15 Marvel Characters Who Can Defeat the Celestials
The Celestials are a race of superpowered, unusually large humanoid cosmic entities that appear in the Marvel Universe. They were created by Jack Kirby and debuted in Eternals #2 in 1976 and have been an integral part of the Marvel mythos since then.
They are among the most powerful and most potent beings in the Marvel Universe. But still, there are some characters and beings who are even stronger than the Celestials. Here is a list of Marvel characters who can (or even have) defeated the Celestials.
Who Can Beat The Celestials?
Apocalypse Twins
Alias: Uriel and Eimin Worthington
Debut: Uncanny Avengers #5 (March 2013)
Created By: Rick Remender
Affiliation: Villains
During the Dark Angel Saga, the Horseman of Pestilence, Ichisumi became pregnant with the Archangel’s heirs. Some time after her loss to X-Force, Ichisumi gave birth to twins Uriel and Eimin. Soon after, Kang the Conqueror kidnapped her and disappeared in the course of time.
The twins reappeared in modern times when Genocide, the son of Apocalypse, contacted a Celestial Gardener. He hoped to gain the Death Seed and replace Apocalypse, as the archangel had done. When the Gardener assessed his worth, Uriel and Eimin appeared. With Jarnbjorn’s ax, Uriel killed the Celestial.
Together, he and Eimin defeated the forces of Genocide. Then they attacked the Peak. Then they traveled to Akkaba City with Thor and Sunfire to assassinate the rest of the Akkaba clan and destroy the city.
Armed with the Jarnbjorn, the twins killed a Celestial being and blamed the Earth for this crime. Then Exitar the Executioner would arrive on the planet to destroy it. The Apocalypse Twins convinced the Scarlet Witch to cast a spell to bring each mutant into her ark to ensure the survival of the mutants as humanity died with the Earth.
In another universe, his plan would have been successful. But from that universe came the remaining members of the Avengers Unity division and foiled the twin’s plans.
Exitar was killed and Kang fed on his energies to become a powerful being. When Havok fought Kang, Sunfire used some of the absorbed Celestial energy to destroy the Apocalypse Twins and their ark. Daken and Grim Reaper, the two remaining Horsemen of Death in the service of the twins, managed to return to earth with the corpses of the twins.
The children of Archangel, although they’re not directly related to Apocalypse, are quite powerful and have proven themselves capable of dealing with the Celestials. Okay, they needed the help of Jarnbjoan, but they still managed to do it, which is why they are on our list.
The Beyonder
Alias: None
Debut: Secret Wars #1 (May 1984)
Created By: Jim Shooter, Mike Zeck
Affiliation: Villain
The Beyonder is a cosmic entity appearing in stories published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Jim Shooter and artistMike Zeck, the fictional character first appeared in the Secret Wars #1 (1984). When creating the character for the Secret Wars storyline, the Beyonder’s power was seemingly limitless.
Omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent in his universe where he constitutes a whole, he would prove to be even more powerful than the cosmic being Galactus (whom he easily managed to bring to Battleworld and whom he overwhelmed with a single projection of energy). He repelled Galactus “like an insect” and overwhelmed the energy accumulated by Taa II, Galactus’ world ship.
During this event, Doctor Doom experienced the Beyonder’s powers, having stolen them from him, and discovered their full extent: he could read the wishes of everyone around him and his every wish came true.
There was a trade-off, however: All of Doom’s thoughts – conscious as well as unconscious – came true if he didn’t control them. Wielding the Beyonder’s power, therefore, required constant focus and a total absence of personal desire.
During this event, the Beyonder destroyed a galaxy on a whim, to meet one of his needs and, in another episode, it was discovered that he could suppress Death himself or make the Devil (Mephisto) and his infernal kingdom disappear.
To escape it, Mephisto tried to beat him by cunning (which demonstrates his inferiority in terms of sheer power, including on his own ground). The power of the Beyonder was therefore exercised in other dimensions as well.
Even weakened, the Beyonder was able to take possession of a being made up of sound waves such as Klaw. In his human form (during Secret Wars II), however, his power was diminished; vulnerable, he felt a sharp pain when Wolverine’s claws slashed him or when he fell from the top of a building.
