More Heroes in Heaven and Earth Than are Dreamt of in Movies
The Beyonder: I am from Beyond! Slay your enemies and all you desire shall be yours! Nothing you dream of is impossible for me to accomplish! – Secret War
Earth is smaller than anyone can understand. It’s the only planet we have ever known and seems enormous. Compared to all of space, Earth is nothing but a pale blue dot. Triumphs and tragedies on Terra Firma matter little to a galaxy. So what would make the universe take notice?
Cosmic beings are the strongest of the strong in superhero stories. They can save or doom worlds by accident. Many of these godlike beings are personifications of fundamental forces, including life, time, or the multiverse. So who are the Top 5 Cosmic Beings in superhero stories? Let’s find out.
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#5 The Monitor
The Monitor: “Allow me to introduce myself. I am The Monitor, and I have called you here because your worlds are about to die!”
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Superhero event stories play for high stakes. It’s not a city that is threatened, but entire planets. When worlds live, worlds die, and nothing will ever be the same again, this is one cosmic being you want in your corner.
The Monitor is the guardian of the DC universe. He was born shortly after the multiverse was created and began nurturing it. He discovered an evil counterpart from the antimatter universe called The Anti-Monitor. They fought for one million years, ending in a double knockout.
The Monitors were awakened by a scientist time traveling to the beginning of the multiverse. The Anti-Monitor launched an all-out war against the multiverse while The Monitor gathered heroes to counter him. Their battles collapsed the multiverse into one universe. We have the details in our Crisis on Infinite Earths Backstory.
The Multiverse was eventually reborn, bringing with it an entire species of Monitors. They were meant to be guardians of the multiverse, but spent most of their time arguing whether to interfere. They were slaughtered by an evil Monitor, leaving the original Monitor’s son, Nix Uotan, the sole survivor. He now protects the multiverse as Superjudge.
#4 Cosmic Beings: The Light Entities
Parallax: “The whole universe will empower me as our terror spreads, old man. And Sinestro will control all.”
The Sinestro Corps War
Cosmic beings are gods in the modern mythology we call superhero stories. Concepts are so important that they are given names and power. So who comprises this pantheon of emotional embodiments?
The Light Entities are energy beings connected to the Emotional Spectrum. They were the first creatures to experience those emotions and became personifications of them. The Entities can merge with a Lantern, supercharging them at the cost of influencing the host. Let’s go in ROYGBIV order.
The Butcher is a red bull created from rage at Cain’s murder of Abel. Ophidian the Tempter was born the first time something overate and may be the Serpent of Eden. Parallax was the first insect to feel fear and is one of the most active Entities, seeking to conquer the universe by possessing Lanterns.
Ion was the first Light Entity, a fish who was the first being motivated to move. Adara was born from the first prayer, pulling double duty as Noah’s dove and the Bluebird of Happiness. Proselyte is an indigo octopus created from the first show of concern for another being. The Predator is a horribly-named love entity who was originally thought to be an alter ego of the villain Star Sapphire.
Wanna know more? Then check out our guide to Green Lantern’s Emotional Spectrum.
#3 The One Above All
One Above All: “I am the One Above All. I see through many eyes. I build with many hands. They are themselves, but they are also me. I am all-powerful. My only weapon is love. The mystery intrigues me. I am as I am. I will be what I will be.”
The Ultimates 2 #100
Monotheistic and polytheistic religions agree on one thing: there’s gotta be someone at the top. The end-all, be-all ruler of creation. A king or lone being with unknowable power. So with all the gods, demons, aliens, Mutants, and others running around Marvel, who is the top dog?
The One Above All is Marvel’s top god. More specifically, he’s implied to be the Abrahamic God and/or the authors. He rarely interacts with others because it is difficult to tell stories featuring an omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-everything character.
The One Above All first appeared shortly after The Thing was killed. Reed Richards invented a portal to the afterlife and The Fantastic Four fought through Heaven to bring him back to life. One, in his preferred form as late Marvel artist Jack Kirby, agreed to resurrect The Thing once because he had more stories to tell.
There’s one major downside to The One Above All. He has another persona called The One Below All who wants everything to die. It’s as if God’s Hulk form was Satan. Incidentally, The One Above All admitted to forging The Hulk into a counterpart who could oppose both of his aspects.
#2 Cosmic Beings: The Endless
{Dream is talking about being imprisoned by wizards for a century]
The Sandman “The Sound of Her Wings” (Season 1, Episode 6)
Death: “You could have called me, you know.”
Dream: “I didn’t want to worry you.”
Death: “I don’t believe it. Let me tell you something, Dream. And I’m only going to say this once, so you’d better pay attention. You are utterly the stupidest, most self-centered, appallingest excuse for an anthropomorphic personification on this or any other plane! […] Did it never occur to you that I would be worried silly for you?”
Giving the unknown a face is the reason for many cosmic beings’ existence. People can’t truly picture destiny, but what if he was someone you could speak to? Would death be so frightening if she offered a kind word and a friendly face? The possibilities for these cosmic beings are Endless.
The Endless are seven of the oldest beings in the universe. They rule over the seven concepts that they are named for: Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium. They are implied to also have power over their opposite functions: Choice, Life, Reality, Creation, Aversion, Hope, and Sanity.
Unlike other cosmic beings, The Endless aren’t immutable. Delirium was once Delight until an unknown event changed her intrinsically. Despair is the second being to hold that title as punishment for murdering her predecessor. Death evolved from an aloof reaper into a kind-hearted goth.
There’s more to cover with these dysfunctional deities, so hop over to our The Endless Backstory.
#1 Galactus
Galactus: “Why must Galactus survive? For, no matter how many worlds I devour… how many civilizations I destroy… it is my destiny to one day give back to the universe… infinitely more than I have ever taken from it. So speaks Galactus.”
Super Villain Classics #1
Marvel has dozens of cosmic beings roaming the stars. It’s almost their trademark. But there’s one who blazed a path for those to come. The greatest cosmic being is Galactus: Devourer of Worlds.
Galan of Taa is the last survivor of the previous universe. He entered the new universe and was mutated by the godlike Eternity. Galan became Galactus, a being meant to start the next Big Bang when this universe ends. He must generate large amounts of The Power Cosmic to do so, driving Galactus mad with hunger to fuel it.
Galactus began eating planets, using advanced technology to turn them into pure energy that sated him. The remnants form new worlds that will eventually produce life, ensuring balance between creation and destruction. Galactus empowers Heralds with The Power Cosmic to find edible worlds and warn them of his approach. If they can’t leave in time, too bad. Galactus isn’t evil, merely doing what he must to survive. Devoured worlds and mountains of corpses are a small price for the greater good.
Don’t take our word for it. Galactus will star as the Big Bad of 2025’s The Fantastic Four. We don’t know who’s playing him yet, but the big guy will be heralded by Ozark’s Julia Garner as The Silver Surfer.
Which cosmic being do you think is the greatest? Is there one we missed? Tell us in the comments.
Image: The Sandman. Tom Sturridge as Dream in episode 111 of The Sandman. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2022
Jared Bounacos has written for Movie Rewind since 2016.
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