Television’s current golden age owes as much to streaming as the standard broadcasting platform that the medium has employed over the past several decades. Countless TV shows are now accessible to audiences, particularly in the sci-fi, fantasy, action, adventure, and horror genres.
However, the concept of power isn’t limited to physical strength or magical potency—it applies to any character who wields considerable influence over their respective universes. Some of them are overpowered to the point of incredulity, making their triumphs all but predetermined. These characters dominate the story with so much force that it just makes sense to nerf them down to believable levels.
Minor Spoilers Below
10 Alina Starkov’s Sun Summoning Is Unreasonably Overpowered — Shadow & Bone
Alina Starkov starts her life as a nobody. She’s an orphan who evades the Grisha draft by unconsciously muzzling the true extent of her abilities. She eventually reveals her extremely rare light-based powers, which are the balancing force against The Darkling’s Shadow Summoning.
Alina’s Sun Summoning is unreasonably overpowered, containing enough innate potential to annihilate the Fold. Interestingly, Alina’s character is severely nerfed in the books by Leigh Bardugo.
9 The Mind Flayer Is Way Too Strong For The Heroes To Defeat — Stranger Things
The Demogorgon is the first major antagonist in Stranger Things, much like the singular Xenomorph in Alien (1979). Aliens (1986) broadens the scope of its universe by introducing a hive-mind entity, and Stranger Things does the same with the Mind Flayer.
The Mind Flayer is ferocious, menacing, and is hellbent on wreaking havoc on the human realm (for reasons that haven’t been explored yet). Nevertheless, this monstrous creature is far too strong for the heroes to handle at this point.
8 Wanda Maximoff Bends Reality To Her Will — WandaVision
Wanda Maximoff, better known as Scarlet Witch, is one of the most powerful beings in Marvel comics. Despite receiving a drastic downgrade in the MCU, she retains a decent chunk of her reality-bending powers.
In WandaVision, Wanda manages to generate a massive sitcom-oriented version of reality in order to live a peaceful life with Vision. She’s finally forced to give up her dreams because they end up destroying hundreds of other lives in the process.
7 The Tick’s Drama Power Is Arguably His Best Feature — The Tick
The Tick, unlike the arachnid he’s named after, is practically invulnerable to almost all forms of damage. The base level of strength he exerts is capable of destroying his environment, and his physical limits are still unclear.
The Tick playfully acknowledges that he’s as strong as “ten, perhaps twenty men—a crowded bus stop of men.” However, his greatest feature is known as “drama power,” which allows the Tick to augment his potential in direct proportion with dramatic tension.
6 Ciri’s Elder Blood Is Capable Of Ending The World — The Witcher
Geralt of Rivia is probably the only person on the Continent who has the strength to protect Ciri, but even he pales in comparison to his “daughter’s” powers. Ciri’s Elder Blood gives her access to a plethora of magical abilities, although her destructive tendencies are mostly highlighted in The Witcher (TV show).
Ciri’s screaming can crack the earth, shatter monoliths, and awaken ancient demons like Voleth Meir. In fact, the Deathless Mother possesses Ciri in order to travel back to her own dimension.
5 The Angel Of Death Is Omnipotent In Every Way That Matters — Supernatural
The personification of death in most fictional universes, whether in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld or Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, tends to be exaggerated beyond belief. In Supernatural, the Angel of Death is nigh-omnipotent, which means he can perform feats that nobody else can.
This primal entity is able to resurrect dead people, control the climate, reshape memories, and manipulate cosmic events with nothing more than a wave of his bony hand.
4 Homelander Is Leagues Above The Rest Of The Seven — The Boys
Homelander is a whiny brat trapped in the body of an adult man, but his abilities are nothing to scoff at. His combat prowess exceeds every member of the Seven, mainly due to his indestructible body and devastating attack potential.
In addition, Homelander’s laser vision, “two small, high-intensity beams,” can destroy most natural or man-made objects, including other Supes. Homelander needs to be nerfed – not because of his powers but because he abuses them.
3 The Night King Is Resistant To Dragon Fire And Can Raise The Dead — Game Of Thrones
Although he was once human, the Night King evolves into an overwhelming force of nature over the course of millennia. He isn’t affected by temperature changes whatsoever, given that he takes Drogon’s fiery breath head-on without flinching.
The Night King prefers his environment to be as cold as possible, explaining the reason he brings Winter wherever he goes. He can throw ice javelins with so much horsepower that even Dragons don’t stand a chance against him. With that said, necromancy is what makes the Night King such a dangerous villain.
2 Eurus Holmes’ Incandescent Intellect Overshadows Her Big Brothers — Sherlock
Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes might argue over the merits and demerits of their respective intellects, but their baby sister outshines both of them put together. Eurus Holmes is referred to as “an era-defining genius beyond Sir Isaac Newton,” words of praise that are fully earned.
She bends people to her will by merely interacting with them, masks her appearance with enough proficiency to fool her brothers, and plays a surprisingly talented therapist. Unfortunately, Eurus is unable to relate to ordinary human experiences on account of her incandescent brilliance.
1 Glorificus Is Divine Even In Human Form — Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Glorificus, or Glory, is one of the strongest villains that Buffy Summers faces during her Slayer career. She effortlessly crushes everything the heroes throw at her even as a human. In fact, Giles mentions that Glory is technically capable of performing divine feats when in her real form (as a god).
A few attacks can pierce her skin, like Willow’s magic combined with Olaf’s hammer, but none of them can so much as dent her composure. Glory also happens to be immortal (as if she doesn’t already have too much power!)
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