You know, I feel a bit sad and pathetic for even spending the time to put this list together. I almost feel like I should be back as a virgin living in my mother’s basement. This is one step away from the bottom of the genre fan totem pole — becoming a Brownshirt. If you know what that is, then you’re just as pathetic as I am. If you are one, then you have my sympathies. At least there are chick fans of Firefly…even if they do tend to be on the homely side of things.
Sorry, Firefly fans. The only portion of fandom worse than you are Elfquest fans. Trust me, I know.
Anyway, this week my buddies over at Old-Wizard.com sent me an email asking me to check out there new top ten list of the most powerful superheroes in comic books. I guess they were wanting the opinion of a professional nerd before posting it out for the amateur nerds. After taking a look at what they put together, and thoroughly disagreeing with the initial list, which included Black Bolt and Professor X…and, even worse, put Green Lantern in the #10 position — Blasphemy — I decided to put together a list of my own.
Here we go…the Nifty Nerd’s Top 10 List of the Most Powerful Superheroes in Comics!
Number 10: The Incredible Hulk. Believe it or not, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to put the Hulk on this list. The first reason is: Does he even qualify as a superhero? I’m not sure he does any more, and didn’t for most of his comic run. Second, is he really that powerful? Considering there are a lot of other heroes in his same strength class, and a lot who start out right near his peak strength without having to get ultra angry to build up to it, what really makes the Hulk worthy of this list? I flip-flopped back and forth trying to decide between the Hulk and Iron Man (who has designed armors which have gone head-to-head with both the Hulk and the Lord of Asgard version of Thor). In the end I went with the Hulk out of pity because I figured old Shellhead’s movie is going to kick the crap out of the Jade Giant’s.
Number 9: Doctor Strange. 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). The problem is that he also seems to be one of the easiest characters to defeat. I guess it has to do with crappy writers who don’t know how to deal with an ultra powerful character. Marvel seems to have a lot of crappy writers these days.
I’m completely torn on what order to place the next two characters - Superman and Wonder Man. They are two of the strongest and most invulnerable characters around, but they each have a pretty major downside. For Wonder Man (who has been described as equal in strength to Thor, plus he can’t be killed), the weakness is a lack of killer instinct. He’s strong and invulnerable, but he doesn’t like to jump in to the thick of things and kick ass. For Superman, it is a complete lack of fighting style. In all of his years, even the pre-Crisis godly-powerful Superman, Big Blue has never learned to fight. He wades in and punches a lot, but I don’t think he knows how to duck. For me, that is a big negative on his part. If I’m being forced to choose, I’d rank them like this:
Number 8: Wonder Man
Number 7: Superman
But I’m only doing it that way because of Superman’s Iconic nature. Truthfully, I think Wondy is tougher and cooler.
Number 6: Martian Manhunter. That’s right, I rank J’onn J’onzz as more powerful than the Man of Steel, and there’s nothing you can do about it. My reasoning? Well, J’onn has always been shown as nearly Superman’s equal in the strength and invulnerability department, but you have to add on the martian’s other abilities: shapeshifting, mental powers and the ability to change his density and become a ghost or diamond hard. All of these things add up to one of the most powerful beings in the DC universe AND someone who would kick the crap out of Superman.
Number 5: Sentry. This character is complete crap, but, much like the Martian Manhunter, he has Superman’s strength, flight and invulnerability, with some wacky reality-altering powers as well. Sure, he’s crazy as a loon, but he’s a mega-powerful loon for sure.
Number 4: Thor. He’s the God of Thunder. With his hammer in hand, very few characters can stand toe-to-toe with Thor. Even more important, and why he should have given Supes the beat-down in the JLA-Avengers crossovers (what the hell was Mark Waid thinking?), he has thousands of years of combat experience. Only Hercules would be on the same level. Come to think of it, Hercules probably should have taken the Hulk’s place on the list, but Marvel writers have always portrayed him as a bit of a loser. Too bad.
Number 3: Green Lantern. That’s right. Hal Jordan has the most powerful will in the universe and a weapon powered by that will. This takes him in to a league very few others even approach. This is the guy that took down the entire Green Lantern Corps (sure the storyline was ill-conceived and poorly executed) and also decisively defeated every hero on Earth while he was Parallax. If that doesn’t deserve a high rank on this list, then nothing does.
Number 2: The Silver Surfer. Very similar in power to Green Lantern, the Surfer wins out because of his lack of the need to recharge his power every 24 hours. Sick-powerful, shiny and nude. What else do you need?
And, the Most Powerful Superhero in all of Comic Book Fandom…drumroll please.
Number 1: Duplicate Boy. Yup, the Hero of Lallor, and former boyfriend of Shrinking Violet, Duplicate Boy is the single most powerful hero in comics. This guy can duplicate the power of anyone he has ever been around AND can use multiple powers at once. He is as powerful and tough as the other 9 heroes on this list combine.
Now, I know what you’re saying: you have two problems with this choice. First, his costume is ugly and, you know what, I agree with you there. Green, black and white really isn’t that exciting. Second, you’re yelling at me because he hasn’t been seen since Crisis. That’s true too. However, with the Pre-Magic Wars (pre-Crisis, really) Legion of Super Heroes making an appearance in recent issues of Action Comics…AND, with that very same Legion taking a major role in the upcoming Final Crisis crossover…then Duplicate Boy is now a part of current continuity and therefore elligable for the honor I am bestowing upon him. He’d kick the Hulk’s ass. He’d kick Superman’s Ass. He’d kick Silver Surfer’s ass. And, most importantly, he’d kick your ass too.
