In comic books and novels, cosmic beings and villains have frequently acted as the “Boss fight” motif. Both Marvel and DC have their own collection of cosmic villains whose fury must be averted by every superhero. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we have seen Thanos’ fury, which has resulted in the deaths of a handful of our favorite characters. In Justice League, we got a peek of Darkseid as well as Steppenwolf’s invasion on Earth in Snyder’s edit.
These beings exist on a level beyond human comprehension, and their activities have the potential to destroy planets or possibly the cosmos. Some are pure malevolent creatures, while others are immovable forces whose hatred can be considered a part of a bigger imperative. Let us now take a look at the top 12 cosmic creatures from Marvel and DC comics.
GALACTUS
Godlike supervillain Galactus is one of the main antagonists of Marvel Comics, being a recurring opponent for the Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers, Thor, and the Fantastic Four. He is also known as ‘Galan’ and often referred to with the title “The Devourer of Worlds”. Galactus is not exactly evil or with any prophetic obsession.
His eternal hunger requires worlds to disintegrate and convert into energy with the aid of his Elemental Converter. If you are a science nerd then with Einstein’s equation you could reason that for Galactus to survive he requires an immense amount of energy which is only obtained by disintegrating huge masses like planets. However, his life is also linked with the Marvel universe as, if he dies then the entire universe ends with him.
Galactus was born before the present Marvel universe came to be and escaped death when his universe was destroyed after merging with Cosmic-Egg. This event resulted in him being reborn into the new infant universe as the mighty Galactus. He is immensely powerful and his wrath has destroyed billions of lifeforms and rendered even more homeless like the Skrulls. Owing to his might and power he is considered as a force with whom you can’t reason.
It is also revealed that Galactus is the only thing that is preventing Abraxas, the spirit of destruction, from being released into the universe. Being an entity of nigh-omnipotence he can employ cosmic energy within him to produce virtually any effect he desires. From creating energy blasts to absorbing energy, producing force fields, size alteration, molecular reconstruction, matter transmutation, telepathy, teleportation, telekinesis, soul control, sentient life creation he is the all-powerful entity in the universe.
He is also immortal and the fastest being in the universe with high cosmic intellect. He owns a weapon known as the “Ultimate Nullifier” which can destroy any target the wielder can mentally envision. Galactus is the main antagonist of the Silver Surfer series, the ultimate crossover cataclysm: The Ultimates’ Last Stand, The Galactus Trilogy, and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl’s first four issues.
He is also one of the main antagonists of the Beta Ray Bill Series along with Surtur. Galactus created many heralds to seek out suitable worlds for him to devour. One of them was Silver Surfer who rebelled against him to defend Earth. He was later replaced by Nova. Galactus often employed a robot with vast superhuman strength, speed and durability called the ‘Punisher’ to fight adversaries whose power levels are not worth his attention.
TRIGON
Being spawned from the dark emotions of Azarath, Trigon the Terrible is the father of Raven and a powerful demon of the DC universe. Hundreds of years ago a group of humans had abandoned life on Earth and established a sect of pacifists in the interdimensional world of Azarath where they exorcised the dark passions of their souls from their bodies and cast it beyond the Great Door of Azarath into the nether- realms.
This leftover evil energy floated in space for years before coalescing into a single physical form which the last inhabitants of an alien world summoned. This energy impregnated a woman and nine years later Trigon was born. In hope of having extensions of his power, he sired many children most of which rebelled against him and died, and some killed by their mothers realizing the upcoming threat.
A woman named Angela Roth two decades ago had fallen in with an occult circle that tried to summon Trigon. Trigon took the form of a handsome man and married Angela and planted his seed in her which later gave birth to Raven, whom he hoped to use as a portal to the Earthly plane. However, Raven was a part of the Teen Titans later and stopped her father from entering Earth. Trigon had died in “New Teen Titans” volume two issue five and remained dead for 23 years after he came back to life in “Titans” volume two issue 1.
Among notable powers and abilities, Trigon could produce Eldritch Blast, illusions, and could alter reality. He could also transform his size. He used a mystical staff that can project blasts of superheated energy and manipulates patterns of force, called the Power Staff, and with all these capabilities and malice he is a formidable threat to the DC universe. However in the Justice League animation movie “Justice League Dark: Apokolips War” he played a very important role in taking down Darkseid after most of the league members were killed or enslaved by the Darkseid.