However, he was still able to survive these ordeals, although this human incarnation made him deadly as well.
In this form, it was also possible for him to manipulate matter and spirits and to transport himself to various points in the universe. He could even face and defeat the Celestials. All of this was changed to a certain degree when Shooter left Marvel, so the current iteration of the Beyonder is significantly weaker.
The Beyonder is a character of unimaginable power and a character that is, by most standards, second only to the One-Above-All in terms of power. There is little this guy, who actually started off as a narrative tool, cannot do and defeating the Celestials would, for him, be a very easy thing to do.
Black Bolt
Alias: Blackagar Boltagon
Debut: Fantastic Four #45 (December 1965)
Created By: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Affiliation: Hero
Born in the secret city of Attilan in the Atlantic Ocean, Blackagar Boltagon is the son of two brilliant geneticists of the Inhuman race, Agon, the head of the council and Rynda. While most young Inhumans are exposed to teratogenic mists in childhood, Blackagar was subjected to it in utero, acquiring powerful sonic powers.
In a fit of anger, then still a child, he destroyed his parents’ laboratory. For the protection of the Inhumans, he was placed in a soundproof chamber and taught to control his destructive sonic power.
At nineteen, he finds his cousins and his brother Maximus who immediately attacked him, thinking of showing the Council that he could not rule the city because of his powers. Ultimately, Maximus was knocked out and Black Bolt deemed worthy of being the new king.
He later learned that his brother had allied with the Kree and he used his power to stop the alien ship. The flaming ship crashed into the Council Tower, killing several members, including his own parents. Despite his guilt, Black Bolt was forced to become a monarch.
When Triton narrowly escaped a human kidnapping attempt, Black Bolt decided to relocate the island of Attilan and its inhabitants to the Himalayas.
He later confronted Maximus again and befriended the Fantastic Four, who helped the royal family. While traveling to Wakanda, Black Bolt encountered King T’Challa, aka the Black Panther, and helped him defeat Psycho-Man and the Sandman. Later, he tried to stop the Hulk who wandered near the city of Attilan, to finally offer him his friendship, because he too did not want to have contact with men.
Maximus later used his mental powers to bring the Royal Family and the Silver Surfer into battle. he also made the Inhumans believe that the Fantastic Four had attacked the city. Then he lobotomized Black Bolt which wandered on earth, silent. He was discovered by Magneto who took him for a mutant and tried to make him join his cause. But thanks to his cousins, he regained his memory and defeated Magneto.
Having to stop an enraged Hulk once again, he decided to send him into space, where the Hulk landed on the Evolving Master’s Counter-Earth. In the following years, Black Bolt and his fiancée Medusa confronted Blastaar, a Kree invasion, a civil war, and again the Hulk.
After the Kree-Skrull War nearly destroyed the earth, Black Bolt joined the Illuminati, a meeting of the great thinkers/rulers of Earth who wanted to prevent future disasters.
Suffering from Earth’s pollution, the Inhumans were healed by Reed Richards, who helped them rebase Attilan on the blue area of the Moon.
He eventually married Medusa and she became pregnant, which caused tension with the Council, as in the Inhumans natural reproduction is closely watched. Medusa runs away to give birth on Earth. Ahura was born. The Council finally agreed to let the child live.
Apocalypse recruited Inhumans and captured Attilan. The royal family allied with X-Factor. When he discovered that the council was corrupt, Black Bolt drove them out and brought Attilan back to Earth, thanks to the Fantastic. The city was then located on a small island near Portugal. Ahura was dismissed from his parents by the new Council, fearing that he was crazy like his uncle.
After his hideout in Portugal was discovered and attacked, and Black Bolt again moved the city to the Himalayas. Ronan the Accuser once transported the city into space, wishing to forcibly ally the royal family in his plan against his enemies Shi’ar. Black Bolt rebelled and freed his people.
He asked for asylum at the United Nations which refused and the Inhumans returned to live on the moon. To maintain good relations with governments, however, Black Bolt allowed a small group of young Inhumans to study in the United States.
While this might seem somewhat strange, the Black Bolt has actually defeated the Celestials using his powers, which have proven themselves to be enough against the giant alien race. This is why we have included Black Bolt on our list.
