With Supernatural finally returning to television, there are some significant changes in store for the Winchester brothers. Michael, an archangel from an alternate universe, now has Dean's body and is walking around the main world looking to take it over for himself, just as he did in the Apocalypse world. As one of the most powerful beings in the universe, this will probably be an easy task for him, but what is it about Michael that makes him so special among the Heavenly Host?

The series has already featured Michael in previous seasons, in both his main world and alternate forms. He has taken over a variety of hosts and human bodies-- although he seems to prefer the Winchesters. Michael being able to take over Dean's body will, quite literally, change the Supernatural universe in a way that fans haven't seen yet. As an archangel, Michael has a nearly unlimited store of power, and now that power resides in Dean, one of the few people who probably could stop him.

That just leaves Sam, Jack, Mary, and the other hunters to try to take down Michael, but it's going to become difficult for them to do so without harming Dean, too. Whatever happens, this season of Supernatural is bound to be compelling and heart-wrenching. Meanwhile, Team Free Will needs to gather what information they can, researching all those strange things about Michael that makes him so unique. We're here to help!

Here are the 20 Weirdest Details About Michael (And His Vessel).

He is the oldest angel

Supernatural Michael painting

When God created the archangels, he created Michael first. That makes Michael older than the other archangels, as well as one of the oldest beings in the universe. Perhaps that's why he served as the right hand to God during the conflict that led to Lucifer's banishment from heaven.

This also made him the highest-ranking archangel, meaning that the other archangels took their orders directly from him. In God's absence, he was Heaven's ruler, which meant that he gave his own orders to the other archangels, who handed those orders down the angelic chain of command. Michael was basically God when God decided to go MIA, and for a long time, the other angels respected him as such.

He raised a young Lucifer

Supernatural Michael with Lucifer

After the archangels won their first war against the Darkness, Michael took Lucifer under his wing (quite literally) and raised him, teaching him the ways of the angels. The two beings were actually quite close, with Michael once saying that they were quite happy together.

It wasn't until God ordered the angels to bow to the humans that the two began to drift apart.

Although Michael obeyed God without question, Lucifer did not believe that angels should bow to the lesser beings that were humans. This created a rift between them that eventually tore their relationship-- and Heaven-- apart. Lucifer begged Michael for his support, but Michael would not agree to go against God.

There are currently two versions of Michael

Supernaturaal Dean as Michael

In the main world, Michael is still alive and still using Adam as a vessel. He's trapped in the cage, and he's gone insane. Now there's another Michael; the one from the alternate universe who is using Dean as a vessel so that he can basically take over that world, too. That means there are two versions of Michael in that world.

Will this play into what happens in season 14?

Will alternate universe Michael free his main world version from the cage? Will the two join up for double the Apocalypse they hope to bring to the main world? One can only imagine how much power two versions of Michael might have.

 He's the most powerful being in the universe

Michael shows off his wings while using Dean for a vessel in Supernatural

At one point in history, Michael was the third most powerful being in the Supernatural universe. Only God himself and Amara, the Darkness, had more power than he did. Now that God has gone missing again (where are you, Chuck?) and Amara is essentially gone, that makes Michael the most powerful being around.

We know that are currently two versions of Michael in the main world: the Michael still trapped in Lucifer's cage, and the Michael from the alternate universe inside Dean. Although there is no word on how this might affect things in the main world, that still makes Michael doubly powerful. The world is now in serious jeopardy.

Death was more powerful than Michael

Supernatural death

As previously mentioned, Michael is the most powerful being in the Supernatural universe, but Michael's previous rank in power is now a topic of contention because, in the book Supernatural: The Official Companion Season 5, there is one celestial being that is listed as being more powerful than Michael. So who is it? Believe it or not, that being is Death.

That would mean that Michael was only the fourth most powerful being in the universe before God disappeared, Amara was defeated, and Death was destroyed. But this is Supernatural, and nothing actually stays gone for good. Could Death reappear in another form to help Sam take down Michael?

He banished Lucifer from Heaven

As we established, Michael acted as a surrogate father to Lucifer and took him in after the battle with the Darkness. The two were happy together until God created humans. God then ordered the archangels to serve the humans, which most of the archangels agreed to. However, Lucifer could not do this, seeing humans as an inferior species. This created problems in Heaven, with God eventually ordering Michael to banish Lucifer.

Michael did this without question.

