15 Most Powerful Gods in The Marvel Universe

The massive Marvelcosmology has transcended far beyond the simple definitions of gods. While Thor and Loki may be household names, they are far from the most powerful gods that dictate the fate of the Marvel Multiverse. Even within the past decade, Marvel has expanded their cosmic pantheon of multiversal deities beyond what could have ever been originally conceived.

From destroyers of worlds, to cosmic embodiments of concepts, to sentient non-existence, Marvel’s growing menagerie of gods has transformed the media into one of omniversal proportions. While readers can look at Earth’s heroes and villains as ultimate powerhouses compared to the real world, even they are dominated by the overwhelming force that is Marvel’s greater divine cosmology. To help make sense of the greatest of the greatest of gods in Marvel Comics, these are the most powerful gods in Marvel continuity (so far).

15 The Utgard-Gods

Debuted In X-Men / Alpha Flight #1 by Chris Claremont and Paul Smith

A faction of Elder Gods who fled Earth when the Demogorge was set loose to devour their kind, the Utgard-Gods found a new home in an alternate dimension known as Utgard. Most of the other Elder Gods who escaped the Demogorge’s wrath fled to individual realms, but the god known as Utgard-Loki believed that he and his siblings would be stronger together. Before sealing themselves away in Utgard, Utgard-Loki gave the key to his dimension to Gaea who, if she believed it necessary, would release the Elder Gods in the future to enact her will.

Utgard-Loki and his brother Utgard-Thor took a particular liking to the Asgardian Loki and Thor when they were children. Over time, they have been testing the siblings to decide whether they would be fitting successors. Currently, Gaea has set loose the Utgard-Gods to lay waste to Earth as punishment for its inhabitants’ misuse of the planet’s plentiful resources.

14 Chthon

Fully Debuted In Avengers #186 by David Michelinie, Mark Gruenwald, Steven Grant, & John Byrne

Chthon is one of the first Elder Gods birthed by the Demiurge Primordial and the Earth’s first master of black magic. Like many of his siblings, Chthon’s mind and spirit rapidly degraded over time, resulting in the death of most Elder Gods. Before fleeing to an alternate dimension, Chthon forged the Darkhold, an artifact of immense dark magical power, that would serve as his direct connection to Earth so that he may return in the future.

Chthon is the father of Earth’s first monsters including werewolves, vampires, and zombies, but his greatest creation is that of the Scarlet Witch. When she was only an infant, Chthon noticed Wanda Maximoff’s latent connection to chaos magic and believed that she would become his perfect vessel to return to Earth. While the Elder God of Chaos has faced defeat on numerous occasions, his dark influences persist as commonplace evils perverting the sanctity of life and peace on Earth.

13 The Demiurge Primordial

Debuted In The Annual #10 by Alan Zelenetz and Bob Hall

The Demiurge Primordial is the progenitor of all life on Earth. It is the Earth’s life force given a sentient mind and the creator of the world’s Elder Gods. While possessing qualities of an Abstract Being, the Demiurge Primordial is not technically that. Instead, “Demiurge” is a title and a right to power that is passed down along eons of generations.

Over time, the Demiurge Primordial’s first children degraded into violent and cannibalistic degenerates, leading it to mate with Gaea, one of its own creations, to conceive an Elder God powerful enough to put down its siblings. From their consummation, the Elder God Atum was born, who would later consume as many of his maddened siblings as he could before what remained fled to other dimensions. While not much else is known about the Demiurge Primordial, it is destined to be succeeded by Wiccan, the son of the Scarlet Witch.

12 The Phoenix Force

Debuted In X-Men #101 by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum

Potentially the universe’s oldest beings, the Phoenix Force is the nexus of all psionic energy across the Multiverse and the being that both sparks creation and consumes it in flames. While not quite on the same level as an Abstract Being, it is still regarded as a critical force in the greater balance of the Cosmos. Overseeing the sway of life, death, and rebirth, the Phoenix Force has complete sway over the life cycle of existence.

However, it frequently requires hosts to channel its near-limitless power, often subjecting the host to the cosmic force’s will. Despite its immeasurable power, the Phoenix Force is not infallible and can be corrupted, creating a vile entity known as the Dark Phoenix. As the Dark Phoenix, its drive to perpetuate the cycle of life is replaced by a drive to consume the power of the Multiverse, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. If the Phoenix Force were to ever die, it would be reborn to start its journey again.

11 Eternity / Infinity

Debuted In Defenders #92 by J.M. DeMatteis and Don Perlin

Both Eternity and Infinity are two beings who are also one. Technically considered both sides of the same coin, the duo originally served as the living embodiment of the Seventh Cosmos. It is within the Seventh Cosmos that the Multiverse was introduced to the true concept of time, ensuring infinite and eternal opportunities to forge new creations.

