There’s always someone better. That sentence serves as the primary reason behind the continuation of most stories in action focused anime series. No matter what absurd training was completed, no matter what arc villain was recently beaten, and no matter what power up the hero’s achieved. There’s always someone, somewhere out there who’s still better than the main character. It gives the main character something to strive for, and a reason for viewers to keep rooting for them.
But… what happens when that someone better isn’t a villain? Certainly, in most anime the person standing above the main character is usually the major threat for the series, or at least that arc. Most often, it’s someone threatening the protagonist’s loved ones, or a person with plans to destroy or control everything around them: the city, the country, the world, or even creation itself. But that isn’t always the case -- sometimes the hero can’t even keep up with their own friends! For this list, we’re looking at supporting cast characters who are stronger than the main hero of the series. Maybe it’s the protagonist’s teacher, a best friend, or potentially a rival they’re eventually meant to surpass. Whatever the reason, every person on this list is a character who would have no problem cleaning the hero’s clock if it came down to it -- or at the least, could have done so at one point in time. After all, what could be more motivating than having someone stronger than the lead around all the time, right?
20 BISHAMON - NORAGAMI
In the Noragami Universe, the more worshippers a god has, the more powerful they become. With Bishamonten being one of the seven gods of fortune, she’s one of the most famous gods in Japan. Meanwhile, no one even remembers who Yato is thanks to him wanting to stop being a war god and abandoning all his old shrines.
Between Bishamon’s status in Japan, and her large number of Shinki, there’s a reason why Yato doesn’t dare to go against her for most of the series. Unfortunately for him, their dark past brings them into contact more often than he’d like.
19 ERZA SCARLET - FAIRY TAIL
Sure, Natsu does all the work, beating most of the arc villains in the show through grit, determination, and main character powers that often include improbable power-ups. That doesn’t stop Erza Scarlet from being the stronger member of the guild, however.
Even on the occasion where Natsu’s powers are greater, it always seems to be temporary boost in ability, and the baseline he returns to is always lower than Erza’s. The quests she often takes on are some of the most dangerous, and she rarely ever seems to require any help. Plus, why else would Erza be the only person he’s ever genuinely terrified of?
18 SHOTO TODOROKI - MY HERO ACADEMIA
Deku isn’t really meant to breeze easily through his battles, which is why for the first third of the series so far, just using his powers at all wrecks his body. He never had a quirk before, and he was simply bestowed All Might’s One for All. Meanwhile, Todoroki was Born To Do This.
Quite literally, as his father Endeavor is the number two hero in the world. And because of his frustration with being permanently second place, he married a woman with powers the opposite of his in the hopes he could engineer a son that was even more powerful than anyone All Might could ever hope to train or sire.
17 TERESA - CLAYMORE
Serving as the main character's mother figure, Teresa was always the strongest person on the show. Her power sees her ranked as the most powerful Claymore while she's alive, and even when she passes away it’s more because she showed mercy rather than met someone actually capable of beating her.
And while Clare works up from being the lowest ranked Claymore, in the manga it's still Teresa who saves the day. Having been a part of Claire from the beginning, when the final villain makes themselves plain Teresa emerges from within Claire and easily finishes off the last threat without even trying that hard.
16 MASTER ROSHI - DRAGON BALL
While we know for sure Roshi was eventually surpassed by his student Goku, for quite some time the young boy was no match for the immortal Turtle Hermit. After spending eight month training under Roshi, mastering the Kamehameha and learning all the abilities of the Turtle School, Goku faced off against his teacher in the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai.
Though Roshi was disguised as Jackie Chun, the two fought seemingly to a standstill, until Roshi zapped him with his Thunder Shock Surprise, knocking Goku out and winning the match. Roshi’s intention was to inspire both Goku and Krillin to continue training rather than grow satisfied with their skills and stop.
15 MORGIANA - MAGI
To be sure, there’s little chance Morgiana could defeat Alibaba in a fight involving magic, due to her overall lack of control over magoi, the source of magical energy in the Magi Universe, but in the strictest sense she’s certainly stronger. As a member of the Fanalis tribe, Morgiana has naturally boasted freakishly impressive strength and speed.
