Marvel Power Hierarchy - Part 1: Chaos King
By KrleAvenger 41 Comments
Hello Comic Vine Community and welcome to my first Marvel Power Hierarchy thread. This is the series that I will be working on for a while, where I'll be making respect threads for most well known and powerful Marvel characters who's powers are so wast, you can't describe them as being anything short of Omnipotent. Most of these threads will be about Cosmic Entities, but I'll also be focusing on Cosmic Cubes, Mystical Entities, Inter-Dimensional beings and Beyond Omega level mutants. Also to all my friends out there, I will do a redo of my Infinity Gauntlet and Celestials respect threads, just because I think those lack a lot of feats and contain some misinformation. Plus, I made them during the later days of my time as a newbie, but since they were so popular, I think they deserve a redo. Anyway, let's get into the topic at hand shall we? Enjoy reading.
Chaos King (Amatsu-Mikaboshi) - Destroyer of the Marvel Universe
"Proud Mother Gaea... still dreaming of creation? Return to my night."
Origin and History
As with all my respect threads, I'll bring up Chaos King's origin and history first, and I'll get into that in a minute, but before I do, I'll actually let you take a look at official bio/entry of Japanese Gods/Amatsu-Kami, taken from the pages of All New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #1 (2007):
As you can see, Amatsu Mikaboshi was Japanese God of Evil known as the shapechanger, who eventually came into a possession of Kusanagi sword, and used it to conquer Japanese underworld Yomi and it's demons, killing many Kami and absorbing their power. He tried to take control of the Olympus by using Ares' son Alexander Aaron as his ally, trying to make him believe Alex has to kill his father for lying him for not telling Alex that he was a God, especially a God of War (scans from Ares' own mini series will be posted on this respect thread). After a war that lasted for few years, Alexander came back to his father, and Mikaboshi was defeated by the combined efforts of Japanese Gods and Olympian Gods.
This handbook came out before Mikaboshi's return during Pak's Incredible Hercules run and the start of a crossover event he is known for (although still pretty obscured), Chaos War, which is the reason why it says it is unknown what happened to him. For a more recent bio (from 2009) on the character, this time the one that came out after Pak's run (albeit still Pre-Chaos War), I'll site Thor & The Incredible Hercules Encyclopedia Mythologica One-Shot:
This bio states pretty much the same thing. However, it also states that Mikaboshi was actually exiled to Yomi by the Kami when he failed to take over their pantheon, instead of taking it over himself. It also brings up his contribution to the plot of Pak's Hercules run during Secret Invasion, where he was chosen by Izanagi to represent Shinto Gods due to his shape-shifting abilities, but also to give him a chance to redeem himself. He joined the God Squad (composed of Hercules, Amadeus Cho, Snowbird, Atum the God Eater and himself) and faced the Skrull Gods. It appeared as he was killed in action, but he was actually the one who defeated Sl'gur't instead of the other way around, relying on his shape-shifting abilities to trick everyone, and started his quest on killing all the Gods and destroying their pantheons (scans from Pak's run will be posted on this respect thread).
Aside from these two additions, this bio also provides us with more info on Mikaboshi's origin. It actually states that before Japanese Gods existed, and when Izanagi and Izanami were the only ones that existed, they entered into a world composed of nothing but Primordial Darkness and Void that Mikaboshi embodied, and started to populate the world. I'll provide another bio that states pretty much the same thing plus few other things you might find interesting (they classified him as magical being who operates on Universal scope). The bio is taken from pages of The Heroic Age: Villains book (from 2010-2011):
However, this origin was retconned yet again, when it was explained during the Chaos War that Mikaboshi is actually a being that embodies all that was/wasn't before creation itself, opposite of Eternity, making him way more than a mere God but the Cosmic Entity (scans will be posted later of course). But when everything came to be, his powers and his being were weakened, put on the level and status of just one God of Evil of Japanese pantheon, and his true form as Chaos King can not be unlocked unless the creation, or at least a big part of it, come to an end (again, scans will come).
This could make a lot of confusion between fans. If Chaos King was the opposite of Eternity and represents nothing that was/wasn't before the creation, where does Oblivion come to play and how does he contribute to the status of Marvel's Abstract Entity? This was actually explained (kinda, not really) in the Mighty Thor Annual Vol. 1 #1 (Post-Chaos War) by Oblivion himself, who stated that Chaos King is not him, but just one aspect of "the infinity" that Oblivion is.
Quite the statement of power and status as an entity. However, a lot of things still don't make sense even after this "explanation". Since I'm going off topic here, I'll provide my thoughts on this below, so click on the spoiler block if you want to read or talk about it later. If not, move on.
Powers and Abilities
I don't think there's the point of listing his powers and abilities. At his weakest he is literally a Skyfather both status wise and feat wise, and at his strongest, he is an Abstract entity (again, both status wise and feat wise). And both of those tiers usually consistent of characters who have pretty much every super power with the only limit being beings that just exist on another level. As Multiversal entity, there is literally nothing Chaos King can't do, but since he is actually one of those characters who showed a lot of on-panel feats and set of abilities aside from just being extremely powerful and Nigh-Omnipotent, I will list all the powers he has had during Chaos War and prior to those events (not gonna list those he never relied on but has them based on common sense, like time manipulation)
- Genius Level Intellect
- Master Manipulator
- Shape-shifting
- Shadow Duplication
- Darkness Manipulation
- Destruction/Erasing
- Magical Energy Manipulation
- Power Absorption and Copying
- Empowerment
- Possession and Mind Control
- Dream & Nightmare Manipulation
- Life and Death/Soul Manipulation
- Space & Dimensional Manipulation
- Reality Alteration
- Matter Manipulation
- Energy Manipulation
- Teleportation
- Infinite Strength
- Absolute Invulnerability
- Immortality & Infinity
There are probably few other powers he used on-panel, but those are pretty much irrelevant since he (logically) is capable of preforming any feat that isn't beyond the capabilities of top tier Cosmic Entities of the Marvel Universe. Now, there's been enough delaying. Let's get into one thing everyone who clicked on this thread was waiting for...
