7 Most Powerful Supernatural Characters In Marvel Movies & Shows, Ranked

Over the years, Marvel’s movies and TV shows, whether in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or not, have brought some of the comics’ most notable, powerful, and terrifying supernatural characters into live-action. The supernatural and paranormal is a fantastic and rich corner of Marvel Comics’ history that has been explored in many previous Marvel adaptations. In the MCU, we’ve seen the likes of the Scarlet Witch, Agatha Harkness, Werewolf by Night, Doctor Strange, and many more exploring supernatural stories, and perhaps setting up a live-action Midnight Sons team, but there are other supernatural characters whose powers are practically unmatched.

Some of Marvel’s most powerful characters have access to inexplicable supernatural forces. The limitless possibilities of the supernatural corner of the Marvel Universe means these characters can transform their entire forms, embark on high-octane, action-heavy battles, harness incredible energy, burst into flames, destroy lands of gods such as Asgard, and even rule over entire dimensions. We’re excited to see supernatural characters get more attention in the MCU’s future, but the ones we’ve already met in Marvel’s movies and TV shows have been remarkable.

7) Morbius

Despite being one of Sony Pictures’ worst Spider-Man Universe movies, Morbius in 2022 did bring one of Marvel’s most powerful supernatural characters into live-action for the first time ever. Jared Leto’s Dr. Michael Morbius becomes a living vampire after curing himself from a rare blood disease. Morbius, the Living Vampire, is an antihero in Marvel Comics, and is such in live-action, too, unlike Sony’s other villains who were transformed into heroes. With superhuman strength, speed, enhanced senses, a regenerative healing factor, hypnotic abilities, and more, Morbius is very powerful, so it’s a shame Sony didn’t do the character justice.

6) Blade

While we’re still waiting to see Mahershala Ali make his live-action debut as Eric Brooks’ Blade, at least we have Wesley Snipes’ version of the Daywalker to look back on. Snipes portrayed the iconic human/vampire hybrid in New Line Cinema’s Blade trilogy in the 1990s and early 2000s, and then reprised the role for Deadpool & Wolverine in 2024. Blade is a highly-skilled fighter, and, as a vampire hunter, he has honed his skills specifically to defeat the likes of Morbius. This makes him stronger than the Living Vampire, but Blade is still bested by many of Marvel’s other supernatural characters.

5) Man-Thing

Man-Thing’s debut in the Werewolf by Night Special Presentation was unexpected yet wholly welcome. In Marvel Comics, Man-Thing is one of the most significant and powerful characters as the Guardian of the Nexus of Realities, and while we haven’t seen this in the MCU, Man-Thing has demonstrated remarkable powers. This includes the ability to secrete a dangerous acid, while he can also manipulate plant life and has other generic superhuman abilities. Man-Thing’s abilities are elemental, making him clearly more powerful than Blade, though there are hopes these two heroes will join forces in the MCU to make each other stronger.

4) Ghost Rider

Ghost Rider is one of the most-wanted characters in the MCU, but, until he appears, we have several different past versions of the Spirit of Vengeance we can admire. Nicolas Cage, Gabriel Luna, Clark Gregg, and Henry Simmons have all played live-action Ghost Riders, namely Johnny Blaze in the eponymous movies, and Robbie Reyes, Phil Coulson, and Alphonso “Mack” Mackenzie in Agents of SHIELD. All these Ghost Riders have had incredible power imbued by the spirit of Zarathos, allowing him to transform into an invulnerable flaming skeletal figure who acts as a terrifying antihero. We can’t wait to see Ghost Rider debut in the MCU, especially with the likes of Norman Reedus, Keanu Reeves, Ryan Gosling, and more being fan-cast.

3) Surtur

Making his first and only appearance in Thor: Ragnarok, Surtur proved himself to be one of the MCU’s most powerful characters, as he used his sword to destroy Asgard. Surtur’s power comes from his mystical crown — which Thor (Chris Hemsworth) mistook as an eyebrow — so keeping it away from the demonic creature made him powerless. As it turned out, activating Surtur’s power with the Eternal Flame was the only way to defeat Hela (Cate Blanchett) and save the Asgardians, albeit at the loss of Asgard itself. Due to his primordial power, Surtur is far stronger than Ghost Rider, but even he could be defeated by other supernatural figures.

2) Mephisto

After portrayals by Henry Fonda and Ciarán Hinds opposite’s Nicolas Cage’s Ghost Rider, Mephisto finally joined the MCU at the end of Ironheart in 2025, now played by Sacha Baron Cohen. As the demonic ruler of Hell, Mephisto’s access to supernatural powers is almost unmatched. He can enact magic at will, change his form, travel across dimensions and through time, influence minds, project illusions, and imbue others with abilities, including Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos) and Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne). Mephisto gives both Robbins and Williams the Hood, which is actually powered by the energy of another supernatural MCU character who Mephisto might consider weak and ugly, but could easily best the demonic creature in battle.

1) Dormammu

While Surtur has the power to destroy Asgard and Mephisto might consider him weak, Dormammu is the ruler of the entire Dark Dimension, and is one of Marvel’s most formidable beings. Dormammu is an other-dimensional god-like being who can alter reality itself. Through human proxies, such as Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) and his zealots, Dormammu almost invaded Earth and spread his Dark Dimension, but was stopped by Doctor Strange. Dormammu is often described as a threat to the entire universe whose power is unmatched, being able to alter his size, teleport across dimensions, travel through time, and resurrect the dead, so while Mephisto might consider Dormammu an easy target, and the MCU might change up their powers to make this so, we still consider Dormammu to be significantly more powerful.

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