Top 10 Stupidly Overpowered Supervillains

The arch nemesis to DC’s appropriately named Captain Marvel, Teth-Adam harnesses the ancient Egyptian powers of Shazam. Banished to a distant star, he spends 5,000 years flying back to Earth, and eventually reappears as Black Adam. Adam has fought just about everyone in the Justice League, proving more than a match for Superman thanks to his magical abilities. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s immortal in his Black Adam form. If he has a weakness, it’s his own ego, but as supervillain weaknesses go, it’s not a bad one to have.

He might not be the most physically powerful DC supervillain, but Solomon Grundy makes this list purely on his ability to take a beating, but zombies wouldn’t be zombies if they were easy to kill. Grundy’s body deflects bullets, absorbs energy and doesn’t need oxygen, and on the rare occasions he is destroyed, he just comes right on back. The only catch is that he often returns with varying levels of strength and intelligence, but this unpredictability has worked in his favour, and he has used it effectively against Superman, Green Lantern, and sometimes – the entire Justice League.

You might know him as the purple guy in the really big chair doing a whole lotta nothin’, but comic book fans recognize Thanos as the Mad Titan, obsessed with death from an early age, and killing millions of his own race to impress its physical embodiment, Mistress Death. This is even before he obtains the infinity gauntlet, which grants its bearer complete control over all aspects of the universe. As a gift of love to Death, Thanos wipes out half the life in all the universe with a literal snap of his fingers, imprisons many of its greatest heroes, and makes quick work of the Avengers before he is finally defeated.

Doomsday is living proof that you don’t need brains to get what you want. In fact, Doomsday doesn’t have a brain at all. Created by an alien scientist, Doomsday is a beast of raw power fuelled only by hatred. His anger sends waves throughout the universe, and he eventually catches Superman’s attention, which does not end well for the Man of Steel. What’s worse – when you do eventually kill him, he comes back to life, immune to dying in that specific way ever again.

A member of the original X-Men team, Jean Grey becomes one with the mystical Phoenix Force, which grants her a host of other powers to go along with her telekinesis and telepathy. But, you know what they say about too much of a good thing. The limitless power ultimately corrupts Jean, and she emerges as the Dark Phoenix. Although Jean fights to regain control, the power of the Phoenix overwhelms her, and Jean must sacrifice herself to prevent the destruction of the universe. Even when the Phoenix Force returns to earth, the combined efforts of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes aren’t enough to stop its destructive rampage.

The original mutant, En Sabah Nur – literally meaning “The First One” – believes in natural selection, and he takes it upon himself to destroy the weak in order to preserve the worthy. While he isn’t the most recurring villain the X-Men face, he is considered one of the most, if not the most deadly. Boasting one of the longest lists of superpowers in all of Marvel, and the list only gets longer, as he can absorb powers from other mutants. He may have been beaten before, but his comic book reincarnation always means bad news for the X-Men.

He might not be one of the most recognizable super villains, but the Anti-Monitor may just have the highest body count in all of DC. At the beginning of all existence, the Anti-Monitor absorbed his entire universe, and eventually discovered the multiverse by tearing a hole in matter itself. He is responsible for the Crisis on Infinite Earths, which led to the deaths of Supergirl and the Flash. In terms of actual superpowers, Anti-Monitor has the standard cosmic supervillain bundle, but he takes on the powers of each universe he absorbs. And just in case you weren’t sure, that’s a whole lot of universes.

Primarily a Doctor Strange villain, Dormammu has never actually been beaten in battle by his magical foe. He has been tricked, imprisoned and bargained with, but these are just minor setbacks for the Lord of Chaos. Born of magic and composed of pure energy, he is virtually unbeatable in the long run, with magical powers beyond that of a mere God. Dormammu actually rules his own reality, the Dark Dimension, but he still makes his presence felt throughout the multiverse.

One of the Justice League’s most feared foes, Darkseid rules over the fictional world of Apokolips. Compared to Nazi Germany by comic book creator Jack Kirby, Apokolips is populated with militant super villain parademons, so it takes a supremely overpowered deity to rule over the planet. Like many of the villains on this list, Darkseid has more or less every superpower in his respective universe, but he also possesses Omega powers. Superman and Doomsday are the only beings in DC to have survived Darkseid’s Omega beams, so powerful they can resurrect the dead, pass through matter and erase all organisms from existence. Luckily for the Justice League, they can be outrun.

Before we unveil our number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

Juggernaut

Vulcan

Onslaught

Galactus remains one of the biggest mysteries in the Marvel universe, as the upper extent of his power is unknown, as is his true form. Galactus takes the form of a giant man in armour, but he is more than just a man. A cross between alien and God, he literally eats planets to survive, often sending the Silver Surfer to find worlds for him to devour. He is also the only known source of the power cosmic, which grants the user limitless manipulation of all organisms in the universe. While we may never know Galactus’ true power, the fact that it’s literally limitless is good enough for us.