Dark Phoenix
Alias: Various
Debut: Uncanny X-Men #101 (1976)
Created By: Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum
Affiliation: Hero/Villain
The Phoenix Force is a fictional comic book entity created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum in 1976, appearing in stories published by Marvel Comics.
It is a cosmic entity with enormous powers that in the course of its millennial existence has chosen beings of many species to host it so that it can fulfill its mission (usually favoring the evolutionary progress of some worlds over others).
Once its task has been accomplished, the Phoenix Force returns to a state of quiescence inside her in the so-called “White Hot Room”, a sort of remote place in space and time where it remains in incubation until its next return.
The Phoenix Force possesses enormous powers over matter; in particular, it is able to control atoms and molecules at will. When it manifests, the Entity takes on the characteristic form of a bird made of pure self-igniting flame. When choosing a host, the Phoenix Force usually grants the host a substantial amount of its cosmic powers.
Usually, it enhances the characteristics and powers already existing in that individual, for example when it chose Jean Grey, she maximized her telekinesis and telepathy.
The Phoenix Force can be considered, depending on the circumstances, both a benevolent and malevolent entity. For example, in many cases it has helped to ensure progress on Earth, in other cases, it has destroyed entire solar systems. This depends a lot on both its mission and the interaction it develops with its host.
On Earth, it has developed a strong attraction to Jean Gray and the people she loves. Its relationship with Jean has always been ambivalent.
After saving her and keeping her in a state of hibernation for a long time, the Phoenix Force absorbed her memories, then took her identity and place among the X-Men, and then became the Dark Phoenix, a terribly dangerous and destructive entity. Jean later returned and managed to control this entity with some success.
After its death, Jean Gray has instead become the White Phoenix of the Crown, a wise spirit housed in the White Hot Room, together with all the spirits of those who over time have been possessed by the entity, acquiring such a power as to become inferior only and solely to the Living Tribunal and the One-Above-All.
Regardless of the host, the Dark Phoenix Force is something extraordinary. It has the ability to destroy whole worlds and makes its host one of the most powerful beings in the universe; it is also practically indestructible. It makes sense, completely, that the Celestials would lose to the host of the Phoenix Force.
God Emperor Doom
Alias: Victor Von Doom
Debut: The Fantastic Four #5 (1962)
Created By: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Affiliation: Villain
Lord and monarch of Latveria, in central Europe, he is the supervillain archenemy of the Fantastic Four but has also clashed very often with other superheroes of the Marvel universe including Spider-Man and the Avengers; he is a brilliant inventor and a sorcerer.
The son of gypsies, on the death of his parents he discovers that his mother, Cynthia Von Doom, was a witch and takes advantage of her occult knowledge and her scientific mind to reach the United States.
College and roommate of Reed Richards, the future Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four, will be the victim of an accident during one of his first experiments to communicate with his deceased mother; this will cost him a completely disfigured face and expulsion from the university.
Later he will wander following his thirst for knowledge to Tibet where, helped by some monks, he becomes one of them until, after having learned all the secrets of the sect, he becomes its Master; at this point, he gets help from them to forge armor and a mask, born from a project in which he poured all his knowledge, both in robotics and alchemy, which were applied on his body still hot, while Destiny delivers a speech that will shape his psychology for years to come.
The God Emperor iteration of Doctor Doom became one of the most powerful villains in Marvel’s Universe, so powerful, in fact, that he managed to create his own universe. He killed the likes of Thanos, Black Panther and the Fantastic Four, only to be defeated after being stripped of a part of his powers by Molecule Man (whom he had enslaved earlier). This iteration of Doctor Doom would simply trash the Celestials.
Franklin Richards
Alias: Franklin Benjamin Richards
Debut: Fantastic Four Annual #6 (1968)
Created By: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Affiliation: Hero
Franklin Richards is a superhero appearing in stories published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the fictional character first appeared in the Fantastic Four Annual #6 (1968). Son of Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic), the leader of the Fantastic Four, and Jane Storm (aka the Invisible Woman), Franklin is typically portrayed as a young child with a budding, albeit inexperienced, superheritage.