Feats & On-Panel Showings + Statements of Power and Status
Because he is a Cosmic Entity, and his feats are all over the place, I won't separate them in multiple sections based on categories like damage output, versatility, durability and all that. Instead, I'll just add issue number/name and post scans from time issue while providing context and explanation at the same time (similar to this thread).
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Thor: Blood Oath #5-6: Mikaboshi send his army of Demons to take the Grasscutter Sword from the Temple. They were able to overwhelm the Japanese army, until Thor and the Warriors Three overpowered them and came to a possession of the sword themselves, which was given to him by Ghosts of the Grasscutter, the guardians of the sword and spirits of beings enslaved by it.
Ares #2: When Mikaboshi and his army attacked Olympus, Zeus wanted his son Ares to guide them in battle. But since he had no interest in Olympus anymore, Zeus forced his hand by kidnapping Ares' son, Alex and make him guide them in a war with Mikaboshi. However, by the time he came to Olympus, it was already too late. Not only Mikaboshi left the pantheon in ruins. He also took Ares' son. While the rest of his demons were defeated with the aid of Ares, but the situation was so desperate, to the point that the Almighty Zeus, who's power rivals that of Odin, begged his son for forgiveness and help on his knees, something he has never done to any mortal or God.
To make things even more impressive, even before the battle reached it's climax, Zeus stated that Eastern Gods who attacked him deserve his respect, since no one save Hades came close to destroying Olympus as Mikaboshi's army did. On top of it, his goal during this battle wasn't even to destroy Olympus itself. Just kidnap Alexander.
Later it has been revealed that Mikaboshi's plan was to turn Alexander into a New God of War by killing his father Ares, and manipulate him into destroying Greek pantheon. Mikaboshi also described it as "the endlessness of creation that awaits his hand". On top of that, we see some Japanese deities kneeling before him.
Later on, Mikaboshi took the form of female Kami to appear harmless to Alexander. He gave him a special type of drink that not only made him see the truth of his father being the God of War, but also represent him as a villain in Alex's eyes in order to make them enemies. He also put him to sleep afterwards.
This also shows Mikaboshi's incredible manipulating skills. Aside from the fact that he out Alexander to his side while making himself look harmless, he also manipulated the Olympians into believing they need Ares in order to defend themselves from his army, which is the reason why he attacked. Knowing that Ares has no interest in helping them, he expected him to kidnap Alex and force Ares to come out, allowing Mikaboshi to find Alexander because he knows his location now (Olympus) and then use him by turning him into a New God of War.
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Ares #3: While explaining what happened to Ares, Hercules stated that Mikaboshi started a civil war between Japanese Gods, seizing power, which shows how intelligent and manipulative he is. He also stated that Mikaboshi's army has the ability to transport themselves to any location, allowing them to strike instantly without notice, which they did. It was also stated that many heroes died in battle, including Oddysseus. Achilles also explains what Mikaboshi is and what he is capable of (for the record, he tore Achilles' face apart and left him with a scar, and he is known for being invulnerable). Ironically, during their conversation, Mikaboshi's demons attacked Olympus yet again.
Meanwhile in Yomi, Mikaboshi finally convinced Alex that his father is evil and that he has to become new God of War. There are three scans prior to the first one below where he showed Alex fake or over exaggerated images of his father Ares killing people. If you want to see them, read the issue yourself.
Not sure if this is worth mentioning, but one of Mikaboshi's fodder demons showed the ability to project a blue flame which forges blue, meteor-like object he can use to take down multiple enemies.
Ares #4: As the fight progressed, Mikaboshi allowed Alex to come to the scene for Zeus to meet him and try to bring him to his father. When he hugged his grandfather, Alexander turned into child-like version of Mikaboshi and stabbed Zeus, defeating him (this was actually shown at the end of previous issue on this scan, although there is a possibility that this was just a part of Mikaboshi changing it's appearance instead of Alex himself, take your pick). When Hercules came to the scene, he noticed that Zeus is indeed down and that his body is covered in strange black marks. When Alex was ready to fight, Mikaboshi put him to sleep and transformed into something similar to his true form as the Chaos King. He used it to battle Hercules and Ares by creating tendrils, until he escaped. Ares stated that Mikaboshi wasn't trying to kill them. When they tried to heal Zeus, even Asklepios wasn't able to recognize his wounds, and Hera stated that Zeus lingers between Life and Death.
Inari stated that almost all of the Japanese Gods either died or are dying because of Chaos King, which only few of them surviving. He also stated that Mikaboshi's touche crushed your soul before delivering a death blow, after also stating that his bloody fingers reached their heavens as well while pointing that Hercules' wound.
When Olympians started a war with Mikaboshi, it took them five years for it to reach it's climax and face Mikaboshi and his army inside Yomi, Japanese Hell.
It has also been revealed that Mikaboshi was finally in possession of the Grasscutter Sword.
Ares #5: One of the most impressive showing of Mikaboshi as Kami. He turns into a flame that counters Ares' attack, slamming him into the ground which unleashed more energy. While his demons fight Olympians, Mikaboshi transported Alex to the battle field who started to fight Ares. His demons appear to be too much even for the mighty Zeus, since he wasn't able to even stagger them with his fully powered lightning. When Hercules tried to help Ares, Mikaboshi turned into a dragon, which led Zeus to believe that this may be their final battle. In the form of a dragon Mikaboshi no sold flames of Appolo and proceeded to one shot him. While his demons distract Hercules, Zeus continues to fight but gets hit by Mikaboshi's flames. As Alex gets the best of Ares, Mikaboshi tells him to kill him, and he responds by stabbing Ares, and Hercules already has a hard time with demons. Zeus is furious and won't allow his sons to die, so he unleashes his full power, negating the effects of Mikaboshi's flames. It all appears to be futile tho, since Mikaboshi ends the fight by ripping Zeus' heart out of his chest with absolute ease (although he had enough power to free Alex from Mikaboshi's control. At the end, the combined power of Olympic and Japanese Gods was enough to overpower Mikaboshi.
For the sake of info, here are statements from narrators that confirm they were inside Yomi (Japanese Hell).
And for impressive showing of durability, after he killed Zeus but before the Japanese Gods arrived, Mikaboshi survives an attack from Alexander Aaron using the Grasscutter Sword, which is capable of killing Gods.
