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  • Top 10 Most Powerful Superheroes of All Time

    old-wizard.com
    Written by Zeromage 5,446 Comments
    Last Updated:: May 23, 2008

    Here it is folks, the biggest debate on the whole interweb. Never has there been a more well thought out argument for a completely non-existent thing. Which superhero could beat up which other superhero. Never has a group of people spent more time drawing graphs, doing calculations, making charts, and writing computer programs to prove that the hero they love is in fact the toughest. These people do more literature searches than a graduate student writing their dissertation on literature. One can only imagine what world problems could be solved if comic book nerds would instead focus this same energy on say; poverty, healthcare, the climate, pollution, the economy, childhood obesity, cancer, sudden infant death syndrome, racism, genetic disorders, violence against women, the melting ice caps, sending a man to mars, depression, solving Goldbach’s conjecture, creating a unified field theory, un-raveling the mystery of DNA, figuring out what happened before the big bang, resolving religious tensions in the Middle East, finding peace on Earth, making cleaner cars, sustainable energy, nuclear fission, getting rid of hippies, and the million other things that would make this world a better place to live in.

    So in order to finish this debate once and for all we here at OW have finally finished THE list of the most powerful superheros. This is it folks. As every faithful reader knows that we here at OW are always right, we have proved it in the past. There can no longer be any debate. No more argument required. This list has taken us years to complete, and has threatened to destroy all that is OW. While making this list there was lots arguing, name calling, some shouting, a little bit of snuggling, more shouting, lots of your momma’s, but we finally came up with the definitive list of the most powerful superheroes of all time. We can’t be more clear on that last point, this is it. None of what you are about to read is opinion, it is fact. Next time one of your nerd buddies starts to argue you need only refer to this list, kindly pat him the head a give him one of the problems listed above to argue about. Here’s how we did it. 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. Then we plugged in all the facts and figures into the OW super computer and waited. Exactly 137 days later the answer was spit out. It then took us one year to figure out what that answer meant. Finally its over, these are the most powerful superheroes. Fact.

    10. The Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)

    Despite coming in at number 10, The Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) is one tough hombre. As a member of the Green Lantern Corps, he wields a power ring that can generate a variety of effects and energy constructs, sustained purely by the ring wearer’s strength of will. The greater the user’s willpower, the more effective the ring. The limits of the power ring’s abilities are never defined, but it has been referred to as “the most powerful weapon in the universe” on more than one occasion. It’s precious. Over the years, the ring has been shown capable of accomplishing almost anything within the imagination of the ring bearer. Often the rings are used to form solid-light constructs, the power and size of which are limited only by the ring-bearer’s willpower. And, if that wasn’t powerful enough, DC recently (in 2006) retconned the ring’s longtime lack of effect on yellow objects, stating that the ring-bearer need only feel fear and overcome it in order to affect yellow objects. With his protective bubbles and mean green energy bursts, the Green Lantern has fought with, and at varying times against, such heavyweights as Superman and Captain Marvel. But he’s still no match for number 9 on our list…

    9. 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 #5. If he had unlimited prep time before each fight, he could easily be number one on this list.

    8. Black Bolt

    Our seventh most powerful superhero of all time is Black Bolt, the king of the offshoot of humanity known as the inhumans. Black Bolt has often been described as one of the most powerful superheroes in the Marvel universe by other heroes, and for good reason. Through electron gathering and manipulation, Black Bolt can increase any aspect of his physical nature to superhuman levels, including his strength, speed, stamina and durability. In times of great need, he can channel this power into a single devastating punch called “The Master Blow”. He can also harness the electrons for matter transformation; the controlled projection of energy as concussive blasts or quasi-solid particle/electron fiends, broadcasting jamming frequencies, and flight. But Black Bolt’s most salient offensive weapon is his cacophonous voice, as a hypersonic shout that can level an entire city, and his merest whisper has been shown capable of stunning the Hulk. It’s even been suggested that his voice is capable of destroying an entire planet.

