We live in an age of television unlike any other. There’s a staggering amount of content out there, and a good chunk of it deals with superheroes and fantasy stories. When once geekdom was off on the fringe, now the masses congregate to talk about the latest episode of The Flash or Legion. Superhero TV shows have been with us for well over half a century, but over the last decade, television studios decided to roll the dice and see if there was still a profit to be hand in the genre following the likes of Smallville. And so, the CW and Warner Bros. kicked off their Arrowverse TV universe, while Disney, Marvel, and Netflix tried their own hand at expanding their franchise.

Because of this, we have the Marvel and DC films and TV shows coming out the wazoo. Thanks to engaging storylines, intelligently-written heroes, and awesome action sequences, casual viewers and long-time fans are continually impressed. With every new story or universe, new characters keep popping out of the woodwork. At the end of the day, where comics are concerned, the question inevitably comes down to who’s the best of the best. To that end, we’re looking at twenty of the most powerful superheroes on TV today.

20 GREEN ARROW

Currently there’s no Batman in the Arrowverse, so we have Oliver Queen, aka Green Arrow, the Savior of Star City, to fill that void. If you’ve been watching Arrow, then you’ve seen how the Emerald Archer protects his town. Despite having absolutely zero super powers, he’s earned his spot among greatness if only because he doesn’t need metahuman abilities. Ollie, along with his arsenal, has grown exponentially over the course of six seasons.

His style of combat has evolved from a street-level vigilante to a force of nature.

The man’s taken on the Flash, lead the League of Assassins, and even fought aliens like it’s no big deal. Green Arrow’s defeated some of the biggest baddies in the Arrowverse like Ra’s Al Ghul, Deathstroke, and Damien Darhk. All of this, with just a bow and arrow and killer kung fu moves.

19 THE PUNISHER

Jon Bernthal's Punisher stares down his opponent with a large gun.

A man on a singular mission to put criminals in the ground, anyone would be a fool to get in the way of the Punisher. After the brutal murder of his wife and children, Frank Castle became vengeance incarnate. Forever unwavering in his task, The Punisher is on the hunt to kill whomever he deems necessary of killing. Carving out a swath of bodies in the MCU, the Punisher might not have powers, but he’s deadlier than most people with special abilities.

Highly trained from his days in the military, the Punisher holds no quarter when facing an opponent. With an incredible tolerance for pain, coupled with his tactical genius and military fighting skills, he’s beaten Daredevil, taken on a score of armed prisoners by himself, and killed teams of people specifically designed to kill him. There are few heroes scarier than the Punisher.

18 THE ATOM

When Ray Palmer was first introduced on the Arrowverse, fans were excited to see him become the Atom. When his costume debuted, the reaction wasn’t positive; people said he looked like he’d ripped off Iron Man. It didn’t help that, similar to Tony Stark, Ray Palmer was also a genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist.

Even so, that does nothing to diminish Ray, his suit, or intelligence.

The A.T.O.M. armor is comprised of dwarf-star alloy, which makes it tough enough to withstand explosions and small-caliber bullets. The armor also gives Palmer superhuman strength, but it’s signature feature is the ability to shrink or grow itself. The A.T.O.M. exosuit can fly and is equipped with a wide range array of offensive weaponry. Even without the suit, Palmer is not helpless. Though not much of a combatant, he can use that big brain of his to think of the best way to get out of trouble.

17 VIXEN

When Vixen joined the Legends on Legends of Tomorrow, she immediately made for a wonderful teammate. Her powers were passed down from mother to daughter along the ancestral line of the Jiwe Family. The Tantu Totem, which Vixen wears around her neck, allows her to emulate the abilities of any animal on Earth; she can have the strength of a rhino or elephant, or the speed of cheetah, the possibilities are endless.

The talisman, which is one of five sacred talismans that the gods gave the five great tribes of Zambesi, offers a variety of abilities and options where combat in concerned. Furthermore, even if Vixen isn’t using the powers of the Totem to fight, she’s demonstrated being able to use it to communicate with other animals, including talking to a T-Rex!