He is a mutant beyond the Omega level with vast reality manipulation and psionic powers. In particular, he has the power to “distort reality”, that is, to advance any thought or desire, even on a cosmic scale.
He is also able to reorganize the molecular structure of matter and has shown to possess vast psionic powers, such as telepathy, telekinesis, the emission of bursts of force energy (concussion force), premonition, and astral projection. Being still a child, Franklin’s abilities are currently undermined, to some extent, by his limited control.
Furthermore, it is not clear what level of power Franklin will eventually reach as an adult, as several future incarnations of Franklin from alternate realities, as well as the mainstream Marvel Universe, have shown that his level of power varies.
An alternate manifestation of Franklin in adult form was able to destroy two Celestials of Earth-4280 during physical combat; in the aftermath of their defeat, Franklin’s immortality was heavily involved.
The same individual also seized the power of his younger being to resurrect and transform Galactus into his own personal herald, after the Devourer of Worlds was rendered unconscious in a battle against an Army of the Celestials. In terms of as yet unrealized potential, Franklin is widely regarded as the most powerful Earth mutant in the Marvel Universe.
This kid might seem like a joke, but Reed Richards’ son is actually one of the most dangerous beings in Marvel’s fictional universe; it is lucky that he is actually a superhero, because if he were a villain, there would be trouble for the Multiverse. So, with all of his powers, Franklin Richards could easily defeat the Celestials, despite being a child.
Galactus
Alias: Galan
Debut: Fantastic Four #48 (1966)
Created By: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Affiliation: Villain
Galactus was actually a humanoid alien explorer known as Galan from the Taa-an species. After passing a star, Galan gained god-like powers and turned into Galactus, a god-like entity that has to devour planets because he feeds on their energy.
His origin was further expanded by revealing that he had lived during the previous universe, before the Big Bang that created the current one; Galactus still remains the last living being from the previous universe.
Due to his nature, Galactus has been an inspiration for many writers who’ve explored his story and his character further. Being a god-like entity, Galactus is usually depicted as having a very different sense of morality than regular humans, which often causes him to clash with Earth’s superheroes.
He has an immense set of powers and is considered to be one of the most powerful beings in the whole Marvel Universe, especially if full of energy after having devoured several planets.
He is usually accompanied by a herald (the most famous one being the Silver Surfer) to whom he has granted cosmic powers. The herald travels the universe and searches for suitable planets for Galactus to feed on in order to satisfy his endless hunger.
Although not impossible, it is exceptionally difficult to stop Galactus from devouring a planet once he’s decided to do so, which is why the best option is to leave the planet and let it get eaten.
The planet devourer might not be as scary as some of Marvel’s characters and he can certainly be defeated, but Galactus is still one of Marvel’s biggest threats and a character that ignites fear on every planet he approaches. He is on par with the Celestials’ height and his powers are certainly enough to match theirs, which he has already proven in the comics.
Godkiller
Alias: N/A
Debut: Iron Man (vol. 5) #12 (July 2013)
Created By: Kieron Gillen
Affiliation: Hero
The Godkiller was a powerful weapon created eons ago by the Aspirants to fight the Celestials during the final battle of the Celestial War. It was strictly controlled by humans on a “genetically determined short leash”.
Despite its success in eliminating the number of Celestials, the suit was stripped of key components for building the Aspirants’ fleet just before they entered a civil war that gave the Celestials enough time to recover and annihilate.
The Godkiller stayed in a Dyson Sphere for eons. The Rigellian Recorder 451 found out about its existence and spent hundreds of years searching for it and salvaging its parts, the last of them becoming known as the Heart of the Voldi.
451 planned that the Godkiller should be used as a nuclear deterrent to Earth, believing that humanity had the potential to bring universal peace in the future.
451, however, needed a pilot for the Godkiller, as the machine’s autopilot function was extremely clumsy. To do this, 451 genetically engineered the unborn child of Howard Stark, one of the people whose potential offspring 451 thought would be best suited to become the godkiller’s pilot.
Years later, 451 met Howard’s son, Tony Stark, now the superhero Iron Man, and told him of his secret origins, which eventually brought him into the Dyson Sphere and forced him to become one with the armor.
