For over 80 years, DC Comics have centered around the exploits of beings who wield superpowers for good and evil. And, it’s only natural that this universe reflects this struggle and the sources of their superpowers. To help clarify its recently revamped history and universe, in 2025, DC released the miniseries New History of the DC Universe, offering a concise, updated timeline of its universe. Not only did this series help rectify many continuity issues that have plagued DC Comics, but it also showed that, since the dawn of time, there have been entities of incomprehensible power who fight to maintain balance and protect the innocent from the forces of evil and entropy.
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The DC Multiverse is 20 billion years old, making it almost twice as old as our own universe. Some of DC’s most powerful heroes are as ancient as the multiverse itself; others are hundreds of millions or even billions of years old.
10) Martian Manhunter
Not only is J’onn J’onzz, aka Martian Manhunter, a founding member of the Justice League, but he’s also their oldest teammate as well. Hailing from the now-dead planet Mars, flashbacks have revealed that J’onn is no less than 225 million years old. This means that when J’onn was an adolescent, on Earth, the first mammals were evolving and dinosaurs were becoming the dominant species. Over J’onn’s lifespan, he witnessed the death of his own planet and the extermination of his race, including his wife and daughter, at the hands of his sadistic brother, Ma’alefa’ak. J’onn spent the next several centuries alone until he was accidentally teleported to Earth by a scientist. Since then, J’onn has made the Earth his new home and the Justice League his found family.
9) New Gods of New Genesis
Outside of the DC Multiverse, the all-powerful deities, the Old Gods, engaged in a brutal war known as Ragnarok that tore their world in half. Around 4.8 billion years ago in the realm of Fourth World, the remnants of the broken world transformed into twin planets: the utopian New Genesis and the hellish Apokolips. Both planets are inhabited by the New Gods, who are the personifications of abstract concepts such as good and evil. Led by the wise Highfather, the New Gods of New Genesis are the first line of defense against Apokolips and its malevolent ruler, Darkseid. Some of the most notable heroes who fight for New Genesis and the multiverse at large are Orion, Mr. Miracle, Big Barda, Lightray, and the Forever People.
8) Guardians of the Universe
One of the first humanoid species to evolve in the multiverse, the race that would become known as the Guardians of the Universe would move from their homeworld, Maltus, to the planet Oa, which lies at the center of the cosmos. It’s here that the Guardians became immortal and began making plans to create a universal peacekeeping force. Unfortunately, the Guardian’s first attempt, the soulless robot Manhunter army, went horribly wrong as they wiped out trillions of lives. Oops. After returning to the drawing board, the Guardians learned to harness the green energy of willpower to create the Green Lantern Corps. Over the eons, countless beings from across the universe were found worthy to don the Green Lantern ring, including members of the Old Gods.
7) Nabu
Ten billion years ago, the first two sentient races – the Lords of Order and the Lords of Chaos – emerged on the planet Cilia and began an eternal conflict for supremacy. One of these Lords of Order, Nabu the Wise, eventually arrived on Earth around 3,500 BCE. After a fierce battle against the villainous wizard Wotan, Nabu put himself in a healing coma inside a pyramid for thousands of years. During the 1940s, Nabu was awaken by the archaeologist Sven Nelson, whom Nabu accidentally killed. Nabu then took Sven’s son, Kent, and trained him to become the Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Fate. With his soul now residing within the Helmet of Fate, Nabu grants Doctor Fate untold mystical might to protect humanity.
6) Spectre
During the war against Lucifer and Heaven, one fallen angel managed to avoid the fate of his rebellious brethren. This fallen angel, Aztar, repented and sought forgiveness from God. For this act, Aztar was transformed into the new Spirit of Wrath, the Spectre, a role once held by the villain Eclipso. As the embodiment of God’s wrath, Spectre punishes the wicked and the unrighteous. To interact with humanity in the modern day, Spectre merged with the deceased Detective Corrigan. Spectre became a founding member of the Justice Society and is one of the most powerful superheroes in DC Comics. With his divine magic, Spectre can warp reality on a multiversal scale and battle cosmic villains like the Anti-Monitor.
5) Michael Demiurgos
At the dawn of the multiverse, God created Michael Demiurgos along with six other archangels to be the first members of his Heavenly Host. Eons later, Michael would be forced to battle his twin brother Lucifer, who launched a rebellion against God and Heaven. Michael eventually emerged victorious and banished his brother to the pits of Hell, where he resided for billions of years. Michael is a fierce defender of the universe’s cosmic balance and will do anything to prevent it from falling into anarchy and destruction. He’s considered to be the second most powerful being in all of existence, tied only with Lucifer.
4) The Endless
When the DC Multiverse began, the Endless were there to help shape the reality and minds of its inhabitants, gods and mortals alike. The seven siblings who make up the Endless each represent fundamental aspects of existence. Dream, Death, Destiny, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium all exist in the realms beyond time and space. Every event, action, and thought within DC Comics is in part the result of their influence. Even most of the pantheons were created by Dream. Although the Endless are notorious for their family squabbles, they still care for one another and do their best to protect the multiverse from falling into ruin. As ancient as the multiverse itself, the Endless are some of the oldest entities in existence.
3) Monitor
Before the DC Multiverse, there existed the ancient race known as the Hands, who constructed new multiverses. One of these Hands, Perpetua, is the creator of the DC Multiverse, but she was imprisoned for attempting to weaponize it. Along with DC’s infinite cosmology, she created three sons: the Monitor, the Anti-Monitor, and the World Forger. The Monitor, aka Mar-Novu, was assigned the task of recording and preserving everything that happens in the positive-matter multiverse. Although the Monitor initially watched as an impartial observer, he decided to help protect the multiverse from his brother, the Anti-Monitor, during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Although the Monitor perished during the conflict, several multiversal reboots have brought him back to life.
2) World Forger
The first son of Perpetua, Alpheus, aka World Forger, is responsible for overseeing the Forge of Worlds. In this realm, the World Forger uses his hammer to construct new universes from the hopes and fears of all living things. Although in his first appearance, he attempted to destroy the current multiverse and replace it with a new one, after a chat, the Justice League managed to talk him out of it. With his mighty hammer capable of shattering universes with a single strike, the World Forger became a welcome addition to the battle against the recently released Perpetua. He also became a member of the Quantum Quorum, who are a group of time-travelers who came together to help fight Darkseid in DC K.O.
1) The Presence
A being with neither a beginning nor an end, the Presence is the ultimate God and creator of the Omniverse. The Presence created all of time, space, and dimensions at the dawn of existence. Human beliefs have shaped the Presence to resemble the Abrahamic God, as his true essence is eternal and ever existing. The Presence would eventually create the Silver City, or Heaven, as it’s more commonly called, to be the home of his loyal angels. An omnipresent and omnipotent god, the Presence can literally hold the entirety of existence in his hand as if it were a ball. While the Presence is a very enigmatic figure, he is still a benevolent deity who stopped the primordial Great Darkness from extinguishing all of reality.
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