• Top 10 Most Powerful Superheroes of All Time

  

  Written by Zeromage 1,942 Comments
  Last Updated:: May 23, 2008

  6. The Martian Manhunter
  

  The Martian Manhunter’s chief super power is super strength. Super strength and durability. His two powers are super strength, durability and flight. His three powers are super strength, durability, flight and shapeshifting. Amongst his many powers are super strength, durability, flight and shapeshifting… I’ll come in again. The Martian Manhunter is basically the Swiss army knife of Superheroes. Along with all those powers, he has super speed and “Martian” vision, both at levels close to those of Superman himself. He not only can turn invisible but also alter his density to become incredibly strong, tough and ultimately intangible. In addition to his physical powers, J’onn is also a very powerful telepath. He also possesses 9 different senses, though these are ill defined and often forgotten by comic book writers. And if superhuman physical strength and mental powers aren’t enough, J’onn also has the ability to regenerate. In the past he’s even regenerated his entire body from only his severed hand.

  5. Doctor Strange

  Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Steven Strange, has unparalleled sagicity of the mystic arts, and stands as humanity’s first and last line of defense against all magic-based menaces that threaten our dimension. I think Doc Strange is probably one of the more powerful characters in the Marvel Universe, and light years ahead of any of the crappy sorcerers from DC (although Zatanna is way hotter). Given that he can do pretty much anything that the person who is currently writing him can imagine, he could potentially beat any of the other characters in this list. In fact, he could probably beat some of them by simply wiggling his finger. Of course this assumes that he would enough time to do so. The problem is that most of the other heroes on this list won’t give him even that small amount of time. His lack of super speed, super reaction time, super senses and any sort of super human invulnerability, make Dr. Strange one of the easiest characters to defeat on this list. For this reason alone we put Dr. Strange at #9. If he had unlimited prep time before each fight, he could easily be number one on this list.
  
  4.Captain Marvel
  
  What do you get when you cross Superman with Doctor Strange? The answer is Captain Marvel. This guy is a beast. He has the magical abilities much like Dr. Strange (although he rarely uses them) and doesn’t have the drawback of being a mere human. Captain Marvel has often been shown to be equal to Superman, physically, at least when they’re not directly fighting. And with his other unique abilities his power is quite close to Superman. Occasionally he’s even shown as seemingly superior to Superman, but this is almost entirely when there’s something mystical involved, and it’s typically because Captain Marvel’s mystical properties screws up whatever he’s facing (Such as the time he was able to surround his fists in mystical energy to help disrupt a force-field that a mage had created). He also has a “lightning” bolt which he uses as an offensive weapon along various other abilities. His lightning bolt is not actually lightning, it’s energy from The Source, coupled with the spell that creates Captain Marvel. It can be used to heal, and it is so fast, it was able to catch the Flash, even after he changed direction.

  3. The Silver Surfer

  The Silver Surfer is the on-again, off-again herald of Galactus. These two are the Ross and Rachel of the cosmos. And like all heralds of Galactus, the Silver Surfer possesses the power cosmic, an energy source capable of doing almost anything, from re-arranging molecules, to energy blasts, to time travel, to bringing people back from the dead. With the Silver Surfer it’s more of a question of what he can’t do, than what he can. Going by his powers alone the Silver Surfer is a beast. The only thing that keeps him out of the top spot on this list is how wildly inconsistent he has been written. In one comic we see him defeating a couple of primordial elder gods who are each supposed to be a match for Galactus himself, and in another he is getting KO’ed by the Thing. We are told in one comic that the power cosmic he wields makes him the most powerful non-cosmic level entity in the universe, yet in another comic we see that even with his powers augmented to “the most powerful they’ve ever been” by Loki, he is only able to draw against Thor, with the Surfer himself claiming that his power cosmic is no match for Thor’s mystical powers. Even with his inconsistency, the Surfer is one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe, and more than deserving of the #3 spot on our list.