DORMAMMU
Being made out of eldritch magical forces Dormammu is the supreme ruler of the Dark Dimension existing outside time. He is a supervillain from the Marvel universe and an entity of pure malevolence. His main intention is to extend his Dark Dimension realm and conquer all planets and dimensions of the Multiverse. Dormammu was born millions of years ago in the dimension of Faltines who were vastly powerful energy-beings. There he along with his sister Umar gathered matter to increase their power unknown to Faltine thereby becoming the dimension’s mightiest sorcerers.
Their act was considered intolerable and they were driven out of their home dimension after which they arrived in the mystical Dark Dimensions. The Dark Dimension then was completing 28,000 years of peace and the third millennium of their ruler, King Olnar which was soon destroyed after Olnar, despite warnings of his sorcerer advisors, the Mhuruuks offered Dormammu and Umar sanctuary and power in return for their knowledge to shatter dimensional barriers and absorb other dimensions.
Dormammu and Umar conspired and got Olnar killed during the wrath of the Mindless Ones and became rulers of the dark dimension with Olnar’s son Orini living under their care. Dormammu then became immensely powerful after absorbing the mystical energies of the Dark dimension and over time made several attempts to conquer the Earth realm.
Being composed of pure mystic energy, Dormammu is virtually indestructible and immortal. He has the power to banish anyone from his domain who wishes to oppose him but usually fights them. With his superhuman strength and high-speed flight, he can create astral projections, teleport across dimensions, time travel, and even alter his size at will. He has a genius-level intellect and is often seen as a prime adversary for Earth’s sorcerer supreme- Doctor Strange.
THE CELESTIALS
Celestials are mighty celestial entities that the First Firmament formed. In a conflict that fractured the first world into the first multiverse, the Celestials revolted against their creator and Aspirant counterparts. The Celestials have a role in the formation of new realities, including the Prime Marvel Universe. Celestials go to planets, known as Celestial Hosts, to experiment on and assess inferior life-forms.
They breed Eternals and Deviants from many species. The First Host developed Homo immortalis and Homo descends for Earth, as well as a dormant gene that causes mutations in basic humanity. The Second Host annihilated the Deviant kingdom Lemuria and sank Atlantis. The Third Host compelled the Earth gods to acquiesce and promise not to interfere with the Celestials’ task. The Fourth Host arrived on Earth to judge it; the Asgardians and Eternals attempted to battle them but were swiftly vanquished.
The Earth was saved by the Fourth Host because Gaea delivered them 12 of Earth’s best humans as proof of humanity’s goodness. The Celestials are typically shown as giant armor-clad humanoids of tremendous stature, with the majority reaching two thousand feet tall and some much taller. Each differs in color and pattern, which may be rather ornate in certain cases. Each has one head, two arms, and two legs, with ambiguous features on their helmets displaying two eyes, more, or none at all.
The designs on their armor are utilitarian, and each serves a purpose of some sort. The Celestials have unfathomable cosmic and supernatural abilities that appear to have no bounds. According to Kang the Conqueror, they are the most powerful energy source in existence. They are said to be almighty creatures since they entirely transcend the ordinary space-time framework.
Only two Celestials have the combined ability to judge and annihilate whole species. The Celestials jointly sculpted the cosmos to establish life throughout the universe and were ultimately responsible for the Multiverse’s formation. One Celestial was even capable of warping reality on a pocket-dimensional scale, endangering the whole universe.
The Celestials are eternal beings that are extremely difficult to damage or kill. Celestials can restore lost limbs in an instant. Celestials may be resurrected by their kin, and a single Celestial can be used as a seed to resurrect the whole race.
STARRO
Starro, sometimes known as Starro the Conqueror, is a DC Comics supervillain. Starro is a mind-controlling cosmic starfish who serves as the commander of the Star Conquerors, an extra-terrestrial starfish race. Starro, an enormous, gigantic creature in its own right, has been a menace to Earth several times, frequently functioning as a planetary threat to the Justice League of America.
The character originally appeared in The Brave and the Bold. Starro is the first villain to challenge the original Justice League of America. Since his debut in the Silver Age of Comic Books, the character has featured in both comic books and other DC Comics-related items like animated television programs, video games and makes its live-action film debut in the DC Extended Universe blockbuster The Suicide Squad.
Starro is a conquering extra-terrestrial with a humanoid primary consciousness that commands spores that resemble either big or little Terran starfish. Starro’s spores, an asexual organism, are capable of producing clones that operate in line with the original’s wishes. The clones are parasites by nature, and they may attach themselves to the face of a humanoid and then take control of the host’s central nervous system, allowing them to govern the host. When the host is withdrawn from the victim, their control over them is lost.