And there, my friends and loyal readers, is the Nifty Nerd’s list of the 10 most powerful super heroes in all of comics. So let it be written, so let it be done.
Feel free to post a comment with your own top 10 list…you’ll be wrong, but I’d love to see what everyone else comes up with.
-Mat N., the Nifty Nerd
http://www.theNiftyNerd.com
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“You know, I feel a bit sad and pathetic for even spending the time to put this list together. I almost feel like I should be back as a virgin living in my mother’s basement. ”
Great line. Great list. Nice work.
Our list:
http://old-wizard.com/?p=728
10. Incredible Hulk
9. Professor X
8. Doctor Strange
7. Green Lantern
6. Magneto
5. Flash
4. Wonder Woman
3. Super Man
2. Thor
1. Silver Surfer
shouldn’t Ion be on the list instead of hal jordan considering that he doesnt use the ring any more and doesnt have to recharge? I think he should be second.
Do they have to be heroes? If not, where the hell is Magneto, and where the hell is the Sandman?
Well, with now being TWO Legions (Earth 1 and 2) and everything pretty much rebooting during Infinite Crisis… its possible he’s still around.
I’d have to agree. But you left out Captain Marvel, who I found a new respect for after KINGDOM COME.
Not a bad list man, but I do disagree with a couple of your choices. Starting with the Hulk, how could you put this guy in there when you named someone in that passage who could have easily filled the number 10 slot … IRON MAN!!!! Second is Sentry, who the f**k is this clown? Nuff said … Batman or Captain America would have been a better choice!! Now lastly, the choice for #1, I understand duplicate boys’ powers are pretty cool, but to say he is better than surfer is blasphemy in its own right.
what? cosmic spiderman didn’t make it to the list? also, how about japanese manga comics that has super saiyans in dragonball?
justn sayin.
I enjoyed reading your top ten list. It was very interesting but aren’t you given Duplicate Boy a little bit to much credit.
His control of duplication was virtually immeasurable, but he was deficient in the creative department. Which was a reflection on the Adventure (DC) writers?
Just image what kind of movie Duplicate Boy could be with today “sick” writers. WHOA….
Again two thumbs up on your list.
Now we need a list of the most powerful villains.
Given that America likes underdogs and Comics are an American medium, the villains have always outweighed the heroes in power levels. Of course the villains have always been crippled for their ceaseless need to talk about their genius before finishing the hero off and generally hamstrung by bad motives and poor people skills, but it we’re talking power, we don’t need to go into that :)
Wow…lots of action on this post last night. A lot of people wrote in with a lot of suggestions…most of them were terrible, but it is nice to hear what other people thing. Some quick comments.
First up, this is a superHERO list. Putting Magneto, Saint of Killers, Dragonball Z characters, the Beyonder, Galactus, Sandman, or any other non-superHERO into the list doesn’t work.
Second, someone mentioned “Cosmic Spider-man.” He wouldn’t make the list since that isn’t a separate character and was just a funky one-off thing. Kind of like when Wolverine was made all-powerful in X-Men Annual #11.
Third, just because I made a list you don’t agree with doesn’t mean my mother sucks things. There may be completely unrelated reasons why my mother sucks things, but not because of my list.
Fourth, for those of you who think Superman or the Hulk should be higher on the list…well, you’re wrong and you smell funny. I’m really not sure the Hulk should have been on the list at all, and Superman possibly should be lower on the list (maybe #10). For the person who commented about Superman lifting Thor’s hammer…like the JLA/Avengers crossover said, Odin allowed Superman to life the hammer so the goodguys didn’t get their asses kicked and he was unable to lift the hammer again at the end of the series. So there. I base my list on owning over 150,000 comic books, having read them and more, and being way cooler, smarter and better looking than all of you put together. So, Nyah-Nyah.
Next, I didn’t put Captain Marvel/Shazam in because he’s basically just a Superman clone (same for Supreme, Mr Majestic, Marvelman/Miracleman and a ton of other suggestions people sent in). Nothing against the character, I like him and really enjoyed what Jerry Ordway did with him, but I didn’t want a list full of Superman clones. Maybe he should have been there instead of Supes because they are approximately the same power but the Big Red Cheese is magical and therefore trumps Superman.
Now, I hate to admit this, but someone brought up a point worth mentioning. “Alchemicwolf” suggested that Ion be on the list instead of Hal Jordan. It’s a toss up — Ion doesn’t need a ring (or, does he now that the Guardians demoted Kyle?) but his will power is nowhere near as strong as Hal’s. So he wins out on the not needing to recharge thing but comes up well short in the actual power department. To the guy who mentioned GL being powerless against Yellow and Wood…wrong on both counts. The GLs used to be powerless against yellow, but the modern GLs were never powerless against wood…that was the Golden Age GL. Sheesh, some people just can’t get their facts straight.
I went back and forth on including the Flash on the list and if I was redoing it I might get rid of the Hulk and place Flash at #10. But I’m not sure. He’s speed makes him pretty potent, but he is limited by his non-invulnerability. Still, he might make a good replacement for the Jade Giant.
Finally, I debated on putting Phoenix on the list but didn’t do so for a number of reason…the main one being I had no idea if the Phoenix was still around and still mega-powered. Second, the good Phoenix was never shown to have been as powerful as Dark Phoenix, so I reasoned she was a bad guy and didn’t belong on the list.
-Mat N.
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