• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Most absurdly overpowered superhero?

Status
Not open for further replies.
ajim said:
This thread is a decent example of why I got out of comic books as a child, I just couldn't relate to some of the characters and their insane powers.

And I agree with everyone that Dragon Ball Z characters are ridiculous. Vegeta can destroy a planet the first time he comes to Earth, and they reach many millions more levels later than that, especially in GT. Destroying entire Solar Systems and Galaxies wouldn't be out of their reach at all.
Click to expand...

SMH....
 
CorvoSol said:
Jean Grey was just a nice little girl from New York. Then she repaired a neutron galaxy. Then she ate a star. Then she saved the universe and was informed that that was something of a regular job for her. As the White Phoenix of the Crown she can rearrange matter into whatever she so desires, alter the history of timelines, tap into the Phoenix' power to expand her already powerful psychic powers, open stargates taking her from one end of the universe to the other, devour stars, connect someone's consciousness to the vastness of the universe (thereby destroying their mind), heal, rise from the dead, and probably a whole bunch more. While not limitless, the Phoenix is probably leagues ahead of most other mutants. It tends to be that Jean's failings as the Phoenix are done willingly as she holds the Phoenix back.

Also:Franklin Richards Is God.
Click to expand...

It's important to separate Jean (who's a tp/tk psi) from the Phoenix Force (which is one of many essential forces of the universe).

The phoenix force really isn't all that powerful. in terms of feats it's actually less powerful than current beyonder or molecule man...who are themselves only fractions of a cube being, which are themselves only the barest fraction of the power of a celestial....
 
Why does the orphan universe look suspiciously like a spiral galaxy?
 
My vote would be . . .

reign295.jpg


Not only is he ridiculously powerful by himself, but with the power of the Yellow Lanterns was even more imba. Not only did he tear through a good portion of the GLC but also the SC. He bodied Ion and it took a Guardian to self det to send him to another universe.

Then it took 3 different super hero teams and Superman to defeat him. Plus he's just a total bad ass.
 
ajim said:
And I agree with everyone that Dragon Ball Z characters are ridiculous. Vegeta can destroy a planet the first time he comes to Earth, and they reach many millions more levels later than that, especially in GT. Destroying entire Solar Systems and Galaxies wouldn't be out of their reach at all.
Click to expand...

DBZ characters are weak compared to most of the ones listed in this thread.
 
ajim said:
This thread is a decent example of why I got out of comic books as a child, I just couldn't relate to some of the characters and their insane powers.

And I agree with everyone that Dragon Ball Z characters are ridiculous. Vegeta can destroy a planet the first time he comes to Earth, and they reach many millions more levels later than that, especially in GT. Destroying entire Solar Systems and Galaxies wouldn't be out of their reach at all.
Click to expand...

I think some characters can retain a decent amount of humanity in spite of their ridiculous powers. Hulk and Phoenix are both easy to relate to because they're always struggling with going over the edge, for instance, and lots of people struggle to keep themselves from flipping out in one way or another.
 
CorvoSol said:
Two of my favorites:




Jean Grey was just a nice little girl from New York. Then she repaired a neutron galaxy. Then she ate a star. Then she saved the universe and was informed that that was something of a regular job for her. As the White Phoenix of the Crown she can rearrange matter into whatever she so desires, alter the history of timelines, tap into the Phoenix' power to expand her already powerful psychic powers, open stargates taking her from one end of the universe to the other, devour stars, connect someone's consciousness to the vastness of the universe (thereby destroying their mind), heal, rise from the dead, and probably a whole bunch more. While not limitless, the Phoenix is probably leagues ahead of most other mutants. It tends to be that Jean's failings as the Phoenix are done willingly as she holds the Phoenix back.

Also:Franklin Richards Is God.
Click to expand...

Nice, beat me to it (see avatar pic)



Manmademan said:
It's important to separate Jean (who's a tp/tk psi) from the Phoenix Force (which is one of many essential forces of the universe).

