Original source :
http://whatculture.com
Posted : 2013
Author : Kev
Stewart
First things first;
I’m a huge Superman fan and a huge fan of comics in general, so this is in no
way an attempt to sully the character – it is merely an attempt to deal in
facts and shed some light on a myth…
“What is that
myth?” I hear you ask; All too often I see people saying “no one is more
powerful than Superman” – and that simply isn’t true – so I’m going to point
out a few characters of the heroic variety who would beat Superman (utilising
consistent feats of power as actual evidence) in a straight up fight, if both
characters were going all out to win, without any outside interference or
extenuating circumstances (note; there are countless numbers of villains
more powerful than him – Thanos, Surtur, Pre-Crisis Darkseid, Pre-Crisis
Validus, Dormammu etc to name a few – but finding heroes who are more powerful
than him is indeed a little bit more difficult).
I’m prepared for
the fact that there will be a lot of disagreement from hardcore fans of the
character who simply don’t like their favourite hero losing, but part of being
a fan of the character is knowing everything about him or her – including their
limitations – so do be open-minded please! On that note, using
actual evidence from comic books i.e. mentioning actual ways in which said
characters are more powerful than the man of steel by way of feats of power
that they’ve actually demonstrated, here are eleven heroic comic book
characters who are more powerful than Superman (in no particular order, as the
power levels of these guys vary massively – they’re just all more powerful than
Supes)…
11. Mister Majestic
(Wildstorm Comics)
Mister Majestic is
a very similar character to the man of steel, demonstrating the same powerset –
only on a more impressive scale. Their strength is
fairly similar – Mister Majestic can move planets on strength alone – but
particularly of note is the fact that he is considerably faster than Superman –
he has travelled for months at a time at speeds well beyond that of lightspeed. He also has more
esoteric powers to use, such as the fact that he has psychic powers (though he
hasn’t used them much for offensive purposes, but they allow him to read the
minds of others and predict their moves therefore) and has used telekinesis,
which means he can move objects from a distance without touching them or use it
to aid and reinforce his own physical strength. He can also become invisible
(which might not help in a fight against Superman, but it gives him another
extra power that Superman simply doesn’t have). He has also used
his laser vision to turn a star ingot into a replacement for the sun as well as
alter the composition of Jupiter on a pre-atomic level – both of which are insane
feats of power. Majestic has a
crazy feat where he used his super speed, strength, invulnerability and vision
powers to mine his own minerals, smelt them, reshape them with his hands and
create components for super-technology – all within nanoseconds.
10. The Silver
Surfer (Marvel Comics)
Silver Surfer is
simply outright more powerful than Superman in every way apart from physical
strength – but that makes no difference because he is too durable to be hurt by
Superman’s own physical attacks, given that he can casually hang out in a black
hole (or he could just go intangible to avoid them) and he has a multitude of
other powers that he could use to defeat the Kryptonian hero. The Silver Surfer
is many times faster than light, whereas Superman’s speed tends to cap off at
around lightspeed, so the Surfer can win the fight in a straight up one-on-one
battle before Superman has processed a thought. He could do so, for
example, by turning Superman in to a teapot using transmutation – something
that Superman has absolutely no defence against – or he could emit massive
amounts of Kryptonite radiation, given that he has a proven ability to do such
things with varying types of radiation. If he was feeling
eccentric, he could transmute Clark’s heart
into a block of Kryptonite – and I remind you, this would all happen before
Superman could process a thought, thanks to Surfer’s incalculably superior
speed.
9. Martian
Manhunter (DC Comics)
Martian Manhunter
essentially has very similar physical statistics to Superman, but a whole load
more powers that give him the overall edge. His strength is in
the same ball park (though not quite up to Superman standards), given that he
has done things like lift huge boulders, buildings and vessels, as well as
having casually thrown people over 100 miles with perfect accuracy. His durability is
on a similar level to Superman too, given that the two have exchanged blows
before and taken them without any damage, while speed is also similar, given
that Martian Manhunter has flown across a city to get in between a man and some
bullets in the time it takes the bullets to get even halfway, given that he has
flown around the world and smashed several giant machines then
speedblitzed some White martians in the time it took someone to draw breath.
