Magic increasingly plays a major role in the MCU with characters like Doctor Strange and the Scarlet Witch dealing with greater and greater supernatural threats. That continues with Werewolf by Night which introduces several powerful magical beings from Marvel Comics, including Man-Thing. More lurk in the comics, including some MCU fans, can expect to see soon.

Man-Thing, Werewolf, and others possess incredible mystical strength. Some Marvel magical beings wield even more power and arguably rank among the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. Several now exist in the MCU or are about to, leading to intriguing possibilities for magical battles in the future.

Updated on November 18th, 2022, by Darby Harn:

Sasha Baron Cohen will reportedly play the demonic entity Mephisto in the upcoming Ironheart Disney+ streaming series. This finally brings a strong Marvel magic user to the screen after much speculation. Mephisto's arrival likely signals more supernatural characters are on the way. He shares strong ties to iconic heroes and villains in the comic books, including some on deck in the MCU. With so many mystical and horror-themed characters coming, the future seems clear for the MCU. Getting a sense for the most powerful magical beings in the Marvel Universe provides a leg up for fans eager to know the franchise's direction.

Agatha Harkness

Agatha Harkness makes an entrance in Avengers West Coast comics.

Agatha Harkness first appeared in Fantastic Four #94 as Franklin Richards' prospective governess. She proved much more. An ancient witch with vast magical knowledge and strength, she wields spells and incantations powerful enough to stop Ultron and the Frightful Four.

Her powers extend beyond other dimensions and realms, and she once made the Scarlet Witch forget her children ever existed. This backfired on her eventually, with disastrous results.

Loki

Loki appears on the cover of Journey Into Mystery #85.

Comic book fans know Loki as the ultimate trickster, but his magical strength goes much further than that. Loki wields powerful Asgardian magic, enough to deceive people, alter his appearance, and in one infamous case, transform his brother Thor into a frog.

Loki's magical skill proved so robust he briefly served as the Sorcerer Supreme for a time in the comics. In the MCU, anything is possible for the enduring character.

Magik

Magik appears in her Hellfire Gala costume in Marvel Comics.

Magik lives up to her name in every way. She wields The Soulsword, among the most powerful weapons in Marvel Comics, with which she rules Limbo. The Soulsword breaks spells and negates magical energy, rendering powerful magic users defenseless against her. She also wears eldritch armor that protects her from mystical powers.

Magik also teleports through Limbo, able to ferry herself and others across vast distances in short order. Like Loki, she proves powerful enough to serve as the Sorcerer Supreme.

Khonshu

Khonshu sits with his legs crossed in Moon Knight #1 by Warren Ellis.

As an Egyptian deity representing the moon, Khonshu uses magic in extraordinary ways. He teleports between different realms, communicates across dimensions, and also resurrects the dead. Comic book fans know that Moon Knight derives his immortality from Khonshu, as well as his superhuman powers and abilities.

Khonshu lacks the ability to physically enter the living world, limiting his power, but can grant powers to a person, making them the Fist of Khonshu as he did in the streaming series.

Hecate

The Greek goddess Hecate appears in a panel from Marvel Comics.

The Greek goddess Hecate wields enormous mystical power. Besides superhuman traits like super strength, speed, and stamina, she also manipulates matter and energy. This manifests most often in her ability to take mental images from people's minds and make them into physical objects that seem real.

She also resurrects the dead like Khonshu, but unlike him, she can act in the physical world. Other magicians often summon her, including Agatha Harkness, potentially opening the door to Hecate appearing in Coven of Chaos.

Merlyn

Merlyn creating the Ebony Blade in Marvel Comics.

Merlyn hails from Otherworld in Marvel Comics and is actually a living composite of every Merlin variant from across the multiverse. He possesses incomprehensible knowledge and power from across space and time, including the ability to observe other realities in a manner very reminiscent of The Watcher.

Merlyn ripped stars from the sky and threw them at Morgan le Fay, showing his incredible power. Despite this, he's not all-powerful though, showing clear limits when it comes to combating the incredible power within The Darkhold, a sinister dark magic tome.

Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange saves Eternity in Marvel Comics.

Doctor Strange earned the title Sorcerer Supreme thanks to his unparalleled knowledge and skill in magic. He proved even more worthy with his many exploits in the multiverse and beyond. Strange possesses the ability to travel between dimensions and perceive beyond time and space, leading him to cosmic entities like Eternity.