When 451 found out that Stark could not control the Godkiller, he concluded that all the atrocities he committed as part of his plot were worthless and decided that the vast armor could not fall into anyone’s hands. Before turning itself off, 451 activated a mechanism to transport the Godkiller to another dimension, with the intention of taking Stark away.
Before the dimensional shift began, Stark managed to use the 451’s technology to hack into the Godkiller and open an escape route before it was too late.
Tony later discovered that he couldn’t control the Godkiller because he wasn’t the baby who genetically engineered 451. The programmed pilot was his long-lost secret brother Arno. Years later, Tony Stark created the Godkiller Armor MK II based on the original suit.
Technically not a character per se, the Godkiller armor was crated specifically for the purpose of being able to defeat and kill the Celestials. It has been worn by several characters throughout its history and each of the hosts was successful in their task.
The Horde
Alias: N/A
Debut: Eternals (Vol. 4) #1 (August 2008)
Created By: Charles Knauf
Affiliation: Villains
The Horde are a species of insect-like beings who act as a pivot and balance the universe on the opposite side to the Celestials. After visiting a planet and making a hundred Eternals and a hundred other Deviants, the Celestials let them fend for themselves for nineteen cosmic cycles. Once the planet is ready to be harvested, the total energy of the base species is directed towards the pivot.
When the planet’s total energy signature matches the Deviating Life Force, the Life Force is transferred to the Horde. Otherwise, it will be carried over to the Celestials.
While the heavenly instruments of creation, the Horde is used as an instrument of destruction. While the Horde prefers to feed on infant worlds, they can also target Celestial worlds due to the great energy flowing there.
The Horde infected the Celestial Progenitor approximately four billion years ago. In agony, the Celestial fell to earth, where he perished. The Horde has spread across the planet’s original surface, with countless eggs buried deep underground over the centuries.
In 1,000,000 BC AD Zgreb the Aspirant traveled on earth in search of the ancestor and came into contact with the plague which afflicted his fellow heavenly beings. Instead of killing Zgreb, the Horde mutated him into an enraged Dark Celestial, the first of his kind.
The Stone Age Avengers clashed with Zgreb. They knocked him over and buried him deep below the surface. Soon after, the First Celestial Host visited Earth to investigate the disappearance of the Progenitor and Zgreb. When the Celestials learned of the Horde infection, they decided to bury Zgreb deep underground to contain the plague.
It was also inferred from the Avengers that the First Host decided to curb the infection of the Horde because they believed humanity’s ability for mutagenesis and superhuman changes caused by the arrival of the Progenitor meant that they had the potential to adapt and eliminate the Horde.
In modern times, the Horde were drawn to the Earth after the awakening of the Dreaming Celestial, but were ultimately repelled when the Dreaming Celestial convinced the Fulcrum to spare the Earth.
Countless Horde insects hatched from sleeping eggs deep within the Earth and made their way to the surface when the last army of the Dark Celestials came to earth to destroy them.
The Horde was also used by the Dark Celestials to infect and kill all existing Celestials. During the final battle against the Dark Celestials, the Horde resurrected the bodies of the Celestials they slain.
After the Avengers realized that humanity’s genetic makeup held the key to the Horde’s defeat. After Iron Man shared the secrets of the Eternal Ikaris’ Uni-Mind Conjuring, Iron Man rallied the Avengers to unite their energies to create a Uni-Mind. With the Ghost Rider as a channel for the Uni-Mind, the Avengers put the horde to sleep, which also freed the Celestials under their control.
Well, these giant space bugs (although they’re technically not bugs) have proven themselves to be a true menace. Not only were they able to eat the Celestials, they also gained their powers, thus becoming extremely powerful entities that that do be destroyed.
Living Tribunal
Alias: None
Debut: Strange Tales #157 (1967)
Created By: Stan Lee, Marie Severin, Herb Trimpe
Affiliation: Neutral
Until a few years after the second Secret Wars, the Living Tribunal was kept at a level of power in which it could easily detonate the stars, and that was it.
It was only two decades after the character’s introduction that he was retroactively remodeled as possessing an infinite scale of power over at least 16 dimensions beyond human comprehension. As the embodiment of the Marvel Multiverse, it represents the sum total of all the abstract entities contained within.
