Top 10 Characters That Can Stop Time

She may be a magical girl, but this show is no Sailor Moon. Homura has a fondness for guns and explosives, but stopping and reversing time is her bread and butter. This ability is extremely powerful, but she has very limited control over what she can freeze, and her abilities affect everything in an area around her. However, anyone or anything she touches becomes unstuck, allowing her to help her friends escape some pretty horrifying situations. This gives her a huge edge in battle, and these girls need all the help they can get in their terrifying twist of the magical girl genre.

Let’s continue with a twitch of the nose! Samantha of “Bewitched” is, surprise, a witch. Naturally, Samantha and her relatives often cause some rather noticeable supernatural phenomena to occur around them, much to the chagrin of her mortal husband. So, with her go-to nose wiggle, Samantha sometimes has to put things on pause to give her time to normalize everything for their frequently bewildered friends and neighbors, particularly that nosy Gladys Kravitz!

A member of the grandiose Ginyu Force, Guldo is both the shortest and weakest member of the squad. The four-eyed little green man makes up for this somewhat with his psychic skills, which include telekinesis and the ability to stop time for short intervals. In fact, Guldo can only stop time for as long as he can hold his breath, since air molecules are frozen as well. Overuse of the power drains his stamina though, in addition to his lung capacity, so this talent must be used sparingly.

The charismatic, wily lead of “Saved By The Bell,” Zack is always scheming and planning, whether it is organizing a school event, or something more seedy. He is sometimes aided by his ability to stop the show’s action and break the fourth wall by speaking directly to the audience. While it could be argued that Zack isn’t really stopping time, but merely narrating, the fact that he halts the action with the words “time out” and that he alters things while the rest of the characters are frozen, makes it count for us.

Don’t let the menacing red eyes and scar fool you: Clockwork is actually a force for good. The self-proclaimed Master of Time, Clockwork manipulates it at will, accelerating time, traveling through it and stopping it, often using the phrase, “time out.” In addition, since he has observed all of time, Clockwork claims to know everything. Voiced by the late David Carradine, Clockwork, like many of Carradine’s characters, acts as a kind of mentor figure, teaching Danny lessons, often in a roundabout way.

Care for a gumball? Professor Paradox is a mysterious and temporally complex ally of the “Ben 10” series’ Ben Tennyson. After a time travel experiment gone awry, Paradox was trapped outside the space-time continuum for 100,000 years, during which, after going mad for a while, he gained a working knowledge of all aspects of time. This allows the professor to travel through and stop time, and regress a person’s age. Paradox’s agelessness, quirks, and guardianship of time also bear a strong resemblance to a certain other accented time traveler.

One of a trio of witches called the Charmed Ones, Piper’s abilities are focused on the manipulation of molecules, which includes exciting them to create fire or explosions, or freezing them, which stimulates the act of stopping time. Although she’s initially only able to affect things in her immediate surroundings and only for a short time, as the series progresses, Piper is able to halt nearly everyone and everything around her.

If David Bowie fused with Dracula, their combined form would still be only half as cool as Dio Brando. A blood-sucker with a serious vendetta against the Joestar family, Dio can stop time with his Stand, a manifestation of his mental powers; which is named “The World,” or “Za Warudo.” Dio has also influenced several of our other entries, thanks to the numerous memes surrounding him. And while most of the characters on this list are relatively heroic characters, Dio Brando proves how terrifying stopping time can be when used by an egomaniacal, psychic vampire.

The musically inclined, titular protagonist of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, this mad scientist can halt time in a small area with his Freeze Ray. While most of the other time stoppers on our list affect time in a general way, Dr. Horrible’s invention is able to target individuals, namely his love interest, to give him a chance to know what to say, and his nemesis, the hero Captain Hammer. However, modifying it has dire consequences for Horrible. Whatever you do, don’t call it an “ice beam!” That’s Johnny Snow’s bag.

Before we reveal our top pick, here are some honorable mentions:
- Atropos
“Supernatural” (2005-)
- Zak Gibbs
“Clockstoppers” (2002)
- Q
“Star Trek” franchise (1966-)

One of the breakout characters of “Heroes”’ ensemble cast, Hiro Nakamura is a seemingly typical Japanese office worker who develops the ability to teleport, and to travel through and stop time. Well, we should be clear: while accompanied by the super-fast Daphne, Hiro learns that he does not actually stop time completely – instead, he slows it down to a snail’s pace, which is good enough for us. Fortunately for the audience, Hiro knows how to have fun with his ability – he even quotes Dio Brando. With his significant character growth, likeable attitude, and oh-so-quotable catchphrases, Hiro’s hero’s journey is a constant thread of quality through “Heroes”’ admittedly hit-and-miss storylines.

Do you agree with our list? Who’s your favorite time stopper? For more temporally arresting Top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.