The DC universe is chock-full of all kinds of aliens and gods, most of whom can beat
up whole armies of bad guys without breaking a sweat. But who's the strongest of the strong?
From otherworldly deities to extraterrestrial warriors, here are DC's most powerful heroes.
Ethan Avery is an American soldier who volunteers for a program that allows him to transform
into the Hulk-like creature Damage for one hour a day. For much of his standalone series,
Damage finds himself locking horns with other DC heroes and those confrontations show just
how staggeringly powerful the man-monster is.
In 2018's Damage #2, Amanda Waller sends the Suicide Squad to stop Damage, and despite
a line-up that includes such heavy hitters as Solomon Grundy and Giganta, Damage tears
through them. He punches right through the massive hand of Giganta and proves too powerful
for the power-sucking Parasite to drain without overloading himself. Eventually, Wonder Woman
relieves the Squad, and Damage fights her to a standstill, too.
The Justice League also gets a shot at Avery in Damage #11 when, among other things, Damage
is able to easily rip through the constructs Green Lantern creates with his power ring.
The issue leads into a cover-to-cover battle with Superman in Damage #12, which ends with
Deadman interrupting the fight by possessing Damage.
So sure, he isn't the most well-known DC hero in fact, he's one of the newest. But Damage
is still incredibly tough, with the only real limit to his power being the temporary nature
of his abilities.
Shazam, the powerful alter-ego of the young Billy Batson, is said to possess the greatest
attributes of a number of powerful and revered historical figures. In fact, the name "Shazam"
comes from the list of biblical and mythic characters from whom his powers are culled
Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury. Whether he's literally able to
get his powers from these beings or if their names are just used symbolically kinda depends
on who's writing him, but regardless he more than lives up to the hype.
"I'm invisible! I’m right here, hahaha. I'm invisible!"
Shazam has long been criticized as something of a Superman clone, to the point that DC's
precursor National Comics once sued Fawcett Comics, Shazam's creators, over the similarities
between the two. Fittingly, Shazam's battles with the Man of Steel reveal just how powerful
he is.
One of the most famous examples is in the classic 1996 mini-series Kingdom Come. In
this story, a manipulated Shazam comes close to killing Superman. Less well-known but perhaps
even more impressive is 1999's JLA #29, in which Shazam's "strength of Hercules" takes
Superman out in two punches. To be fair, it's a surprise attack, and even Shazam admits
he got kinda lucky. But the list of people who can KO Superman in two hits under any
circumstances is still pretty short.
Gal Gadot's movie version of Wonder Woman is one of the most powerful superheroes to
have appeared on the big screen in recent years. But the comic book version is even
stronger.
Considering 2017's Wonder Woman ends with the titular hero defeating the war god Ares,
it may not surprise you to learn just how often the Wonder Woman of the comics is forced
to endure abuse from the gods. Zeus himself blasts Diana with lightning in 1987's Wonder
Woman #10, but she manages to survive the onslaught. She actually goes one further and
knocks Zeus on his rear end in 2009's Wonder Woman #33. Wonder Woman has also gone toe-to-toe
with the most powerful heroes and villains of DC Comics, almost always giving as good
as she gets. In 1999's JLA/Titans #3, with nothing more than her own strength and speed,
she single-handedly stops a massive asteroid from crashing into Earth.
Darkseid's son Orion has long been considered one of the strongest heroes in the DC Comics
pantheon. During his brief time with the Justice League in the late '90s, Orion proved himself
to possess might comparable to that of Wonder Woman and Superman only with fewer manners
and more ferocity.
More than perhaps any other event in the history of comics, 2008's Countdown to Final Crisis
#2 proved the space-faring Orion deserved a spot on the short list of the company's
mightiest protagonists. In this story, Orion interrupts a battle between his uber-villain
father Darkseid and a super-powerful Jimmy Olsen, in order to take care of his father
once and for all. Father and son wage an epic battle while the Justice League watches, and
Orion not only defeats a villain most DC heroes wouldn't survive meeting, but he actually
rips Darkseid's heart out of his chest, too.
The Man of Steel was never quite as powerful as he used to be after the game-changing line-wide
event Crisis on Infinite Earths, but he's still largely seen as the indisputable alpha
male of DC Comics' heroes. After all, there's a good reason why he's usually counted as
the hallmark against which all other DC heroes are measured.
Supergirl isn't quite as celebrated as her cousin, but she's proven herself to be just
as powerful — sometimes more so.
"She is every bit the hero he is. She just needs the chance to prove it."
In the second season finale of CW's Supergirl, for example, Melissa Benoist Supergirl knocks
out a mind-controlled Superman. In the Crisis on Infinite Earths comics, it's Supergirl
who defeats the villainous Anti-Monitor, although she does die in the process. In 2005's Supergirl
#1, she KOs strongman Solomon Grundy with a single punch and saves the super-team the
Justice Society of America from the villain in the process. All in all, it's fair to say
that Kara more than lives up to the reputation of her iconic cousin.
Ok, so Lobo is usually thought of as an anti-hero at best and an outright villain at worst.
But he has sometimes found himself allied with the heroes of DC such as when he was
recruited into the Justice League in the 2017-18 volume of Justice League of America.