The Incredible Hercules #117: When Mikaboshi was chosen to help Hercules fight Skrull Gods, he was stated to be the most skilled shape-shifter out of all the Japanese Gods. Afterwards, he tanked Hercules' punch with pretty much no difficulty. He was also going toe-to-toe with Snowbird in bear form for few seconds.
The Incredible Hercules #118: This part mostly contains statements of power only. During their travels, Hercules stated that they have nothing to fear since they allied themselves with someone like Mikaboshi, Japanese God of Evil (and Atum the God Eater). Hercules refers to him as the murderer of his father, and Amadeus Cho, with probably the most calculating mind on the planet stated that Mikaboshi is the one they have to keep an eye on the most. Quite the statement of power considering the fact that they have someone like Atum on their team, a being who's power surpassed the Gods and who's purpose is to kill and eat them. The same being who's responsible for deaths of billions of Elder Gods.
Mikaboshi also contributed a lot to their fight with Nightmare's forces, thanks to his ability to create shadow copies of himself while the real him was able to find the map of Dreamtime.
When Nightmare made the God Squad experience their true nightmares, Mikaboshi experienced the fact that there is still creation. While all the living things fear Armageddon, he fears one and only Eternity, the most powerful Abstract entity that represents all that is (essentially a Marvel Universe/Multiverse in physical form).
The Incredible Hercules #119: Mikaboshi fought alongside the God Squad against numerous unnamed extraterrestrial gods from the 978 Alien Pantheons enslaved by the Skrulls and they held their own pretty well.
And when one extremely big God with a big jaw tried to consume them, Mikaboshi was one of the people who helped the God's jaw from crushing them. Unquantifiable feat but it is still there.
The Incredible Hercules #120: Mikaboshi faced Sl'gur't, a god with immeasurable power even beyond that of an average Skyfather. At the start of the fight, Sl'gur't made himself look like Mikaboshi (or it was Mikaboshi's doing). After the first panel that focused on their fight again, Sl'gur't went back to his original form and curbstomped and killed Mikaboshi with absolute ease. At least that's what we thought was happening. As revealed at the end of the issue, it was Mikaboshi who killed Sl'gur't. He just took his form and killed him while he was in Mikaboshi's form (again, whether it was Sl'gur't changing his form for some reason and Mikaboshi just took the advantage of it or if it was Mikaboshi's plan all along so it was he who made Sl'gur't look like himself is debatable). Not only this is incredible feat of power (killing a Skyfather level being with ease), but it once again shows Mikaboshi's intelligence and manipulative skills. Later when he revealed himself, he killed the rest of Skrull Gods and absorbed their power, declaring war against the pantheons by allowing slaves to join him. He also stated that he is free of the Kami, so there is a possibility that even during this point in time, Mikaboshi was turning into the entity that is his true form, the Chaos King.
The Incredible Hercules #137: It has been stated that the great Primordial Darkness that is the Chaos King will come to engulf "our" world and that strength alone won't be able to stop him. It also requires a new champion with the powerful mind (of course, they are talking about Amadeus Cho, the Prince of Power). The panel also shows Chaos King's new army composed of former slaves that belonged to now deceased Skrull Gods.
Secret Warriors #10: In the flashback sequence we see both the Old Gods and Mikaboshi telling the forger Blacksmith to make him/them a weapon that will allow them to win the war. He made the perfect one for Mikaboshi and the one flawed for the Old Gods. It showed the battle between Mikaboshi's demons and Gods, stating that many Gods have died only to be reborn, and that they fought from one millennium to the next. For the record, on the first scan, it was stated that Mikaboshi is older than the Old Gods.
The Heroic Age: Prime of Power #2: Skyfathers referenced the possibility of Chaos King killing them all.
The Heroic Age: Prime of Power #4: The last scan shows Chaos King with his army of Gods, Demons and other beings being on his side while tearing through space and time while approaching the Earth. The last panel states that the Chaos War event (or Chaos King himself) is bigger than the Infinity Gauntlet and more cosmic than Annihilation. And this is not a hyperbole since they were talking about the scale of events, not power. Chaos King is obviously leagues below the Infinity Gauntlet. It's just that the destruction the Chaos King caused (or will cause since we haven't gotten there on this thread) is on greater scale than the one Thanos caused with Infinity Gems. Enough rambling, here's the scan.
The Incredible Hercules vs The Amazing Spider-man: Assault on New Olympus #1: Nothing spectacular. Just that Shi'Ar Gods/Skyfathers were getting absolutely murdered by Chaos King, with like zero effort.
This issue also references the death of almighty Zeus by Mikaboshi's hand (he was way less powerful at the time), on panel (he also no solds bullets from Ares' guns, the feat is not worth mentioning at all, but it is still there).
Hera mentions the prophecy of the Chaos King, the nothingness that was there before the Gods coming to destroy them (obviously she is right, once you take a look at all the previous scans on this thread). She also stated that Japanese gave him a name "Amatsu-Mikaboshi". This proves that that is not his original name, but rather a name the Japanese Gods (or mortals) gave him when his true form was no more and he was nothing but a mere God.
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Well, that was something. It's like this guy wasn't already powerful enough. But now we are getting into the big stuff, because every scan posted below this section is from the event called Chaos War, when Mikaboshi finally unlocked his full power and truly became the Chaos King, preforming top tier Abstract level feats. Let's get into it.
Disclaimer: Not all scans from Chaos War are scans with Mikaboshi as Chaos King. You will know the difference when you take a look at his appearance. When he has his kimono and a mask, he is in his God/Kami form, but when he looks like black, fiend-like entity, he is truly the Chaos King (although they called/will call him the Chaos King even when he was in his Kami form).
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Chaos War #1: Mikaboshi/Chaos King killed one of the most powerful Fear Lords, Nightmare (I think it has been stated that Fear Lords are way more powerful than Hell-Lords and even Skyfathers, but I can't confirm this so don't take my word for it), by ripping his heart out of his chest and then destroying the heart with absolute ease. This event lead to Doctor Voodoo (the Sorcerer of Supreme at the time) and telepaths to feel something unusual, which Emma Frost describes as "something shifting or breaking", and Bob Grayson describes it as "a single horrific howl followed by clarion loud enough to wake god himself".