16 MON-EL

Heralding from the planet Daxam, Mon-El is like a Kryptonian in nearly every respect. The only difference is that his people, the Daxamites, are noticeably weaker. After Mon-El arrived on Earth, he quickly paired up with Supergirl and the two went about not only teaming up to stop bad guys, but fell in love. It was a rocky start initially, as Daxamites traditionally hate Kryptonians and vice versa; hundreds of years earlier, the two people fought a massive war that ultimately ended in a stalemate.

Yet the two were able to see past the other’s heritage.

While his people might not be able to fly, nor do they have heat vision, Mon-El still has impressive super strength, speed, and invulnerability. In fact, he’s so strong, that when he was being mind-controlled, he nearly beat Supergirl. Granted, she was holding back, but let’s not dwell on such things.

15 LUKE CAGE

The man with unbreakable skin, Luke Cage’s super strength, bulletproof and fireproof skin, and impressive healing factor, helps to ensure that the hero has little to worry about. Cage has been shown stopping a bus by punching it, has survived falls out of buildings, taken shotgun blasts to the head, and even walked through gunfire and explosions without injury. If that wasn’t enough, aside from his powers, Cage is a skilled combatant; a former Marine, police officer and the leader of an underground fighting ring in jail, he’s literally tough as nails.

However, Luke’s bulletproof skin doesn’t make him indestructible, it only makes his skin impenetrable. All those gooey insides are still susceptible to internal injury, but good luck mustering enough force to seriously wound him.

14 GHOST RIDER

There aren’t many heroes who dabble in the supernatural and magic, but those that do are usually extra dangerous. In the case of Ghost Rider, as seen on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. while we haven’t seen Johnny Blaze or Danny Ketch as the Spirit of Vengeance, we have seen the equally impressive, and downright horrifying, Robbie Reyes.

As powerful as any Ghost Rider before him, we’ve yet to see just how fearsome his demonic abilities are and what limits the might have, if any.

On account of his otherworldly nature, Robbie possesses super strength, durability, a healing factor, pyrokinesis, the ability to look into a person’s soul, and teleportation/inter-dimensional travel. Additionally, this Ghost Rider also has a scary powered-up car that he can use to deadly effect as a battering ram.

13 BLACK CANARY

By now, we’ve seen multiple women take on the role of Black Canary over on Arrow and no matter who dons the black domino mask, there’s one other constant: they kick butt. Out of the four, Sara Lance has popped in and out of a few properties across the Arrowverse, and is now hanging out with the Legends.

Dinah Drake is the current Black Canary, and just like her predecessors, she has the tendency to leave her foes with black eyes and broken bones. Sara Lance, Laurel Lance, and Evelyn Sharp didn’t possess any powers or supernatural abilities, but that didn’t stop them. The League of Assassins trained Sara, and Green Arrow trained Laurel and Evelyn into masterful combatants. Only Dinah has the ability to discharge her awesome Canary Cry, a sound blast so intense that it sends people (and sometimes cars) flying.

12 DAREDEVIL

Though he might not be saving the universe with Thor, that doesn’t mean Daredevil is to be taken lightly. After suffering an accident as a boy that rendered him blind, Matt Murdock was gifted with sensory powers. It might sound underwhelming, but tell that to all the people who haven’t been able to touch him in a fight, much less beat him.

Daredevil’s faced a litany of heroes and villains and has defeated nearly everyone he fights.

He might not have the power of the Hulk, but Matt Murdock’s abilities allow him to sense the slightest changes in air density and temperature, making him a human sonar on both a large and small scale. Able to track a person’s heartbeat across a city, Daredevil can also sense the weak points in a person, or their weapon, and hit them in the right place to render them unconscious.

11 VIBE

The comic relief of Team Flash on The Flash, don’t let Cisco Ramone’s love for science and nerdy pop culture references fool you; he’s got impressive powers. While he might have started his time as a scientist over at S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco acquired superpowers and became the adorable metahuman we all know and love.