Doctor Strange takes on incredible foes like Dormammu and Mephisto, certainly his superiors in magical ability, but he always finds a way to overcome the greatest odds.

Man-Thing

Man-Thing walks through the swamp in Marvel Comics.

Man-Thing potentially possesses the most powerful magic in Marvel Comics. He protects the Nexus of All Realities, an interdimensional gateway to the multiverse. He opens and closes portals to other realities and also perceives to some degree events beyond them. Mystical energies from the Nexus also imbue him with superhuman strength and endurance.

Comic book fans know Man-Thing's powers and agency vary, so his precise abilities remain somewhat open to debate. His role defending the Nexus does position him to be a major character in the MCU, though.

Galactus

Galactus and Dormammu fuse in Marvel Comics.

Galactus already ranks among the most powerful cosmic beings in the Marvel Universe, thanks to the Power Cosmic. But in Doctor Strange comics from 2019, he showed he was able to consume magical energy as well as cosmic energy. He started with the magic belonging to a powerful being called Misan-Ha-Gorath.

With this added magical ability, Galactus became infinitely more powerful. As always, that wasn't enough. Galactus then teamed up with Dormammu, a powerful Doctor Strange villain, making him even more dangerous.

Agamotto

Agamotto uses his powers as the Sorcerer Supreme in Marvel Comics.

Ancient and omnipotent, Agamotto served as the first Sorcerer Supreme on Earth. He also functions as the source for Doctor Strange's magic and mystical knowledge. Agamotto controls his own mystical dimension and from there is able to control matter and energy, as well as cast magic from beyond time and space.

His knowledge dates back to before the universe, and he can see the truth in people and things without interference, which Strange can do through the mystical artifact known as the Eye of Agamotto.

Dormammu

Dormammu fighting in his realm in Marvel Comics.

Dormammu rules the Dark Dimension in Marvel Comics and can manipulate matter and reality in ways impossible to perceive or even combat for even the most powerful heroes. Dormammu creates soldiers and acolytes from pure darkness, which serve a purpose beyond giving him an army.

They also serve as batteries, since he derives all his power from the worship of his followers. With his power to create new beings, he never runs out, making him virtually impossible to stop.

Shuma-Gorath

Shuma-Gorath floats in space in Marvel Comics.

Shuma-Gorath, a frightening tentacled creature, rules over countless dimensions. He commands the power to destroy entire universes and realities at will. His powers include immortality and invincibility. He exists beyond perception for most sentient beings and beyond any practical understanding.

A one-eyed tentacle monster appears in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, though this turned out to be Gargantos. Shuma-Gorath likely appears in the MCU in some form as the franchise becomes more supernatural.

The Scarlet Witch

Scarlet Witch takes away mutants powers in Marvel Comics.

As a Nexus Being, the Scarlet Witch possesses power unique in the multiverse and can alter reality on a scale that theoretically has no limits, as she displayed in the House Of M comic storyline. The Scarlet Witch not only changed reality so her children still existed, she then altered it nearly permanently when her dream was destroyed.

With a single phrase, "No more mutants," she erased all but a few hundred mutants from existence. It was only recently that mutants got their numbers back in the comics. She recently created a mutant afterlife with her powers, proving again how strong a magic user she is.

Mephisto

Mephisto laughs in Marvel Comics.

Mephisto showed how powerful he is when he erased the marriage between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson from continuity in One More Day. Unlike Wanda's magical act in House of M, this spell remains in place fifteen years later. Mephisto controls souls and destroys them, toying with powerful beings like the Silver Surfer like they're toys.

Mephisto enjoys absolute power in his own dimension, though his power has limits. He fought against Galactus and Franklin Richards and lost to both as he may one day do on screen.

Chthon

Scarlet Witch looks above at a swirling yellow vortex in Marvel Comics.

The ancient being Chthon serves as the source of all chaos magic in the Marvel Universe. This forbidden magic unfolds in the all-powerful Darkhold, containing spells so dangerous no one utters them. He interfered in Wanda Maximoff's early life, imbuing her with Chaos Magic that helped transform her into the powerhouse she is.

Chthon can do more than alter reality. He constructs reality and existence on a universal scale. He controls reality within his own personal dimension and is also able to manipulate and operate through beings in other realms, making him essentially omnipotent.

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