What's the only thing more powerful than a living god? A dead one, we guess. In the more mystical vein of the Phantom Stranger, The Spectre is without a doubt the most overpowered character in DC Comics, even if he can only exist when he's bound to a human host. When he is though, hoo boy, there isn't anyone bigger or better as a supernatural being with near-unlimited might. And his mission is to strike fear into the hearts of evil men, so you better believe the men in question really regret doing all that bad stuff they got up to. An aspect of The Presence - the DC equivalent of capital-G God - whether he's tied to Jim Corrigan, Crispus Allen or even lapsed Green Lantern Hal Jordan, The Spectre has all the divine powers you'd expect of...well, God. Unchecked, his abilities are endless; he can cause multiple universes to cease existing with the blink of an eye. For the most part the Presence keeps The Spectre on a short least, but when he's allowed to run free he's all but omnipotent. As such, he's been called on to deal with cosmic villains like Parallax and the Anti-Monitor, whom even the combined might of every DC hero couldn't take down. Which means that The Spectre is more powerful than every other character in the DC Universe combined. Considering we've just been through nine of those characters that are ridiculously overpowered, that makes The Spectre overpowered to the nth degree. He can do anything. He does everything. He is everything. The Spectre is God, and there's a reason that PC games call the cheat that lets you do absolutely anything without fear of...anything is called God Mode.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