    7. The Flash

    People who don’t know a lot about comic books often assume that the Flash can run really fast, but is otherwise a normal guy.  He can turn his opponent into a statue, or phase his hand through his opponent’s head, causing it to explode.  He is also impressively durable for a normal human, and most, though not all, of his impressive feats of durability have been while moving faster than normal. Many times he’s taken hits from Class-100 opponents, various energy blasts, ect. and ranged from quickly recovers to unfazed.  Not only is Flash faster than Pre-CRISIS Kryptonians(and Silver Age Superman was so fast, not only count he travel through time and dimensions through speed, but he nearly broke the barrier between Life And Death and was about to crash into Heaven), but he’ll probably have a few examples of simply phasing through to avoid, as well. And Flash doesn’t need to cause the charge that causes matter to explode every time he vibrates through something.

    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.

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5,446 Comments

  1. #4 President Steve says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 12:02 am

    Thor is able to safely catch, the speedster Zefra before she could react!

    http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e139/RageOfTheGod/Thor/?action=view&current=Thorreflexes.jpg

  2. #9 Alberto says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 12:08 am

    @President Steve

    The scan of him creating the hurricane, is pretty impresive, even more that the first ones with OF.

    The reason why, is because that is the nature of his power, breaking a dimensional barrier has never been a problem for Thor.

    Defeating the fate it was to me like enforcing the law in his kingdom, which his Father did not.

    Beheading Loki, I’m pretty sure his dad could do the same thing if He wanted to.
    I think Thor never did it, because of respect to his Father, after his father was gone , then He became the ruler, he has to answer to no one. There is no point to keep him alive, I think he could have done this with out the OF.

    On the first scan
    I actually don’t think Thor is stronger than Hulk and you did not count the Tom Brevoort comment on the crossover topic.
    Why should you take this one into account?

  3. #11 President Steve says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 12:24 am

    I didn’t see this but here is what King Thor did to Caps supposedly indestructible shield right after killing Hulk and thing while being cut off from the Odin force..All of which he reversed by going back in time..

    http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/kytrapper/page0203wn.jpg

  4. #12 President Steve says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 12:27 am

    Here’s a BIG feat: ere Jane Foster is seriously injured.Thor makes time stand still basically he halts the passage of time in and around the house she is in to keep her alive.

    http://img195.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=32884_Journey_in_to_mystery110-15_122_217lo.jpg

    http://img239.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=32890_Journey_in_to_mystery110-16_122_22lo.jpg

  5. #13 President Steve says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 12:27 am

    Speed feat for Thor as he cuts a trench around a large crowd of mind controlled citizens and heroes(including Quicksilver) before they can react…

    http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/9057/avengers09814jk8.jpg

  6. #14 President Steve says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 12:28 am

    Thor side steps his hammer at the last second… good reflex feat.

    http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o106/bigbran1/Thor/Thor_vol2-509-007-11.jpg

  7. #17 President Steve says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 12:34 am

    Thor can dodge eye beams (how’s that for combar speed?_

    http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o106/bigbran1/Thor/FantasticFourV1339-18.jpg

    (and also blocks eye beams)

  8. #18 President Steve says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 12:36 am
  9. #20 President Steve says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 12:38 am
  10. #21 President Steve says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 12:41 am

    I actually found several scans of Thor flying and using lightning without his hammer. I’ll post more later. I’m tired now. Hopefully you’ll agree now that there are some cool Thor feats, Alberto. BTW, checked out those Superman scans from earlier. Nice stuff.

  11. #22 Alberto says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 1:04 am

    @President Steve

    I’m going to have to repply to each one of them

    Very nice, I have seen some of them before, some of them are new to me.

    First

    “Thor is only knocked down when getting hit with a boulder packing the force/weight of the Earth itself!”

    Pretty nice. I have seen Supes survive this type of punches before, He got “KO” as you know

    “Withstands multiple blasts from a group of enraged Celestials!”

    Correct me if I’m wrong, Shouldn’t this one be considered a defeating Galactus type of feat? I mean
    Nice that He survived the blast, but shouldn’t be consideres into that context?

    “Thor shows amazing strength and speed, as he reacts fast enough to put down Hyperion in a single blow!”

    Nice one. Hyperion is no match here

    “Thor displays enhanced awareness, and an amazing of matter/energy manipulation and/or illusion disruption as he casually reverts, a slave of Hela back to his original form without Mjolnir!”

    This is the nature of his being, nothing out of the extraordinary in a magical realm

    “Thor shows an incredible display of energy and matter matter manipulation as he creates a power source that will easily power all of Cincinnati for over a decade without Mjolnir!”