  2. Superman

  Rocketed from the exploding planet Krypton by his scientist parents, and crash-landing on the planet Earth, Kal-El grew to adulthood on a small Kansas farm, raised by the wholesome Kent family. Raised as Clark Kent, once puberty set in he learned that his adopted planet’s yellow sun and weaker gravity gave him powers far beyond those a mere mortal man. Endowed with brazen strength, speed, and senses, not to mention flight, heat vision, and the ability to blow hurricane force winds and near-invulnerability, he moved to Metropolis and started calling himself Superman, where he fights for truth, justice and the American way! Superman practically has every super power you can imagine, or want (X-ray vision, wink wink, nudge nudge), which puts him in a league of his own. In addition to possessing all of these powers, time and time again, Superman has gone up against villains many times more powerful than himself, magic-wielders and even villains using kryptonite against him, and yet he always comes out on top. Somehow that square always finds a way to win.

  1. Thor

  The #1 most powerful superhero on our list is the Mighty Thor, the Norse god of Thunder himself. Besides being almost as strong as Superman, and probably just as durable, Thor also has energy manipulation powers that are on par with the Silver Surfer and magical abilities that have been shown, on occasion, to be as powerful as those of Dr. Strange himself. He is also armed with Mjolnir, the mystical warhammer that has been shown to be capable of opening passage ways through space and time, blocking all sorts of energy blasts, and bending the elements to its master’s will. Thor has been shown to be able to swing Mjolnir at twice the speed of light (and this was never even claimed to the fastest that Thor could swing it either). This guy is a Norse warrior god, trained and skilled in the arts of battle, and he’s been doing it for countless ages. While Thor has usually been normally shown to rely solely on his fighting ability, super strength, and well nigh invulnerability, he has so many other options available to him if a fight starts going badly that its really mind boggling. He has complete mastery over the weather, he can open chasms in the earth, he can even drain the soul out of his opponent’s body, or if worse comes to worse, use the dreaded godblast, an attack that has defeated even Galactus himself. While an argument can be made for any of the top 3 heroes to be #1 on our list, we chose Thor because of his vast power and versatility.

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1,942 Comments

1. #1 Desperado says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 6:32 am

   Thor withstands multiple blasts from Arishem, then knocks him on his ass, and still has enough strength to lift and throw the Odinsword through Arishem

   http://i5.tinypic.com/42lgnjl.jpg
   http://i19.tinypic.com/4737uz8.jpg
   http://i19.tinypic.com/4fy2hzm.jpg
2. #2 General Grievous says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 12:36 pm

   Alberto, that’s the point I’m making. Galactus is so far above Imperiex its ridiculous. And Thor is more powerful than Beta Ray Bill…but even still, Galactus could disentegrate BBR, Thor or Superman with barely a second thought.
3. #3 big guns says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 9:05 pm

   I do agree full power Galactus is more powerful then any one superhero in Marvel or DC. There are many example where Marvel state & shows power of Galactus. Eternity & Death both treat Galactus as equal no other being/entity has that relation with both them. Truly beside handful cosmic being in Marvel or DC very few could survive or battle fully load Galactus.

   I’m tired of people trying said Beta Ray Bill is more powerful then Thor. Thor is god which gives him certain level of invincible that Beta Ray Bill don’t have. Thor has godly force allow him do thing Beta Ray can’t do. Thor can do the godblast/warrior rage & control weather and there no comparison if thown in Odinforce with Thor powers.
4. #4 ShadowHunter says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 11:37 pm

   Hmm I really think Galactus would be no match against Superboy Prime.
5. #5 Alberto says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 3:39 am

   Wow! wow! wow!

   Not too fast General I agree that Galactus could defeat Imperex Prime but He is not FAR ABOVE.

   The only reason why Galactus will be the victor is because he has survived the end of the universe before.

