The Ten Most Powerful Threats in the Marvel Universe
You Know There's Trouble When (fill in the blank) Comes
Galactus the World Eater
Who are the heavy hitters in Marvel?
The Marvel Universe has more than its share of universal threats. Most readers and comic book fans aren't aware of most of them. I decided that writing this article was more out of need than out of pleasure when I found that Thanos was a mystery to some of the younger comic book readers.
I'm actually happy that Thanos is now getting the attention he deserves.
Over the last fifty years, Marvel Comics has amassed some pretty powerful villains - and villains are people you should be worried about. However, the term "villain" and "threat" are not necessarily synonymous.
In a real world example Osama bin Laden was a villain who was a threat. He was evil and wanted to cause destruction. However, bin Laden at his worst could not cause the same kind of devastation as a natural disaster or the "threat" of global warming.
Blizzards, hurricanes, and floods are not evil - they just are.
The best title for this is "threat" rather than villain because some of these beings are not evil as we understand them.
Let's begin with the most popular.
Case in point: Galactus.
Some would argue that Galactus is the worst villain in the Marvel Universe. He's not. Although what Galactus does is incredibly destructive, causes death, and ends worlds - the term "evil" does not really fit. Galactus does what he needs to survive. There is no malice in what he does just as there is really no malice for any MacDonalds customer to any cow that was part of his cheeseburger. The death and destruction that Galactus causes are incidental to his survival.
Galactus needs to consume the life-energy of planets in order to survive. If the planet he consumes is inhabited, it is unfortunate.
What we can call Galactus is a universal threat. After all, what would you call someone or something that needs to destroy planets to survive? What would you do about such a threat? All inhabited planets that have been consumed by Galactus have tried to fight back. Unfortunately for them Galactus is too powerful to be stopped.
The Beyonder - God in Another Universe
Okay, yes, he looks like some kind of glam rocker from the eighties. But don't be fooled, he's all powerful.
Back in the eighties, Marvel Comics ran a storyline that lasted for almost a year called "The Secret Wars". Marvel's big name heroes (Spider-man, The Hulk, Mister Fantastic, The Human Torch, The Thing, Iron Man, The Wasp, Captain America, Captain Marvel II, Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Thor, Spider-Woman, Professor X, Cyclops, Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Wolverine, and Lockheed the Dragon) faced off against a collection of villains (Galactus, Doctor Doom, The Molecule Man, The Wrecking Crew, The Lizard, Klaw, Magneto, The Absorbing Man, The Enchantress, Kang, Titania, Ultron, and Volcana). They were gathered by a bodiless being called The Beyonder.
You see the Beyonder didn't understand the nature of good and evil as well as the motivations behind humanity. He told both groups to slay their enemies and he'd grant the winners whatever they desired. Nothing was impossible for him to grant.
In the aftermath of the Secret Wars, the Beyonder wanted to experience life as a human. Originally he created a body from parts of the beings he observed from the participants of the first Secret Wars. In his second attempt, he modeled a body from that of Captain America and then later he changed his hairstyle and clothes based on recommendations from a mob family.
Reality bends at the whim of the Beyonder. In his home universe, he was everything and everything was him. There is no being or entity in the Marvel Universe (save the Molecule Man) who can challenge his might. This includes Galactus, Mephisto, and Death.
Owen Reece, The Molecule Man
Looks like a ninety-eight pound weakling, doesn't he? Yeah... don't screw with him.
Owen Reece essentially was irradiated and absorbed the energy of a cosmic cube. The accident put lighting-like scars on his face. Initially, Reece, thought he could control all the aspects of inorganic matter. Calling himself, the Molecule Man, the picture of a disgruntled lab worker in a giant corporation, took revenge on the corporate president that fired him for causing the lab accident.
Not a good idea when the accident gives you power over matter and energy.
The Molecule Man was the frequent foe of the Fantastic Four - as the Watcher, in an oath breaking piece of interference, alerted the group of Reece's power.
Reece was wrong about his own power and subconsciously thought he only had the power to effect inorganic matter. It turns out he could affect ALL MATTER AND ENERGY. That makes you about as powerful as a god.
It is a good thing that within recent years, Reece sought out therapists to help him with his own inner demons of inadequacy and, more or less, has become psychologically stable. A natural home body, Reece prefers to be left alone and not to be disturbed unless the crisis calls for his intervention.
Dark Phoenix
This is not Arizona at night.
The dark side of the Phoenix force is something to be feared and dreaded. We know the Phoenix force as the energy that joined with Jean Grey, cloned her and for a brief time on Earth lived life as Jean Grey.