    Nice feat, again it was Mjolnir, Superman generated enough energy to heat the whole planet with out an external source

    “Oh, for all the people who claim Wolverine should be ahead of Thor”

    This one is a given, Wolverine, funny :D

    “Thor drains the power and defeats Presence himself”

    Mjolnir again, the magical nature of the character will allow him easily to do that.

    “Thor defeats an AMPED BlackBolt”

    Physically, I think He should do it always. BB did not whisper

    “Thor can fly WITHOUT Mjolnir!”

    Thor does not “Fly” he hovers and He is pulled by his mallet.

    “Thor is able to safely catch, the speedster Zefra before she could react!”

    How fast is she?

    “Can shoot lightning FROM HIS HANDS:”

    Good this one is new to me, worth mentionig here. The mallet was deflected if you generate enough energy. Which Superman can do

    “Speed feat for Thor as he cuts a trench around a large crowd of mind controlled citizens and heroes(including Quicksilver) before they can react…”

    We know He is at least 3 times faster than light

    “Thor side steps his hammer at the last second… good reflex feat.”

    Nice :D

    “King Thor did to Caps supposedly indestructible shield right after killing Hulk and thing while being cut off from the Odin force..All of which he reversed by going back in time”

    Isn’t this one a what if of a separate arc?
    I saw it somewhere, correct me if I’m wrong.

    “Energy blasting feat”

    Nice, but Mjolnir again

    I will like to mention here. Have you notice that Thor’s Old english tend to speak in an extravagant exageration way?

    Just my point of view.

    The Sentry Fight, can you give me issue numbers? I will like to buy it :D

  12. #23 Alberto says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 1:12 am

    @President Steve

    “BFR”

    Nice :D

    “Thor can dodge eye beams (how’s that for combar speed?”

    Time Dilatation

    “Thor throws his hammer to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, and it comes back in about 60 seconds”

    He should try baseball :D NIce

    “Travels 3X light speed:”

    This is well known

    “Knocks around a weakened Galactus”

    Galctus feat, You said it, But I think in this one We should account that the intention here is to show that the combined power of the living planet, the tech of the ship and the power of Mjolnir COULD stop Knock around a weakened Galactus. nice :D

  13. Isn’t this one a what if of a separate arc?
    I saw it somewhere, correct me if I’m wrong.

    No, but Thor does go back in time and change everything back. So it technically “never happened”. He had the Odin Force there though.

  14. Funny, I didn’t see Thor KILL Wolverine. Wolverine can’t be killed you fucking dumbass. That’s why he belongs on this list.

  15. #26 alberto says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 2:40 am

    @Dave

    I don’t think Thor want it to kill Wolverine. If he can decapite Loki, he MAY be able to do the same to Logan.

    Worth mentioning, The thunder did not even damage Logan’s skin. The electricity should have a greater effect on him because of the metallic preperties of his skelleton.

  16. #27 ShadowHunter says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 3:14 am

    Dave : Because he has the same regen than Superman doesn’t means he can get in the list. Wolverine.. lol? Weak and lame. Cut his head off or bring him in space and POUF, dead.

  17. where is wolverine in any of this, not only is physically altered bt he has no weakness he should hav cracked the top five at least

  18. #29 ShadowHunter says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 4:37 pm

    bttcll : Cmon fanboy. Can he take out one of the superheroes in the list? No so just go away. Go talk about wolverin on his official page but here, we are making fun of you since Wolverine is weak. Hal Jordan would just bring him in space, so he doesn’t make it to the list. Against Superman? Are you kidding me? AND AGAINST THOR? Don’t make me laugh. Sentry against Wolverine? Man, are you on drugs? Wolverine against Martian Manhunter? Seriously, stop watching the Xmen movie and start reading the comics of both compagnies. Captain Marvel against Wolverine? I’ll describe you the battle : Captain Marvel take Wolverine and he fly in space. He bring him close to the sun and let him there. After that, Captain Marvel go back to earth and watch a Wolverine that can’t breath in space or resist the pressure. Wolverine = Weak, lame and WEAK. He doesn’t even make it in the Top 30, lol!

  19. #30 alberto says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 6:17 pm

    @bttcll

    Wolverine is too powerful for this list, He is a cosmic being.

  20. #31 alberto says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 6:26 pm

    @Bob

    Thanks for the info.

  21. #32 acodayco says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 9:19 pm

    Um… isn’t BetaRay Bill more powerful than Thor (no Odin force)he did beat him head to head, fair and square?