She can carry multiple people at once, knock out giant animals in single attacks. In a world where magic is required for almost everyone else to do anything above normal human ability, Morgiana has displayed superhuman capabilities surpassing even that of her friends, and stands as the physical powerhouse of the group.
14 GOEMON - LUPIN THE III
The most recent Lupin series would have us all believing these two characters were completely equal in ability. But when Goemon first showed up and attempted to take out Lupin, the world class thief didn’t defeat this deadly samurai with strength alone.
He outsmarted him over and over, until finally they stopped fighting because Goemon knew Lupin would always lead him to better and better ways to test his skills. While Lupin’s a crack shot and dangerous for most people he runs into, Goemon’s feats frequently venture into the cartoonish -- slicing vehicles in half with his sword and outright dodging arms fire.
13 VIVIO - VIVID STRIKE
It's a lot easier to be stronger than the main character of one series if you're the main character of your own. In Vivid Strike, we're introduced to a world where young women participate in martial arts tournaments using magical techniques. Here, lead character Fuuka Reventon seeks to restore her friendship with current martial arts champion of their age group, Rinne Berlinetta.
But before Fuuka can reach her, Rinne goes head to head with Fuuka's trainer -- Vivio, from the series Nanoha Vivid. Despite a close match, Vivio actually gets to defeat Fuuka's rival before she does without being any the worse for wear.
12 BEERUS - DRAGON BALL SUPER
By the start of Dragon Ball Z, Goku had already surpassed the god of Earth, Kami. Then he surpassed King Kai, a god of a sector of the galaxy. He'd already surpassed the Supreme Kai before they even met him. But the God of Destruction Beerus? Well, he's a completely different animal.
He absolutely wrecks Goku in Super Saiyan 3 with only two hits, and even when Goku finally achieves Super Saiyan God form, he still can't get Beerus to go all out, fighting to a draw while Beerus is supposedly only at eighty percent strength. But even now we're not sure just how much more powerful Beerus is than the Saiyans -- it's just good he isn't trying to blow the planet up anymore.
11 KILLUA ZOLDYCK - HUNTER X HUNTER
Hunter x Hunter doesn't rely on strength nearly as much as other shonen series. Stronger people lose or are wiped out by weaker ones all the time, because being stronger doesn’t necessarily make you invincible to all methods of attack. With that in mind, it's not a surprise Yoshihiro Togashi didn’t make Gon the strongest member of his group.
Gon doesn’t excel in any one attribute more than his partners, actually: Leorio is smarter, and Kurapika is stronger in certain conditions. Killua is stronger, faster, and better in battle -- and it makes sense, as he was trained by a family of legendary assassins.
10 SUZAKU - CODE GEASS
While he’s easily the worst character of Code Geass in a walk, Suzaku (he of the great and terrible spin kick) is also easily the most powerful. Highly trained in martial arts before the first season even starts, Suzaku only becomes more powerful after Lelouch commands him to “live” with his Geass.
From what we see, this grants the Britannian soldier with increased reflexes and limited precognitive abilities in order to stay alive. While he’s no match for his childhood friend Lelouch in intelligence, the second season sees Suzaku grow from an impressive, gifted soldier to nearly invincible in both hand-to-hand and mecha combat.
9 QUATTRO BAJEENA - ZETA GUNDAM
It's true that by the end of the series, Kamille Bidan is a much more powerful pilot than Quattro, or Char Aznable. Kamille is easily one of the most powerful NewTypes of all time after all, and ends up firing weapons made of pure soul energy. But when he first joins the Anti-Earth Union Group, he's got nothing on the far more experienced Quattro.
While he's still mastering the Gundam Mk. II, Quattro establishes himself as the ace pilot of the Argama, utilizing his more honed (though far less powerful) NewType powers and skill gained from years on the battlefield to tear through the forces of the Earth Federation.
8 WHIS - DRAGON BALL SUPER
Beerus is so powerful he’s one of the few characters in Dragon Ball Z to ever see a character experience a new power-up… then proceed to beat them anyway. But however strong Beerus might be, Whis seems to be even stronger! Beerus confirms that Whis is his trainer, and that lines up with everything we know about the character.
