Research shows he's the number one villain in 66 countries! While Thanos may be one of Marvel's most dangerous comic book characters, DC's supervillain Darkseid is just as terrifying.
Both were created around the same time and both had similar looks, making comparisons inevitable. Debate has raged over who is the most effective of the two, and while both have cut multiple paths of destruction across their universes, Darkseid is by and large the scarier of the two.
Arguably, the biggest bad that DC has ever created, Darkseid presides over one of the scariest civilizations ever created on Apokolips. This villain can hold his own in a fight with Superman. He is also determined to find the "anti-life equations" to rule the universe with an iron fist.
In Final Crisis, Darkseid was revealed to fear the New Gods' version of Death, as they represented a real possible end to the powerful villain's dominance in the DC Universe and an end to his evil reign.
Kulan Gath surpasses Thanos as the ultimate bad guy, as seen when he not just defeated the Avengers but killed most of Earth's heroes in a shocking and terrifying display of this Conan the Barbarian villain's power. To add insult to injury, Kulan Gath ate them afterward.
As mighty as they are, neither Thanos nor Superman is immortal. Both have been killed in the past, meaning neither is unbeatable. However, Thanos would need an ironclad plan to trap and defeat the Man of Steel, because if it comes down to plain old fisticuffs, Superman is definitely going to win.
However, Thanos is still standing, and he forces Odin to unleash the full might of his power, the Odinforce. In an epic sequence, Thanos keeps advancing toward his foe, withstanding blast after blast of deadly energy. In the end, Odin is too strong, and Thanos is clearly beaten.
While Darkseid is a deity and immortal, having lived for several hundred thousand years, he is not invincible and has been killed on several occasions. Darkseid is able to drain the life force of other godly beings to rejuvenate himself or return to his full power.
Darkseid's existence is crucial to his mission to use the Anti-Life Equation to shape reality to his image. He isn't afraid of pain or injury, but one thing the villain is scared of is his own death.
Longtime Darkseid fans will know that Suli was the only woman Darkseid truly loved; she was killed as part of a conspiracy between Desad and Darkseid's mother Heggra, in a plot to harden Darkseid's heart.
Due to desiring to rob the entire multiverse of free will, enslaving and oppressing his homeworld, ruling as a tyrant, having one of the highest body counts out of any DC villain, destroying and enslaving entire planets and destroying the entire multiverse temporarily, Darkseid is considered to be one of the most evil ...
beyond death." It's clear from their battle that Doomsday is the ultimate world-ending threat of DC's universe, given that he is easily able to defeat and nearly kill Darkseid. However, it must be noted that throughout history comic book villains vary in terms of power.
Without his weapons or his gauntlet, thanos is really just a big purple alien. Now, if they fight WITH weapons, then it's a little more interesting. After all, Thanos could literally snap his fingers and darkseid would just disappear.
Darkseid reigns. Thanos is no match for the full threat of Darkseid. To Darkseid, Thanos is just another alien playing at god while he stands as a genuine article. At best, Darkseid would look at Thanos as a possible war-hound for his own army.
The Anti-Monitor. The Anti-Monitor is the only thing in the DCU that could be more powerful and more dangerous than Darkseid. The giant, universe eating Galactus rip-off — look, Thanos is a Darkseid rip-off, it happens — is responsible for the deaths of Supergirl (very sad) and Barry Allen (less sad, Wally's cooler).
Marvel has several Superman analogs, and the most powerful is Hyperion. There have been several versions of Hyperion over the years, but the most formidable is the one who joined the Avengers and helped them battle against threats like Thanos and the Beyonders. That Hyperion would be able to defeat Darkseid.
One of the alien New Gods, Darkseid is one of the most feared and powerful beings in the galaxy, as well as the authoritarian overlord of Apokolips. But even with all the destruction and terror that he's brought the Justice League and the world — Earth included — Batman has managed to defeat him more than once.
However, facing DC's ultimate evil in its final form, Superman identifies that Darkseid's non-corporeal essence exists as a frequency, shattering it by producing a sound that counters the vibration and finally destroys Darkseid (this being comics, the ultimate villain would later return, but only due to the total ...
He has superhuman speed and strength, and once fought Zeus to a standstill. Thor would certainly be thwarted by Darkseid. This fearsome villain would be able to drain the lifeforce from him, and even his godly weaponry doesn't seem like it could withstand Darkseid's Omega Beams.
Darkseid dies in the fight as his minion Desaad cries out to his dead master. However, Darkseid's defeat in the fight by Black Adam isn't as it seems. Teth-Adam admits that Darkseid could never be so easily defeated as such a decisive win is impossible.
Galactus proved more than a match for Darkseid - who had ample opportunity to utilize his greatest powers and even try to turn the Silver Surfer to his will - and the Devourer of Worlds only spared his foe once it became clear that he had nothing to gain by continuing their conflict.
Few characters can stand against him, with only a few being so brave and some being very foolish. While the MCU Hulk was not able to defeat Thanos, his comic book counterparts pose a better chance to make an even fight particularly if Thanos does not wield the Infinity Gauntlet.
Thor. Can Thor beat Thanos? In the MCU he certainly would have, if only he had aimed for the head. The Asgardian Son of Odin was extremely close to ending Thanos at the end of Avengers: Infinity War.
On a normal day, Zeus would wreck Thanos, but he is never winning while Thanos has the Infinity Gauntlet. Thanos using it makes him the strongest being in the Marvel universe. To recap, Thanos using the Infinity Gauntlet killed half the living things in the universe with a thought.
