Duality: The One Above All is the light aspect and the embodiment of love, creation and life. Its fundamental nature is to be the ultimate good. Therefore, it cannot harm or destroy things directly. The One Above All needs to use its other aspect or “face”, The One Below All in order to destroy or break things down in order to build. The One Above All like the One Below All are two halves of the same whole, akin to Bruce Banner and his many Hulks, and while both have unlimited power can only perform acts within their nature.[9]
Apparently responsible for the existence of all life in the Multiverse and possibly beyond,[10] the One Above All is the master and sole superior of the cosmic overseer and arbitrator known as the Living Tribunal, whose faces, embodying equity, vengeance, and necessity respectively, are in perfect alignment with one another as it passes judgment.[11] In order to create life anew through the cycle of death and rebirth of the Multiverse, they can manifest as the dark entity, the One Below All, who serves as the counterweight to the expanding life in the Multiverse.[9]
The Living Tribunal is said to be “the representative of one whose might exceeds even Eternity”, and the omniscient Infinity Well within Deaths realm described the Tribunal as “the representative of the One who is above all.” The Tribunal later stated: “It was Eternity who first brought this matter to my attention and whom I ruled in favor of. Laws set forth from Above declare that only he may now reverse that decision.”[15] Master Order, whilst observing Adam Warlock alongside Lord Chaos, said: “And may the Supreme Will smile on the golden warrior.” Warlock later recounts how he was called to judgment by the Living Tribunal, who he describes as “the servant of the One who is above even gods.”[16]
When the Hulk asked to the One Below All why it is the way it is, the One Below All manifested its true face, the One Above All, and answered that the One Below All serves as the counterweight to the One Above Alls creations, so they can build anew, and that, while the Hulk and the Gamma Mutates seem to serve such purpose, they choose which role they play, only using half their power (which is to destroy), their choices ultimately leading to this exact moment so the One Above All could ask the Hulk if he would be Geburah or Golachab before leaving. Hulk understood what They meant, leading him to forgive the Leader despite everything he had done.[9]
After the collapse of the Multiverse at the hands of the Beyonders, Doctor Strange briefly mentions to Earths incursion survivors after finding them alive that, “The Earth that was…the Universe that was…the Multiverse that was…these were all formed by some higher order — some alien, ethereal other thing that perfectly constructed not just the material nature of everything, but the rules that governed it as well.[21]
How powerful is The One Above All?
“I see through many eyes. I build with many hands. They are themselves, but they are also me. I am all-powerful. My only weapon is love. The mystery intrigues me.”
The One Above All is more powerful than every character that you could come across in the Marvel universe, all of them, including the Chaos King, Gabriel Shepherd, Franklin Richards, and Matthew Malloy. Even if you combined all their powers together, they still wouldn’t match a small fraction of his power. He will never die and existed before everything else and will be around after everything else has passed away.
Even Thor once noted, “‘Tis said that a being, called the Living Tribunal — the final judge — hath the power to enforce his will ‘pon any cosmos he doth judge! And ’tis said his power is supreme in all the Multiverse. Even I, son of one of the mightiest of all gods, find it impossible to conceive of such levels of power! And ’tis a humbling thought to consider how much greater the Creator of all Universes must be than that of all of His creations combined!”
For those who don’t know, The Living Tribunal is an entity that oversees and maintains balance in the realities that constitute the Marvel Comics Multiverse. He serves as a judge of these realities. But even he answers to The One Above All.
Sometimes called “Above-All-Others”, he is the ruler and creator of the omniverse, a collection of every single universe, multiverse, megaverse, dimension (alternate or pocket) and realm. Basically, everything that exists and has a name. Depending on what comic book line you’re reading, he also goes by the name The Presence in DC.
Nothing can ever beat The One Above All. Which probably answers the, “Will he appear in the MCU?” question. There would probably never ever be a reason why The One Above All would need to show himself within the MCU. Unless the entire universe was as the risk of being destroyed, it seems very unlikely.
But yes, he would be able to bring Tony Stark back to life again. And yes, he would be able to reset the entire universe and wipe Thanos out of the history books forever.
When the Fantastic Four journeyed beyond the planes of existence, they entered the realm of the One-Above-All where he was taking the form of Jack Darby. The One-Above-All appeared in front of a pregnant Susan Storm, who was fearing for her husbands death at the hands of the Silver Surfer gave her hope by healing Reed Richards severely damaged face and afterwards sent them home.
As the Supreme Being of the Marvel Omniverse, the One-Above-All is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient. He is capable of taking numerous forms such as white-robed man or a homeless man. Unsurprisingly, he is also capable of resurrection such as when Beta Ray Bill died in battle, the deity revived him soon afterwards. Even when Thanos had the almighty powers of the Infinite Gauntlet at his disposal, it was noted he was still infinitely more powerful than Thanos himself. Only he has the power to command the Judge of the Multiverse, the Living Tribunal to which the latter yields. Above all (pun intended), he is supremely powerful as he is infinitely above all of creation in the Marvel Omniverse.
Do-Gooder
- Jack Kirby
- Stan Lee
Full Name
Inapplicable (In-Universe)
Jacob Kurtzberg (Out of-universe) Stanley Martin Lieber (Out of-universe)
Alias
One-Above-All
Above All Others
Origin
Marvel Comics
Occupation
Supreme master of the entire Marvel universe
Powers/Skills
Omnipotence
Omniscience Omnipresence
Hobby
Drawing comics
Thinking-up new story lines
Goals
Keep the Omniverse running and safe (ongoing)
Family
Everything (Creations)
Friends/Allies
The Living Tribunal
Fantastic Four
Enemies
One Below All
Type of Hero
Monotheistic Supreme Being
He is the true Monotheistic Supreme God of the Marvel Omniverse and the sole master of the cosmic overseer; The Living Tribunal. The One-Above-All is the supreme creator of all existence in the Marvel omniverse and is considered to be the most powerful character in Marvel. He has an evil alter-ego known as the One Below All.