Eternity and Infinity eventually fell when the Beyonders waged a war to destroy the Seventh Cosmos to preserve Marvel’s omniverse from an even greater threat. Thanks to the efforts of Doctor Strange, Reed Richards, Doctor Doom, and Molecule Man, Eternity became the new embodiment of the Eight Cosmos while his sister-self traveled to the Far Shore to “live” alongside the other previous Cosmos. Having embodied two Cosmos, the first of his kind to do so, Eternity has a powerfully unique ability to summon past incarnations of the Multiverse as he deems necessary.

10 The Griever at the End of All Things

Debuted In Fantastic Four #2 by Dan Slott and Sara Pichelli

The cosmic counterpart to the Queen of Nevers, the Griever at the End of All Things is the living embodiment of entropy and decay. Time and space have a definitive beginning and end to which the Griever is the process in which those dimensions slowly die out at the end of existence. While, from the readers’ perspective, the Griever is an ultimate cosmic evil, she is instead a cosmic necessity.

As was designed by Marvel’s greatest deity, creation must be followed by destruction and death so that there can be room for new creation in the future. She takes her name from her inevitable realization that she will watch all reality die in which she alone will be left to grieve all that ever was and all that ever could be. To oppose the Queen of Nevers, the Griever created Endlings, endlessly hungry creatures who feed on reality, expediting the Multiverse’s entropy.

9 The Queen of Nevers

Debuted In Silver Surfer #2 by Dan Slott and Michael Allred

The Queen of Nevers is the living embodiment of the Fourth Cosmos of the Marvel omniverse. Originally a traveler from the Third Cosmos named the Pilgrim, the Queen of Nevers survived the end of the Third and was transformed into the next reality. The Never Queen was the first being to create character archetypes and “possibility,” expanding the realms of potential creation for the Celestials to explore.

Currently, the Queen of Nevers resides on the edge of the Multiverse alongside her lover, Eternity. Unlike the other previous Cosmos, the Never Queen directly interacts with the current Multiverse through nexus beings, like the Scarlet Witch, who act as the cosmic being’s agents of creation. Despite the “death” of her Cosmos, she is still at war with her cosmic counterpart, the Griever at the End of All Things. Due to her close relationship with Eternity, when the two are together, there are no constraints to the possibilities of their creation.

8 The First Firmament

Fully Debuted In Ultimates 2 #5 by Al Ewing and Travel Foreman

Before the Multiverse, there was a singular sentient universe known as the First Firmament. In its original state, the First Firmament was the only form of existence; a singular being with no purpose. In time, the multiversal precursor created the Aspirants and the Celestials to experiment with the concept of creation. While the Aspirants were loyal to the First Firmament, the Celestials wanted creation to evolve past the deity’s confines, launching a civil war between the factions.

The First Firmament fell during the civil war, breaking apart and thus creating the first Multiverse. On the furthest edge of reality, the First Firmament bid its time until it would invade the Eighth Cosmos in order to cease the chaotic multiverse and reassert its dominance as the one and only true form of existence. Currently, the first of the Cosmos is sealed away outside the barrier of the Multiverse as punishment for its crimes.

7 The Kings in Black

Debuted as Knull in Venom #3 by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman

The Kings in Black, also known as the Onyx Kings, were created by the Celestials alongside the Beyonders to serve as cosmic caretakers for the Multiverse. Where the Beyonders, also known as the Kings in White, guide the hand of creation, evolution, and progress, the Kings in Black are charged with plunging creation into the void of non-existence. While it isn’t entirely confirmed, it seems that each Cosmos has a King in Black who oversees that version of reality’s cosmic balance.

The first known King in Black of the Seventh Cosmos is Knull, the Father of the Symbiotes. Knull took a particularly strong pleasure in his role, motivating him to overthrow the Ivory Kings and plunge all of reality back into the void. Unlike the Beyonders, the Kings in Black exist as multiple beings across the Multiverse who are connected together, creating a multiversal-level hive-mind. Currently, Eddie Brock serves as the Eighth Cosmos’s King in Black.

6 The Beyonders

Officially Debuted In Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1 by Jim Shooter, Michael Zeck, John Beatty, Christie Scheele, & John Rosen

The Beyonders are the first sentient creations of the Celestials, who were originally tasked with maintaining the Multiverse from outside its walls. To balance the Celestial’s infinite creations, the Beyonders were designed to preserve creation rather than destroy it. The Beyonders are directly responsible for the abundance of extraordinary super-people on Earth as a preemptive means to create great forces to combat the many inevitable cosmic threats of the future.

