The 10 Most Powerful Characters in DC’s Absolute Universe, Ranked

The Absolute DC Universe spun out of the “All In” comic book event, spinning out of Absolute Power, where Darkseid creates a new universe where heroes have more weaknesses and evil has the advantage. This is similar to how Marvel restructured familiar characters in the Ultimate Universe, but instead of updating them for a new generation, it puts the heroes deeper in the hole when it comes to surviving their main villains. The familiar heroes are here, with Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash, and more, but there are major differences holding them down, while the villains in this world are often hideous monsters.

With so many big changes and more coming with new villains arriving this year, like Ares, Clayface, and Solomon Grundy, the power levels could change, but as of now, here are the most powerful characters in the DC Absolute Universe.

10) Absolute Green Arrow

Absolute Green Arrow underwent a drastic change that shot him up the power rankings in the new DC Universe. This version of Green Arrow showed up a short time after Oliver Queen was murdered. Queen planned to become a vigilante to seek justice against his former business partner, Jubal Slade, for his pedophilic actions. However, Hawkman, who is a villain in this world, killed Queen, and a few months later, this new version of the vigilante showed up.

It might be easy to compare the new Green Arrow with someone like Ghost Rider in Marvel Comics, as a slain hero returned from Hell. He showed his power when Hector Hammond showed up in the Arrow Cave, and this new creature-like Green Arrow was waiting for him. Green Arrow killed most of Hammond’s guards and sliced off his hand before Dinah Lance forced him to flee. He is a ruthless killer and seems almost unstoppable.

9) Absolute Joker

When he first appeared in DC Absolute Universe comics, Joker didn’t look that threatening. He looked like a regular guy, and looked more like Bruce Wayne than he did like the Clown Prince of Crime. However, with the changes to this universe, it was Joker who is the elusive billionaire rather than Bruce Wayne, who himself is poor. Joker is also a serial killer, and his money helps him remain above the law.

However, that all changed when Joker showed his true power. This version of Joker physically transforms into a monstrous, dragon-like being to hunt enemies for sport. This contrasts him with the mainline Batman, who turned into a costumed vigilante (a symbolic monster) to take down villains. When he turns into the monstrous creature, he is extremely deadly and dangerous, but it still isn’t quite up to the power level of other Absolute DC characters.

8) Absolute Bane

If there is one Absolute villain who shows how much the scales have tipped to the side of evil, it is Bane. While Absolute Batman is a giant of a man, Bane is even bigger than he ever was in the mainline DC Comics. Bane is Joker’s lead enforcer, and he became this when Joker offered to protect Bane’s island home of Santa Prisca. Bane’s powers here are the same as in the regular DC comic book line, as he gets his strength from Venom.

However, it’s more than that as the Absolute Universe Venom formula is not merely a super-steroid. It enhances the mind as well as the body, granting the user enhanced memory, a key distinction from Bane’s normal depiction. He doesn’t even really need it, as he has been able to beat Absolute Batman without the Venom, and he remains one of Batman’s most powerful threats.

7) Absolute Brainiac

The Brainiac in the Absolute Universe is different from the version in the main DC Comics line, as it is a drone from an alien civilization known as the Brainiac Collective that has gone insane. He ends up on Earth and allies himself with Ra’s al Ghul and Lazarus Corp to end up targeting Superman. However, he soon broke free from Ra’s control and became even more unstable. While the mainline Brainiac is very powerful and intelligent, this one is even deadlier.

He has several powers, and most of them come from his Cybernetic Enhancements. The lesser of these is his illusion casting, but he also has some terrifying powers outside of that. His powers include concentrated destructive energy blasts and transferring his consciousness into new bodies, making him mostly immortal. However, his most terrifying power is controlling and manipulating bodies on a molecular level, and he can cause a person’s bones and organs to shrink and contort, causing them to vomit up their literal guts.

6) Absolute Green Lantern (Jo Mullein)

There are familiar Green Lantern heroes in the Absolute version of DC Comics, but the most powerful one there, and the one that the comics focus on, is Jo Mullein. There are some major differences, as there is no Green Lantern Corps, no Guardians selecting worthy candidates, and no traditional power ring in this reality. Instead, Jo manifests her power physically from her body, with an illuminated Green Lantern symbol at the center of her chest, channeling raw green energy directly.