   Now on the cosmic entyties in Marvel Galactus is BELOW The-One-Above-All (not the celestial), the Living Tribunal and Eternity, if Eternity respects him is because Eternity sees Galactus as a “brother” but He is Below Eternity and that was proven in the INFINITY GAUNTLET SAGA.

   Plus Galactus has a “weakness” the others don’t

   If Galactus is not feed he can be defeted and We have seen that in the past (too many times if you ask me)

   But yes a full powered Galactus is something that needs to be respected as well as an Imperex Prime

   They are not pushovers.

   Everytime this type of guys loose a battle against smaller beigns is because they don’t see the smaller beigns as a threat, pretty much like me steping into an ant mount and staying there until is too late.

   I also believe that a Hungry Galactus can be defeted by Superman or Superboy Prime. I mean If Thor can do it, Why Superman can’t?
6. #6 Alberto says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 4:06 am

   @General Grievous

   Ok a few more things

   Superboy Prime and Earth 2 Superman (Kal-l)

   Both are Pre-Crisis Kryptonians

   They are the same guys who survived the Infinite earths saga, THE SAME.

   On the black hole thing with lantern helping

   Delta never left critical information out

   Superman did in fact contained the black hole from expanding and THEN lantern help him to move it, to the worm hole site, then Superman created ENOUGH Static Electricity to cantain the black hole then Lantern apply magnetism to corral it into a field and THEN Superman THROW the black hole into the wormhole

   The feat still stands as Superman Containing a mini black hole, with his hands and then with static electricity generated by him

   And as Superman lifting and Throwing a mini black hole

   On Superboy Prime altering reality with his punches
   I don’t think He was in the perfect place to do it, Even Alexander Luthor is surprised when he sees the results. They were not even on the time stream.
7. #7 Rablex says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 8:32 am

   Son Goku of the Dragon Ball comics. Draws on power from his love for all that is good and true. Gets stronger after every near death experience. Does not need to be close to you at all to deliver a fatal energy blast. Can sense your power easily when you are planets away and obviously out of vision, even on alternate worlds (planet Kai). Has ’super speed’, immense strength (obviously not anything near superman), can fly and has been brought back to life. Cannot survive in space.
8. #8 Yanni says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 3:05 pm

   1. Gladiator (No other non-cosmic level character has feats that compare to his)

   2. World War Hulk (tough call here, because regular Hulk once beat Gladiator…proof that Hulk could absolutely crush Superman. But I think Glads feats still warrant him being #1)

   3. Sentry (This guy is basically a skyfather. He would destroy the Surfer, Thor and Superman all at once)

   4. Dr. Manhattan (part of me wanted him to be #1)

   5. Silver Surfer

   6. Thor (if he still had the Odin Force, he’d be tied for #4 with Dr. Manhattan, just behind the Sentry)

   7. Captain Marvel (6, 7, and 8 are almost a tie in my book)

   8. Iron Man (with Hulk Buster armor)

   9. Superman

   10. Supergirl (she’s constantly been shown to be stronger and a more powerful hero than her older cousin, BUT…Superman is more well known, so I’ll put him ahead…just barely. In another year she’ll probably be #9 and I’ll push Supes down to #10)

   Honorable mentions: Beta Ray Bill – Honestly I think he would beat Superman, but he’s not well known enough.
9. #9 Rulk says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 3:17 pm

   How is Red Hulk not on this list??????? Are we forgetting he knocked out the Watcher? (Who Galactus said was as powerful as he is). Or Thor with Odin Force? Or KILLED the Silver Surfer??????? Took on all the Avengers. Stomped even the Hulk? Red Hulk is #1!
10. #10 ShadowHunter says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 3:51 pm

    Rablex : We’re not talking about Dragon Ball here. They can’t even be considered as Superheroes.

