All Gods are powerful in the Marvel Universe. Even the weakest Gods have the power to change reality, wipe out humanity and wreck havoc with little effort. However, that is a power that comes often with magic or possibly even deceit and trickery. A God like Thor can go toe-to-toe in battle with someone like The Hulk, and often come close to winning. However, a God like Loki has to use other skills if he wants to come close to taking down the big green guy – otherwise, Hulk will smash him into the ground in spectacular fashion. All Gods are not created equal – especially in the Marvel Universe.
For this specific list, we are not just looking at classic mythological Gods, as Marvel often takes many cosmic beings and places them in the realm of the Gods. With that in mind, if two Gods set out to battle in an arena and only had their own skills as a fighter to win the fight, who would win that confrontation? Some Gods are more suited to fight and others often need to remain in the shadows, needing all the help they can get to come out on top. When put side-by-side, here is a look at 13 Gods who are overpowered and 13 who are basically wimps.
LOKI - WIMP
Loki quickly became one of the most popular villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – God or not. He was a tragic tale. Odin took him in as a child but never considered him on the same level as the true Odinson, Thor. As a result, the entire story that played out was that of a Shakespearian tragedy, with Loki the son who never matched up to his more powerful and deserving half-brother. With that said, Loki is a very powerful wizard and uses those powers to help him achieve his goals.
However, as strong as Loki is when it comes to his magic, he never seems to come out on top unless he has his brother to back him up.
He lost miserably in The Avengers and got his butt handed to him by The Hulk. He had to use a spell to take over Asgard but then gave up quickly when Thor returned. When Thor was fighting to save Asgard, Loki showed up and tried to act as a saviour without actually doing anything. He fared even worse in Avengers: Infinity War. Loki can’t win a fight without cheating and that makes him a very lackluster God when it comes to his power levels.
THOR - OP
“Are you the God of hammers?” That was a question asked of Thor by his father Odin in Thor: Ragnarok, and at that moment fans learned that Thor Odinson was much more powerful than before believed. That is a scary prospect as well. Before that moment, Thor proved to be one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe. He could fight Hulk on even ground. He could bring down a Frost Giant and defeated the God-like Surtur in his own realm. There didn’t seem to be much that Thor couldn’t do as long as he had Mjölnir.
Then, after one action by Hela, Marvel proved that the power was within Thor and he didn’t even need a hammer to use it. With the full power of the God of Thunder coming from within himself, Thor became even more powerful. While he was still not powerful enough to beat Hela in that movie, Thor proved that he can still go toe-to-toe with the most powerful beings in the universe and has a chance to beat anybody. There aren’t many people who can take The Hulk to the limit in a one-on-one fight, only to lose when the Grandmaster decided to cheat in the end.
EROS - WIMP
Fans who watched Avengers: Infinity War witnessed how powerful Thanos is when it comes to fighting other superpowered beings. What movie fans might not realize is that Thanos is not an only child. Thanos is a Titan and in the comics, he has a brother named Eros, who also goes by the superhero moniker Starfox. They are part of a race of beings known as The Eternals, which are extremely powerful God-like beings in the Marvel Comics world.
While Thanos is an insane God of war, Eros is the polar opposite of his brother – basically, the God of love. While Thanos was out conquering planets and destroying worlds, Eros was out partying and trying to get with every woman he could. Starfox did become a member of The Avengers for a bit and helped them on various missions. However, while no one can seem to hurt Thanos, Starfox is not invulnerable and can still fall to injury when weapons are used against him. At the end of the day, Eros is a lover and not a fighter (which caused a lot of problems for Marvel when they pushed that storyline) and he is the much weaker Eternal in his family line.
THANOS - OP
Unlike his brother Eros, Thanos is one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe. As he showed in the original Infinity Gauntlet storyline, Thanos patterned himself a God, despite actually being an Eternal. With his Infinity Gauntlet, he did indeed have more power than any character in the entire Marvel Universe, including many on this list.