It exercises its authority over all alternate realities in the multiverse – but probably not over the entire omniverse; as a result, he is one of the few living things that possess no alternate counterparts on parallel earths, remaining unique within the multiverse.
He can monitor the entire multiverse simultaneously and analyze the immense amount of information he receives in this way, making him a truly omniscient being. The cosmic power of the Living Tribunal is seemingly limitless; he is able to obliterate planets and stars at will, or form completely impenetrable barriers around entire planets, or even entire universes.
He is even able to nullify the power of Infinity Gems, preventing them from being used in unison. Before he can act, the three faces of the Tribunal must agree to a unanimous verdict. Thanos, wielding the Infinity Gauntlet, ranked the power of the Living Tribunal as the highest in the hierarchy of the regular multiverse of the Marvel Universe.
However, the Tribunal also referred to a higher entity that largely overshadows its own power16 and was easily killed by the Beyonders.
Very close to the Beyonder and the One-Above-All, the Living Tribunal is likewise one of Marvel’s most powerful characters. He is a character of enormous strength and has proven himself more powerful than most of his opponents. The Celestials would simply stand no chance against him.
Lord Chaos and Master Order
Alias: N/A
Debut: Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 (1977)
Created By: Jim Starlin
Affiliation: Neutral
Lord Chaos is an abstract entity that embodies disorder and confusion and is the opposite force to the Master Order, his “brothery” entity. The pair are rarely seen, but appear to manipulate events to goad Spider-Man to request the Thing to join the Avengers and the Warlock in the first war against the Titan Thanos and defeat him.
Lord Chaos and Master Order were seen watching the king of the Norse gods Odin and the main villain Dormammu play a cosmic game of chess. Lord Chaos and the Master Order conspired together with other metaphysical and “omnipotent” beings against the Beyonder.
They were also summoned by the Silver Surfer to regain control over his servant In-Betweener. They imprisoned the In-Betweener for his transgressions. Lord Chaos and Master Order also attend Eon’s funeral and speak to the cosmic hero Quasar.
The duo participated in the congress of metaphysical and abstract beings to determine Thanos’ aptitude to wield the Infinity Gauntlet. They chose to join Adam Warlock and the other cosmic deities in an attempt to stop Thanos.
With the other abstract beings, they fought Thanos, and then fought Nebula when she obtained the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos. The Congress of abstract beings was then witness to the cosmic judgment of Adam Warlock to determine his dignity to wield the Infinity Gauntlet.
Lord Chaos and Master Order were later seen among a group of abstract beings questioning the Beyonder about the Dimension of Manifestations.
In Infinity Saga, we learn that they must obey the dictates of Eternity and Infinity. During the “Time Runs Out” storyline, it is revealed that the Beyonder has killed Lord Chaos, Master Order, and the In-Betweener as part of destroying abstract entities in every reality throughout the multiverse. After the restoration of the universe after the Secret Wars, Lord Chaos along with Master Order became displeased by Galactus’s evolution from a force of destruction to a force of creation.
They eventually put Galactus on trial before the Living Tribunal. The Living Tribunal ruled in Galactus’s favor and allowed him to remain in his new form, claiming that the universe being in a new iteration meant that the cosmic hierarchy was not established again.
Master Order and Lord Chaos took this advice seriously and assassinated the Tribunal to take his place as the embodiment of multiversal law.
They tried to return Galactus to his world-devouring form. However, for the same reason that Order and Chaos could kill the Living Tribunal, they couldn’t stop Galactus from fighting his transformation. If an inheritance did not yet exist, it meant that Galactus was also on the same level as Order and Chaos, so that they could not impose his will on him.
Because of this, Order and Chaos traveled to his servant, the In-Betweener, and forced him to become the unifying force in a fusion that combined Master Order and Lord Chaos into one being, the self-proclaimed new order, Logos.
These two weird…. guys(?), well, entities… are extremely powerful and can influence the fabric of reality itself. While their precise fighting abilities aren’t really known, they have immense powers and would certainly be able to defeat the Celestials, as they’re on a higher level of existence than even them.
