The DC Universe is home to many powerful figures whose powers defy imagination. These range from divine entities like The Spectre and Eclipso to cosmic beings such as Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor and even heroes like Doctor Manhattan and Superman himself. Yet, all these characters pale in companion to the one who is thought to be DC's answer to God himself: the Presence.
Whilst examples like the characters like the aforementioned may have a list of impressive accomplishments in regards to their abilities, the Presence is truly omnipotent and has created a few of the beings previously mentioned and is thought to have created the entire multiverse itself. With only characters such as Marvel’s One Above All coming close to his level, the Presence remains DC's most powerful character.
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Functionally, The Presence is the DC’s Universe’s version of the Abrahamic God, responsible for the creation of some of its most powerful entities such as the angel Zauriel, the Spectre, Eclipso, Michael Demiurgos and Lucifer Morningstar. Often spoken about more than he is seen, the Presence first appeared in More Fun Comics #52 in 1940 by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Bailey. Here, he was a disembodied voice that guided Jim Corrigan as the Spirit of Vengeance.
It is through the voice that the Spectre is able to communicate with his master, such as when he asks for the Presence to resurrect the deceased members of the Justice Society of America in 1975's Justice League of America #124 by Cary Bates and Elliot S. Maggin. In the Zauriel-focused miniseries JLA: Paradise Lost, by Mark Millar and Ariel Olivetti, which saw the fallen angel Asmodel attacking the Silver City (the DC version of Haven) it was explicitly stated that the Presence is omnipresent and cannot be defeated. It has also been speculated that the Hand that was seen at the creation of the multiverse belongs to the Presence, but recent comics have shown both Doctor Manhattan and Perpetua to be the ones creating or interfering with the multiverse.
Despite his omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence, the Presence rarely intervenes with the affairs of mortal beings and other deities. An example of this can be seen in Forever Evil: Blight by J. M. DeMatteis and Mikel Janín when the Phantom Stranger asked for the Presence to intervene and help the Justice League Dark defeat the entity Blight from spreading evil around the world. The Presence, in the form of a dog with glowing purple eyes, refused but showed the members of the team events from their past that helped give them the strength to go on and fight Blight without his intervention. It is this decision to allow the universe to go on without his interference that explains his absence during various Crisis events.
Though the relationship between Vertigo and the DC Universe's main continuity is vague, some stories from the imprint do expand on the Presence’s mysterious ways. Lucifer #68 and#69 by Mike Carey, Peter Gross, and Ryan Kelly saw the Presence intervene during a cosmic battle between Michael Demiguros’ granddaughter Elaine Belloc and the mother of demons, Lilith. The Presence, in the form of an old man in a bowler hat, revealed a sphere that contains the entire multiverse in one hand and a bloody dagger in the other. He gave the two a choice between erasing the universe (not just destroying it but erasing it completely so nothing ever existed) or the complete healing of it so it is free of suffering. When Elaine says that she will not choose between the two, the Presence revealed that it was the correct choice and bestows to Elaine the role of overseer of heaven and all of creation.
Here, the Presence not only revealed that he has the ability to grant someone else his own level limitless power but that he can also destroy the entire multiverse and its history at a whim, which is a terrifying thought. Whilst his appearances are few and far between and his exact relationship with the rest of the DC Universe remains a mystery, it is hard to argue there is a being more powerful than a character who is effectively God himself.