Skyfather Hercules describe Mikaboshi/Chaos King (calling him the "August Star of Heaven" this time) as the greatest threat the Multiverse has ever seen. Obviously this is an over exaggeration but the fact that he used the term "multiverse" instead of "universe" kinda speaks for itself.
Not even the All-Seeing Eye of Agamotto can't sense Mikaboshi's presence.
This scan explains who/what Mikaboshi is better than anything I posted on this thread prior to this one.
Opens a portal to Earth from Nightmare's realm and demons that serve him (or Chaos King now) can be seen on the other side. Skyfather Hercules gives all the other heroes a portion of his power, making them powerful enough to overpower them. But when Earth's God Heroes came to the scene, they saw nothing but Lord Nightmare, dead. Once they turned backwards, they have realized that Chaos King stole Nightmare's powers, allowing him to affect the mind of every mortal mind he touches. Doesn't seem that easy, but considering the fact that he just created tendrils all around the planet that he can twist and manipulate, he accomplished that feat quite easily.
On the sign out section of the comic, it has been stated that Chaos King actually crossed the galaxy during his quest to end all things. This means that not only it took him only few weeks/months to kill all the pantheons of Gods and Skyfathers that exist, he also crossed hundreds of thousands of light years. Pretty capable guy.
Chaos War #2:
As later, aside from the Gods (and Amadeus Cho, since he's the Prince of Power), every mortal mind has been affected by Mikaboshi/Chaos King using Lord Nightmare's powers, including Cho's girlfriend Delphyne. Not even Venus could wake them up, and she took Silver Surfer down with her powers during this same issue. It's not like this was enough however. Mikaboshi proceed by projecting more tendrils across the planet to attack the plane full of people, as well as other humans across the planet. Not good to be in a sleep-coma, considering the fact that some of them are in the meddle of surgery. According to Amadeus, at least 32,451 were about to die. Hercules was able to prevent it by freezing time using his All-Father powers.
According to Cho, none of these people are actually dead. They are just in the form of suspended animation.
The situation was so dire, to the point that Hercules decides to, out of all the people, summon Eternity, the Abstract Entity that embodies life, time, space and all of reality and the Multiverse. He is essentially the Marvel Universe in physical form. In shows how dangerous Mikaboshi is for someone like Hercules, who reaches the status of the most powerful Skyfather of all time, summon this Nigh Omnipotent Entity and ask it for help. Unfortunately, the Eternity can't help Hercules because him and Chaos King are the opposites. Chaos King is Darkness and Chaos that existed before the existence itself. The Anti-God. The void of which Eternity is defined. They walk hand in hand. If Eternity fights him, he fights himself. Hercules also states that Eternity will cease to exist if Chaos King wins, something Eternity confirms himself with a smirk. This would actually mean that Eternity and Chaos King have "two sides of the same coin" type of connection. The one is everything that is and the other one is everything that was/wasn't before everything was. This could also imply that the Chaos King is equally as powerful as Eternity, making him Multiversal level being. Not to mention that after Eternity refused to help them. Amadeus suggested they summon Infinity (another top tier Cosmic Entity) and even the Living Tribunal (the ultimate authority in the Marvel Universe after The One Above All) and ask them for help.
In this same issue, Mikaboshi proved to be so dangerous, even Hela, the Hell-Lord of the Asgardian realm traveled to the Realm of Hades to warn him of Mikaboshi's intention to destroy all the realms of the dead, using his Alien and God slaves. This led to Hades teaming up with his enemies, Zeus and Ares. Their efforts appeared to be futile however, sine Mikaboshi killed Zeus with absolute ease yet again, finally revealing himself as the Chaos King.
Thor stated that Chaos King is a threat to Galactus' entire food supply, as well as all of the planets and universes and all of reality itself. I like the fact that he used the term "universes".
Even after trying yet again, Venus failed to wake Delphyne up.
It looked like the situation couldn't get any worse. Well, Daimon Hellstrom came to the scene to tell them that his father has fallen and that Chaos King conquered the underworld. Death itself has fled the Earth's realm. Literally, according to Daimon. This means that the Chaos King literally made one of top tier cosmic entities, leave the Earth's realm. This is the same entity of Death that one-shotted all of the Outer Gods/The Many Angled Ones plus Shuma Gorath and their entire army of the Cancerverse, which was almost too much for Galactus and the Celestials. On top of all that, Chaos King now has control over life and death, allowing him to resurrect Zeus, Hera and Ares, among many other souls that left the land of the living, and take control of them.
It's also worth nothing that the Chaos King does not get butthurt over Amadeus provoking him on twitter.
Chaos War #3:
Apparently, Amaterasu is too afraid to fight the Chaos King despite the fact that they have entire pantheons of Gods by their side, not just Japanese ones but all of them. Also, Balder references events from the previous issue.
Meanwhile, Ares, Zeus and Hera face the New God Squad in their undead, resurrected forms. The reason why is because they are under Chaos King's control, something Hera confirmed while fighting them.
Not only that, but Chaos King actually increased their power (this was actually confirmed by the writer of the story, Greg Pak, but I couldn't find the link to the interview so you'll have to take my word for it, or not LOL). This is more evident by the fact that Zeus, a Skyfather, punched Galactus in the face, who responded by firing an energy blast, trying to kill Zeus. But Zeus did not even feel it, and Galactus claimed that no mere Skyfather could easily shrug off the power of Galactus, and was actually surprised. Zeus then used his fully powered lightning to knock Galactus out for a minute or two (Ares and Hera also tanked Galactus' blasts).
Despite this, Hercules still had enough power to defeat Zeus. When Zeus told him that he has to warn other pantheons to fight alongside them, he used his omniscience to make a connection between Earth's realm and realms of Gods. However, this was Chaos King's plan all along, because he stored himself, and his entire army inside Zeus' body. This allowed him to figure out where the other pantheons are hidden, so he could kill them. He started warping space and tearing through Zeus' body, and not even Hercules could stop him.
Finally, with his army of demons, Chaos King easily killed every single non Asgardian and Olympian God that exists and destroyed their dimension in seconds (again, with the assistance of his slaves). Nobody could stop him, not even the God Squad and not even Galactus himself. He ran numerous tests and came to various conclusions and scenarios, but at the end, Amadeus Cho stated that the Chaos King can't be defeated.