When Lucifer continued to rebel by creating demons, God ordered Michael to imprison Lucifer. Michael did so by putting Lucifer in the Cage in Hell. The two angels who were once friends were friends no more.

Anyone from the Winchester bloodline can be his vessel

Michael in John Winchester

Michael made something clear early on: his preferred vessels were always those of the Winchester bloodline. But there was more to it than that, Michael eventually revealed that anyone who had Winchester blood was capable of becoming his vessel. As we saw in season five, Michael once used John Winchester as a host, but he wasn't the only one, as we'll soon reveal.

However, the vessel that Michael used in the alternate universe seems to have no relation to the Winchesters, though perhaps that's something that will get explained later. Is it a necessity or just a preference for him to use Winchesters as hosts?

Dean is his one true vessel

There is one person that Michael wanted to use as a host above all else: Dean Winchester, who Michael refers to as his true vessel. Although there is no indication of what that really means, it seems that Michael gains more power if he can use Dean as his host.

While Michael can use any person with Winchester blood, but they apparently don't give him the power that he craves.

It's likely that season 14 will answer the question as to why Dean is so essential as Michael's vessel, and it's likely the power he now possesses will allow him to create havoc for the main world that he is now a part of.

He was the first angel, chronologically, to meet the Winchesters

Supernatural Mary and John

In the season 5 episode "The Song Remains The Same", the Winchesters get a chance to meet Michael before Sam is ever born. Although it seems like Castiel is the first angel the Winchesters ever met on the series, theyactually met Michael first, at least when considering the chronological timeline.

In that episode, Anna goes back in time to take out Mary before Sam is born, which would prevent Lucifer from ever using Sam as his vessel. Michael is using John as a vessel and saves Sam, preserving the timeline. The pres

Adam Milligan was also his vessel

Supernatural Adam Milligan

In season 4, fans discovered that Sam and Dean had a half-brother named Adam Milligan. Then Adam passes away, and Sam and Dean bury him. However, in season 5, the angels approach Adam and make a deal with him: he can return to Earth if he agrees to become the vessel for the archangel Michael so that they can defeat Lucifer. Adam agrees and returns to Earth.

This is when fans learn that Michael uses the Winchester bloodline for his vessels, although the show never gave an actual reason for this other than the fact that the Winchesters are special. Sam and Dean stop Adam as Michael, and eventually, he ends up in the cage with Lucifer and Sam.ent-day Dean is also there, and this is when he and Michael have their long overdue chat about Michael's plans.

Michael won the war against Lucifer

Alternate Michael appears to Lucifer and Mary in Supernatural

The Apocalypse world is an alternate universe introduced in season 13 of Supernatural. It's a barren place where the Apocalypse occurred and angels rule with an iron fist. That world is being run by its version of Michael.

Michael and Lucifer had their final battle there because the Winchesters did not exist in that world to stop it.

Michael won that war and "tore apart Lucifer in the skies over Abilene." This put Michael in power over everything in that universe, but that just wasn't enough. He also wanted unlimited power over the main world, which fans will see him try to obtain in season 14 as he uses Dean as his vessel.

He wanted the Apocalypse to happen

Supernatural Michael inside Dean

Although the Apocalypse is terrible news for humanity, most of the angels wanted it to happen. That includes Michael, who was a very key player in the world-changing event.

This is because Michael wants to defeat Lucifer once and for all.

The battle between the two would still decimate the worldl as seen in the alternate universe where the Apocalypse actually happened. For Michael, though, it goes beyond defeating Lucifer. He wants to fight his brother because God willed that it must occur so that there can be Paradise on Earth. He manipulated many angels, demons, and humans to try bring the Apocalypse about.

His time with Lucifer in the cage drove him mad

Supernatural Sam and Michael as Adam

Adam Milligan was the third son of John Winchester and a half-brother to Sam and Dean. That makes him part of the Winchester bloodline, which is why Michael once used him as a vessel after Dean refused to do say "yes." In season 5, Sam is trying to trap Lucifer in the cage but ends up also falling into the cage, inadvertently taking Adam (who is Michael) with him.

Dean eventually makes a deal with Death to rescue Sam from the cage, but Adam remains there to this day as Michael's vessel. 

Michael;s time with Lucifer there has made him insane. To quote Lucifer, "These days he's usually sitting in a corner singing show tunes..."

He tried to warn Crowley about the Darkness

Crowley in purgatory in Supernatural.