The phoenix force really isn't all that powerful. in terms of feats it's actually less powerful than current beyonder or molecule man...who are themselves only fractions of a cube being, which are themselves only the barest fraction of the power of a celestial....
Click to expand...

This is recon BS, and even within the context of the retcon, most stories STILL establish Jean Grey's unique status. All stories that treat the Phoenix Force as some kind of generic cosmic power pack add-on that anyone can wield, are BS.
 
I don't read a lot of comics, so excuse my ignorance in the following question: How does father with mutant stretchy powers+mother with mutant invisible powers and force field powers=son with god level powers? Just luck of the draw?
 
OmniGamer said:
This is recon BS, and even within the context of the retcon, most stories STILL establish Jean Grey's unique status. All stories that treat the Phoenix Force as some kind of generic cosmic power pack add-on that anyone can wield, are BS.
Click to expand...

Like it or not, this is the reality of the way marvel treats the PF now, and has for what...25 years now? Jean may be the most skilled user, but it's not unique to her. It has a will and sentience of its own.

let it go.

I don't read a lot of comics, so excuse my ignorance in the following question: How does father with mutant stretchy powers+mother with mutant invisible powers and force field powers=son with god level powers? Just luck of the draw?
Click to expand...

Reed and Sue aren't mutants at all. Their powers came from exposure to cosmic rays. Their son is a mutant though (with an active X-gene), andJe mutations are MOSTLY random in terms of powers, what they do, etc.
 
Schadenfreude said:
I don't read a lot of comics, so excuse my ignorance in the following question: How does father with mutant stretchy powers+mother with mutant invisible powers and force field powers=son with god level powers? Just luck of the draw?
Click to expand...

The cosmic rays that gave them their powers jiggered their genes. Ben's possible kids are pretty jacked too.
 
I thought we had this discussion already and decided it was Hulk since you couldn't really kill him, and the more pissed off he got, the stronger he became.

Though I suppose he doesn't possess super OP powers like Dimension Warping, Creating Black Holes/Void Rifts, Time Manipulation, Reality Shifting, and so on.
 
OK, so this will be my one contribution to this thread. What about that robot the Lex Luthor created in the Justice Leauge cartoon that could copy any power and then use it. The thing basically became a god and then flew off, wondering if he was going to annihilate us all. What about that thing? Didnt some character keep him in another demension to try and keep him from destroying practically everything?
 
goku1693 said:
OK, so this will be my one contribution to this thread. What about that robot the Lex Luthor created in the Justice Leauge cartoon that could copy any power and then use it. The thing basically became a god and then flew off, wondering if he was going to annihilate us all. What about that thing? Didnt some character keep him in another demension to try and keep him from destroying practically everything?
Click to expand...

Amazo, most cosmic characters give a flying fuck about earth.
 
Parallax said:
If strange has to get off his ass to deal with someone, that's kinda telling of his power, isn't it?



Dcau amazo is much better than the comics variant
Click to expand...

Comic Amazo is a joke.

Actually for the Mortesti formula you just have to read the page from the Darkhold. Just fucks your soul, but hey you get rid of every vampire on earth.
There was a story in Dr.Strange old series where a snotnosed punk wanted Doc's title. So Strange let him have it for one day. He didn't have it for 5 minutes before he was attacked by a demon. He spent the rest of the time fending off people with a little juice and was itching to be Sorcerer Supreme. Kid hurried up and gave back the title.
 
Ultratech said:
I thought we had this discussion already and decided it was Hulk since you couldn't really kill him, and the more pissed off he got, the stronger he became.

Though I suppose he doesn't possess super OP powers like Dimension Warping, Creating Black Holes/Void Rifts, Time Manipulation, Reality Shifting, and so on.
Click to expand...

I loved that old thread about Hulk and overpowered characters, it was so fun, but yeah, Gods/reality warpers do kill a lot of the festivities....yeesh.
 
ajim said:
This thread is a decent example of why I got out of comic books as a child, I just couldn't relate to some of the characters and their insane powers.
Click to expand...
I don't think most of these ultra-powered characters are especially popular, and cosmic Marvel has never been a great seller. That's where the power of choice wins, and it's easy enough to pick comics with more ground-based characters. Batman and Spider-Man sales are never going to be surpassed by some overpowered space entity.
 
