Marvel’s Superman Can Officially Destroy Earth with 1 Punch, as Avengers Officially Defines His Power Level

Contains possible spoilers for Avengers (2023) #18!Marvel has their own version of Superman, but, unfortunately for Earth’s heroes, he’s near unstoppable – and currently about to destroy the entire planet, unless the Avengers can intervene. Luckily, the team have just recruited one of the few heroes who can outmatch him, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be an easy task.

The preview for the upcoming Avengers #18 – written by Jed MacKay, art by Valerio Schiti – describes how, with enough velocity, the villainous Hyperion could crack Earth in half with a single blow.

Having decided that the existence of this Earth invalidates the supposed perfection of his own alternate version, Hyperion has decided to do exactly that. He announced his intentions to the world and is on a literal collision course with all of Earth’s heroes. Now, it’s up to the Avengers, who in the last issue recruited Storm, to stop him.

Hyperion Aims Himself At The Earth Like A Missile – And The Avengers Might Not Be Able To Stop Him

Avengers #18 – Written By Jed MacKay; Art By Valerio Schiti; Color By Bryan Valenza; Lettering By Corey Petit

This incarnation of Hyperion hails from the world of Heroes Reborn (2021), an alternate timeline where the Avengers never formed, and instead Hyperion and his despotic Squadron Supreme protect their Earth by any means necessary. However, this is far from the first incarnation of Hyperion. The original first appeared in Avengers (vol 1) #69, and was created by the Grandmaster. Author Roy Thomas based him off Superman, with Hyperion being the last survivor of a doomed world. In fact, most versions are survivors of two doomed worlds, as their respective universes don’t have a great track record of survival.

Storm’s presence is likely the X-Factor that the team need to stop Hyperion; while the team has major cosmic heroes, including Captain Marvel, even Carol’s base power isn’t enough to stop someone who, for all intents and purposes, has the powers of Superman. The team has Thor, but he’s also struggling with a curse placed on him by the Enchantress in his own book, Immortal Thor, which lowers his intelligence while on Midgard. While this preview sets up Hyperion’s raw power, Storm is an Omega Level mutant, meaning that she has no measurable upper limit to her power.

There Is One Marvel Hero Besides Storm Who Could Possibly Stop Hyperion

Marvel’s Multiverse Offers A Solution

Interestingly, one of the other heroes that could potentially stop Hyperion is… Hyperion. Marvel has several versions of the character unaccounted for. Most notably is the heroic Hyperion from Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers (2013). This Hyperion survived not only the death of his home universe, but also the death of the entire Multiverse, but hasn’t been seen for years, except in minor cameos. There’s also the potential for an Earth-616 version of Hyperion to appear; to date, every supposed Hyperion from the mainline Marvel universe has turned out to be a fake being.

Squadron Supreme vol 1 #9 introduced the retcon that the Grandmaster’s Hyperion from Avengers #69 was actually based directly off the Hyperion of Earth-712, the home universe of that book’s cast, meaning that he was a copy on top of being created whole cloth by a cosmic entity. Meanwhile, the first Hyperion of writer Jason Aaron’s Avengers run also turned out to be a fake being, this time created by Mephisto. With Hyperion barreling down on Earth, the Avengers have a big problem, but it is possible that he could also be the ultimate solution.

Avengers (2023) #18 will be available September 18, 2024 from Marvel Comics.