Moments later, Chaos King's entire army of God and Alien slaves is seen right next to him, who's so big now, he makes Galactus look like an ant, and is arguably as big as the Solar System. Not only that, but the entire Universe looks black and stars have no colors. This would imply that the Chaos King consumed almost all of reality, turning it into Darkness and pure void. He also makes the star disappear with a single touche of his tendrils. Planets start appearing on his chest just like with Eternity, and Chaos King states that he "lost them in his vastness" (of course, it doesn't mean he meant planets when he said "them", he was probably talking about, well, everything).
Chaos War: Chaos King #1:
Chronologically, this comic takes place before and during the events of the first issue of Chaos War story. But because this one came out later, I decided to bring it up later (or now if you will). Now, this issue is full of various statements on Chaos King's power and him as a being. However, if I would post everything from this issue that is worth mentioning in my opinion, I would post 25+ scans, and obviously, I'm not gonna do that. You'll have to read the issue yourself. However, I'll post scans of Chaos King easily killing Gods of Zen-La, beating matter/reality manipulator Impossible Man with ease and destroying Hell and killing Hell-Lords (even the devil himself). After the third scan, we see a scan with Chaos King warping space and taking control of the dead and approaching the Earth (for the record, fights against gods of Zen-La, Impossible Man and Hell-Lords are not short fights).
Chaos War: Alpha Flight #1:
Chaos King kills one of the Inuit Gods, Snowbird's mother Nelvanna, Goddess of Northern Skies. Also, this comic describes the Chaos King as gash of torn fabric that makes up the multitude of realms that has taken form. An abomination that stands outside of life and death. An ancient evil with a hunger to consume all things.
It also decribes him as darkness that cannot be stopped. It also points out that he has gained dominion over the Council of Godheads and access to every realm (he is also destroying entire pantheons). On top of that, it has been stated that Death itself has fled Earth's realm.
Snowbird also explained what Chaos King is and what he is doing. He also appears to be sending armies of demons and gods from mouth of some skull created from the clouds, to attack the Alpha Flight team.
Alpha Flight also fought the Great Beasts, extra dimensional beings with extreme amount of power. Since they couldn't defeat them, they decided to let Chaos King do it, since he can kill Gods themselves with ease.
Once the thread was finally taken care of and Shaman stopped holding their spirits in the mortal realm and let go, the deceased members of the Alpha Flight were still alive. This confirms that Death is lost to them.
Chaos War: God Squad #1:
The first few pages of this comic retell the story of issue #3 from non tie-in parts of the story, where Chaos King easily kills Amaterasu and Amadeus saying that he ran all the numbers and came to a conclusion that Chaos King cannot be defeated. Silver Surfer also describes Galactus as the force of nature in this issue, while comparing him to Chaos King, who's very existence defies every law of the Universe, and he will not stop until all of reality is consumed. The end of all that is. The Entropy. The Oblivion. The Darkness (on the panel that comes out after the third scan). He also almost destroyed the force field created by Silver Surfer, Sersi and Daimon Hellstrom.
His attack apparently teleported the God Squad to some kind of tunnel between realities. It also appears as tho Chaos King prevented Inari from sending Amaterasu a message. As they walk, they see destroyed pantheons, making Venus ask herself what chance does the God Squad have if Chaos king can send heaven itself spiraling into the void. Surfer also states that the only reason why they were able to survive Chaos King's attack is because he was focusing on Gods themselves and their followers, not those in between.
This was already confirmed during issue #3 by both Hellstrom and what we have seen on panel, but this issue also states that the Chaos King becomes more powerful with every pantheon he destroys.
This was stated by Tsukuyomi, a Kami who the God Squad visited to ask for help in a fight with Chaos King. Unfortunately for them, Chaos King already destroyed their pantheon and killed all of Kami, making them a part of him, and therefor, using his powers over life and death to bring them back under his control, as you can see below with Inari and Amaterasu.
During the fight with Chaos King-possessed Amaterasu, Silver Surfer and the rest of the God Squad feel the darkness over them. Surfer states that he is at peace for a moment. He sees the world without stars and planets, only the void. The world without anything, even Galactus, an Abstract entity who's purpose is to survive the end of the Universe and see the creation of next one (I'm not sure whether this is because Amaterasu was about to kill them, or they were just affected by Chaos King's powers, or maybe just mind-controlled).
For some reason, it appears as tho Chaos King has complete control over Kami, including Amaterasu, based on her dialogue and behavior. Unlike with Olympian Gods however, who still had their original personalities, thoughts and will. They just did not have control over their bodies, souls and powers.
And he also has control over some samurais and dragons. I'm not that familiar with Japanese history, culture and mythology, so I'm not 100% sure what all of these creatures are...
...but apparently they are powerful enough to wreck the Panther Goddess and the Protector of Wakanda, Bast, in just few minutes (although it could be argued that the Chaos King increased their power, just like he does with everybody under his control, which again, was confirmed by Pak and things seen on-panel).
Chaos War: Ares #1:
Introductory section of this issue states that Chaos King is destroying reality at higher realm of time. The first one to fall was the dream dimension, and next one is hell. I apologize for posting multiple scans that say the same thing we heard a bunch of times, but a handful of those statements are different, and I think they are overall more valuable asset in debates and/or overall knowledge on the character who's an Abstract Entity.
Ares also stated that Chaos King foresaw everything that is currently happening to him (like his death under Sentry's hands, him being captured by Pluto and send to Hades' realm, getting warned by Hela of Chaos King's return and him resurrecting Ares to lead them in a fight against his slaves) ever since he kidnapped his son, which happened years ago. Shows how intelligent and manipulative Chaos King is.
Taking a look at flashback from this issue a little bit, we see the first fight between Ares, Chaos King as Amatsu-Mikaboshi and Nightmare, the Fear Lord. Decent fight. Still shows how powerful he was even as a mere God.