Our experience with the Phoenix force is with Jean Grey and Rachel Summers. When it had bonded with Grey, it was subject to all of her mind and emotion. With that being said, it was also vulnerable to her psychological dark side that everyone has. As a high level psionic energy manipulator, Grey may have eventually been able to work with the force - however, during her time when she was manipulated by the mutant Mastermind while at the mutant Hellfire Club, she may have lost the necessary control she needed.
The Phoenix force which usually manifests itself in the shape of a great bird of fire bonds with a high level telepath and thereafter can manipulate time, energy, matter, and be at one with cosmic awareness - making it omniscient. It is indestructible and is part of the primal energies of this universe. Many have said that the Phoenix force is second most powerful force in the universe.
The Dreaded Dormammu
Cosmic level threats come from many places - physical and mystical.
The Dreaded Dormammu reigns the mystic dark dimension. According to Doctor Strange, sorcerer supreme in this dimension, the Dormammu is a threat to "the life of the universe itself". He has displayed energy projection; matter transmutation; size shifting and teleportation; body possession; resurrection of the dead; bestowing of power; and creating demon lords. Within his own dimension there is no entity that can stop him.
It is only through the Dormammu's own oath, as he is indebted to Doctor Strange for helping him protect his own dimension, that he does not invade this one. While he won't invade Earth or this dimension directly, he is not beyond using pawns to carry out his evil deeds. In the past he has used Baron Mordo, Nicolas Scratch, and the demon Satanish to do his bidding.
The brief episodes that the Dormammu has made his incursion upon this dimension (through merging the Dark Dimension with this one) his presence has caused humanity to turn into demon like creatures and the world into a hellish environment.
Mephisto - Pure Evil
The Devil, you say?
All of you know this guy. He the guy you meet when you say, "For (fill in the blank), I'd sell the Devil my soul." Mephisto not only will make the deal but will accept all major forms of trade and barter to make this deal come true.
He's bad... Really, really bad. He rules what we'd term "Hell" - complete with damned souls, fire, brimstone, you name it. Mephisto pops up anytime there is a character that seems to be incorruptible and has a unique kind of problem that a master of time, space, and dimension can solve.
Normally, his victim is the Silver Surfer. He takes a particular type of joy in the fact that while the Surfer was trapped on Earth that he could torture and tease him by showing him his true love, Shalla Bal and denying him when he said, "No."
Like all the stories, any time anyone makes a "deal with the Devil", things usually don't quite work out as the bargainer intends. It's all in the fine print. However, there are some times when a hero gets the better of Mephisto. Spider-man and Mary Jane managed to resurrect Aunt May at the cost of their marriage and continuity - with just the lingering in their subconscious of what they'd given up, so that they'd suffer that much. In this deal, however, it is still possible for Peter and MJ to still find each other and find happiness while not breaking the deal.
Thanos the Titan
Thanos has ruled the universe at least three times in the past.
What can you say about a character that starts out with a few mediocre powers and develops his mind and body to achieve his goals of universal domination and destruction. Thanos' goal has always been to woo Death. The more people he kills and the more planets he destroys, the more he believes Death will love him back.
When you consider the fact that he has successfully schemed and plotted three different ways to become all powerful, you have to acknowledge that Thanos is a threat to all that lives. Indeed, when he possessed the Infinity Gauntlet which had the gems controlling Power, Time, Space, Mind, Soul, and Reality, no one - not even Mephisto - could challenge him for his power.
Thanos, while completely dedicated to Death, is not completely evil. He has wrestled control of this reality to fix a defect within the universe itself. As characters have found ways to resurrect themselves, they have weakened the fabric of reality. Thanos "rebooted" the universe to correct this and accomplish his goal that anyone who died from that moment on, STAYED DEAD.
Ironically, Thanos was recently resurrected against his will.
Michael Korvac
This is what happens when an alien invading force tortures an IT guy.
In a distant, alternate, future, where the Badoon have successfully taken over Earth, Michael Korvac was traitor to the human race. While working for the invading enemy force, he fell asleep. The aliens didn't like that and GRAFTED HIS LOWER BODY TO A COMPUTER.
Nice, huh?
In a battle with the Grandmaster (one of the Elders of the Universe), Korvac uses his computer cyborg body to scan the Grandmaster's powers. In doing so, he was able to destroy his Badoon overlords in revenge. He got another chance to expand his power when he was able to slip onboard Galactus' spaceship. Once he was able to merge with the computer on Galactus' ship, he became practically a god after downloading "the power cosmic".
He has displayed energy projection; matter alteration; teleportation and manipulation of time and space - typical god stuff.
Surtur - Nordic Demon
When you threaten to destroy the Nordic "Nine Worlds" in Ragnarock - that's us, too.
Surtur is a fire demon whose power is of apocalyptic proportions. In essence, he the guy who was fortold to bring about the end of the universe. He has appeared "prematurely" however to attempt to bring this about. In every attempt, it's up to Thor and Odin to stop him from destroying Asgard.