Even without all the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos still possesses great power and was able to conquer worlds and go toe-to-toe with any living being.
As Avengers: Infinity War showed, Thanos was extremely powerful with just two or three of the stones. In the comics, he was even more powerful, given superhuman strength, stamina, speed, invulnerability and even immortality by Death herself. He can fight anyone and come out on top more times than not. It always took a superhero with a cunning plan to outthink and outmaneuver Thanos in order to stop him, as he is so overpowered that very few can beat him. He has even battled Odin and Galactus and stood on even ground with them. Avengers: Infinity War proves that he is stronger than any hero that exists in the MCU and one wonders what it will take to finally defeat the Mad Titan.
UATU, THE WATCHER - WIMP
The Watchers have one purpose in the universe. They simply watch what happens and record history. These beings are some of the oldest in the Marvel Universe and have committed themselves to recording everything that happens and compiling vast knowledge. However, they have one important rule and code of conduct that they all abide by. They cannot do anything to interfere with civilizations, even if it means saving them from destruction.
The most famous Watcher in the Marvel Universe is Uatu, the being tasked with watching over the Earth. While he is not supposed to interfere in anything, Uatu is not very good at his job. He allowed The Fantastic Four to learn of his existence and even helped them when they battled otherworldly forces like Galactus. Over time, Uatu has interfered to help humanity hundreds of times. The Watchers have immense power but because of their pact not to interfere, most remain worthless in times of need. Uatu has immense powers, but as the Original Sin storyline proved, he was not powerful enough to withstand direct attacks and is nowhere near as powerful as some believed. Between the refusal to help aid due to fear of being exiled by his own race and the fact that he couldn’t defend himself from direct attacks, Uatu is one of the weaker Godlike beings in Marvel.
HEIMDALL - OP
Heimdall is the one God on Asgard who might rival Odin when it comes to power. As a matter of fact, when asked why Odin does not fear him, Heimdall admits that it is because he is loyal to his King and lives to serve and not to lead. While Heimdall’s physical power is comparable to most Asgardians, he is stronger and more durable than most of them outside of Thor and Odin. He is also a master at hand-to-hand combat, although that is not what makes him overpowered in the Marvel Universe. Instead, it is his extraordinary senses that makes him so powerful.
Heimdall possesses vision and hearing that allows him to hear a plant growing and see anything happening on Earth or Asgard. Heimdall is also able to see “across time and space” and see into the future to predict events that have yet to happen. This allows Heimdall to make decisions that will help him affect the results of an upcoming battle. There is the downfall that Heimdall can die, which makes him vulnerable and, without his eyes, his powers to see the future and across time and space dies. However, when at full strength, Heimdall is one of the most powerful Gods on Asgard.
THE COLLECTOR - WIMP
While the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have not specified this, The Collector and The Grandmaster are brothers. As shown in the comics, The Collector is the lesser powerful of the two brothers. While The Grandmaster manipulates superheroes through his evil and often one-sided games, The Collector is usually at the mercy of his brother. A perfect example is the Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors cartoon when he was forced to play along with his brother’s Contest of Champions and was unable to stand up to him when heroes of Earth were kidnapped and forced to battle.
In the movies, The Collector is even less imposing. As he was in the comic books, The Collector simply collects a member of different species and keeps them in protected cases to protect them from total extinction. In Guardians of the Galaxy, he is there to give information to them about the Infinity Stones, but he is also unable to do anything to help when Ronan attacks Knowhere. While not explicitly shown, he was also unable to withstand a Thanos attack sometime before Avengers: Infinity War. While he is an Elder of the Universe in the comics, he has little to no powers in the MCU.
APOCALYPSE - OP
Apocalypse is one of the very first mutants in comic book history and, as a Class-5 mutant, he is a character that has Godlike powers. Unlike regular Marvel Gods who have specific powers related to their status, Apocalypse has almost unlimited powers. He can create just about anything he can think of within seconds, from buildings and structures to weapons and other devices. On the opposite end of the spectrum, he can also turn something into dust, as he did in the movie X-Men: Apocalypse with Auschwitz to help recruit Magneto into his legendary Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse group.