She gained her powers after a defeat that led to the downfall of a Green Lantern ship and the destruction of Evergreen, with her gold wedding ring instrumental in disrupting the attacking Abin Sur’s power and transferring it to her. Her power is described as exploring the dark side of cosmic power, framing her as a cosmic-energy wielder rather than a willpower-based constructor. She has more than just the powers of the ring, as she also possesses accelerated healing, biokinesis, thermokinesis, and transformation.

5) Absolute Martian Manhunter

Martian Manhunter changed more than almost anyone in the Absolute DC world. Instead of being a Martian with powers on the same level as Superman, he is John Jones, an FBI agent who ends up bonded to an otherworldly entity known as the Martian that only exists in thought. Together, they possess immense psychic powers. He also has many of the same powers as the White Martians in DC Comics.

His Martian vision is reworked. Instead of heat- and X-ray vision, it lets him see people’s thoughts manifest as smoke he can inhale and view, effectively a form of telepathy. He can also use extra-dimensional shortcuts through non-Euclidean space to teleport himself and others. At first, it seemed it was all in his mind, but he does have reality-bending powers and is one of the Absolute universe’s most powerful characters as a result.

4) Absolute Flash

The Flash in the Absolute Universe is Wally West, a teenager who was involved in an accident at Project Olympus, a secret government project where his father, Rudy, worked with Barry Allen. Wally was involved in an accident there that killed Barry and gave Wally his superhuman powers. He proved his powers from the start when he escaped from the Rogues, a government ops team, and he realized he was not only superhumanly fast but also capable of time travel.

What really makes him stand out is that his power is not from the Speed Force, but from a mysterious force that is tied to the concept of entropy, the gradual decline into disorder and chaos. What this means is that Wally’s powers come from what Darkseid used to create the Absolute Universe, which likely makes him one of the few characters in the universe who can eventually stand toe-to-toe with the universe’s creator. His powers are still expanding, and he could even surpass the world’s two most powerful heroes eventually.

3) Absolute Wonder Woman

In the Absolute Universe, Diana is not raised by the Amazons on Themyscira. Instead, she is given to the banished witch Circe on the Wild Isle of Hell, making her the last Amazon raised in the underworld. This gives Diana powers that her mainline DC counterpart doesn’t have, as she was trained in magic and is a powerful witch on top of being a mighty warrior. She also has weapons forged in Hell by Circe, including an artificial arm and bespoke magical weapons.

She does still have her lasso, but here it is the Nemesis Lasso, a glowing red lasso fashioned from the remains of the last basilisk, infused with the blood of Prometheus and blessed by Demeter. It binds and burns in proportion to its target’s sins. Wonder Woman is the second most powerful and self-sufficient of the Absolute heroes, combining demigod-tier strength, battle-tested magic, and uniquely lethal Hell-forged weaponry.

2) Absolute Superman

Just like in the main DC Comics, Absolute Superman is Kal-El, the Last Son of Krypton. However, he has more limitations in this world, as he is a literal living solar battery who must channel and conserve solar energy rather than drawing it limitlessly. He has to recharge in a solar chamber every night, no matter how much energy he uses, leaving him vulnerable when he doesn’t. He also wears Sol, a suit of living Kryptonian nanotech armor with an artificial intelligence that monitors and regulates his solar energy and can shapeshift to protect him.

Now, despite the limitations and need to recharge, Superman is still the world’s most powerful hero. His heat vision has been repurposed to come as destructive beams from his fists now, and he has Solar Crisis Armor for Doomsday-level battles. He waged a six-week full-scale war against the invading Lazarus Corp, survived Brainiac hijacking his suit, and became King Omega, the one hero capable of standing against Darkseid himself.

1) Darkseid

Darkseid in the Absolute Universe is the same Darkseid in the DC Universe, but with a major power upgrade. In the universe’s origin storyline, Darkseid allowed himself to be killed, releasing vast Omega Energy, and merged with the Spectre entity to forge a brand-new reality from the ground up. His goal was to build it with negative energy, so the heroes were all underdogs and villains always had the advantage. In the end, Darkseid is the god of this universe.

He placed a Heart of Apokolips at the center of the new universe, causing all of its Omega Energy to flow back to him, making him the literal power source of the reality his heroes inhabit. There was the DC K.O. event that saw a forced gladiatorial tournament, with the winner becoming King Omega, receiving the power to challenge Darkseid. Superman used the King Alpha power he received thanks to the Time Trapper’s sacrifice to defeat Lex Luthor. After this, Superman subdued Darkseid, but couldn’t defeat the villain. Superman gave up this new power, which allowed Darkseid to once again live as the apex threat of that world, with a new Crisis coming soon.

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