The latest blockbuster series to come out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s stable, Loki, wrapped up its first season on the 14th of July, giving us a boatload of information to process and even more to speculate. Amid the chaotic and urgent finale, one character garnered the most attention — “He who remains.” We saw him at the Citadel at the End of Time, and he certainly had a lot to say during his fleeting minutes.
In terms of power and intelligence, it’s safe to dub “He who remains” as one of the most gifted in the Marvel universe. However, does he have the quality to take on the best of them? We take a closer look, in this piece. So, without further ado, let’s see how well he stacks up against Marvel’s One Above All.
Related: Who is the Man at the End of Loki?
Who is “He Who Remains”?
As per Loki in the MCU, He Who Remains was the creator of the Time Variance Authority or TVA. The sole purpose of his existence revolved around protecting the Sacred Timeline and keeping other universes from taking control. In the MCU, he was an older version of Kang the Conqueror, speculated to be dubbed as Immortus.
In Marvel comics, He Who Remains doesn’t exactly have a known identity. We know that he is the final director of the Time Variance Authority; the last speck of reality of the multiverse. He stays at the Citadel at the End of Time, just like the version in the MCU. Not much else is known about the entity at this point.
Related: Why Sylvie Hasn’t Betrayed Loki Despite Killing Kang the Conqueror?
Who is “One Above All”?
Before we check out who he is, it is worth mentioning that this character hasn’t yet arrived in the MCU. We’ll be taking references from the comics.
In the comics, there are two identical characters. The first one is “One-Above-All” and the other is “One Above All.” To steer clear of confusion, we’ll break both of them down.
One-Above-All
One-Above-All is the creator of the Marvel Omniverse. He sees all, knows all, creates all, and destroys all. There is no being in the Marvel world who is more powerful than the deity. He also created the Living Tribunal, which is responsible for the safekeeping of the multiverse. His full name is Stanley Martin Lieber and he’s also known as Above All Others.
One Above All
One Above All is a Marvel entity that is more than capable of holding its own. He is the known leader of the group known as the Celestials but is rarely shown in the comics. His identity has not been disclosed, and his facial features remain unknown. The only highlight has to be his blue armor and robot-like features. He’s pretty much an enigma at this point, and it might stay that way for the foreseeable future.
One Above All vs He Who Remains
Since One Above All hasn’t made an appearance in the MCU yet, it doesn’t make much sense to compare two entities from different continuations. Still, if we take Immortus’s strengths from Marvel comics, it’s safe to say that Immortus would come up short against the deity — One-Above-All — of the Marvel universe.
The battle against the leader of Celestials could be a little more favorable. As per comics, Immortus has superhuman strength, superhuman intelligence, superhuman endurance, time manipulation energy blasts, and immortality. One Above All, on the other hand, can control cosmic energy to an unknown degree, and his armor is capable of withstanding nuclear warheads.
As per Marvel comics, He Who Remains is nothing but the final director of the TVA and his strengths are unknown. However, in the MCU, He Who Remains and Immortus — or Kang the Conqueror’s older self — seem to be the same entity, which would give MCU’s He Who Remains a fair shot against One Above All.
It would be interesting to see if Marvel ever decides to bring One Above All to the MCU and pit the two against one another.
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