2. Thanos (The Infinity Gauntlet)
Thanos, despite being incredibly powerful in his base form, is a character who is constantly striving for more power by seeking out items of immense power in the Marvel universe. However, never has he been more powerful than when he got his hands on all of the Infinity Gems and wielded them by putting on the Infinity Gauntlet in the story arc named after the incredibly powerful item. He collected the Infinity Gems in the "Thanos Quest" story arc and mounted them on the Infinity Gauntlet at the start of this arc. With the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos had complete mastery over every aspect of the multiverse, as each individual stone gives complete control over one. Those aspects are time, space, mind, soul, reality and power. In order to impress Mistress Death, Thanos chose to offer the cosmic entity a gift of love by completing a task she had given him - erasing half the sentient life in the universe (including central Marvel figures such as most of the X-Men, Daredevil and the Fantastic Four), quite literally with a snap of his fingers. In The Infinity Gauntlet #4 (en route to being faced down by Captain America in one of the most awesome scenes in comic book history), whilst wielding the Infinity Gauntlet, the nihilistic Mad Titan easily defeats Iron Man, Vision, Thor II (Eric Masterson), Starfox, Namor, Quasar, She-Hulk, Hulk, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Drax the Destroyer, Firelord, Nova, Cloak, Cyclops and Doctor Doom. In the final showdown with Captain America, prior to killing him, he had the power to smash his otherwise unbreakable shield with a single blow and was making the ground itself hold Captain America in place. Essentially, despite the fact that he would ultimately go on to be defeated, Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet could potentially have done anything that he could have imagined.