The original Starro could turn two clay starfish into clones of themselves that were equal in size and strength. The humanoid “Starro the Conqueror” wields telepathy powerful enough to govern the whole Starro alien race, as well as infinite physical resilience strengthened by energies pulled from the victims of his Starro probes.
Starro the Conqueror is physically strong enough to behead the all-but-invulnerable Despero in single combat; similarly to said spores, the humanoid Starro can procreate its own Starro clones from the mother Starro on his chest. It has a unique power to convert normal Earth-based starfish into Starro-based spores. The nature of the Starro parasites is comparable to, and precedes, that of the Facehugger parasites featured in Alien and its sequels in 1979.
THE BEYONDER
Beyonder from Marvel comics is a cosmic being and a young member of an ancient otherworldly race known as ‘Beyonders’ who was dragged to Earth by a group of villains with the aid of a tachyon beam. On Earth, Beyonder spent several years and was overwhelmed to learn that the beings on Earth were not each creation complete unto themselves but a minuscule part of an infinite larger creation, the multiverse. In his unique point of view, he deduced that the driving force behind every sentient life-form must be desire- an aspect of emotion unknown to him.
The desire to be complete is what made the lifeforms thrive. These complex thoughts made him question his very own existence and as result, he found that he too felt desire. On Earth, he conducted several experiments on the Marvel superheroes and villains in the comic book series- Secret Wars, Secret Wars 2, and Secret Wars 3 to study humans and how desperate they can be to achieve what they desire. The Beyonder is a god-like entity and can control reality.
In the experiments, he transported his lab rats, which consisted of superheroes and supervillains to an area of space-time and also left them to their respective places on Earth after the battle as if nothing happened. The original Beyonder was considered to be the strongest of all cosmic beings in the multiverse with powers surpassing the Living Tribunal and Eternity only being surpassed by the One-Above-All.
His vast psionic abilities enabled him to scan the minds of the entire world, neutralize psychic probes from powerful telepaths and erase any memory about himself from every human on the planet. His physical strength is incalculable and he can also change states of matter at his will. He is a being of nigh-omnipotence in the Marvel universe and can do almost anything at his will.
However, in Secret Wars, Doctor Doom had stripped him of his power during the heroes vs villains experimental battle at Battleworld and later became a mortal through his plan by investing his power into a machine. The Beyonder once had to exert himself during a battle with Molecular Man who was a multiverse level entity and also against Rachel Summers Phoenix. In all such cases, he had been weakened but never destroyed. The Puma, when in perfect harmony with the universe, was believed to be able to destroy the Beyonder.
KRONA
The mad guardian, Krona is a Malthusian and a cosmic being; he was so driven by his curiosity that he created the multiverse. Belonging to the ancient Maltusian race he was a scientist seeking intergalactic order. He believed that the only logical way was through knowledge. His ideas and perverse experiments often clashed with those of his race, including his protest over his brother’s contempt for emotions during their progress into becoming the Guardians of the Universe.
Krona once was attacked by the emotionless, robotic force created by the Guardian of the Universe known as Manhunters from whom he easily defended himself. After the encounter, he believed that the force was flawed, and to prove himself he reprogrammed the Manhunters to commit a massive genocide at Space Sector 666, specifically plant Ryut, where only five individuals, known as five Inversions managed to survive.
This massacre caused the Guardians to abandon the Manhunters and form the Green Lantern Corps. Krona didn’t stop here and continued with his various experiments that involved witnessing the beginning of time itself which was considered a great taboo by the Maltusians. He succeeded in his experiments and managed to have a glimpse of the hand of creation depositing the speck that would become the entire cosmos only to have his machine explode that very instance and shatter the Universe, unleashing evil in the cosmos.
This grabbed the attention of his fellow Maltusians who expelled him from their ranks and converted him into a state of energy circling the entire universe for eternity. Krona later returned and started his experiments all over before being stopped by Green Lanterns of Earth, Hal Jordan, and Alan Scott and being banished into his energy form again.
As energy, Krona somehow reached the dimensions where dead souls waited for their passage into their final residences. Krona’s arrival to the realm of the dead created a paradox that opened a rift between dimensions. Nekron, who was the then ruler of the realm wanted to use the rift to pass to the realm of the living but owing to his enormous size failed.