    Alberto : If you think Galactus would beat Imperiex Prime, what about The Anti-Monitor?
11. #11 ShadowHunter says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 4:01 pm

    General Grievous : For the thing that Galactus can kill Superman in a sec, you are totaly wrong. Thor managed to beat him and still Superboy-Prime (Who’s way more powerful than Thor and Superman), got his ass kicked by Supes. If Thor can beat your ”Galactus”, Supes can certainly beat him too. Supes survived the blast of The Imperiex Prime, the same blast who killed Doomsday (became a pile of ashes) and beat The Anti-Monitor. Do I have to give you the name of more villains that he managed to beat? Emperor Joker, Superboy-Prime, DarkSeid, Mongul, Bizarro, etc..
12. #12 General Grievous says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 4:33 pm

    #1. Under no circumstances should Thor ever have been able to beat Galactus. Spiderman has beat Firelord. Do you think Spiderman is equal to a herald of Galactus? If you look at his feats, Galactus would destroy Superman, Superboy Prime, and Thor all at once with little effort.

    #2. How is someone being able to beat Bizarro supposed to mean he can beat Galactus? And Darkseid has been getting his ass beat a lot lately. Emperor Joker and Imperiex Prime are no match for Galactus either. I’ve already posted arguments why on the Superman vs Thor article.
13. #13 ShadowHunter says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 5:56 pm

    Bizarro is supposed to be weak? lol? He is as strong as Superman is. I pretty sure Galactus would get beat by Superboy Prime. Do I have to say more since he’s Pre-Crisis and he’s wearing almost the same armor that the Anti-Monitor was wearing?
14. #14 ShadowHunter says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 5:57 pm

    Yanni, if that is your list, Superman should be first. Gladiator is maybe strong but he doesn’t have Supes speed and many other abilities.
15. #15 Alberto says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 4:06 am

    @General Grievous

    “#1. Under no circumstances should Thor ever have been able to beat Galactus.”

    Sorry to break the news, but already happened

    “Spiderman has beat Firelord. Do you think Spiderman is equal to a herald of Galactus?”

    No, but it has already been explained why this happened

    “If you look at his feats, Galactus would destroy Superman, Superboy Prime, and Thor all at once with little effort”

    You mean a Full Force Galactus would destroy Superman and Thor, not the Hungry avatar that We are used to see

    “Emperor Joker and Imperiex Prime are no match for Galactus either. I’ve already posted arguments why on the Superman vs Thor article.”

    I don’t think so. Imperex Prime is a match for a Full Force Galactus and will own the regular hungry Galactus. Emperor Joker is another story, He will defeat Galactus the same way he did to the Spectre The Living Tribunal counterpart in DC
16. #16 Alberto says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 4:06 am

    @Rulk

    Rulk is not a superhero
17. #17 Alberto says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 4:09 am

    @ShadowHunter

    I don’t think a Full Force Galactus will be able to defeat the Anti-Monitor
18. #18 Alberto says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 4:12 am

    @Yanni

    Thanks for sharing you opinion, but a lot of people will disagree with it
19. #19 ShadowHunter says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 12:21 am

    Alberto : I just saw that there is alot more ”Monitor” in DC. Is it true or just false information?
20. #20 ShadowHunter says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 1:32 am

    We should maybe think of adding Sodam Yat in the list.
21. #21 Alberto says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 2:18 pm

    @Shadowhunter

    There is AT LEAST 52 monitors 1 for each universe

    Sodam Yat by himself it could make it to the list.

    I think his status of hosting a cosmic being, will probably get him out of the list, however the list says:

    “First we excluded all super villains, this is heroes only, next we eliminated all exorbitantly overpowered cosmic beings (Phoenix, Odin, or the Highfather). And finally we ignored all heroes that would be considered ‘normal’ but have similar powers as those listed below”

    I don’t know, he might get a chance, if he gets in he could be #1

    I can see Sodam Yat, defeating Superman
22. #22 Alex says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 5:12 pm

    The Silver Surfer is so far ahead of Superman its ridiculous. How is the Surfer #3?????!!!!!
23. #23 GG says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 5:46 pm

    This list is ridiculous and based more on fanboy preference than actual objective reasoning. With the power cosmic at his disposal Surfer should be at the top of the list followed by ‘million exploding suns’ Sentry. Captain Marvel is much slower than Superman, has no vision powers and can’t be considered a sorcerer by any stretch of imagination. He doesn’t belong on this list. The Flash, on the other hand, is a glaring omission. Next time you make these lists at least spend a little time googling for feats will ya?
24. #24 ShadowHunter says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 7:33 pm

    Alex, we already debated on that.
25. #25 ShadowHunter says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 7:33 pm

    Alberto : Thank you for the information.
26. #26 Alberto says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 9:25 pm

    Is this the new list?