Most importantly, speed wise, he has flown alongside Superman, going at full
speed, and kept up comfortably. But, given that
their speed is on a par, it’s the fact that Martian Manhunter has powers that
can be operated with a single thought that puts him above Superman. If the two fought,
while Superman would have to launch a physical attack on Martian Manhunter
(whether that be flying towards him to attack him or firing a heat vision blast
at him), he would merely have to think once to make himself completely
intangible and therefore immune to anything Superman could do to him and then,
whilst intangible, he could telepathically assault Superman. Martian Manhunter
has the telepathic power to control thousands of minds at any one time. Martian Manhunter
also has healing that is on a par with Wolverine’s (he has been turned to goo
and full regenerated in seconds), telekinesis (so he can thrown Superman around
from afar without even touching him) and the same kind of super-breath and heat
vision that Superman has.
8. Supreme (Image
Comics)
Supreme is another
character, like Mister Majestic, who essentially has the same powerset as
Superman – only on a more impressive level. He is more durable
than Superman – being able to casually fly through a star and easily endure the
vortex of a black hole. He is faster than
Superman and can throw millions of faster-than-light punches in milliseconds,
as well as being able to fly through space at speeds much, much faster than the
speed of light. Strength-wise, as a
point of reference, Supreme’s proven-weaker kid sister had a feat that had her
basically moving the universe on sheer strength. Supreme is also
made up of molecules that are constantly in flux, which gives him the ability
to adapt on the fly to overcome any given opponent. For example, he
has analysed his opponent’s atomic structure, on one occasion, and
instantly developed a new power for himself to cancel it out. Doing so enabled
Supreme to defeat said opponent with a single hit. Also, in a
crossover comic (which I know isn’t canon, but it gives an idea of how powerful
he is supposed to be), he beat the crap out of Thor and then took Mjolnir for
himself.
7. The Mask (Dark
Horse Comics)
I have a feeling
this one might be controversial, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s
true! The Mask, although
often portrayed as a bit of a joke character (particularly in the live action
movie), is actually an insanely powerful character in the comic books. He is essentially a
cartoon character, possessing “toonforce”, which basically enables him to
conjure any power as he pleases and warp the very reality around him. He has never
displayed physical strength on a par with Superman – that’s a given – but it’s
the fact that he has such crazy durability and unkillability (meaning there is
literally nothing that Superman can do to permanently put him down) in addition
to the fact that he could turn Superman in to a bar of chocolate if he wanted
to that makes him more powerful than the man of steel. The Mask has been
at ground zero of a blast that destroyed a solar system and survived unscathed
(in fact, he found it funny). He has also been blasted in to tiny little bits –
each of which simply became independent little versions of the character,
operating on their own, before simply coming back together to reform the Mask
back to normal. He has also simply no-sold magic transmutation – he was
magically turned in to a lump of cheese, but simply turned himself back to
normal using his powers. The Mask is no
slouch when it comes to speed either – a Mask wearer conjured a motorbike for
himself out of nowhere and proceeded to ride around the Earth multiple times in
a single panel, so his powers can clearly spawn speed powers on a par with
Superman (indeed, he actually turned himself in to a version of the Flash in
one scene in order to outrun a bullet and catch it in his mouth). The Mask also
demonstrates the ability to mind-control people in to doing things they don’t
want to do (for a mainstream version, think of the dance scene in the movie). I
can picture him making Superman beat himself up. Basically, if the
two fought, Superman could pummel the Mask in to tiny pieces, but the Mask
would never, ever be permanently put down – and then he could just mind-control
Superman or turn him in to something funny… like a piece of Kryptonite.