When it comes to building an army, Apocalypse is also extremely proficient since he can augment any other mutant’s powers, as was evident when he turned Angel into Archangel in the comics.
While not really specified in the movie, in the comics Apocalypse is more Godlike because his mutant powers were augmented themselves with Celestial technology, making him immortal as well as overpowered and able to stand up to any foe at any given time. In the comic books, he has beaten both Black Bolt and The Hulk, which proves in itself how strong and overpowered this ancient mutant really is.
THE GRANDMASTER - WIMP
While The Grandmaster in the comic books is more powerful than his brother The Collector, he was weakened completely in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the comic books, The Grandmaster is a member of the Elders of the Universe and is immortal. While Grandmaster is one of the most powerful Elders, he is nowhere near as powerful as other cosmic beings like Galactus. The Grandmaster can kill anyone with a thought and then resurrect them but this is not what this Elder of the Universe typically does. Instead, he prefers to play his games and force heroes and villains to take part.
With all the power that he has in the comic books, although he rarely uses it, he had no powers in Thor: Ragnarok. He ruled over the planet of Sakaar and put on the Contest of Champions games for the amusement of the people there. His champion is The Hulk and he uses advanced technology to control his fighters, as well as his military force to keep the peace. However, as the movie showed in the post-credit scene, when left to his own devices when facing danger, he is likely one of the biggest wimps in the entire realm of comic book Godlike figures as far as the Marvel Cinematic Universe is concerned.
HELA - OP
In the comic books, Hela was an extremely powerful God but when she finally showed up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she was overpowered to the point where she could dominate and take down Gods that were proven strong in the years leading into Thor: Ragnarok. When Hela showed up after Odin passed, she was able to destroy Mjölnir, overpower both Thor and Loki, and then head to Asgard where she easily killed The Warriors Three and the entire army tasked with defending Asgard. By the end, she proved to be too much for Thor, Valkyrie and The Hulk.
Honestly, outside of finally facing off with Surtur, Hela seemed almost unbeatable and proved through the movie that she was superior to Thor in every way. In the comics, she has even more power. She is the Goddess of Death and actually has a pact with Lady Death to allow her to kill any mortal with a touch and claim their soul. There is one very important thing to understand about the comics and that is the fact that she needs her cloak to keep her strength and power or else she grows weak and can’t move without help. The movies removed that weakness and made her immensely overpowered.
SKURGE, THE EXECUTIONER - WIMP
Skurge the Executioner is an Asgardian God from Marvel Comics that spent much of his existence as a lackey for more powerful villains. He was mostly the right-hand man for The Enchantress when she wanted to achieve her notorious goals or for Loki when he set out on one of his schemes. The Executioner usually found himself beaten and even lowered himself to become a member of the Masters of Evil supervillain team – a very low status for someone who is actually an Asgardian God.
In the movies, it seemed even worse. In Thor: Ragnarok, Skurge chose to take over Heimdall’s role as the guardian of the Bifrost, although he seemed to be more interested in showing off his “stuff” than doing his job. He betrayed Odin and was in on Loki’s plan, then when Hela returned to Asgard and took out Hogan and Volstagg, he dropped to a knee and begged for his life. Yes, at the end of the movie, Skurge finally redeemed himself by trying to be a hero to save his people, but he was only able to hold off the inevitable. When it comes to powerful Asgardian warriors, Skurge the Executioner ranks very low on the list.
EGO - OP
Ego was portrayed by Kurt Russell in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. As the film later showed, he took on whatever form that Peter Quill needed to feel confident about what his father was supposed to look like. In the comic books, that is not the case. For one thing, Ego in the comics is not Peter Quill’s dad, but is instead a giant living planet. Of course, by the end of the movie, Ego proved to be part of the planet that the Guardians battled him on, but it was a very different version of the character and one that was nowhere near as overpowered as his comic book counterpart.