Surtur is a skilled warrior and swordsman and usually grows to a gigantic level anytime he makes the attempt to destroy... everything. When he does this, he grows to be a thousand feet tall.
As he's a fire demon, he is vulnerable to cold things - however other than that, he's a pretty serious threat to everything that breaths.
The Sentry / Void
Who'd have thought that the power of a million exploding suns could be that powerful?
It is.
Originally, the character of The Sentry was Marvel's answer to Superman. However, Marvel being Marvel needed to put a twist on the character. As part of giving the Sentry all of this heroic ability there needed to be some kind of balance.
So the Void came as well.
The Void was everything that the Sentry was not. Where the Sentry would do heroic feats to save lives, the Void would create disasters that would cause so many lives to be lost. It was like the tide with ebbing and flows.
Here's the catch: The Void and The Sentry are the same guy.
The Sentry/Void has the power of a million exploding suns which allows him to regenerate himself upon complete disintegration. As per Uatu, the Watcher, the Sentry/Void has been an avatar of Death and in some cultures "The Angel of Death" itself.
Final Thoughts
Knowing the players is part of any game.
In the Marvel Universe there are several threat level types. These range from the burglar who steals the box office receipts from a wrestling gig to egos that can end all that is. In some instances - especially on the level of the individual - we can care more about the burglar because we understand that retribution is more likely.
It's very much like pondering the crimes of a mass murderer that commits genocide. I paraphrase Eddie Izzard's point that after one million people dead, our minds can't cope with it and we say, "Well done! You must really be productive."
I don't undervalue the little menaces as the burglar that Spider-man failed to stop was the man who killed his Uncle Ben. We all know that there are dictators responsible for killing thousands of innocent people and as individuals there is little to nothing that we can do about it.
When I speak of these universal threats, they are to be taken in almost the same vein that eventually a large asteroid will destroy our planet sometime in the future. There's nothing we can do about this and it's best that we don't even think about it if we plan to ever have a peaceful sleep again.
In this venue we are dealing with fiction.
Knowing the big threats and knowing the potential for harm don't cause us to worry. For us, we need to know about them to enjoy the story more. We ask ourselves when we see them in a story, "What does this character bring to the table?"
We also wonder who the protagonist will be and how will he deal with that threat? Will this be a physical crisis or will it be a crisis of the soul? What will it eventually wind up costing our hero? Will he need help? If he does need help, who should he call on? We all wonder and we all read just that more intently.
As enthusiasts we all wonder about the protagonist's struggle of "man vs. man", "man vs. nature", "man vs. self", or "man vs. society". These villains in some sense translate to "man vs. god". When we read those stories, we are challenged by that concept.
And in some ways their victory is ours as well.
Who grabs your attention the most when you see him in a comic book story?
Questions & Answers
Who is the biggest threat in the Marvel universe?
I think it would be The Spectre. Literally, he is the wrath of God.
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© 2012 Christopher Peruzzi
Comments
Damnnn Sentry has me shocked, his villian is his own self? Marvel seriously needs to take this character seriously and make him more comics
What about impossible man
You forgot Amatsu Mikaboshi.
I think a rather significant one that was missed was Magus
what about Onslaught tho?
You forget Cytorrak, the guy from whom power dormammu draws his power
Yeah the thing is he was retconned around 3-4 times so there's pre retcon beyonder or classic beyonder (one in secret wars 1 & 2) most powerful version then there's another retcon who became weaker then living tribunal another retcon and he was only half of a cosmic cube and then after a third retcon he was a mutant inhuman.
PRB Beyonder would destroy anyone and everyone on the list all the entities (including living tribunal) were begging molecule man to stop beyonder as they all couldn't do it themselves also beyonder was a million times more powerful then the entire marvel multiverse.
A really dedicated hub that was a joy to read - it deserves more recognition. I also wrote a different take that has some of the same most powerful characters in the Marvel universe - http://pinstor.us/articles/marvel-universe-powerfu...
Actually, the Living Tribunal is subordinate to The One Above All (as is everything), so there is at least one being above him. The One Above All is either God himself or a byword for the writer(s) (or specifically Jack Kirby and Stan Lee). Some crossovers state that He is in charge not only of the Marvel universe, but the DC verse as well, and The Spectre considers The Living Tribunal to be his counterpart in the MU, as in his own stories sometimes refers to God as The One Above All.
Or maybe some writers just think they are God.