Parch said:
I don't think most of these ultra-powered characters are especially popular, and cosmic Marvel has never been a great seller. That's where the power of choice wins, and it's easy enough to pick comics with more ground-based characters. Batman and Spider-Man sales are never going to be surpassed by some overpowered space entity.
Click to expand...

Yeah most uber powerful Marvel characters never even appear. Thanos appears the most for a higher tier character, but he's not THAT strong normally.

You have a villain like Shuma who only appears once every ten years since they have to think up some BS plot device for Strange to beat him with.
 
I never understood the argument of "Lol, it takes DBZ character 5 episodes to charge an attack, they are so slow."

Filler, padding, and poor pacing != In story time progression. Setting aside the fact the 5 episode thing is usually an exaggeration.
 
You can't beat a character that is just pure troll material:

oTein.jpg
Click to expand...

Some of the skills:

Spec Over: Become God skill.

Tired Play: Become the Devil skill.

Humor Contrast: Be stronger than the enemy skill.

Zero Sum Real: Power over life and death skill.

Undead Genius: Immortal skill.

Murder Mathematic: Win against those much stronger than you skill.

Baby Planet: Create universe skill.

etc... etc...
 
TacticalFox88 said:
He does have a point. Outside of the excuse of it being fictional, there's no logical reason beings should be this absurdly powerful, when most of the shit that the public likes is a lot more tame and grounded.
Click to expand...

To establish beings unforseen with powers unimaginable. You rarely see any of the celestial characters outside of special arcs. But then again, there's no logical reason to think that a man can stay frozen in ice for decades and still be alive, or to have people that can fly and other things, so logic really shouldn't have any part of this when it comes to powers.
 
TacticalFox88 said:
He does have a point. Outside of the excuse of it being fictional, there's no logical reason beings should be this absurdly powerful, when most of the shit that the public likes is a lot more tame and grounded.
Click to expand...

You can have a character that is absurdly powerful and still have tension in the story. The trick is to make the enemy or the problem equally powerful.

This is why Sandman works. Dream, as one of the endless, is one of the most powerful beings in the universe, but the stories are centered around him running into problems he can't solve easily, so it works.

So you can have a story with a protagonist who is essentially god, just make sure you make the antagonist god as well.
 
Veelk said:
You can have a character that is absurdly powerful and still have tension in the story. The trick is to make the enemy or the problem equally powerful.

This is why Sandman works. Dream, as one of the endless, is one of the most powerful beings in the universe, but the stories are centered around him running into problems he can't solve easily, so it works.

So you can have a story with a protagonist who is essentially god, just make sure you make the antagonist god as well.
Click to expand...

The Lucifer Morningstar comics are great.
 
ajim said:
This thread is a decent example of why I got out of comic books as a child, I just couldn't relate to some of the characters and their insane powers.
Click to expand...
Most of the characters in this thread are of the far lesser knowns. It's no wonder why comic characters like Spider-Man and Batman are at the top of the list in popularity, and not someone like Sentry.

The most prominent characters are relatable for a reason.. they sell.
 
Parch said:
I don't think most of these ultra-powered characters are especially popular, and cosmic Marvel has never been a great seller. That's where the power of choice wins, and it's easy enough to pick comics with more ground-based characters. Batman and Spider-Man sales are never going to be surpassed by some overpowered space entity.
Click to expand...

....no silver surfer had a long running monthly and events like the infinite gauntlet....the phoenix saga , secret wars etc etc. Cosmic marvel ruled the roost for some time from the kree skrull war thru infinity guantlet/war/crusade there were plenty of cosmic marvel hits...dont think i could say it was never big. Half of these uber powered cosmic characters are from the FF *which birthed half of the marvel U*.

Just hasnt been around cept for the DnA masterwork with GoTG , Nova , Annihilation/war of kings.
 
Veelk said:
You can have a character that is absurdly powerful and still have tension in the story. The trick is to make the enemy or the problem equally powerful.

