Marvel Comics Superman:
As the world’s first true mainstream comic book superhero, DC Comics’ Superman has found himself being copied numerous times by the rival Marvel Comics. And trust us when we say this, sometimes Marvel has gotten close to emulating the true aspects of the Man of Steel. Some of them are truly God-like.
10. Sun God
Sun God was the strongest superhero of his reality. But he was still miles behind achieving the true strength of the one true Superman and as a result, occupies the last spot on our list. Sun God is the leader of the Great Society, which was a rip-off of the Justice League. In one storyline, it is mentioned that Sun God led the Great Society into defeating an incursion that was threatening their universe. The Illuminati and the Great Society came at odds soon and Doctor Strange summoned a nightmare monster from the Dark Realm to kill the Sun God. Sun God was still powerful enough to defeat the Hulk in just two punches before being killed.
9. Captain Marvel
Believe it or not, the creators of Captain Marvel took heavy inspirations from Superman. Think about it – Captain Marvel hails from an alien planet that sent him to Earth to live as a normal citizen there. Otherwise known as Mar-Vell in his native Kree tongue, Captain Marvel also shares some pretty neat little ideals like honor and truth, something even Superman likes to uphold at all costs. He has a red, blue and gold uniform, and has the power of flight, energy manipulation, and superhuman physical attributes. He is even called the “Protector of the Universe” several times in the comic books. While Carol Danvers assuming his mantle immortalized his legacy, but the mantle of Captain Marvel owes its origin to Superman.
8. Wonder Man
Baron Zemo captured Simon Williams and tortured him by performing heinous experiments on his body. In the end, Williams is imbued with an unknown energy signature to the point that his body becomes a limitless reservoir of powerful ionic energy. Wonder Man soon becomes an Avenger. He is also one of the strongest Avengers to ever exist. He is immortal, has the strength to rival Thor’s, energy absorption and energy blasts, flight, invulnerability, and superhuman speed and endurance. Even his eyes glow red when he is angry and using his powers to their fullest. Does it remind you of a certain superhero? It sure does to us!!!
7. Marvel Man
Marvel Man was one of the crown jewels of a dying genre of superheroes of the older times. After the 1950s, Fawcett Comics had stopped publishing superheroes and Marvel realized they could capitalize on that by using Marvel Man as a replacement for Captain Marvel. Like Captain Marvel uttered the magical word “Shazam” to turn into the World’s Mightiest Mortal, Marvel Man uttered “Kimota” for a similar effect. Once he turned into the blue costumed superhero, he had tremendously powerful abilities like Energy absorption and manipulation, telepathy, telekinesis, flight, superhuman strength, speed, and durability, invulnerability, force field generation and a host of other superpowers.
6. Superior
Superior is a product of Icon Imprint, a publication that caters to a different genre but still operates under the Marvel Comics Banner. Superior shares similarities with not just one but two powerful DC Superheroes – Superman and Shazam. And since Shazam was supposed to be a copy of Superman, the fact that Superior was ‘inspired’ by the World’s Mightiest Mortal is the greatest form of irony there could be in the comic book world.
Superior was created by Mark Millar who wanted to create a more real-world, grounded version of the Last Son of Krypton. Superior’s many achievements include dragging a nuclear submarine to shore, stopping a satellite that was about to crash on Earth, and also the proverbial little guy problems like helping old ladies cross the streets as well as save cats from trees.
5. Captain Universe
Captain Universe is not one single superhero. Instead, it is a power that has created an entire mantle with multiple hosts. The Uni-Power is one of the strongest known energy sources in the cradle of creation. It is powered by the Cosmic Entity known as Eternity. While people like the Hulk, Spider-Man, and X-23 have become avatars of the Uni-Power, the one that shares the greatest resemblance to Superman is a Chicago City Police Officer who went by the name Ted Simmons.
With the Uni-Power, Ted Simmons gains incredible energy manipulation powers, time travel, and the power to fly unaided in space. Ted Simmons also shares the same ideals and virtues as DC’s Superman – of honor, truth, and justice.
4. Gladiator
Gladiator was created by Chris Claremont. He is a member of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard and hails from the Strontian Species. Gladiator is the only one of his kind. His alter ego is called Kallark, a homage to Superman’s other aliases like Clark Kent and Kal-El. He possesses all the powers that Superman possesses like Heat Vision, Freeze Breath, Flight, Superhuman durability and strength and the likes.
But unlike Superman, Gladiator does not have any weaknesses. Gladiator’s powers are derived from his self-confidence. The more he believes in himself, the stronger he becomes. Gladiator has performed impossible feats like traveling across entire galaxies in a matter of seconds and diving into the heart of a star without even getting a scratch.
3. Hyperion
The very reason Hyperion was created was to be an analog to Superman. Hailing from an alternate reality where the Earth has died and the universe no longer can support life, Hyperion travels to the mainstream Marvel Universe in the hopes of starting life afresh. While there are different versions of Hyperion and Squadron Supreme (basically a copy of the Justice League), this version of Hyperion we are talking about that hails from Earth – 13034, is the most important one since he once became an Avenger.
Hyperion derives his powers from solar radiation. He is strong enough to hold a planet in space. He was also shown to have used his bare hands to keep two universes from colliding with each other. His durability is also legendary. It allowed him to not be crushed between to hurtling planets.
2. Sentry
The Sentry’s real name is Robert Reynolds. In reality, he is a middle-aged person with a rather obese physique. But when he transforms into the Sentry, he becomes the greatest superhero/supervillain the Marvel Comic book Universe has ever seen. Sentry draws his powers from a special serum that was created by a genius scientist on his quest to recreate the Super Soldier Experiment that gave birth to Captain America.
The Serum once injected into Reynolds, gave him the power of a million exploding suns. For a hero of his caliber, he sure does have some pretty prominent flaws. Sentry has a split personality. His psyche has been fragmented into two parts. Sentry is the first fragment and is the weaker but benevolent entity living within Robert Reynolds’ mind. The Void is the stronger and malevolent entity and has far greater powers than Sentry possesses. The Void has bent the rules of nature to bring back the dead and rewrite reality as he wished.
1. Blue Marvel
Yeah, we bet you never saw this coming. There exists just one superhero that has beaten the Sentry in a fight. And that is none other than Blue Marvel aka Adam Brashear. Blue Marvel was a very popular superhero during the 1960s. He helped save America and the rest of the world from various threats including the nefarious Anti-Man. After serving in the military, Brashear put his genius to the test when he participated in an energy research project to solve the world’s energy crisis by creating limitless energy.
The project went awry and Adam Brashear was exposed to powerful Anti-Matter radiation. Brashear became a walking Anti-Matter Reactor. To put things into perspective, a gram of Anti Matter has a hundred times the power of Hiroshima Explosion. Blue Marvel has single-handedly defeated the Incredible Hulk as well as the Sentry. He is so powerful that SHIELD classifies him as an Alpha Level Threat – a being holding the power to destroy the entire planet.