Molecule Man
Alias: Owen Reece
Debut: Fantastic Four #20 (November 1963)
Created By: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Affiliation: Villain
A pampered child until his mother’s death, Owen Reece is a reclusive and fearful lab technician working in a nuclear power plant. One day, he causes an accident and is irradiated by unknown particles, transforming him into one of the most powerful beings in the world: Molecule Man. His transformation also opens a wormhole between Earth-616 and another dimension, home to a cosmic entity called the Beyonder.
For years, the Beyonder observes humanity. His license revoked, Reece falls into a life of crime, using his powers to take revenge on society. His hateful psychology, however, makes him vulnerable, placing limitations on his power. He thought he could only affect inorganic molecules.
Uatu the Watcher discovers Reece is a threat and alerts the Fantastic Four who manage to defeat the supervillain. Uatu then locks him in a temporal dimension where time flies more quickly.
Thinking of himself trapped forever, he creates a humanoid companion who thinks he is his son. Upon his physical death, Reece transfers his consciousness and powers into a wand carried by his son, dubbed the New Molecule Man. Having no psychological barrier, the humanoid breaks free and returns to Earth. He is defeated by The Thing and is disintegrated.
However, Owen Reece’s essence is still in the metal wand, and he takes possession of anyone who touches it. He thus faces Iron Man. He manages to better control his powers and recreates a physical body. He threatens to destroy the world, but Tigra persuades him to surrender and be interned.
He resumes a normal life until the Beyonder makes him participate in the Secret Wars in Doctor Doom’s camp. During the narrative arc, he falls in love with Volcana, the only woman who has shown him tenderness since her mother.
His love and will to be at peace makes him master his powers even better, and he teleports many criminals with him to Earth. He resumes a normal life and returns to work at a nuclear power plant in Denver.
Molecule Man has grown a lot as a character and has shown us that he can possess enormous powers, becoming extremely powerful, able to face the toughest opponents imaginable. As you could see from his biography, he is a character that could certainly take on the Celestials and win.
One-Above-All
Alias: None
Debut: Fantastic Four #511 (2004)
Created By: Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo
Affiliation: Neutral
The One Above All (alternatively One-Above-All) is a fictional deity from the Marvel Universe that is depicted as the creator of the whole Multiverse. Although his presence was part of the Marvel mythos early on, he did not appear until 2004’s Fantastic Four #511, where he appeared in the form of Jack Kirby; Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo are credited as his creators.
The One Above All’s design changed and today, a lot of people suspect that he is not Jack Kirby (anymore?), but rather Stan Lee, although that has never been officially confirmed.
Apparently responsible for the existence of all life in the Multiverse and possibly beyond,The One Above All is the master and sole superior of the cosmic overseer and arbitrator known as the Living Tribunal, whose faces, embodying equity, vengeance, and necessity respectively, are in perfect alignment with one another as it passes judgment.
Although he has appeared in various stories, The One Above All is most closely associated with the Fantastic Four, as they were the first characters to actually see him in his debut appearance; he credited them on their heroics and promised them new adventures, while reviving the Thing.
He also appeared to Spider-Man, disguised as a homeless man, and has had an encounter with Thanos and Adam Warlock.
An interesting thing about The One Above All is that, although he has all the attributes of an Abrahamian deity, he is far more benevolent than an actual Abrahamian god or the seemingly objective Presence from the DC Universe.
Namely, as it was revealed, The One Above All’s primary driving force – and the primary driving force of the universe – is Love, which is a very interesting twist that you would not expect from such an omnipotent being.
This is why The One Above All is so special and this is why he is always cited as one of the most intriguing comic book characters ever.
Well, this one was quite easy. Marvel’s ultimate deity and the creator of the whole Marvel Universe is the most powerful being in Marvel’s fictional universe so it is quite obvious why he would be able to defeat the Celestials with absolute ease.
Reed Richards
Alias: Mr. Fantastic
Debut: The Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961)
Created By: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Affiliation: Hero
Reed Richards was a child prodigy, gifted with a tremendous talent for science subjects; already in college, he was studying a project to create a rocket for a space flight.
Initially, his roommate was Victor von Doom, a brilliant but arrogant European student, with whom he had a dispute when Reed dared to contradict him about his experiment that combined science and magic, where in his opinion there were some miscalculations.