Though Crowley kept Lucifer and Michael in the cage so long that Michael eventually went insane, it seems that he and Lucifer were still very much aware of things that were happening on Earth. When Amara rose and the Darkness got unleashed in the world, a demon comes to Crowley and tells him that there was an uproar from the cage. More than likely, it was Michael or Lucifer trying to warn him of the Darkness.

It makes sense that it was Michael because Michael and the other archangels fought the first war against the Darkness until God eventually sealed her away. This would make Michael sensitive to her escaping and finding her way to Earth.

He created a lance specifically to hurt Lucifer

Supernatural Lance of Michael

During the First Heaven Civil War, where Michael went up against Lucifer and his followers, Michael created a special lance designed explicitly to torment Lucifer, although it has the power to harm any angel. After that war, the lance ended up in Hell, but Ramiel eventually found it and claimed it as his own.

In season 12, Ramiel used the lance to attack Castiel.

Sam grabbed it and then took out Ramiel with it. The lance's powers meant that Castiel's wound could potentially destroy him, but fortunately for him, Crowley broke the lance, releasing Castiel from its power over him. The Winchesters took the pieces of the lance and stored it away somewhere safe.

Michael made a deal with Lucifer

Supernatural Michael Season 13

When Lucifer turned up in the Apocalypse world, Michael was surprised to see him as he thought he had defeated Lucifer. Then Michael learned that there was another world; the one this Lucifer was actually from.

Michael decided that he wanted to conquer that world, too, so he made a deal with Lucifer to get to the main universe.

As Lucifer only wanted Jack, his son, he quickly agreed to tell Michael all about the ritual that would open the gateway between worlds. Michael makes it to that world, where he makes the now infamous deal with Dean to help take out Lucifer in exchange for Dean's body as a vessel.

He is the last surviving archangel

Supernatural Lucifer Cage

Throughout 14 seasons of Supernatural, the Winchesters, their friends and their enemies have seen the demise of every single archangel, except for one. The only one left standing by season 14 is Michael, and that's probably because he is still locked away in Lucifer's cage in Hell.

Things are more complicated now that Apocalypse world Michael has Dean as his vessel in the main universe . As previously mentioned, that means there are two versions of Michael in that world. Does that make Michael more powerful? Or will it create some weird time travel paradox that will destroy him? Fans will have to tune in to find out.

Alternate universe Michael is basically God

Supernatural Michael Lucifer and Mary

Although the Michael in the main universe only wanted to see the Apocalypse so that the Earth would become the paradise that God promised, the Michael in the alternate universe seemed to have different plans. In that world, the Apocalypse happened, and Michael defeated Lucifer.

Paradise never happened: the war left the world in ruins, with very little of humanity left.

In that world, Michael took it upon himself to become the God of that world, especially as it seems that this world's God had also disappeared. That universe's version of Kevin Tran mentions this, basically saying that Michael is the highest-ranking supernatural being there. Now that Michael is loose in the main world, it's likely he will want to increase his power base.

He can be hurt by Jack

Jack in a cell on Supernatural.

Perhaps there is hope for the Winchesters to defeat Michael and maybe even get Dean back. That glimmer of hope is Jack, the son of Lucifer. As seen in season 13, Jack struggled with being good and evil, although it seemed that he ultimately chose to follow Castiel and the Winchesters. What is most important, though, is that Jack can hurt , and eventually potentially defeat, Michael.

When Michael arrives in the main world and tries to invade the Men of Letters bunker, Jack blasts Michael away with telekinesis and makes him cry out in pain, bleeding from his eyes and ears. Jack is very close to destroying Michael before being interrupted by Lucifer.

He is responsible for the destruction of two Lucifers

Lucifer in Supernatural covered in blood stares offscreen

Michael's destiny, as handed to him by God, is to defeat Lucifer. It's no big secret that this was always Michael's mission. Although the Michael from the main world did not complete that task, the Michael from the alternate universe took out two versions of Lucifer.

First, he fought in the Apocalypse and defeated his world's version of Satan.

Then when the Lucifer from the main world got trapped in the Apocalypse world, Michael made a deal with Dean that allowed him to use the Winchester brother as a vessel to take out the main world's version of Lucifer. That takes a lot of power-- a level that no other being ever really possesses.

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Do you have any trivia to share about Michael and his perfect vessel from Supernatural? Let us know in the comments!