6. Classic Doctor
Strange (Marvel Comics)
Current Doctor
Strange is a shadow of his former self, which is why I have specified the
classic Sorcerer Supreme version of the character. The classic version
of the character was nowhere near as physically strong, fast or as durable as
Superman, but he could defeat him in a one-on-one battle by virtue of having an
automatic forcefield powerful enough to withstand anything the man of steel can
physically dish out. From within that
forcefield, Strange can then cast a wide variety of spells to defeat the
Kryptonian – which will definitely work, given that magic is one of the things
that he is by no means invulnerable to. For example,
Strange could cast the Crimson Bands – a magical restraining spell that wraps
around its target and has been used to hold characters as physically strong as
the Hulk himself. Also, from the
safety of his forcefield, he could let out his astral form and ruin
Superman’s day telepathically from the astral plane. As a sorcerer who
draws his power from a variety of massively powerful entities, such as
the Vishanti (Hoggoth, Oshtur and Agamotto) and the Octessence (Balthakk,
Cyttorak, Farallah, Ikonn, Krakkan, Raggadorr, Valtorr and Watoomb), the list
of spells at Doctor Strange’s disposal that could ruin Superman’s day is almost
endless.
5. Wally West (DC
Comics)
Wally West beats
Superman on speed alone. Fact. But the fact that he also has a whole host of
other powers to boot ensures his victory over the man of steel. To put Wally West’s
speed in to perspective, know this; When West learned that a large bomb was
about to detonate in a city centre, at the moment of explosion,
he evacuated half a million people to a safe point outside the bomb’s
range, one person at a time, in ten picoseconds. That is insanely fast – far
faster than Superman could ever even think of thinking, let alone moving. So, if the two were
to ever have an all-out brawl, Wally could do whatever he needed to do before
Superman ever realised that he was in a fight – and given the other things that
Wally can do, that means the fight would be over before it even began. Wally West can
steal the speed of other people, so he could turn Superman in to a stationary
statue in an instant. There’s one thing he could do. Wally West can time
travel, so he could dump Superman one hundred years in the past in an instant
and then return to the present, having left the man of steel there. There’s
another thing he could do. But in terms of
actually fighting to defeat Superman, Wally West possesses a punch known as the
IMP (the infinite mass punch) – an attack which hits with the power of a dwarf
star. That would knock Superman clean out. He can also vibrate through objects
and vibrate their molecules, causing them to explode. If he did that to
Superman, the Kryptonian would blow in to a million pieces before he could
react. There are actually
other powers that the Speed Force grants, but I shouldn’t really need to
mention any more to prove this point…
4. Ion (DC Comics)
Ion isn’t actually
a character per se, it’s actually a benevolent symbiote, created when the
first act of willpower in the universe was carried out, which embodies
willpower itself and is the driving force behind the Green Lantern Corps and
their power rings. When the entity has a host, the name Ion is often used as an
alias by the hosting character – and in this case I’ll be referring to the time
the Green Lantern Kyle Rayner was its host. Of course, any
character hosting Ion has all the usual powers of a Green Lantern (flight,
incredibly durable automatic forcefields, energy manipulation, the ability to
create constructs and the ability to augment their own physical statistics
etc), but they also possess other abilities of untold power. As Ion, Kyle Rayner
was completely omniscient and omnipotent, possessing all knowledge and able to
exist everywhere at once. He had complete control over time, space and
reality and was essentially God. He fixed all of the world’s major problems at
the same time by virtue of being everywhere he was needed simultaneously. He was never
defeated and chose to submit his powers and bled them off to avoid losing his
humanity. He did so by creating a generation of Guardians and restarting the
central power battery – both of which are fine indications of the level of
power he possessed, given that the Guardians are insanely powerful beings and the
central power battery is what powers every single Green Lantern ring (of which
there are hundreds).