  22. #33 alberto says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 5:34 am

    @Xvalkar

    I got the scans of Beta “surviving” the double black hole.

    Let me tell you, for what I read before I found them I thought He was between both of them, caught between both Gravitational Pulls.

    It wasn’t what I expected

    First of all the incident lasted for about 10 seconds

    Second it is not clear what was the distance between the Black Hole and BBR

    Third, BBR is not even close to the event horizon of the hole

    fourth seems that BBR was not even able to resist the pull He was about to get “sucked in”, when He destroyed the machine.

    Fifth, The gravitational pull of this black holes, wasn’t even able to destroy or affect the guy and the machine creating the two black holes, they were about 10 ft from BBR when everything started.

    When BBR throws stormbreaker, he is about 40 to 50 ft from the machine and who really knows what was the real distance between BBR and the black holes

    Worth mentioning, the asteroid in which they were standing was pretty much ok, the Church was not.

    The only thing I see here, Is that BBR pulled enough strength to throw storm breaker, but then again who knows, what was the real distance between BBR and the Black holes

  23. #35 alberto says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 5:37 am

    @acodayco

    From Zeromage

    “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”

  24. #36 darryl says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 12:20 pm

    Alberto

    Thor hammer’s is just part of him. But has been shown that Thor was very warrior without it. As previous state most of his power can be do without his hammer. I do agree without his hammer he is not number 1 mainly because he would loses the power of flight.

    Alberto don’t agree Superman isn’t a smarter warrior then Thor. Thor as many eon of experience being warrior this major advantage for Thor.

    As President Steve say Thor has many feat showning he deserve the top spot.

  25. #37 ShadowHunter says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 4:00 pm

    Darryl : The point you don’t get is that Superman knows the Kryptonian martial arts, the martial arts of Batman, learned how to use and resist magic (even fight) from Wonder Woman, he managed to create a bunch of things like robots and vehicules, etc.. Thor is a warrior that jumps in every fight without thinking about it. Superman is much more like Batman. He’ll take time to think about it, see if he can bring the ennemy somewhere else to avoid any collateral damage (so he can use his real strenght without having to think about hurting someone), etc.. In terms of fight, Superman is WAY more advantaged. I don’t hate Thor but he’s a warrior. Superman is a fighter/brainiac (he’s good at using his brain).

  26. #38 Alberto says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 4:25 pm

    @Darryl

    I agree with Shadow. a warrior os not the same as a trained fighter. Warrior became obsolete, before before the bronze age and replaced by standard armies.

    Thor fighting style is arcaic and obsolete now a days, to the point of being bested by Greko-Roman style.

    His war tactics are at the best Medieval style, medieval is far different from Caps modern warfare. Cap has to think about how to take down a howitzer, while being carpet bombed by a plane, don’t step into mines, being shot by tank on the left a machine gun on the right and getting flanked by nazis.

    Medieval warfare, is way less advanced. You only have to worry about not getting flanked, out of the range of the arrows and not getting charged by knights, as long as you hold the line everything should be fine.

    Eons of fighting? I remember somewhere I saw, He was about 1000 years old, maybe two thousand, How can he have Eons of experience if he has only lived for one thousand years?

  27. #39 President Steve says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 4:27 pm

    Thor is unquestionably older than a thousand years. I’ll find a scan or reference for you today. But I remember him once saying he’s existed for 10s of 1000s of years. (maybe even more)

  28. #40 Chris says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 4:49 pm

    1. Professor X
    2. Gambit
    3. Wolverine
    4. Superman
    5. Galactus
    6. Thor with Odin Force
    7. Green Lantern tied with Wonder Woman
    8. Spiderman
    9. Batman tied with Mr. Fantastic
    10. Supergirl

  29. #41 President Steve says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 4:51 pm

    yeah, I showed him the scan myself. Well, Silver Surfer fought INSIDE a black hole, which is pretty cool. As for Thor…I have no doubt he would survive a black hole. I could never see a comic book where, he fell into a black hole and that’s the end of him.

  30. #42 Darryl says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 8:34 pm

    Alberto & Shadowhunter
    Do you here yourself?

    Alberto you said “I agree with Shadow. a warrior os not the same as a trained fighter. Warrior became obsolete, before before the bronze age and replaced by standard armies.”

