# Who was the most powerful entity to ever appear in the DC universe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 11, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-most-powerful-entity-to-ever-appear-in-the-dc-universe/147885 "2003-01-11T02:50:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-most-powerful-entity-to-ever-appear-in-the-dc-universe/147885/21 "2003-01-12T17:13:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Terrifel \* > \*\*Ahem. Well, yes, Byrne did follow up on this issue. My point is that having somebody kill and then feel sorry about it later is not exactly the same thing as having the moral fiber to never kill in the first place. \*\* While we’re at it, the post-Crisis Superman was _also_ too dumb to realize that using his powers to beat the crap out of humans at football was wrong until Pa Kent gave him a lecture and too dumb to realize that drunk driving was bad until he was involved in someone getting killed. :rolleyes: Fenris ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-most-powerful-entity-to-ever-appear-in-the-dc-universe/147885/22 "2003-01-12T17:29:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Just Some Guy \* > \*\*Oh yeah, that Byrne story really screwed Superman up. I mean, he didn’t even follow it up and Superman has gone right on killing everyone he meets. \*\* He’s killed at least once since then: Doomsday. Yeah, it turns out Doomsday _didn’t_ die, but not through Superman’s lack of trying. There was also an earlier issue where Superman pulled the plug on some sort of psychic hive-mind thing. Again, they/it didn’t die, but Superman was _willing_ to snuff them. Once that line’s been crossed, it _will_ be crossed again. \*\* > [@](#): > > Oh, wait, Byrne did follow it up with a several month long storyline \*\* Wanna bet? Byrne waltzed off the book as soon as Superman snuffed the three Phantom Zone criminals. He dropped his little bombshell then left 'cause it might take work to deal with the consequences. There was about a year-and-a-half gap, _then_ Roger Stern tried to clean up Byrne’s mess (as so many other writers end up having to do on other books) with the aforementioned storyline (it’s the one where Supes starts sleepwalking and dressing up like Gangbuster and then exiles himself into space. All Stern (and, IIRC Perez as co-plotter), no Byrne. \*\* > [@](#): > > about what killing someone did to Superman and re-emphasized the point that Superman shouldn’t \*\* Yeah, as opposed to saying “I’m not so stupid that I have to kill to figure out it’s wrong” like the pre-Crisis Superman and so many other characters (and real people) did. How many people d’ya suppose that Ghandi had to kill before he decided to go his non-violence route? Gee, maybe we should have an issue where Superman decides to test the waters to see if…say…rape is wrong. He can rape someone _THEN_ decide he doesn’t like it. Hey, it was his method for murder, drunk driving (or allowing people to drive drunk) and cheating. What’s sad/funny is that a few years before Byrne took over Superman, when he was brilliantly reinventing the Fantastic Four, there was an interview with him in (IIRC) Amazing Heroes where the interviewer asked if Captain America ever killed. Byrne says “Of course, he was a soldier. Mr. Fantastic never kills, however.” The interviewer asked “Well, what would happen if Mr. Fantastic was placed in a situation where it was kill someone or innocents will die?” Byrne replied that “Mr. Fantastic was smart enough to figure out a third option. And if a third option wasn’t available,” Byrne said “I’d simply assume the writer was incompetent. Mr Fantastic doesn’t kill. It’s that simple.”\* Amazing that a guy who’s got such a good grasp of Mr. Fantastic’s character can be so horribly wrong about another, very similar character. Fenris \*These are paraphrases, not direct quotes: I don’t have the issue in front of me. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-most-powerful-entity-to-ever-appear-in-the-dc-universe/147885/23 "2003-01-12T17:56:15Z")
Hmm, I had no memory of Byrne leaving the book after that fiasco. Probably because I did too for a while. Thanks for the correction. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-most-powerful-entity-to-ever-appear-in-the-dc-universe/147885/24 "2003-01-13T21:28:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Terrifel \* > \*\*\ > I grant you I didn’t follow the Imperiex storyline all the way through. Sadly, the guy came across to me as a rather transparent Galactus knockoff. > \ > \*\* Hey, my original suggestion is an _even more_ transparent Galactus knockoff! He even has a color/watersport herald, the Scarlet Skier! ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-most-powerful-entity-to-ever-appear-in-the-dc-universe/147885/25 "2003-01-13T22:35:15Z")
Actually the most powerful entity in the DC universe is Giordano the Magnificent. Or Imperiex. Although Mr. Nebula was a great character. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-most-powerful-entity-to-ever-appear-in-the-dc-universe/147885.md?page=1)