3. Gladiator
(Marvel Comics)
Gladiator beats
Superman by virtue of the fact that he outclasses him in every single physical
statistic. He doesn’t really possess any powers that Superman doesn’t possess –
it’s simply that the ones he does possess are on a different level to the man
of steel. Between shattering
planets with his fists as a strength feat, swimming through stars as a
durability feat and moving through high end time-dilations which were bordering
on being a timestop, on pure speed, as a speed feat, he is essentially Superman
squared. On the occasion
that he shattered the planet, Gladiator was angry as he passed a large mass in
space. A lifeless, humongous planet that was described as having “weathered the
death of galaxies” (meaning something that had destroyed the very galaxy around
it wasn’t powerful enough to destroy it) was in front of him. In his anger he
smashed it to bits in one shot – essentially showing that he had the power to
destroy something that a galaxy destroying event failed to destroy. Now that’s
raw power. Going back to
Gladiator’s speed; we all know that Superman is much faster than a bullet, but
check this – Gladiator’s thoughts go so fast that he can have a prolonged
internal debate with himself, complete with extensive flashbacks, while he
debates whether or not to bother casually stopping a high-tech bullet
travelling across a city towards Vulcan that he’s just watching come in.
Seriously, that’s the plot of an entire comic – Gladiator casually watching the
bullet come in across a city and wondering if he should just let it kill the
guy.
Incredible.
2. Sentry (Marvel
Comics)
Sentry is insanely
powerful. The only thing he is inferior to Superman with regard to is his speed
– but that doesn’t matter at all. To illustrate why,
I will simply list some of the crazy feats of power Sentry has carried out… Sentry is said to
have fought Galactus to a stalemate – Galactus being the devourer of planets
and a character capable of destroying galaxies. If he can even come close to
doing that, fighting Superman would be a cakewalk. He has defeated the
Molecule Man at his own game (matter manipulation) – and bearing in mind
Molecule Man is a MASSIVELY powerful character, this is no mean feat. It
essentially means that he could turn Superman into a pencil. Strength-wise, he’s
powered through the Crimson Bands – a powerful magic restraining spell which
the likes of the Hulk have failed to escape from – and, with one hand, casually
stopped a swing of Terrax’s axe-wielding hands – the same attack that has
destroyed a planet before – which is also a crazy feat of durability that
proves nothing that Superman could physically do to him would hurt him. He has destroyed a
planet with his energy flares, which can also be seen in the normal world
whilst he is in a microverse, which is an INSANE feat of power. A single
wide-angled energy blast against Superman would kill the Kryptonian outright.
1. Odin (Marvel
Comics)
Thor (who is
generally around the same power level as Superman, apart from being
substantially slower) has a father who goes by the name of Odin – as most
people know. Odin could smash
the living hell out of Superman. As a side effect of
some of Odin’s more destructive battles, entire galaxies have been destroyed.
Yes, you did indeed read that correctly; the collateral damage when Odin fights
can be to the extent that entire galaxies are destroyed. So that’s not even the
full level of his powers – he’s not directing his attacks at the galaxies –
he’s directing them at his opponent (for example Set, the serpent god) but the
impact of the attacks destroys the very galaxies around him. The man has also
gone toe-to-toe with the likes of Galactus in a one-on-one battle. That’s correct;
Galactus. The fellow who eats planets for lunch. He is far more
durable than Superman, far stronger and possesses a host of esoteric abilities
such as telepathy, energy blasts and manipulation, illusion casting, molecular
manipulation and the creation of forcefields. He is a Skyfather –
a being of a level well above that of Superman and he could literally let
Superman wail on him all day without receiving so much as a scratch.
So, there you have
it; eleven heroic comic book characters who are more powerful than Superman.
Can you think of any more? Has this been an eye-opener for you? Are you angry
with me? Please let me know in the comments box below (but at least try to be
civil, please)!
~Blog Admin~
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