Ego is, as his name suggests, a living planet moving through space. Through the years, Ego has been a good guy and a villain, depending on what needed to be done at the time.
Before getting into the true power of Ego, it is important to understand that the planet is incredibly intelligent and has a God complex. It can change its form and its entire surface can change shapes to fit its needs. Ego can also absorb other beings and destroy those that resist. Even in the movie, when Ego took on the look of a human, it was still strong enough to wipe out an entire fleet of alien attackers.
PETER QUILL - WIMP
The only place in the Marvel Universe that Peter Quill is a God is in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he is the biological son of Ego, the Living Planet. That movie made Ego a Celestial and that makes Quill a half-Celestial. This allowed Quill to achieve a number of impressive feats including surviving without oxygen in outer space for a short time, as well as using his mental powers to create objects – although he never had enough time to master that aspect of his powers before being forced to destroy his father and wipe out his entire God-like powers – at least as far as he was told by Ego.
However, with all those powers within him, and a determination to survive and help those he loves and considers his family, Quill has some major deficiencies. He has an almost child-like mentality due to being kidnapped from Earth after his mother died. He has a knack for letting his emotions run away with him, which has caused numerous problems – the biggest of which pretty much doomed half the universe in Avengers: Infinity War. He is also nowhere near as powerful as anyone who has the type of powers that Quill had stored up inside him.
DORMAMMU - OP
Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe finally got their first look at the villain Dormammu in the movie Doctor Strange. While he didn’t show up until the final battle, it was clear that he stood miles above the men that he sent to set up his plan for world domination. In the comic books, Dormammu is portrayed as a being with a fiery head – known as The Lord of the Realm of Darkness. Unlike Mephisto, who is the Marvel Universe’s version of Satan, Dormammu is the God that rules over the Dark Dimension and mastered the mystical arts, becoming Doctor Strange’s greatest foe.
Dormammu has rarely ever tasted defeat in his existence, which pre-dates the Earth by many years.
However, his first real defeat came when he tried to conquer Earth but was banished back to the Dark Dimension. That led to his goal of one day eventually conquering the one planet that evaded his dominance. While Doctor Strange has been able to hold off Dormammu through the years, he himself has said that the demon God is his most dangerous enemy and one that no one can defeat if he is at full power. As the film showed, the only way to beat him is to use trickery and intelligence.
MEPHISTO - WIMP
Is Mephisto, Marvel Comics version of Satan, really a wimp? Not necessarily, but he is also a being that chooses often not to battle and instead uses his cunning and deceit to get what he wants. Mephisto is the reason that Johnny Blaze took on the role of Ghost Rider, based on a promise that was turned on Blaze after he took the deal. Mephisto is the reason that Spider-Man reset his life and ended his marriage to Mary Jane Watson, one of Marvel’s most infamous moments. Mephisto is a trickster who makes bad deals to get what he wants in the end.
Mephisto is immortal and he is powerful, mostly in the use of magic. However, it is important to understand that Mephisto is most powerful when in his own realm and when he leaves his realm, he is susceptible to defeat – although he always regenerates in his own realm after he is destroyed outside of it. That is the problem with Mephisto. He has to be on his home turf or his power is weakened. Look at Mephisto in the Infinity Gauntlet comic books and see a demonic God who bows and shows reverence to Thanos. The Beyonder also proved that Mephisto is powerless in our world if his opponent knows that his attacks are often illusions.
ODIN - OP
While Odin did finally pass in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he went out when he was ready and was still there in the afterlife to lead his son Thor to victory when he needed the assistance. Odin was strong enough to banish Thor from Asgard when he felt his son was getting too arrogant and ruled over the Nine Realms with great power. As Hela said when she made her return after his passing, Thor never knew his father at his greatest when he, with Hela by his side, conquered realms with little difficulty.