Capable of seeing through the fabric of reality, Vibe can open portals into alternate timelines and allow passage between them, manipulate inter-dimensional matter, and he’s mastered his powers to such a degree that can he fire concussive blasts. Additionally, upon touching an object, Cisco can vibe the past, present, and future history of the object’s owner. Vibe and friends can hop between Earths at will and literally go anywhere. Vibe brings a bunch of unique and useful skills to the table.

10 JOHN CONSTANTINE

A self-described “Master of the Dark Arts,” John Constantine is a sorcerer unlike any other. While he might be highly skilled at beating up demons, he’d rather spend his time in a bar. He’s not well liked, but Constantine wouldn’t have it any other way. On account of his reputation, many underestimate Constantine…few live to regret it.

Similar to his comic book counterpart, the British magus is much more powerful than he lets on.

Not only as he gone to Hell and back (literally), but his knowledge in high magic lets him restore souls and utilize impressive spells. However, at the end of the day, Constantine’s most powerful weapon in his intellect. Though he has a silver tongue that can get him out of most situations, and a gift for improvisation, if Constantine is given just little prep time, and the right equipment, few can challenge him.

9 JESSICA JONES

She might not be the world’s strongest hero, or even have the disposition of a typical good guy, but Jessica Jones has demonstrated time and again why it’s not a good idea to mess with her. As powerful as she is angry, which is to say very, Jessica’s physical powers puts her in a class above many street-level heroes. What she lacks in martial arts training, she makes up for with raw, brute force.

With enough strength to lift a car or stop a bus, Jessica also has increased speed (due to her strength), durability, a decent healing factor, and she can jumping great distances; so much so that you might as well call it flying. She might not have the training of a blind ninja or the Immortal Iron Fist, but Jessica can and will end a fight before anyone can guess what’s happened.

8 BLACK LIGHTNING

You know how much it sucks to get shocked by some static electricity, just multiply that by about a factor of a couple million and you have an idea how awful it would be to get on the wrong side of Black Lightning. Effectively a walking bolt of lightning, Jefferson Peirce might not look like your average superhero, what with being a middle-aged high school principle, but the man is loaded with a shocking amount of power.

The ability to control electricity, being able to manipulate the element, makes Black Lightning stronger and deadlier than most other heroes on TV.

Able to naturally create energy and serving as his own personal generator, Jefferson can use his electrokinesis in all sorts of creative and explosive ways. From absorbing electricity, to using it to create shields and even perform telekinesis, Black Lightning is a one-man Justice League.

7 THE RAY

The mastery of light is a pretty fantastic power when you stop to think about. Raymond Terrill doesn’t have to think about, since he’s the superhero known as the Ray. After receiving light powers from a doppelganger of his, Raymond immediately started fighting crime. Along the way, he joined the Freedom Fighters and inadvertently got captured by Nazis over on Earth-X. When the heroes of Earth One helped him escape, Ray continued the good fight against the Axis powers.

The Ray, despite his garish outfit, boasts marvelous abilities. With his powers based on solar radiation, the energy he absorbs from the sun gives him photokinesis: the power to manipulate light. Because of this, he can create hard light constructs like a Green Lantern, became invisible or intangible, travel at light speed, and even fire bursts of light energy. All things considered, there are likely unexplored aspects of his powers Ray has set to discover.

6 FIRESTORM

At the offset, Firestorm, as seen in Legends of Tomorrow, might look like a flying, human flamethrower, but he’s much more than that. While he’s usually made up of two people, Firestorm, as explained by Batman in the comics, is potentially the most powerful human on the planet. A living nuclear reactor, Firestorm emanates intense nuclear energy that he uses in a variety of ways.

Though he can shoot nuclear fire and even absorb energy, Firestorm’s key power lies in his ability to transmute matter.

This means Firestorm can manipulate matter at an atomic level and arrange its subatomic structure into a completely new substance of his choosing. The possibilities where this power is concerned is virtually endless. If the situation called for it, Firestorm could transmute an action figure into a block of kryptonite. Even so, Firestorm is still learning about his powers’ limits.