This issue also have two pages that retell the story of issue #2, where Hela warns Pluto of Chaos King's comming and then Ares leads Olympians in a fight that is concluded with Zeus getting curbstomped. I'm not gonna show these scans because I think they are completely unnecessary (although these also show Chaos King casually blocking Zeus' lightning at point blank range) so read the issue yourself if you want to see them. I will however, show you the fight between Ares and Chaos King, where the God of War was curbstomped and killed by Chaos King's deadly fingers ad turning Ares into another one of his God Slaves along with the rest of the Olympians (this time however, Chaos King was as bulky as Venom for some reason, instead of looking more like Carnage).
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It was also confirmed that he actually destroyed both the dream dimension and the underworld in introduction section. Although I'm not gonna provide citation right now because various comics have this same intro section. The reason why I'm bringing this up is because I don't think it was stated on panel that he actually destroyed the Dream Dimension. That he just took control of it (although everything he destroys becomes part of it as stated by Daimon Hellstrom on the scans above so it actually makes sense, this panel just confirms it).
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Chaos War: Thor #1:
There is not much to say about this issue. Chaos King is barely even mentioned in it, and was never introduced on panel. However, one of the first panels of the issue brings up Chaos King's crusade against creation itself. It also shows the opponent that Thor faced in this issue, the Glory, a physical embodiment of all pantheons of Gods in the Marvel Universe. This creature is literally all Gods and their dimensions, which Chaos King let loose on one of the scans I posted above, when he destroyed the pantheons. The fact that Chaos King is in control of a being like this only proves how ridiculous he is.
Chaos War: Thor #2:
And yes, Glory was indeed Chaos King's servant. This was confirmed on next issue's introduction section.
And since Thor damaged Glory during the previous issue, making it a former shadow of it's former self by redirecting it's own blast with Mjolnir, Chaos King was responsible for it's returnm, claiming it was born again in Chaos King;s power, and that even during their fight, he revives Glory ("us" stands for Gods and pantheons it embodies), making it become bigger and bigger. It also describes the Chaos King as the Lord of Void.
When Thor finally defeated Glory (thanks to God/Creator himself getting involved, or TOAA if you will), Thor stated that he could still feel him. He's not gone, just folded into Chaos King's being and that he will rise again. This means that all beings that are either resurrected or are under Chaos King's control can't be truly defeated.
Chaos War: Dead Avengers #1:
Chaos King's actions also brought Grim Reaper back to life, who resurrected various dead Avengers, including everybody's favorite dead superhero, the original Captain Marvel, Mar-Vell. Now the scan below has Mar-Vell explaining what is happening to the Universe, thanks to his Cosmic Awareness. Now, I'll apologize for this, but the only version of this issue that I could find online was in Spanish. However, I don't speak Spanish. Still, I was able to find out what Mar-Vell said by looking at my trade, in English (I didn't use Google Translate), and I quote:
"The Universe speaks to me. Or rather... she cries out. The Chaos that proceeded her has returned, and seeks to make itself the only thing in existence again... by annihilating all other dimensions, including the afterlives."
In this issue, Chaos King was also in control of some fiends that apparently have the ability to disintegrate people (or matter if you will). Nothing worth translating here. Plus, I think you can figure out what Swordsman said.
The Grim Reaper was also resurrected and he said something worth mentioning:
"You are here because I summoned you here. By the power of the Chaos King, to whom I have pledged eternal fealty as my lord and master, because I wanted all the Avengers, living and dead together...".
This would imply that Chaos King resurrected him, and probably increased his powers as well.
Chaos War: Dead Avengers #3:
Nothing worth mentioning happens during issue #2, but it does it this issue (nothing special tho). Basically, those demons who were attacking people were called minions of nothingness (this time in English).
Grim Reaper also stated that the power of the Chaos King surges through him. He probably amped his powers.
Chaos War: X-Men #1:
At the start of this issue, we see a lot of dead X-Men members and mutants (and Moira MacTaggart) coming back to life, although for whatever reason, they were not under the influence and control of the Chaos King. The Thunderbird also notices the sky with no clouds and no stars. He describes it being almost like the whole creation turning black. Esme and Sophie (sisters who happen to be mutants with telepathic abilities on par of those of Emma Frost) scanned the whole town and the country and either found nothing or everyone being unconscious or almost brain dead.
Also, in one of the older books written by Irene Adler, it mentions a chaos that probably refers to the Chaos King. Like a prophecy. It also mentions The One Above All himself, who will rouse from his sleep. While not a lot of detail has been provided as to what the One Above All has to do with any of this, there is a possibility that he was involved in stopping the Chaos King somehow. It might as well be mention God saving Thor from the Glory and helping him defeat it, but it could also mean something else. Maybe the X-Men were resurrected by TOAA instead.
Later, the X-Men were attacked by Native American God, the Carrion Crow, who also happens to be under the control of the Chaos King. He send his army of demon crows to attack the X-Men, and they gave the team a run for their money.
This same God later possessed Sophie.
Chaos War: X-Men #2:
There was a fight between Carrion Crow and the X-Men in the issue, but I'm not gonna post it because I don't think it is worth mentioning. What is worth mentioning however is that on introduction section of this issue, Carrion Crow was described as "Chaos King's Carrion Crow", confirming he was under Chaos King's control.
During this issue, Destiny (Irene Adler) who possessed Moira MaxTaggart's body explained who and what Chaos King is to the X-Men and what are his intentions. She also confirms that Carrion Crow is one of his slaves.
Even someone as arrogant as the Thunderbird admitted that Chaos King is way out of their league.
Destiny states that the Chaos King is for some reason, vulnerable on Earth. Probably because he was turned into a Japanese (so Earth's) God of Evil, Amatsu-Mikaboshi, the form that is nothing compared to his original self. And since the Earth is the last part that Chaos King was about to destroy, this actually makes sense, in a way. And there is a possibility that Earth's nature overall somehow effects him. After all, most of Marvel's Gods are connected to Earth, and Mother Gaea is the mother of all the Gods (aside from Outer Gods and older Elder Gods).
Chaos War #4:
Finally we can focus on the main part of the story once again. This issue gives us an idea of how powerful the Chaos King is exactly. But we'll get to that in a minute. Before that, I'll show you one of the very first panels of the issue, where we can see how the Earth looked after Chaos King's actions.
And then he kills Athena with absolute easy.
