Let’s be real for a second. If you ask ten different comic book nerds who the strongest person in the Marvel Multiverse is, you’re going to get twelve different answers and at least one heated argument about whether the Infinity Gauntlet actually works outside its home dimension. Spoiler: it doesn't.
Most people just point at Thor or the Hulk and call it a day. Sure, they can crack planets like walnuts. But in the grand, terrifying scale of the Marvel hierarchy, those guys are basically toddlers with glow-sticks.
When we talk about the most powerful Marvel characters, we aren't just talking about who can lift a mountain. We’re talking about beings who view our entire reality as a smudge on a window.
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The One Above All: The Actual Boss
If you want to talk about the absolute peak, there is only one name. The One Above All (TOAA).
He isn't just a "god" in the way Odin or Zeus are. Honestly, those guys are just fancy aliens with high insurance premiums. TOAA is the personification of the creators—the writers, the artists, and the editorial staff. He’s the reason the page exists at all.
There’s a famous scene where the Fantastic Four actually meet him, and he looks like Jack Kirby. It's meta. It’s weird. But it’s canon.
He is omnipotent. Period.
Lately, things got even weirder with the introduction of the One Below All in the Immortal Hulk run. Turns out, TOAA has a dark reflection that lives in the "Below-Place." They’re basically two sides of the same coin. One creates, one destroys, and together they are the beginning and the end of the whole show.
Why the Living Tribunal is Basically the Multiverse’s HR Department
If TOAA is the CEO, the Living Tribunal is the Middle Manager from Hell.
He’s a giant, three-faced golden entity who decides if a reality gets to keep existing or if it needs to be deleted for the "greater good." You’ve probably seen his staff pop up in the MCU, but the actual guy is way more imposing.
He doesn’t have a personality. He doesn't have "feelings." He just has a scale.
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- The Hooded Face: Represents Vengeance.
- The Shrouded Face: Represents Necessity.
- The Fully Visible Face: Represents Equity.
When all three agree on a verdict, it's game over. He once shut down the Infinity Stones with a literal snap of his fingers because Adam Warlock was being irresponsible. Think about that. The power that wiped out half the universe in the movies is just a "minor safety hazard" to this guy.
The Beyonder and the Molecule Man: A Messy Bromance
Okay, here’s where it gets complicated. Back in the 80s, we got the Secret Wars.
The Beyonder was originally introduced as a being from... well, "Beyond." He was so powerful that the entire Marvel Multiverse looked like a drop of water in the ocean to him. He could erase galaxies while he was bored.
Then came Owen Reece, the Molecule Man.
Owen started as a D-list villain who could control molecules. Boring, right? Wrong. It turns out his power was actually a "pinhole" into the Beyonder’s realm. By the time we got to the 2015 Secret Wars (thank you, Jonathan Hickman), we found out that the Beyonders (plural) were actually a race of cosmic entities trying to reboot the multiverse.
Molecule Man ended up being the "battery" that Doctor Doom used to create Battleworld.
In terms of raw output? A peak-power Molecule Man can hold a whole multiverse in a box. He once gave a piece of a burger to the Beyonder and essentially told him to "behave," and the Beyonder actually listened. That’s real power.
Franklin Richards: The Kid Who Built Universes
Most mutants have "cool" powers. Cyclops has eye lasers. Kitty Pryde walks through walls.
Franklin Richards, the son of Reed and Sue, used to build entire pocket universes under his bed for fun. When he was a toddler.
For a long time, Franklin was considered a "Universal Constant." Even Galactus—the guy who eats planets for breakfast—called Franklin his master. There’s a beautiful, bittersweet moment at the end of the multiverse where an adult Franklin and a rejuvenated Galactus are the last two things left in existence.
Franklin literally "painted" the multiverse back into being after it was destroyed.
He’s had some power-scaling issues lately (the comics tried to say he wasn't a "real" mutant for a bit, which was a whole thing), but in terms of pure potential, he’s the strongest "human" to ever live.
The Abstract Entities: Eternity, Death, and Oblivion
You can't talk about the most powerful Marvel characters without mentioning the literal personifications of concepts.
Eternity is the multiverse. If you’re inside reality, you’re inside him. His sister, Death, is... well, you get it. Thanos has a weird crush on her, which caused most of the 90s crossover events.
Then there’s Oblivion.
If Eternity is everything, Oblivion is the "nothing" that existed before the "everything." He’s often overlooked because he doesn't show up much, but he’s arguably the most dangerous of the bunch. You can’t kill him because he is the absence of life.
Ranking the Heavy Hitters (A Quick Reality Check)
It’s hard to put these into a perfect list because their power depends on who’s writing the book, but generally, the hierarchy looks like this:
- The One Above All / One Below All (Source of everything)
- The Beyonders / Molecule Man (Existential level threats)
- The Living Tribunal (Multiversal judge)
- Franklin Richards / The Phoenix Force (Reality shapers)
- Eternity / Infinity / Death / Oblivion (Fundamental concepts)
- Galactus / The Celestials (Cosmic architects and consumers)
What About the MCU?
If you only watch the movies, you’re probably wondering where Scarlet Witch or Doctor Strange fit in.
Wanda is a "Nexus Being." This means she’s a constant across the multiverse and can manipulate "Chaos Magic," which is basically the ability to rewrite the rules of reality on the fly. In Multiverse of Madness, we saw her shred the Illuminati like they were nothing.
But even MCU Wanda is a small fish compared to the comic versions of the characters above.
The movies are slowly introducing the heavyweights. We’ve seen Celestials in Eternals. We’ve seen Eternity in Thor: Love and Thunder. We’ve even seen a Living Tribunal statue. Eventually, the power levels in the films will have to catch up to the sheer insanity of the source material.
Making Sense of the Chaos
The truth is, "power" in Marvel is less about how hard you can punch and more about how many "layers" of reality you exist on.
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A character like Spider-Man is incredibly strong relative to a normal person. But he exists on one planet, in one timeline. A character like the Beyonder exists outside of time, space, and narrative.
If you want to dive deeper into this world, stop looking at "Who would win" threads on Reddit for a second and check out the Ultimates run by Al Ewing or the G.O.D.S. series by Jonathan Hickman. They do a great job of explaining the "science" behind these cosmic gods without making your brain melt.
Next time someone tells you Thanos is the strongest character because he has the stones, just remind them that there’s a golden guy with three faces who treats those stones like shiny marbles.
Actionable Insights for Fans:
- Read the Source: If you want to see the Living Tribunal in action, check out Strange Tales #157.
- Watch the Context: Power in Marvel is often "situational." Characters like the Phoenix Force are stronger depending on their "Host."
- Ignore the Hype: "Omnipotent" is a word writers throw around a lot. Very few characters actually meet the criteria.