My mum is all powerful
I don't think it is that easy to kill the scarlet witch, she once completely unraveled into blocks of pure energy, the scarlet witch powers are always working and changing reality according to her emotions and the pain she has bottled up inside of her, the scarlet witch power levels dwarfs jean grey aka the dark phoenix.Every last person on your list ultimately plays by the rules that Eternity and the Living Tribunal has set for the Marvel Universe, Eternity is the Marvel universe and the Living Tribunal is the law of the marvel universe. The Scarlet Witch is the only one that is not bound by these laws and rules. the Infinity Gauntlet was rendered useless by the decision of the living tribunal and eternity.Meaning that the soul gems will never work togethor as they once did when thanos united them. The Scarlett Witch reshapes all of marvels reality according to whatever traumatic experience she is going through at the time. She is the equalivent of DC's ANTI-Monitor. She is always shaping and reshaping reality whether she means to or not. I would say that she is the one person or thing in the Marvel Universe that no one wants to see, not Galactus, Eternity, Korvac, Owen Reece, the Beyonder, I mean no one. The Scarlet Witch is an all powerful being with a weak,shattered,fragile psyche,that border lines on madness, and that makes her a real threat.
DOOM has stolen the power cosmic twice 1st from the silver surfer, 2nd from Galactus and DOOM has stolen the power of the Beyonder. In the Original storyline of the molecule man before marvel started over with M-DAY the BEYONDER was The other side of the MOLECULE MAN's psyche the Beyonder was created at the same time that OWEN REECE had his accident that changed him into the Molecule Man at the end of the BEYONDER storyline The fantastic four traveled to the end of the universe to find the BEYONDER led by DOOM at this time Owen REECE and the Beyonder realized that they was in fact the SAME person. They MERGED into a cosmic cube and was taken by the shaper of worlds. In the new MARVEL universe the Beyonder is a mutant inhuman who entered the terrigen mists and gained unlimited powers. The Beyonder is now a LOYAL subject to BLACK BOLT the King of the inhumans. I do not like the new origins that marvel has created for its universe I prefer the old. I like your list BUT and the but is coming, I feel that the SCARLET WITCH should have been added to this list WANDA or the scarlett witch is all powerful and controls reality space and time, only she does it with her subconscious and her emotions, the scarlett witch once wanted children so badly that she grabbed two demon souls from hell and turned them into her twin sons and gave birth to them, only to have her children vanish when she was not THINKING about them. The SCARLET WITCH had a nrevous breakdown once this breakdown resulted in 99% of the mutants losing there powers and the entire marvel universe GALACTUS included being sucked into an alternate UNIVERSE that the SCARLET WITCH created in her madness, this also led to RAGNAROK coming to Asgard and ASGARD BEING destroyed ODIN and all leaving only THOR and LOKI and sif and a few survivors all this happen because the SCARLET WITCH lost a grip on her reality which resulted in the total Destruction and rearranging of the Marvel Universe to this day the SCARLET WITCH mind controls the marvel universe. I would say that makes her THE MOST POWERFUL person in the marvel universe. Loved the hub gave it a thumbs up. peace.
I like the fact that you've spoken about a lot of Intergalactic villains as well, but i think that Dr Doom and Magneto should have easily been on this list, Also apocalypse, Dr Doom wants to enslave the world, Magneto wants to destroy all human and Apocalypse....Just wants to kill everyone. Easily considered threats.
The Beyonder might be a "heavy hitter" but he hasn't done much as of late. I can't think of many other villains for Marvel that meet these guys on pure power. Nice list. The Marvel universe can be a scary place to live.
Finnally got around to reading this and Enjoyed reading all your articles. Great stuff and was great meeting ya last week.
The biggest threat for me other then Mickey Mouse (Disney) in my opinion is (top 5)
DR. Doom -he is always villain #1 for me. obsessed with revenge against the world he finds inferior
Thanos with the Cube-Best marvel villain.
Galactus -he can destroy worlds
The Beyonder just because of what he can do
Apocalypse -pure evil and sadistic.
and Honorable mention to Ultron and Anniulus.
This is a good list, but it is missing so many! Shuma-Gorath and the Many-Angled Ones, Zom, Abraxas, Umar, the Annilihation Wave, Amatsu-Mikaboshi, and several others!
And, to nitpick a bit, some of those you listed aren't "major threats" per say, since they have lots of power but don't use it on cosmic scales- Mephisto, for instance, can cause a lot of damage, but he doesn't because he is usually a more personal threat (and he somewhat pales next to several others on this list).
That said, this was really enjoyable.
You definitely covered all of the big threats in the Marvel universe. Despite the differences between each of them, they all have one thing in common, they are the top tier threats that everyone in the Marvel Universe (alien, superhero, mutant)have grown to fear.
Every hero can't seem to take these guys down for good, even when they seem like they have. And with good reason, they exist as excellent characters to truly test the protagonists and move their story along.
Glad you mentioned The Sentry/Void. He has been unrightfully overlooked by so many people.
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