He also kicked Skyfather Hercules' ass off-panel (and later the God Squad). Also I think I should point out that Hercules was confirmed to be the most powerful Skyfather the world has ever seen in Herc Vol. 1 #6.1 in the flashback sequence that takes place way after the events of Chaos War (although there is a possibility of them referencing Hercules after he became the Ultimate God or something like that due to Gaea's knowledge and what not, which happened at the end of this issue). Anyway, here's the scan I actually talked about.
And now, here comes the big one. Amadeus Cho stated that Chaos King destroyed 98.76% of not a Universe, not Universe, but the entire Marvel Multiverse. This means that he wrecked most of Marvel's alternate realities and nobody could stop him. Not to mention how quick he was at doing that. It happened off-panel yes, but he couldn't do it as Mikaboshi, and he was too busy tricking Hercules into revealing him the location of the pantheons. So we can assume that he has done it in between the events of this issue and the previous issue. And since it has been stated multiple times (and seen on panel) that everything Chaos King destroys becomes part of him, it also means that everything that exists aside from less than 3% of it is not a part of him and his void of chaos.
And if that wasn't enough, he resurrected Athena as his slave. You could argue that she amped her powers to the point she was able to hurt Skyfather Hercules. But it was a sucker punch and she used a sharp weapon. He also summoned a lot of demons (including Hulk's old friend and enemy Miek) to try and prevent Galactus from building a machine that will teleport the planet Earth into a pocket dimension created by Hera that Chaos King does not have access to. They even destroyed Galactus' Punisher robot with zero effort, something only Thanos could accomplish with such ease. They also gave Amadeus Cho with Banner tech a hard time.
Finally, the Chaos King finally gets his hands on the planet Earth itself, tearing through Mother Gaea's flesh. The end of creation is at hand (I skipped few scans, and most of the ones I posted are obviously cropped).
At the end of this issue, Gaea turned Hercules into a super god of some sort, who casually one-shotted Athena. I'm not gonna post those scans but I want to point that out because Chaos King will fight him. And you need and explanation as to why Hercules will be so big next issue and why he can go toe-to-toe against a guy who was humiliating him throughout the entire story. But until we get into the final issue of the story and the last appearance of the Chaos King, let's get into the Incredible Hulks issue that tie-in to this story.
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Incredible Hulks Vol. 1 #618:
The Hulk family returns to Earth. But Doctor Strange, the former Sorcerer of Supreme, uses his ability to project Astral Form to communicate with them. He warns them of the Chaos King, and tells them everything about what he is and what he has done (I'm not gonna repeat myself, sorry). When he asked Banner for help, Banner told him to go to hell. Strange replied by saying he is already there. When the Hulk Family finally reached the Earth, they see that it literally looks like it is gonna explode (that, or like the dimension of one of the Hell-Lords). Korg wasn't picking up any transmissions on the planet, and when the Hulks came to the scene, the entire city was burning. Even Lyla was wounded and unconscious. The Hulks tried to save as many people as they could, but the Earth suffered from a lot of damage, and everyone is put to sleep. Flashforward few panels, Rick states that Death itself has fled this dimension (on the second panel, he said "with capital D", meaning he was talking about the Cosmic Entity Death, not just death as a concept). This allowed Chaos King to control life, death and people's souls, something we were already aware of. What we didn't know until now however is that the Chaos King brought Abomination (Emil Blonsky) back to life, along with many other demons and fiends.
On top of that, he also increased his strength and power, which was noticed by A-Bomb (Rick Jones) and later confirmed by Blonsky himself, claiming that he master (Chaos King) "perfected him". He also gave him the ability to project green flames from his body that can hurt A-Bomb. Blonsky also fought the entire Hulk family in this comic, but I'm not gonna post that fight because apparently, it has something to do with the Hulk family being way to close to Rick's ex wife, who was a host for Lady/Mistress Death and still has had a portion of her power and essence, which allowed Blonsky to hurt them. Either way, he still tanked blows from Hulk without much trouble.
Incredible Hulks Vol. 1 #619:
Since Death has fled out dimension, Chaos King's agents are out to track her down and kill everyone on Earth.
And no, his agents are not just Abomination and some aliens, gods and demons. Oh no, Chaos King could manipulative magical energies on such a high scale, he was able to free Zom's essence from Doctor Strange, allowing him to possess the fallen Sorcerer of Supreme and become Chaos King's servant.
Doctor Strange also confirmed that Blonsky was dead few seconds ago. But he can still come back (which he did) due to Chaos King shattering doors of the underworld. Strange was about to stop Abomination from coming back, but Chaos King appeared and, you know the rest based on the scans provided.
Oh yeah, Chaos King's servants are capable of sensing/feeling/recognizing the entity of Death inside Marlo (Rick's ex-wife) and began chasing her. Also, she confirms yet again that people who are sleeping are still alive. Ironically, the actual dead ones are just walking around the street (not the point but it shows why the reality is messed up).
The Hulk family confronted Abomination and Zom (who actually attacked them first) . This time however, Chaos King has completely broken Strange's grip over Zom, meaning, there won't be holding back.
Zom apparently became stronger himself (probably because of the Chaos King, although it could be argued that he just unleashed more power, since Strange can't hold him back anymore), which allowed him to kick Hulk Family's ass with Abomination's help.
They never stomped them or even knocked them out, but they were kicking some ass. Betty's words, not mine.
So what do they do? Well, Marlo used her powers over life and death to bring their friends back to life, including Major Glenn Talbot (Betty's ex-husband), Jarella (the Queen of K'Al, another one of Hulk's ex-wifes), and Hiroim the Oldstrong (one of the deceased members of Hulk's Warbound). They were the only reason why the Hulk Family stood a chance against Zom (who was overpowered by two users of the Old Power, Hiroim and Skaar) and Abomination (who fought other Hulks and Talbot's army), who were actually overpowered at the end. However, Blonsky decided to steal their idea and bring more servants of the Chaos King to fight them. So he brings, one thing that can scare the Hulk. His deceased mother, and his father, who under the power of the Chaos King actually took the form of the monster Banner was afraid of as kid (that's the way he viewed his father, as a monster, but Chaos King literally turned him into that monster). Also, Blonsky and Zoom are riding some demon dragons, for some reason. Apparently they can't just teleport.