5 LEGION

Diagnosed with schizophrenia, David Haller believed for the longest time that he was simply crazy and not an Omega Level mutant. Making the tour from one psychiatric hospital to the next, Haller began to lose all hope. Yet after a chance meeting with a fellow patient, he began to realize there was more to him than just a mental illness.

Described as a worldbreaker and potentially the most powerful mutant on the face of the Earth, Haller’s range of powers is nearly as frightening as his inability to control all of them. The full extent to his powers are unknown, but he’s demonstrated telekinesis, telepathy, astral projection, the ability to phase through matter, teleportation, electrokinesis, and reality warping. As David learns more about himself and his powers, it’s an inevitability that his strength will grow too.

4 MARTIAN MANHUNTER

Over on Supergirl, there are a good many heroes ready and willing to save the day, but few of them are as strong as J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter. From Mars, J’onn is the last of the Green Martians. We’ve only seen a couple species and villains more powerful than Martian Manhunter, but that’s never stopped J’onn from leaping into battle.

With a terrific array of powers, he can easily hold his own against mightier foes until help arrives.

Similar to Supergirl and Superman, Martian Manhunter can fly at high speeds, has incredible super strength and durability, and heat vision after a fashion. Some extra powers that really make J’onn a force to be reckoned with are his psychic powers, shapeshifting, and the ability to change density. All things considered, a situation needs to be pretty bleak in order to give Martian Manhunter pause.

3 SUPERMAN

We all know his story. Sent from Krypton before it exploded, baby Kal-El crash-landed in Kansas, was taken in by Martha and Jonathan Kent, given the name Clark Kent, and later became Superman, the world’s greatest hero. On account of the solar radiation his body absorbs, Superman’s powers are impossibly great. Thankfully, Superman was raised right. Rather than use his powers selfishly, as many would have, he chose to uphold the ideals of Earth, as instilled into him by his foster parents, and Krypton.

Becoming a beacon of hope, Superman serves the city of Metropolis, and the world, in his never-ending fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Superman doesn’t have his own show currently, but he’s appeared on Supergirl a couple of times. Even in this universe, Superman is admired and respected by everyone he meets. Superman is powerful, but it appears the Girl of Steel is mightier.

2 SUPERGIRL

The older cousin of Superman, Supergirl, shares a similar history. As a teenager, she was sent from Kryton before it exploded to serve as Superman’s protector. Unfortunately, due to shenanigans, she arrived later than expected. When Kara Zor-El arrived on Earth, she was a still a teenager, but baby Kal had already grown up into Superman. Just like the comics, Arrowverse's Supergirl possess all the powers of Superman, except she’s had less time to hone her skills.

Regardless, she’s grown tremendously in Supergirl’s first couple seasons; she keeps discovering new heights to her powers. Though she might not have Superman’s experience, it hardly matters. Kara’s proven physically stronger than him when she knocked him out, she (briefly) matched speeds with the Flash, and even defeated Red Tornado. Aside from maybe the Flash, there likely isn’t a hero in the pantheon of the Arrowverse that Kara can’t, or hasn’t already, beaten.

1 THE FLASH

Man fans adhere to the theory that the Flash, as seen on The Flash, is probably the most powerful hero in any TV universe. They wouldn’t be half-wrong to assume so; the TV Flash is on the level of a living god. Barry Allen’s primary power might be super speed, but it’s everything that comes with it, that makes the Flash unstoppable.

Over the course of four seasons, The Scarlet Speedster’s resume has only grown and grown.

He’s learned startling ways to utilize his abilities, including shooting lightning, phasing through objects, and regularly time travelling and even creating other realities! In spite of everything the Flash has accomplished, he’s still learning; the upper-limits of his powers remain unknown. Barry has faced off against the fiercest villains in the Arrowverse, and come out the other end. Everyone should feel lucky that Flash fights for the good guys.