    I don’t see Hulk anymore
27. #27 ShadowHunter says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 9:25 pm

    He got replaced by Captain Marvel.
28. #28 ShadowHunter says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 9:26 pm

    But Hulk should be in the list. Black Bolt shouldn’t be in it, I think.
29. #29 ShadowHunter says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 9:30 pm

    Alberto : Well, Sodam Yat with Ion inside him would beat anybody, lol.
30. #30 Alberto says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 9:37 pm

    @ShadowHunter

    I guess if he is approved he will claim #1

    I mean after all He is powerful, but not crazy powerful, he still have a weakness even as The host of ION he got defeated and he is still alive in the 31st century.

    He should be #1

    I won’t even say nothing against that

    Sodam Yat 4 president
31. #31 ShadowHunter says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 9:46 pm

    Sodam Yat : Yes he can!

    Well, he got a weakness : led. But he got a Power Ring that remove that weakness BUT The Guardians have the control on Ions power when he wears it. And yeah, he should be #1 on the list and I think everybody agree with that.
32. #32 ShadowHunter says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 9:49 pm

    That suck that we can’t put The Spectre in the list lol!
33. #33 Pete says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 2:25 pm

    @GG

    I agree. The Surfer needs to be #1.
34. #34 Kevin says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 2:39 pm

    Sorry, Pete, but Superman is much more powerful than the Silver Surfer, and probably Thor as well. IMO the list should be:

    1. Superman
    2. Thor
    3. Silver Surfer
    4. Captain Marvel
    5. Sentry
    6. Martian Manhunter
    7. Wonder Woman
    8. The Flash
    9. Black Bolt
    10. Orion
35. #35 Pete says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 2:41 pm

    Superman is more powerful than the Surfer? LOL. Only if the Surfer forgets that he can turn the sunlight powering Superman into kryptonite radiation or strawberry jell-o.
36. #36 Pete says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 2:42 pm

    Not only that but Superman really doesn’t have any defense against Surfer just going back in time and blowing up Krypton’s sun a few billion years ago, or turning him into a pastrami sandwich, or aging him billions of years, or teleporting him into another universe, or turning intangible and taking a nap, or replacing Clark’s blood with adamantium, etc, etc…
37. #37 ShadowHunter says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 3:01 pm

    Silver Surfer has prooved that he was strong but sometimes, he prooved that he was really weak too.
38. #38 Pete says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 7:58 pm

    Yes, and Superman has proven to be weak as well. How about getting hurt by an explosion of a gas station? Or almost being taken out by one nuke? Or getting his ass kicked by Batman? The Surfer high end feats completely dominate Superman’s. End of story.
39. #39 big guns says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 10:02 pm

    I like that Capt. Marvel is getting his respect. I personally think it’s a bad move to take Hulk totally off this list. I know there was big movement from DC fans to have Hulk remove and Superman move up on the list. I like Superman so I don’t mine where he is on the list. I think different between Surfer being 3rd & Superman in 2nd is all just matter of opinion. I personally think Surfer should be 2nd in my opinion but I can see how Superman could be picked over him. I think Sentry is hero who power is over exaggerate and should be remove for this list but that just mine opinion. I like to know what information cause Mage Zero to remove Hulk altogether. I was very satisfied with Zero Mage explanations on why Thor was more powerful then Superman. See his comment on Thor vs. Superman blog.