Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman was finally brought to life by Netflix, and we saw a lot of colorful characters coming from the comics themselves. Of course, there are a lot of powerful and prominent entities in The Sandman, as this storyline includes some of the strongest DC characters ever. This includes Lucifer Morningstar, who is the ruler of Hell itself. But how strong is Lucifer in The Sandman, and are they stronger than Dream?
Lucifer is considered one of the most powerful entities in the entire DC universe and is second in power only to the Creator God. In the comics, only the Presence (God) and Michael are on par with Lucifer. As Dream himself said in The Sandman, Lucifer is much more powerful than him.
Even though Dream was able to defeat Lucifer in a duel in the storyline of The Sandman, a true fight to the death involving everything that these entities could muster up would allow the Morningstar to come out victorious because they are simply that much more powerful than the Lord of Dreams. That said, let’s look at just how powerful Lucifer is.
How Strong Is Lucifer In The Sandman?
Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman is a comic book series that tells the story of the Endless, which are primordial entities that are as old as the universe itself and are important to the very existence of the universe. That means that they are incredibly powerful and are some of the strongest beings in the DC universe. Of course, the story of The Sandman revolves around Dream, who is called Morpheus and is the King of Dreams.
Due to his status as an Endless, Dream is an incredibly powerful entity that is nigh-omnipotent in the sense that he can do almost anything he wants to. His siblings are also just as powerful or are even more powerful than him. But the entire The Sandman storyline, which was given life through the Netflix series of the same name, includes some of the strongest beings in the entire DC universe.
In the live-action series of The Sandman, we saw Gwendoline Christie giving life to Lucifer, the ruler of Hell. We all know the story of Lucifer as the wisest, strongest, and most beautiful of all of the Angels, but they ended up falling in grace and was left to rule Hell. The same story is followed in The Sandman. But just how strong is Lucifer in The Sandman?
Before we answer that question, we would like to clear things in relation to the pronouns we will be using to refer to Lucifer because the character is portrayed as male in the comics but is played by a female actress. Of course, Lucifer is a being that never had a precise gender, although they are often considered male. In that regard, we are going to refer to Lucifer as they/them.
Going back, in the comics, Lucifer is one of the most powerful beings in the entire universe and is said to be stronger than almost anyone or anything imaginable. The only other DC being that is stronger than Lucifer is the Creator God, who is also called the Presence. It was against the Creator that Lucifer rebelled before they fell from grace.
In fact, in the DC continuity, the only other entity that is capable of matching Lucifer’s power is the archangel named Michael, who is also the Morningstar’s brother. Lucifer and Michael are second only to the Creator God in terms of their power, and that means that the ruler of Hell is an incredibly powerful entity that’s capable of some of the most ridiculous feats in terms of power.
Lucifer is also described to be nigh-omnipotent in terms of their power. In the duel against Dream, they engaged in a battle of transformations. Lucifer was able to showcase their incredible power by transforming into anti-life, which was able to counter Dream’s transformation into a universe. It was only when Morpheus transformed into hope that he was able to outduel Lucifer.
Due to their status as a nigh-omnipotent being, Lucifer is capable of creating universes, controlling time, and traveling from one dimension to another. They are also powerful enough to understand and know everything there is about the multiverse, given the fact that Lucifer is a being with cosmic awareness and knowledge. As such, they have power that is unlike any other in the DC continuity, as only the Presence is able to defeat Lucifer.
Is Lucifer Stronger Than Dream?
At the very beginning of The Sandman, it was made clear that Dream is one of the Endless, which is a family of primordial beings that are essential for the existence of the entire universe because they have functions that are tied to the universe itself. Dream is the one responsible for controlling the Dreaming, which is the realm where people go whenever they are asleep. The Dreaming is important to the survival of the universe because it is where people are able to dream, hope, and confront their fears.
Considering that he is an Endless and is the King of Dreams, Morpheus is an incredibly powerful entity that is nigh-omnipotent. He is a truly immortal being that has been around for billions of years and, as Lucifer in the comics stated, exists in multiple universes all at once. Dream even told Rose Walker that he once lost a universe, as this suggests that he is capable of monitoring multiple universes at once due to his nigh-omnipotence.
Dream is also the personification of dreams, and that means that he could make any dream come true if he truly wanted to do so. He also has cosmic awareness in the sense that he knows almost everything all at once, even though there are some things that are beyond his knowledge.
But while Dream and the rest of the Endless are incredibly powerful and are essential for the existence of the universe, he isn’t as powerful as Lucifer. In the series, Dream even acknowledged Lucifer’s superiority over him when he said that the ruler of Hell is much more powerful. When Dream announced himself as his own champion in the duel for his helmet, he had a look of surprise on his face when the demon he challenged chose Lucifer as his champion.
It might be true that Dream was able to defeat Lucifer in that duel, but it was not a duel to the death involving everything that both of these entities are capable of. Dream acknowledges that Lucifer is stronger because he did say that the Morningstar is second only to the Creator in terms of power. As such, there is no arguing against the fact that Lucifer Morningstar is indeed a being that is more powerful than Dream and the rest of the Endless.