Making T’Challa nearly invincible, it slows down the momentum of incoming objects and protects him from being stabbed. To further exemplify the power it gives him, the vibranium in the soles of his boots allows him to survive a fall of several stories, scale walls and glide across water.
Cooper (‘Super 8’)
The alien from ‘Super 8’ also known as Cooper was captured by the military and held captive for over 20 years for observation. Cooper has telepathic abilities, but can only communicate with humans that it has physically touched. Far more advanced and intelligent than human life forms, he can also understand human reasoning. He also possesses superhuman strength, telekinesis, and some sort of electromagnetic powers, being able to interfere with electrical fields. In addition to causing the power to flicker on and off when he is near, the alien is able to jam sensors and guidance systems. This was shown when he caused the missiles to misfire and land onto the ground.
Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff)
Daughter of one of the most powerful mutants of all time (Magneto), Scarlet Witch has numerous powers. To list them, she has scientifically enhanced magical abilities, the power of reality warping, teleportation, matter manipulation, time manipulation, energy projection, manipulation, and absorption, and her most famous power, probability manipulation aka hex powers. She is as powerful as, if not more than, her father and more powerful than her both her siblings Quicksilver (Pietro) and Polaris (Lorna).
Eleven (‘Stranger Things’)
One of the most powerful beings listed, Eleven is a young girl who was experimented on which was a result of her having psychokinetic abilities. Her most frequently used power is telekinesis, which when fueled by her emotions is strong enough to lift large and heavy objects. This has been shown throughout the series such as the time that she was able to channel her anger in order to pull a train car towards her. An extremely powerful girl, she has numerous powers in addition to telekinesis, so many that the three videos below courtesy of the Youtube channel MagicalPowers show her power development over the series.
She also has many other mental abilities including ESP (Extrasensory Perception) and telepathy. Through ESP, Eleven is able to gain information from other dimensions through the mind rather through physical means. She also has the ability to transmit the voices of people and other sounds in other locations over electronic speakers through technopathy, has the ability of remote viewing to find people that are taken in the Upside Down even if she has yet to meet them, and can use psychometry to discover facts or memories about an event or person by touching inanimate objects associated with these people. When in the void of her mind, she is also able to communicate with them telepathically. Along with this, she has the power of levitation and, to an extent, biokinesis, being able to disintegrate Demogorgons.
Phoenix (Jean Grey)
While this fan-favorite comic book character technically did not make her debut in the past decade, she definitely made some pretty huge appearances. In ‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix,’ Jean Grey absorbs a solar flare, later revealed to be the Phoenix Force, which possesses beings that can only sustain the immense power it has. The extent of her power can be seen below as she is able to disintegrate numerous people and objects around her.
Sebastian Shaw (‘X-Men: First Class’)
Sebastian Shaw has the ability to absorb all kinetic and thermal energy directed at him and use it to augment his strength, speed, stamina and recuperation capabilities to superhuman levels. The best way to explain his power is to show you.
Ego the Living Planet (‘Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2’)
In ‘Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2’ Ego is the main antagonist and leader Peter Quill’s biological father. Ego, an ancient aged Celestial, has cosmic powers that he uses to manipulate matter around himself, using this ability to form an entire planet (or bioverse) around himself, as well as many resources and a human body to interact with sentient beings. This power allows him to control his entire biosphere and can use its substance to change both the physical and chemical properties of his bioverse from the creatures it telepathically commands that are on the planet itself to the land or lack thereof to the atmosphere surrounding the actual planet. Ego can also generate vast psionic energies and project energy blasts to obliterate starships or planets. If its energy reserves are depleted, Ego can restore them by devouring planets, tapping into stars, or digesting large numbers of living beings.
Brandon Byers (‘Brightburn’)
This one will be very easy to explain. He’s literally Evil Superman. Same origin, same powers, different demeanor. Brandon Byers starts out a normal child until puberty hits and he begins to manifest superhuman powers such as heat vision, flight, superhuman strength, superhuman speed, telekinesis, and near-invulnerability which are a result of his extraterrestrial heritage. Any of these ring a bell? I thought they would. Sorta like Superman and kryptonite, the only thing that can hurt him is the outer shell of the spaceship that he crash landed in on Earth from a different planet.
Before we get to our 10th and final most powerful being of the decade, I also wanted to quickly put down an honorable mention: Unity (‘Rick and Morty’).
Unity, an ex-lover of Rick’s, is a collective hive mind that made its debut when Unity assimilates the remainder of the planet it currently occupies which leads Rick, Morty, and Summer responding to a distress signal coming from an abandoned ship. The entity known as Unity is able to take control of the minds of an entire planet’s population in a grossly disturbing manner: vomiting into uninfected individuals’ mouths and taking them over from the inside. Its only weakness is its toxic relationship with Rick. When with Rick, Unity drinks too much and causes its hosts to vomit up the entity’s infection.
Apocalypse
Last but most definitely not least, Apocalypse! Much like many other characters on this list, Apocalypse is not new to any X-Men lovers, playing a pivotal role in not only comics but also animated television series and the 2016 film ‘X-Men: Apocalypse.’ He is an extremely powerful and ancient mutant, believed to be the very first mutant and the ancestor of all mutant-kind. His list of many powers includes telekinesis, teleportation, force field generation, power absorption, knowledge absorption, matter manipulation, power bestowal and augmentation, mental manipulation, mental shield, adaptive superhuman reflexes, regenerative healing factor (which makes him immortal), superhuman strength, and finally superhuman durability. With all of these powers, it is understandable how only an omega level mutant such as Jean Grey when tapping into the Phoenix Force can defeat him.
Well there’s our list of most powerful beings of the past decade. Comment below to let me know if you think there were some characters or powers that were overlooked!