Following an explosion caused precisely by Von Doom and his subsequent expulsion from the university, Reed had to look for another roommate, and found him in Ben Grimm, the football ace of the school, who soon became his best friend. Once he graduated, Reed obtained the funds from the government to carry out his space travel.
When the project was interrupted, Reed decided to take the flight anyway, at the cost of leaving some safety systems unfinished and, supported by his girlfriend Susan, her brother Johnny and his long-time friend Ben, boarded the rocket and set off; once in space, however, cosmic rays against which the vector was not shielded hit the spaceship and forced the crew to make a crash landing.
The four friends survived but their genetic structure was forever altered; they discovered that they had extraordinary powers. Thanks to the money obtained from the sale of some patents, Reed created a hyper-technological base for them, the Baxter Building, and they became the Fantastic Four, the first superhero group since the war.
Reed made them famous public figures all over the world, making sure that the group could live a privileged life and not like monsters, hoping that perhaps, one day, they can forgive him for making them “different”; in particular, the mutation of Ben, which had made him perpetually a monster, created an enormous sense of guilt.
In their adventures, the Fantastic Four have faced numerous adversaries with immense powers and visited incredible places: from the underwater kingdom of Atlantis to the underground kingdom of the Mole Man, up to the galaxy of the Skrulls.
But their deadliest enemy was the brilliant Doctor Doom, under whose mask Victor Von Doom himself was hiding, who accused Richards of sabotaging the experiment that disfigured him in his youth and caused him to be expelled from college.
Doom and Mister Fantastic are like two sides of the same coin: the second has dedicated his entire life putting his scientific genius at the service of humanity, while the first has used it to dominate and subdue others.
Another famous rival of Reed (in love though) is Namor: also in love with Susan, whenever there is an air of crisis between the two, Namor tries to seduce her, but until today she has always remained faithful to her husband.
Reed and Susan Richards, as mentioned, have two children. But a few years ago Susan had a complicated pregnancy due to the cosmic rays absorbed in her youth. To help her, Reed summoned the world’s leading radiation experts; this also included Doctor Otto Octavius, the famous criminal known as Doctor Octopus, the enemy of Spider-Man.
Octavius refused to help him and during the clash between the two, Susan lost the baby. Although at times he appears distant or cold, Reed is still a generous man ready to do anything to help others, doing continuous scientific research in order to make discoveries that can be useful to the community.
Arguably Marvel’s greatest mind, Reed Richards is not only the leader of the Fantastic Four, but one of the most interesting superheroes Marvel has ever created. He knows a lot about the very fabric of the Multiverse and has even formed an alliance with alternative versions of himself; the alliance has fought and defeated the Celestials in battle.
Thanos
Alias: None
Debut: The Invincible Iron Man #55 (1973)
Created By: Jim Starlin
Affiliation: Villain
Thanos was inspired by the Freudian concept of “Thanatos”, just like his brother, Eros, was inspired by the Freudian concept of the same name. Thanos was born on Titan, one of Saturn’s moons as a member of the Eternals. He is the son of A’lars and Sui-San, two Eternals, but also a carrier of the Deviants gene, which explains his physical experience.
Believing him to be a threat to the universe, his mother wanted him killed, but his father stopped her. As a child, he was a pacifist and would only play with his brother and their pets.
Later on, he became fascinated with nihilism and the concept of death, eventually falling in love with Mistress Death, the embodiment of Death in the Marvel universe. Not long after that, Thanos became a supervillain, initially a simple pirate, but soon had more megalomanic plans.
He was not satisfied with mere piracy; he wanted more. Much more. Thanos wanted ultimate power, to rule over the whole universe, and to become the most powerful being alive. This is why he wanted to collect the Infinity Stones, so he could shape reality according to his own will. A lot of his actions are motivated by his love towards Mistress Death, in whose name he has killed on several occasions.
Thanos could only defeat the Celestials with the Infinity Gauntlet. Being an Eternal, Thanos could do nothing against them in direct combat, like all of his kin, but the Infinity Gauntlet is such a powerful tool that it would grant Thanos the ability to defeat the Celestials in battle.
