One Above All - The God of the Marvel Multiverse

who's the most powerful marvel character you can think of right now thor thanos maybe you how about someone who's so powerful they can create whole universes someone who's created not only the marvel universe but the dc universe the gumball universe our universe you were created by this person they're so powerful the marvel wiki has no way of calculating their strength like there was no conceivable way of measuring it they just gave up every month i changed jokasada's name to qasidia the mods trying to stop me but i get stronger every time for a long time the most powerful being was thought to be the living tribunal that was it there was no one above him and he'd only really step in whenever the multiverse was about to collapse or something this was thought to be the case for almost half a century of comics there were always references to god but it was assumed that they were talking about the spiritual god it was only in the mid-2000s when it was hinted at that there might be someone even higher up than the living tribunal someone who's never revealed themselves before the one above all now mephisto we all know mephisto jimmy kimmel knows who mephisto is now he is mephisto there's this fantastic issue when he's sitting in a bar talking to this poor bartender about these different dimensions and realities when he mentions the living tribunal the bartender is curious and asks is the living tribunal god to which mephisto responds no he's not god he's just the biggest kid in all the playgrounds and if he knows the principle he's not exactly chatty about it i know it's just a silly analogy but there's something so ominous about it sometimes i like the mystery surrounding the character more than the character itself this mystery was finally revealed by the fantastic four in one of my favorite issues of all time after the thing's death mr fantastic is devastated and tries everything he can to bring him back just as he's about to give up he remembers the time where dr doom tried to contact his mother in the afterlife way back in the 60s and so reed rebuilds the device that doom used so that they can travel to heaven and get the things soul back it's a stupid plan but they've got no other option the fantastic four arrive at the edge of heaven where they find the thing so outside the gate as they wonder how they can get inside the thing's dead brother dan appears before them this vision of dan invites them in offering them all the benefits of heaven eternal bliss with all of their family and loved ones every mystery of the universe solved every burning question about their existence answered despite how much this intrigues reid he declines the offer because knowing everything would defeat their purpose as scientists to explore and it's the right answer and so the fantastic four pass through the gates of heaven where they come across a single door floating in the vastness of infinity they're of course incredibly nervous the supreme ruler of everything is behind that door higher than the living tribunal creator of all things in existence including themselves they muster up the courage to go through the door and on the other side is some old guy in his study drawing away at his desk what the some people might recognize the old man as jack kirby co-creator of the fantastic four with stan lee and many other iconic marvel characters he also gets phone calls from his collaborator a reference to how stan would always call the artists at the last minute demanding all these new ideas and extra pages and stressing the artists out kirby tells reid that he admires his imagination and returns ben's soul back to his body and he sends them back home with the promise that they'll get a happy ending there's no concrete proof that jack kirby is in fact the one above all there's rarely any confirmation in any of his early appearances which is what makes it so fascinating it does say that it is him on the wiki though and even if it's not on the wiki i can always change it myself the one above all's next major appearance is in sensational spider-man after ant-may was hit with a bullet meant for peter he rushes her to the hospital and she's put on life support peter can do nothing but wait so he goes outside and takes his frustration out on some dumpsters completely messing up his hands suddenly a random homeless man appears behind him and heals his wounds shortly after the man reveals himself to peter as the one above all they sit down for a burger as you do when you meet god and peter asks him why his life is so screwed up why aunt may deserve to get shot saying that he'd give up anything to save her even being spider-man to restore peter's faith the one above all takes him to a beach filled with thousands and thousands of people he tells peter that these are all the people he's saved as spider-man over the years people who would not be alive if it wasn't for his actions the one above all says that everybody has a role to play in this world and disappears before peter can say goodbye he never answers the question though why did ant-man deserve to get shot if he's so powerful then he could just not let it happen right this is something that won't be answered for another 15 years but you're in luck you've just got until the end of this video anyways i can't wait to see what peter's gonna do next i'm sure he's not gonna do anything that would uh directly contradict his conversation with god that'd be stupid when thanos and adam warlock absorb the power of the living tribunal and accidentally destroy the entire universe which is an extreme oversimplification of events they're left in a white void where nothing exists eventually they're summoned by the one above all who's like what the have you guys done thanos manages to convince the one above all to restore the universe as long as adam warlock stays to take the living tribunal's place they agree and the universe is reborn into existence this story would later be continued but i'm going to pretend it didn't happen because it contributes to a problem that the more recent marvel stories have had marvel were showing the one above all way too much and it was becoming way less special every time it's the same sort of thing with alien part of its appeal is that you don't get to see it but now they're showing its ass every two seconds of the movie and it pisses me off i was ready to give up on the one above all until his most recent appearance in immortal hulk this series retconned hulk's origin story saying that when bruce banner got hit with the gamma bomb that made him the hulk he actually died and was sent to the deepest lair of hell this place is sealed off from the rest of the multiverse and is home to the one below all the source of all evil and the direct counter to the one above all right after the explosion banner's body was fused with the one below el's power resurrecting him and turning him into the hulk it's crazy i know with the help of the fantastic four hulk would later return to confront the one below all hulk asks him why he's cursed with the powers that he has the thing that made him so broken inside and hurts the ones closest to him hulk demands to see his real face and the one below all obliges he splits into a blinding golden light revealing himself as the one above all he explains that the one above all and the one below all are the same person forces of good and evil that must exist to preserve the balance in the universe he created hulk to act as this counterweight the necessary divide between the two forces and so bruce banner continues his life somewhat more content with the purpose that the one above all gave him this balance serves as the answer to peter's question there must be good and bad in the universe both good and bad must exist equally because they're one in the same and that's the way things are so did hulk kill aunt may i don't know it's left up to interpretation which is what you want from something like this not every question needs to be answered and that's exactly like real life i find the idea of an all-seeing entity with an inconceivable amount of power really fascinating even if i don't personally believe in it honestly i prefer the idea that everything happened by chance and our existence is just a billion to one cosmic fluke i think that life is a beautiful yet horrifying mistake and that idea is terrifying to some people it's why the belief of such divine figures is so popular because it provides an explanation for a lot of things that we don't know and when it's not used to tear down others i think this belief is a wonderful thing bringing a sense of belonging and community and stunning art and culture and helps us deal with the infinite complexity and mystery surrounding the universe and our very own mortality and this is a comic book video i don't know if the one above all is meant to be god i don't know who god is or if he even exists in the first place and that doesn't matter i don't think we need to know what the real truth is because where's the fun in that as long as everyone is respectful to each other i don't see a single problem with everyone having different beliefs and if i see any of you arguing about it i will be more disappointed than i was when joe casada ruined peter and mj's relationship it was 15 years ago and i'm still salty i want to send one out to the one above all sitting in the clouds with a fat ass wall got all powered by no responsibility helping out peter that's not my policy appeared to thanos has a creepy ass head they bruce banner wanna shoot himself dead seven days a week watching me sleep walking down the street tickling my feet he let spiderman's girlfriend die but she kinda deserved it why she telling lies does nothing but cry i cheated on peter with another guy slept with norman to be precise makes me wanna tear out my eyes wonder who came up with that idea oh gee what a surprise [Music]

Channel: alex lennen

Views: 848,685

Keywords: marvel, marvel comics, comics, one above all, multiverse, most powerful, video essay, alex lennen, alex lennon

Id: aS-OgTmAICo

Length: 8min 55sec (535 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 28 2022