And in terms of his strength? Well, there's the fact that he wiped out his own race for
fun, for one. He has also gone toe-to-toe with Superman a number of times, proving himself
at least the Kryptonian's equal, and sometimes his better. In 1990's Adventures of Superman
#464, a drunk Lobo travels to the Fortress of Solitude to prove himself Superman's superior,
and the Man of Steel ends the fight by faking his death and hiding until Lobo leaves.
If an enemy does somehow manage to injure Lobo, it usually doesn't matter. The Main
Man has regeneration powers that make Wolverine's healing factor look like a band-aid. In the
second season of the Syfy series Krypton, Lobo manages to physically regenerate after
literally blowing his own head off.
J'onn J'onzz, also known as the Martian Manhunter, famously has one of the easiest vulnerabilities
to exploit a weakness to fire. But despite that unfortunate Achilles' heel, he's still
one of DC's mightiest and most versatile heroes.
Although he's not quite as strong as his colleague Superman, Martian Manhunter shares many of
his powers with the Man of Steel. At the same time, however, there's a lot J'onzz can do
that Superman can't which often gives him the edge in battle. A perfect example of just
how formidable his unique collection of powers makes him appears in the 2000 original graphic
novel JLA: Earth 2. When the Justice League's evil doppelgangers arrive from another reality
to wreak havoc on Earth Prime, J'onzz effortlessly takes out Ultraman, that reality's version
of Superman. After that fight, you can't help but wonder if J'onzz could handle Ultraman's
more heroic counterpart just as easily.
DC's Doctor Fate is often compared to Marvel's Doctor Strange, though in many ways, the comparison
doesn't fit. True, both are powerful sorcerers, but unlike Strange, Fate isn't limited to
just his spells. Thanks to the powers granted to him from the godlike being Nabu , Doctor
Fate is also super strong, telekinetic, telepathic, able to blast his opponents with fire and
lightning and he can fly, too.
Of course, Doctor Fate does also wield a range of powerful spells. With his magic, Fate has
traveled through time, raised the dead, and stepped across dimensions. Doctor Fate's connection
to the world of magic also grants him access to the Elder beings and gods who can cause
so much trouble in DC's vast, complex multiverse. Considering even powerhouses like Superman
are vulnerable to magic, there are few heroes in DC's comics who would want to get on Fate's
bad side.
The Phantom Stranger is one of DC Comics' most mysterious figures; one who often prefers
to steer other heroes towards specific important goals rather than getting directly involved
himself. What little is known about his origin has changed multiple times over the years.
In some versions, he's said to be an angel cast out of Heaven for refusing to take a
side in Lucifer's rebellion against God, and in a more recent origin story, it's implied
that he's Judas, cursed to walk the Earth forever to atone for his betrayal.
Whoever the Phantom Stranger is, he's not only one of DC's most powerful heroes, but
one of its most powerful beings full stop. He has been shown to be able to manipulate
time, travel across great distances without any kind of external aid, fire blasts of intense
power at his enemies, and perceive things invisible to most mortals. Perhaps the biggest
indicator of his power is the fact that he's often forced into direct conflict with the
Spectre and is usually the only single hero able to hold his own against the vengeful
spirit.
The Spectre is a cosmic entity who, in his most recent incarnations, is the physical
embodiment of the wrath of God. Unlike many superheroes, the Spectre doesn't stop himself
from more lethal measures and usually kills his victims in ways fitting to their crimes.
However, the cosmic being needs a human host to act. For many years, the host was Jimmy
Corrigan, and Hal Jordan of Green Lantern fame took up the mantle for a long time, too.
There's no true limit to the Spectre's powers, except that he can only do what's necessary
for any particular mission. For example, in 1999's JLA #31, the Spectre punishes the former
superhero Triumph for his cold heart by turning the fallen hero's body to ice. But he couldn't
just go around turning people to ice for no reason.
Unfortunately, this near-omnipotence is part of what makes the Spectre so problematic.
One of the more famous examples is from 1993's Spectre #13, when he judged the fictional
nation of Vlatava guilty of ethnic cleansing and wiped out the entire country. In more
recent years, the Spectre sparked 2005's Day of Vengeance event, when the manipulative
supervillain Eclipso convinced him all magic in reality must be annihilated. Among other
things, the Spectre ended up destroying the Rock of Eternity, the source of Shazam's powers.
In both Watchmen and Doomsday Clock, Doctor Manhattan proves capable of just about anything.
"Nations around the world still reeling from this morning’s announcement. Perhaps the
most significant event in human history. The Super Man exists, and he is American."
In his appearances during these stories, Manhattan is capable of growing taller than mountains,
destroys his enemies with little more than a thought, and can survive pretty much anything.
And he's more than capable of performing similar feats in the 2019 HBO series Watchmen.
But it's this power that can also make Doctor Manhattan so frustrating. As many characters
point out in the HBO series, Manhattan could've changed the world for the better on a global
scale, but he doesn't. Ironically, in spite of his power, Manhattan is trapped by it.
This is because Manhattan experiences time in a nonlinear fashion. He experiences the
present, past, and future all at once. So if you were to ask him, for example, why he
doesn't wipe out global hunger with the flick of his wrist, he would likely tell you that
he doesn't wipe out hunger because he doesn't wipe out hunger. The idea that he could change
the future he already experiences never seems to occur to him.
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