However, after foreseeing the arrival of Enigma, a multiversal being capable of consuming the Multiverse itself, the Beyonders sought to destroy the Seventh Cosmos to kill Enigma along with it. These actions directly led to 2015’s Secret Wars event which saw the death of the Seventh and the birth of the Eighth Cosmos. While they were made to look like antagonistic forces, the Beyonders’ ultimate ploy to save the multiverse from Enigma succeeded, at least for now.

5 The Living Tribunal

Debuted In Strange Tales #158 by Roy Thomas and Marie Severin

The Living Tribunal is one of Marvel’s oldest and most senior-ranking Abstract Entities and the multiverse’s greatest overseer. It was originally created by the One Above All to keep watch of all realities to ensure that one universe never rose in power so as to not upset the balance of the multiverse. In any situation that may require the Living Tribunal’s intervention, each of its three personality constructs, representing equity, necessity, and vengeance, must agree to take action.

Because of its immense power, the Living Tribunal can easily snap realities in and out of existence. The cosmic entity is capable of breaching the outer barriers of Marvel’s omniverse, going as far as to interact with its equivalent counterparts in the DC Universe. So far, the Living Tribunal has only ever fallen once, when the Beyonders waged war against the multiverse.

4 Oblivion

Debuted In Iceman #3 by J.M. DeMatteis and Alan Kupperberg

Before there was the Multiverse, there was nothing. Embodying the concept of non-existence is Oblivion, an abstract entity and the progenitor of Death. Oblivion is ultimately aware that the destiny of the Multiverse eventually leads back to him and that all reality will cease and fall back into his eternal void.

However, Oblivion has grown tired of waiting for reality to die and often intervenes through the use of his avatars to bring about the death of the Multiverse as soon as possible. Currently, Oblivion frequently feuds with Eternity, his previous cosmic equivalent, in an endless battle. While Oblivion seemingly represents evil, the primordial force only acts within his own nature as the progenitor of all creation. Now, Oblivion is locked in a new feud with the Living Tribunal, which oversees the progress of the Multiverse in its entirety.

3 The Infinites

Debuted In Avengers: Infinity #3 by Roger Stern and Sean Chen

Placed in a position even higher than the Cosmos, the Infinites are charged with overseeing the Multiverse’s flow of energy. Like the Beyonders, the Infinites live outside the walls of the Multiverse, only to enter when their intervention is needed. Whereas the Beyonders and Celestials oversee the balance of creation, the Infinites must balance the primordial energies that power those fluxes of new existence.

As with most Abstract Entities, the Infinites sometimes find themselves diametrically opposed to the Multiverse’s lower life forms, who see the entity as a form of death incarnate. The quantum hero Quasar once stated that compared to the power of the Infinites, beings like Oblivion and the Living Tribunal are like infant mortals. Fortunately for the Marvel Multiverse, the Infinites have rarely negatively intervened with the Cosmos in a way that would be considered cosmically apocalyptic.

2 The Fulcrum

Debuted In Eternals #7 by Charles Knauf, Daniel Knauf, & Eric Nguyen

Similar to the One Above All, Fulcrum, also known as Jack, serves as the Marvel omniverse’s guardian of equilibrium. Directly overseeing the Celestials, the Horde, and the Watchers, Fulcrum’s job is to ensure that the forces that dictate creation and destruction remain in equal balance. When a Celestial’s seeded planet reaches the end of its judgment cycle and is subsequently destroyed, the collected energy transfers to Fulcrum.

From there, Fulcrum decides whether the Eternals or the Deviants have won over the planet’s influence and then gift that life-energy back to the victor. There is some debate whether the Fulcrum and the One Above All may be the same entity, as both have taken on the visage of Jack Kirby. While Fulcrum waits to judge the Celestials’ fallen worlds, he gently works in a bar on the edge of reality.

1 The One Above All / The One Below All

Debuted In Fantastic Four #511 by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo / Debuted in Immortal Hulk #4 by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett

The One Above All is Marvel’s ultimate deity. It is the highest of creative forces in the overarching omniverse and is often used as a representation for all comic creators. A pure embodiment of love and creation, the One Above All wishes nothing but to see a reality full of vibrant growth. During one of its earlier appearances, the One Above All took the visage of Jack Kirby and a giant pencil.

However, he is kept in balance by his horrific other half, the One Below All. Sitting on the opposite side of existence, the One Below All is an entity of pure malice and destruction designed to destroy reality so that the One Above All can create again. In the Immortal Hulk series, it was revealed that the One Below All is the progenitor of gamma energy and shares a direct mystical link to every gamma mutate, who serve as avatars of the being’s divine destruction.