This is why Sandman works. Dream, as one of the endless, is one of the most powerful beings in the universe, but the stories are centered around him running into problems he can't solve easily, so it works.

So you can have a story with a protagonist who is essentially god, just make sure you make the antagonist god as well.
Click to expand...

I'd contend rather that Sandman doesn't necessarily use a protagonist/antagonist structure very often, or indeed at all (with the possible exception of the Kindly Ones).
 
Wolverine is technically indestructible. He can be reduced to mere particles and still regenerate to a fully functioning person. Its unbelievably stupid, but there you have it.
 
Jintor said:
I'd contend rather that Sandman doesn't necessarily use a protagonist/antagonist structure very often, or indeed at all (with the possible exception of the Kindly Ones).
Click to expand...

That's why I also specified that an equally difficult problem (well, I said powerful, so poor wording on my part) also serves as an acceptable challenge if an actual antagonist isn't available. He may be Dream of the Endless, but how does he decide who to give the
key of hell to without screwing the established order between the realms of godly entities or pissing anyone off?
?

BTW, it used the protagonist-antagonist structure when he was getting back his powers, against that one demon in hell and Dr. Fate. I'm sure there are more examples, but it's been a while. Also, and this best illustrates my point,
though he ended up not needing to fight him, was the build up to Dream preparing to go into hell and take on Lucifer not one of the most intense moments in the story?
Because even though Dream is a godlike being, so was
what we thought would be
the antagonist was even more so, and that made things gripping despite the absurdly high power levels involved.
 
Kusagari said:
The Lucifer Morningstar comics are great.
Click to expand...

It seems that part of that are the artificial limits that are placed on his powers, such as where he is unable to enter some dimensions without leaving his powers behind. He might normally be nearly omnipotent, save his equal and his superior, but the story does a nice job of not actually allowing him access to the full range of his abilities.

At least, that has been what I have noticed in the first two trade volumes I have read.
 
Veelk said:
That's why I also specified that an equally difficult problem (well, I said powerful, so poor wording on my part) also serves as an acceptable challenge if an actual antagonist isn't available. He may be Dream of the Endless, but how does he decide who to give the
key of hell to without screwing the established order between the realms of godly entities or pissing anyone off?
?

BTW, it used the protagonist-antagonist structure when he was getting back his powers, against that one demon in hell and Dr. Fate. I'm sure there are more examples, but it's been a while. Also, and this best illustrates my point,
though he ended up not needing to fight him, was the build up to Dream preparing to go into hell and take on Lucifer not one of the most intense moments in the story?
Because even though Dream is a godlike being, so was
what we thought would be
the antagonist was even more so, and that made things gripping despite the absurdly high power levels involved.
Click to expand...
Well, tbh, I'd really avoid using the word "power level" anywhere near the Sandman. What made Dream's personal stories compelling was that they weren't about power levels. Rather, they were about ultimately human problems like identity and responsibility. The sheer scale of the stuff just gave it a unique flavor.
 
Haly said:
Well, tbh, I'd really avoid using the word "power level" anywhere near the Sandman. What made Dream's personal stories compelling was that they weren't about power levels. Rather, they were about ultimately human problems like identity and responsibility. The sheer scale of the stuff just gave it a unique flavor.
Click to expand...
Often, yeah, they were. There were times where he had to fight someone over something and that's wherehis powers were exemplified.

Look, I'm not trying to say that sandman was a battle comic like the liked of Batman. I just used it as an example to illustrate my point that power levels, however high they are, don't matter so long as you present the protagonist a conflict that can't be easily solved.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Fictional Universe With The Most Lore?
2
53
664
Gp1 replied
The dumbest and most absurd questions you have asked AI.
9
3K
SJRB replied
Is this the most beautiful anime character?
32
1K
Mister Apoc replied
The most dangerous cities in Europe ranked.
2
60
2K
purvispisgah replied
What is the most rewatchable movie of the 21st century?
2 3 4
154
3K
CGNoire replied
Top Bottom