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7 Most Powerful Marvel Characters Active Right Now

Marvel isn’t as known for high power levels as their distinguished competition is, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have them. Over the years, many powerful heroes and villains have been created by the House of Ideas. Sometimes they’re gods, sometimes they’re cosmic beings, and many of them are human beings, having gained their powers from mutantions, science, or patronage from all manners of beings. In superhero comics, the villains are usually more powerful than the heroes, which makes the stories more exciting, but Marvel has flipped that script in recent years with more powerful heroes than ever showing up in numerous books.

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An argument can be made that we’re in one of the most powerful eras of the Marvel Universe. While old reliable powerful heroes like Thor aren’t around right now (he died and returned, but we don’t know his power level yet because he’s mortal), there are lots of other very powerful heroes and villains out there. These seven Marvel characters are the most powerful ones active right now, and some of them can defeat gods.

7) Invisible Woman

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Invisible Woman is an underrated hero. Once upon a time, when she was written by Stan Lee (whose writing was extremely misogynistic) and others throughout the ’60s and ’70s, she was the spy and the hostage of the Fantastic Four. However, her powers would develop over the decades until she’s became the team’s most powerful member, and one of the most powerful heroes on Earth. Invisible Woman’s powers have allowed her to smash through Celestial armor, which is basically indestructible. She’s been getting even more focus in the newest volume of Fantastic Four, and while she hasn’t pulled off too many amazing feats in recent years, that doesn’t mean she can’t.

6) Professor Xavier

Professor X in Marvel Comics
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Professor X is the most powerful mutant mind on Earth and has been since he first appeared. He’s an Omega-level telepath, and is able to affect minds on a widescale basis. In House of X #6, he was able to speak to every human being on the planet, in their language, which is no small feat. He was able to copy the memories of thousands of mutants on a regular basis, all while going about his day and using his powers for other things. He was imprisoned at the end of the Krakoa Era, but was recently broke out of Graymalkin prison. Xavier is currently in space with Lilandra, trying to save their daughter, and has appeared in tie-ins to Imperial. However, with the X-Men’s MCU debut on the horizon, he’ll almost certainly be returning to Earth and the X-Mansion in the next few years.

5) Hulk

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The Hulk is one of the most broken characters in the Marvel Universe, if not the most broken. Bruce Banner’s angry alter ego has infinite strength potential, getting stronger as he gets angrier, with invulnerability and a healing factor that makes Wolverine’s look slow. The Immortal Hulk revealed that he was empowered by the One Below All, and his latest series has seen him battling the Mother of Monsters, a primal beast of creation. That series ended with him becoming the Infernal Hulk, an even more powerful version of the monster. His comics are seemingly all about power-scaling nowadays (go to any Hulk fan space and you’ll see everyone talking about him punching through dimensions and not the psychological aspects of the character), and he’s reached what is possibly his most powerful form… until the next one.

4) Doctor Doom

Doctor Doom in One World Under Doom
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Doctor Doom is the current Sorcerer Supreme, and the main villain of the event book One World Under Doom. Being the Sorcerer Supreme has always been a road to greater power and Doom has used that power to take over the world and trounce the heroes every time they’ve tried to stop him. He’s pulled off feats that other Sorcerers Supreme haven’t been able to do, using the captured lifeforce of the people of Latveria to power his spells. He’s possibly the most powerful Sorcerer Supreme we’ve ever seen. Of course, he’s about to lose that mantle very soon, but for now, he’s ridiculously powerful.

3) Scarlet Witch

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Speaking of the Sorcerer Supreme, it’s time to get to the next one: the Scarlet Witch. Wanda Maximoff has long been one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe. While she’s not been able to pull of the kinds of feats she did in “Avengers Disassembled: Chaos” and House of M, she’s been becoming a greater master of magic, which has enhanced her reality altering abilities. She’s had several solo books over the last few years, is a member of the cast of Avengers, and is about to be the star in Sorcerer Supreme, the series that is going to crown her Sorcerer Supreme (because of her MCU popularity).

2) Storm

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Storm has always been one of the most powerful mutants on the face of the Earth for a while now. Her power over the weather has gotten greater and greater, but she’s recently got her greatest upgrade ever in the “From the Ashes” series Storm. Ororo Munroe has become the host for the power of Eternity, who is embodiment of the universe. This has allowed her to tap into vast cosmic powers, allowing her to defeat gods pretty handily. This is the most powerful version of the weather controlling mutant we’ve ever seen, and has allowed her to truly personify the “goddess” appellation that her friends have used for her over the years.

1) Phoenix

Jean Grey using the power of the Phoenix Force to fly through space
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Jean Grey’s relationship with the Phoenix Force has defined her life in a number of ways. She’s currently in possession of its power again, re-bonding with it at the end of the Krakoa Era after she was killed. She helped defeat Enigma, a godlike being who lived outside of time, and decided to leave the Earth to use her greater power to help protect the universe in Phoenix. In the book’s first issue, she was able to protect a planet from a supernova, showing just how powerful she is. She’s battled Thanos and the Black Order, and is easily one of the most powerful beings in the entire universe. Basically, she’s now so powerful that having her on Earth would make her solving all of the problems that the X-Men go through child’s play, so she’s either going to stay away from the Earth or be made weaker somehow (since her book was just canceled).

What other powerful Marvel characters are active right now? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!