    We are not talking about standard army and multi people. I’m saying the Thor skill as warrior & trainer fighter is way greater then Superman. You make sound like Thor mindlees brute which he is not.

  31. #43 alberto says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 9:15 pm

    @Darryl

    No, I’m not saying that He is a mindless brute, often He is portrayed as one, but I understend that He is a trained warrior as to what degree, that is the debate. I thing WW has always displayed better fighting skills than Thor, same goes for Batman and Captain America. They have also shown better fighting skills than Superman.
    The only thing I see is that Thor goes fist first USUALLY all the time, while Superman analyzes and thinks. I can see Superman as a smarter fighter than Thor and overall a smarter being than Thor.
    I’m not saying Thor is a mindless brute, but He is not as smart as Superman, as to strategies, I’ll assure you that if Thor played chess against Superman, Superman will win 10/10.
    and if Thor could be a more skilled warrior and a trained fighter, He should think before jumping into a fight. All skilled fighters analize, and then attack, Thor never does this. Does he?

  32. #44 Brian says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 9:19 pm

    I’m really not sure what to make of this list, considering the Hulk didn’t even make it on the list, and yet he has defeated the number one guy (Thor) time and time again. He easily can beat Superman, and Greg Pak himself said he is Marvel’s most powerful hero. I don’t care what some idiots on a random blog say, Greg Pak knows more than all the idiots posting on this site combined, since he WRITES COMICS!!!!!!!!!!!

    Here’s what the list should really look like:

    1) Hulk (the only time I remember him ever losing is in a FAN VOTED crossover with Superman)

    Let’s not forget…HULK was the only one who was able to stop RED HULK

    2) Sentry (power of a million exploding suns, he would easily crush Thor….even with the Odin Force)

    3) Silver Surfer

    4) Thor

    5) Green Lantern

    6) Professor X

    7) Black Bolt

    8) Dr. Strange /Dr. Fate

    9) Iron Man (He can deal with Supes with some Kryptonite)

    10) Superman

  33. #45 Brian says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 9:23 pm

    Most Powerful Villians:

    1. Red Hulk

    2. Galactus

    3. Thanos

    4. The Abomination

    5. Magneto

    6. Doomsday

    7. Darkseid

    8. Carnage

    9. Loki

    10. Mephisto

  34. #46 alberto says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 9:36 pm

    Yesterday watching the scans of PC SUPERMAN. I just remembered how powerful this guy was. Comparing current Superman at Byrne era it will be like at 10% TOPS of PC SUPERMAN.
    New earth Superman is different and more powerful than Byrne era, but still, less powerful than PC Superman.
    That does not change the fact that He already performed a few PC LEVEL FEATS, 6 I guess should be considered PC level feats.

    1.- Lifting the book with the Multiverse

    2.- Slowing the weight of Eternity

    3.- Wrestling earth from Starbreaker and pulling against the Sun’s gravitational pull

    4.- From Vega to earth in 10 minutes (one million times the speed of light)

    5.- From earth to and unknown Solar system to save Kyle Ryner

    6.- Heating earth with his own Heat vision in seconds. Remember Suns heat “takes sometime” to warm earth everyday, like around 4 hrs. Superman warm earth in seconds

    and still, some of them will be considered low end feats compared to PC Superman.

    Where are you PC SUPERMAN !!! :D

  35. #47 alberto says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 9:41 pm

    @Brian

    Grant Morrison says, that Supermn eats Hulk for breakfast. I don’t care what you say, you are nothing compared to Grant Morrison.

    And Mcfarland says tha spiderman Kills Glactus and RULK with help of aunt May. I don’t care what you say, Mcfarland know waaaaay more than you.

    :D

    Hulk is not here for a reason

  36. #48 alberto says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 10:10 pm

    @Brian

    Who is stronger WWH or PC Superman?

    Sentry of PC Superman?

  37. #49 alberto says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 10:35 pm

    @Shadowhunter

    I’ll take it back. Imperex is the shit.
    Imperex is nature itself. He has destroyed the universe before. Imperex is the natural law that destroys the universes and respawns a new one.

    The probes are the destroyer of galaxies, when they create enough hollows to destroy a one.

    Imperex cannot be destroyed or stopped. Even the quintessence got involved, the spectre and kissmet.

    Shadowhunter You are right Imperex Prime is more powerful than Galactus

  38. How would Imperiex fare against the Ultimate Nullifier?

    Probably not so well.

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