Nekron then recreated Krona as an undead being of enormous power. In his attempt to discover the secret of universal creation Krona reached the Marvel Universe and made the Justice League members battle out the Avengers. Yeah, an ultimate crossover! Krona is immortal and can self-sustain. His powers include flight, energy projection, mind control, electro-blast, and stealth.
KNULL
Next on our list, we have the eldritch god of darkness, Knull from Marvel comics. He is also the creator of the symbiotes and served as the main antagonist of Venom volume 4 and the King in Black event. Knull was born from the primordial void that existed between the sixth and seventh cosmos and dominates the void claiming to be its avatar.
Being awakened by the Light when the Celestials invaded his kingdom of darkness Knull created the first symbiote in the form of a sword with which he decapitated a Celestial. With the head’s divine power to refine the blade he created a metaphysical connection between the primordial symbiote and the slain cosmic god which became the source of his tremendous power.
Knull became a legendary figure after waging war against the Light but later was left stranded on a nameless planet after an inhabitant stole his blade. He learned how he could create amorphous parasites from his dark powers and merge them with lesser creatures which he used to corrupt the Light.
With the aid of his symbiote, the army Knull destroyed and corrupted many civilizations across the universe. He is sadistic and reacts with extreme rage when denied what he wants such as with the case of the Silver Surfer who refused to serve him and Eddie when he tried to stop him from corrupting the Venom symbiote.
Among notable powers which are far more than those of humans and even many deities, Knull possesses superhuman strength and durability along with the ability to control a fount of eldritch darkness to create symbiotes and control them. He can shapeshift, fly, manipulate dark energy, heal on his own, and self- sustain.
He had once traversed back in time to resurrect Mister E and created a barrier of living abyss around the sun. His weakness is The Light and during remote piloting his symbiotes any damage caused to them is also experienced by him. In battle, he wears a symbiote armor made from the Living Abyss which he created after forging All-Black, and used the Necrosword which he refined from the dead Celestials cosmic power.
PARALLAX
Parallax is a cosmic villain in the DC comics. Made out of living fear Parallax is a yellow entity living inside the Yellow Lantern Central Power Battery that created terror into anything it came in contact with. Dating back to the dawn of time this parasite was the sentient embodiment of fear traveling from world to world causing entire civilizations to destroy themselves out of paranoia and then feeding on their fear.
Going by the Agent Orange storyline of the Green Lantern series before the event known as Blackest Night, Parallax was sealed inside a box on Maltus. Maltus was the homeworld of the beings that later evolved into the Guardians of the universe and was soon attacked by Larfleeze and other aliens executing the biggest heist in the universe.
They grabbed the box and an old map which lead them to the Orange power battery at Okaara fuelled by avarice. The battle engaged between them and the Guardians along with the Manhunters. Several Manhunters and Guardians died along with the claimants of the Orange Light before finally making a deal that if they returned the box to the Guardians then one of them could have the Orange light and never return to the Vega system.
The Guardians then imprisoned Parallax inside the Green Central Power Battery on Oa using willpower which was the opposite to the energy of fear. Later when the traitor Sinestro was imprisoned in the Power Battery himself his Qwardian yellow power ring tapped into Parallax’s power and awakened it.
Parallax being yellow is considered an entity of fear and can control fear-induced energy like fear projections, mind control, possession of hosts, hypnosis, reality alteration, time manipulation, and flight. Being a living entity of an emotional aspect Parallax can be considered immortal.
LIVING TRIBUNAL
In the Marvel universe, there is only one Living Tribunal whose main objective is to strike a balance of mystic forces. It is a vastly powerful humanoid cosmic entity and is believed to exist from the very birth of the universe. The Living Tribunal may act to maintain an overwhelming balance between good and evil and also prevent any universe from amassing more power than the others.
When matters involve only one universe The living Tribunal does not interfere and leaves its fate to the judgment of the abstract entities there as in the case of Lord Chaos and Master Order in Earth-616. With the sole objective to maintain balance, it has the power to obliterate an inhabited planet and turn a star into a supernova with a single force bolt.
The Living Tribunal manifests itself as a being with three faces symbolizing the three sides of its personality- the front representing equality, the right side representing necessity, and the left one representing revenge. Speaking only via the front face the Tribunal can intervene or act on any matter only if the three faces are in agreement.
The Living Tribunal is created by The One Above All to maintain the integrity of the multiverse and enforce judgments to ensure stability. He is considered to be omnipotent and even more powerful than Eternity and Infinity presiding over all universes. However, his physical strength is not strong enough to oppose the Beyonders.