As the King of Asgard, Odin is stronger than any other Norse God and is also immune to the ailments on Earth, such as disease and poison. He holds control of the Odin Force, which gives him innumerable powers when he needs it. This force alone gives Odin the power to destroy an entire galaxy if he desired and also makes him powerful enough to battle Galactus if need be. Odin is also a master tactician, making him almost unbeatable when he has time to prepare. When looking at all the overpowered beings that Odin has bested (from Galactus to Mephisto), Odin might be the most powerful of them all.
HERCULES - WIMP
Hercules hasn’t always been a wimp. The demigod son of Zeus, Hercules has proven to be one of the most powerful demigods in the world. Hercules showed his true power when he battled Thor on more than one occasion to a standstill. However, Hercules was at his best when working alongside Thor and later as a member of The Avengers, proving to be mighty and powerful and able to help defeat any villain that stood in his way. While he was never as powerful as Thor when it came to their entire power set, in a fist fight, he could hold his own and possibly beat the Thunder God on any given day.
The problem is that Hercules gave up his Godly powers during the Chaos War storyline and became closer to a moral man, although one that was still very strong compared to normal humans.
Without his Godlike powers, Hercules ended up needing to gather weapons and magical devices to help him in battle. In 2015, Hercules used science to restore most of his Godly powers, but he still needs to use weapons - such as rifles, grenades and more if he wants to win his battles – a serious step down from the demigod who completed the 12 Labors that made him a legend.
SURTUR - OP
Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe saw two different versions of Surtur in Thor: Ragnarok. The first was shown when Thor was held captive until the God of Thunder tricked the fire giant into revealing his weakness, which led to his quick defeat. The second time he showed up was at the end when he rose to giant status and destroyed all of Asgard, as well as swatting away The Hulk like a fly and defeating Hela when no one else could. So, which Surtur is the more accurate version when it comes to overpowered Gods?
Surtur has a unique destiny – he was always meant to destroy Asgard in the event of Ragnarok. Looking much like the Christian version of the Devil – horns, fire, demonic with a pitchfork – he is also a fire giant, towering over all others. As Thor: Ragnarok showed, the God of Thunder defeated him but could not dispell him. Ragnarok was always destined to happen and Surtur was unbeatable as a result. Surtur can destroy planets, has a weapon that can defeat even Odin, and when using the Eternal Flame, he is the most powerful being in the entire Marvel Comics universe.
THE OTHER - WIMP
In Marvel Comics, the Other is the name of Chthon – one of the Elder Gods. However, that is not as great as one might think because as the Marvel Cinematic Universe showed, he was nothing more in the films than a glorified servant of Thanos. As mentioned earlier, Mephisto was bowing down and serving Thanos in the Infinity Gauntlet comic books, but he was replaced at first by The Other in the movies and later by Ebony Maw in Avengers: Infinity War.
However, Ebony Maw met a very creative end in his movie, as it was only by trickery and a quick decision by Spider-Man. When it comes to The Other, he was dropped at the hands of Ronan the Accuser – a very quick and meaningless passing for an Elder God. In the movies, The Other had great powers and even hurt Loki but proved that he was nowhere near as powerful as he acted when faced with Ronan’s anger and annoyance. That is very different from the comics, where he is one of the most powerful mystical Elders in existence – although when outside the dimension he rules, his powers are extremely limited.
GALACTUS - OP
Forget about the hive Galactus that Fox introduced in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which itself was based on the Ultimate Marvel version of the character. Instead, look at Galactus from the main Marvel Universe where he is basically a God and one of the oldest beings in the entire universe. Much like other cosmic entities that came to life at the start of the universe, Galactus is a being that brings death and destruction but is also necessary to remain alive for the existence of the entire world – which would reportedly die if he fell to death as well.
Galactus was originally introduced as a God-like creature that devoured entire planets.
In his main form, he has to devour the energy of planets in order to live. He finds heralds who seek out worlds that have the energy he needs to live and attempts in many cases to find planets that are not already full of life. With that said, Galactus is immortal, invulnerable and has just about any superpowered ability a person can imagine – making him unbeatable outside of someone trying to convince him to leave their planet in peace. Only other Godlike beings have a chance of matching up with Galactus physically.