Incredible Hulks Vol. 1 #620:
Intro section in this comic confirmed that David is powered by Bruce's fears. It also confirms that Zom serves Chaos King instead of just being his ally, since he was stated to be his agent, along with the Abomination.
This comic also mentions things we were already aware of, like Death who fled out realm because of Chaos King, or him preparing for his final assault on existence itself, the Earth (something we have seen during issue #4).
So now, Bruce's father wrecks the entire Hulk Family, including Bruce himself. According to his mother and recently resurrected Doctor Samson, the dead gain strength based on how the living perceive them. A psychological truth turned metaphysical. All that rage that empowered Banner all those years ago, his father's been feeding on it for years. Then he breaths green fire out of his mouth which burns Hulk's skin. Hulk continues to fight, but the more he hates, the stronger his father gets. And he proceeds by creating two big holes in Hulk's stomach with his fingers, leaving him incapacitated.
The only reason why he was defeated is because Bruce gained power from another dead person he knows, except this time it was the power of love he felt for Jarella, who was able to hurt David with just one attack. Apparently those positive emotions are just as great/powerful as Bruce's rage. David was still screaming at them like a monster, but Bruce wasn't afraid at all, and he completely destroyed David just by breathing on him (I won't post these scans). For the record, David's flames were powerful enough to overwhelm Hulk's healing factor to a degree. At the end of the issue, his skin was still damaged.
Chaos War #5:
Finally, we are bringing the closure to this incredible and highly overlooked story arc, in a fight between the embodiment of nothing turned God, and then achieving his true form yet again wrecking havoc across the Marvel Multiverse, making even the baddest of the baddest villains like Hell-Lords support their enemies in a fight against seemingly Omnipotent Chaos King. Now we have it. The main protagonist and the main antagonist of the story, face to face with no distractions. Hercules was turned into a Super God. The most powerful deity the world has ever seen (read issue #4 if you want to see him going Ultra-Instinct). But will that be enough, or is it too late?
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Apparently it's the latter, because we see that the Chaos King absolutely dominated throughout the entire fight. He was punching, piercing and tearing through God Hercules with ease, and he was fine after the Super God slammed him into the ground (which somehow does not tear the planet Earth on sub-atomic level). The only hope is for Amadeus to decide who will be send to Hera's dimension along with the Earth. Amadeus didn't want to decide who lives and who dies, but Hercules was telling him to do something while being helpless against the Chaos King (scans are cropped, and I skipped the ones that do not show the actual fight, so again, you'll have to read the issue yourself if you want to see it). Galactus still spend some time activating the machine while using himself as the power source. Chaos King's slaves attacked while Chaos King pierced Hercules' eyes, and was about to kill him until Thor and Daimon Hellstrom attacked the entity with full force of their attacks, distracting him.
Somewhere in between those cropped scans I posted, Galactus and Amadeus Cho had a different plan in mind. Instead of transporting the Earth to Hera's dimension, they decided to teleport Chaos King there instead, since there is nothing inside, and he would accomplish his goal. Nothing but absolute nothingness. However, he had to be pushed there, and he was too busy fighting God Hercules. So Thor and Daimon jumped into, preventing the Chaos King from killing Hercules. Now that he has a moment, Hercules punches Chaos King in the jaw, throwing him backwards. The entity laughs at his attempt to protect the creation, and unleashes his so called "perfect darkness", completely changing his appearance, absorbing everything, including Galactus. But the machine was already activated, and he was pulled inside the dimension without even being aware of it. He takes over everything, ending the creation itself, leaving nothing but pure void. And now, "chaos is the king". Or so he thought. He was put inside the dimension Hera created. The Earth, it's inhabitants and and Hercules were all saved. But at what cost? A lot of people died. All the Gods and their pantheons died. Hell Lords died and the Underworlds have been destroyed. Death has fled our realm, most of Earth's popular are in coma like state, and almost 99% of the Multiverse ceased to exist.
What happens now? Well, the answer for that question actually explains how impressive Chaos King's showing against God Hercules is as well. After the fight, Hercules decided to give up his status as the All-Father and use his power to undo all the damage that has been done by the Chaos King, and recreate/bring back everything and everyone who was destroyed/killed by the Chaos King. All the Universes, all dimensions, Gods, Demons, pantheons, underworlds, Fear Lords, aliens, the structure of the Multiverse itself and almost 99% of it. All of it returned. On top of that, Hercules has done this after being almost beaten to death by someone more powerful than him. This means that the Chaos King was shitting on a god with Multiversal level of power.
To Summarize
Chaos King is one of the most powerful Marvel characters, being on par with top tier Cosmic Entities of the Marvel Universe like Eternity, Infinity, Death and Oblivion (apparently he is stronger than Death, although logically he should be below Oblivion). In truth, only three issues are enough to explain how powerful he is. He was compared to a Multiversal entity Eternity, he consumed almost 99% of the Multiverse in an instant, and he wrecked God Hercules who preformed Multiversal level feat while being extremely wounded. On top of all that, Chaos King is one of Marvel Villains who was never outright defeated. He faced almost the entire Marvel Multiverse and nobody could stop him (Cosmic Entities could probably do it but they decided not to get involved). The only way to defeat him was to give him what he wanted. He basically won. Just not in the way he expected.
Not to mention that they would all die at the end without Gaea pulling her dues ex machina/plot device to turn Hercules into a Super God. What is also cool about the Chaos King is that he is not just an entity who's power has been explained by statements only, but he has a ton of feats. And his feats are not just showings of pure power, but he, unlike most Cosmic Entities, relies on versatility, and used a ton of powers he either gained when he became the Chaos King again, or stole from Nightmare and Death after killing the former and banishing the latter. He also has a ton of Skyfather+ level showings of versatility and power even before starting with his quest on destroying the Multiverse. He is also incredibly manipulative and intelligent, and those are things that helped him (almost) accomplish his goals as much as his power and nature.
And there you have it. My Chaos King/Amatus-Mikaboshi respect thread and my first Marvel Power Hierarchy thread. Hope you enjoyed it and there will be more respect threads coming up. I'll probably post the one for Stardust (Herald of Galactus) next. Stay tooned.
~ KrleAvenger