DARKSEID
Sadistic, aggressive, and merciless tyrant Darkseid is the ruler of Apokolips who has conquered countless worlds throughout the universe in DC. Armed with the Anti-Life Equation he seeks to rob all lifeforms in the universe of their free will and replace it with his own. Darkseid’s origins go back in time to another universe where the immortal Old Gods inhabited and relied on the prayers of mortals to remain in power.
Soon the rebellious Uxas began corrupting the minds of these Gods with lies which sparked a war between them. In the conflict, several gods died and Uxas began stealing God’s power for himself before being taken down by father Yuga Khan. Yuga Khan revived the God’s that were murdered by Uxas by using the Anti-Life. He was ultimately slain by his son who used the fallen God’s power to become the New God Darkseid.
Eons after, Darkseid created the hell pit of Apokolips where he was the sole ruler with his brother Highfather and his forces of New Genesis being the only threat. Darkseid at some point captures an aspect of Death in the form of the Black Racer to become his strongest weapon but could only command it if it were anchored to a sentient host.
Among the many sons of Darkseid, there was Kalibak, a brutal warrior of Apokolips, Orio, who was traded for Highfather’s Scot in return for peace between both planets. Later he also had a daughter with Amazonian Myrina who was later raised to destroy him. Darkseid is considered as the one main villain whose wrath is a big worry for all of the DC superheroes.
His power is enormous and with his Omega Effect, he can generate Omega Beams from his eyes which lock on to its target and never miss. He is immortal, invulnerable with superhuman strength, speed, and stamina. He can manipulate darkness, summon the Black Racer for help in battle and travel through dimensions with his BoomTube.
Also with unique abilities to control gravity to warp time called chronokinesis the list of his abilities goes on. Living for centuries he is aware of the working of the cosmos and also possesses a genius-level Intellect. He has an army of mindless parademons which feed on fear and obey his every whim.
Darkseid is the prime villain for the Justice League and has even won over Superman. With the aid of strategies and combined help from the Justice League, he is at times defeated but never truly destroyed. As long as malice and despair exist Darkseid aka the God of Evil will find his way and return to spread his darkness.
THANOS
And here comes the popular one, the one, and only Thanos. In recent years for us fans, Thanos has been the one who changed the entire era to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the movies The Avengers: Infinity Wars and The Avengers: Endgame. Thanos’ name is derived from Thanatos, the Greek personification of Death. Although he is an Eternal, his inborn Deviant Syndrome gives him the appearance of a Deviant.
Thanos was one of the final sons of A’Lars, the father of Titan’s second Eternal colony, and Sui-San, the last survivor of the initial Eternal settlement on this moon. Due to his Deviant Syndrome, he was born with purple, hide-like skin and a large physique. When his mother first saw the infant, she was driven insane and attempted to murder him. Thanos is so arrogant, aggressive, cunning, evil, treacherous, and merciless that he is willing to sacrifice numerous worlds and civilizations, including his very own species, in order to laud Death and acquire its respect. Thanos also has an obsessive desire for power, always looking for things of unfathomable force and influence, such as the Cosmic Cubes or the Infinity Gems.
Thanos, on the other hand, frequently speaks in a refined way with a calm and collected demeanor, which the Silver Surfer describes as professorial. Thanos has also demonstrated an interest in farming and learning. Despite his overarching egomaniacal, if not overtly omnicidal, demeanor, Thanos does not intend to destroy everything, he is evens inclined to support heroes when he detects a threat more threatening than himself.
Thanos, by far Titan’s strongest and the most potent Eternal, is a superhuman mutant whose gigantic, heavy-bodied form was created with the ability to manufacture cosmic energy for personal use. When approached by a budding tithe of cosmic powers who wanted to recruit him in annihilating it, he saw greater value in conquering and linking planet Earth with the larger pan-galactic society.
Given how innumerable stronger powers than a hidden cabal of universal actors have attempted and failed time and time again to obliterate that Wild and Unruly Planet, including himself. The crazy titan’s abilities have grown as a consequence of bionic augmentation, magical enhancement, and being revived by Death itself. Thanos’ thinking is possibly his most dangerous talent.
Thanos’ intelligence is devoted to increasing his own abilities and annihilating all life. Thanos is a genius in almost every known branch of advanced research, and his technology far exceeds that of modern Earth science. He has also demonstrated his ability to quickly adapt to new battle situations, as evidenced by his fight with the Champion of the Universe, who outclassed him physically and whom he defeated by dancing around him, blasting him with energy attacks, and tricking him into destroying the planet on which they fought