As one of the angels, his job is to monitor gods of destruction, meaning he’s older and more experienced than Beerus. At the same time, he has no problem training Goku and Vegeta the same time, while they’re both in their Super Saiyan Blue forms.
7 LISA LISA - JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE
When a protagonist’s parents are capable of fighting, there’s generally a good chance they’re vastly more powerful than the hero themselves. This is no exception -- while Joseph Joestar is a genius at strategy and is the sole reason the Pillar Men are eventually defeated, that doesn’t mean he was the strongest protagonist on the show.
On the contrary, having trained with the Ripple for years, Lisa Lisa was both more experienced with the power, and stated to be three times more powerful than Joseph with it. Though Joseph doubtless became more experienced with it over time, wit was more his specialty than power from the beginning.
6 PRINCESS LEONMITCHELLI - DOG DAYS
The reigning princess of the nation of Galette, Leonmitchelli has a greater reputation for her strength in battle and love of combat than anything else. She was so good at the mock battles held across the continent of Flonyard that the neighboring nation of Biscotti performed an ancient ritual to summon a hero to fight for them... and he still lost.
The only way anyone was ever able to bring Leo down was by teaming up with her with two or three other aces, and even then it somehow only ever ends up as a draw. She’s just too powerful for mere mortals to contend with.
5 EVANGELINE - NEGIMA
It's true, the most important parts where Evangeline proves herself more powerful than main character Negi Springfield are largely found in the manga, where the story gradually shifts from your average harem comedy to a full on shonen battle series. Nonetheless, Evangeline AK McDowell spends most of the Negima series as not just stronger than the lead, but stronger than everyone else in the Negima storyline.
Over 700 years old, Evangeline is an absurdly powerful mage who wields high level dark and ice-based magic, as well as inventing Magia Erebia, a special technique where its user boosts its own power by absorbing offensive spells and gaining the properties of that spell.
4 GILDARTS - FAIRY TAIL
For most of Fairy Tail, Gildarts is easily the most powerful member in the guild. He starts out as an S-Ranked mage, one of only a handful in the guild to begin with, and he’s far more powerful than Natsu, Lucy, Gray, or even Erza. His special Crush power is so great, he can barely control it -- the entire city of Magnolia simply shapeshifts around him to avoid him getting too close and blowing things up on accident.
Gildarts’ biggest drawback is he simply can’t fight around too many people without casualties being involved, which is why he often wanders off solo to finish ten year SS-class quests.
3 ALL MIGHT - MY HERO ACADEMIA
If we’re being fair about this, My Hero is still fairly early in its run, so it's logical for the main character to trail his mentor. Especially when said mentor passed on a part of his powers to Deku and he can only bring out a small fraction of those "One for All" powers without seriously injuring himself. At best, he can access around ten percent.
Meanwhile, All Might easily defeats threats far superior to Deku's current level, and boasts far greater skill and experience with using those powers -- though we all understand that Deku will eventually reach and surpass the Symbol of Peace one day.
2 HIKO SEIJURO - RUROUNI KENSHIN
Though Kenshin enjoys being the most powerful character in the series for large portions of the show, the character is absolutely not the most powerful character in that universe. Instead, Hiko Seijuuro -- master of the supersonic Hiten Mitsurugi Style -- holds that honor. Hiko already has an advantage over Kenshin in his willingness to take a life, making all of his techniques vastly more dangerous.
But Hiko also has something else: his body is built to take the strain of this powerful style. Though Kenshin's tiny body was able to learn the techniques, it takes the muscular structure of someone like Hiko to continue using them over the years, and Kenshin eventually loses all the techniques of the style when his body ages.
1 GOHAN - DRAGON BALL Z
It's true, eventually Gohan was surpassed by his father... and Vegeta as well, but there was a time when he was the most dangerous member of all the protagonists. His half-Saiyan blood helped him out during several scraps -- severely damaging Raditz and saving Piccolo from Frieza, just to name a few occasions.
His ace moment though was in his battle against Cell. After Goku fought the monster to a standstill, he knew only one person was powerful enough to take on Perfect Cell. Though it took Gohan becoming a Super Saiyan 2, when he finally took down Cell, he was truly the strongest character in DBZ.