When we call a character a god, what does that make you think of? An immortal being of near-infinite power? A mythic figure who performs impossible feats just for kicks? A pillar of strength who commands respect even if you don't actually worship them as a deity? All of these are good definitions, and for the most part, the gods and goddesses we see in comic books are every inch the larger-than-life legends we'd want them to be. Their cosmic adventures have dazzled audiences for decades in books like Thor, Wonder Woman, Eternals and many more.

But sadly, not every god can meet these lofty expectations. For every Thor and Artemis, there is a Hoder and Hyperion -- a god with some impressive features but who also possesses a flaw so severe that not even their godhood can protect them. Sometimes they manage to compensate for these shortcomings and accomplish great or terrible things regardless. Other times, they just end up as major disappointments to their parents. And when you're a god, disappointing your parents can be downright fatal. For readers, however, it just makes for entertaining reading. So let's take a look at 20 gods who don’t quite live up to their title!

20 KALIBAK

Part of being a good dad is treating all of your children equally and not playing favorites. Darkseid, ruthless dictator of the planet Apokolips and the very definition of “not a good dad,” violated these rules the minute his second son, Orion, came into the world. That left Kalibak, Darkseid's firstborn, in the unenviable position of no longer being in his father's good books. But while Orion betrayed his family to become one of the good guys, Kalibak devoted himself to destroying his father's favorite son. Kalibak's hatred of Orion got so intense that he once tried to kill Orion without Darkseid's permission.

Darkseid disintegrated him until he learned his lesson -- and you thought being grounded was tough.

Kalibak's life since then hasn't improve much. He has suffered defeat after defeat, never quite managing to escape the shadows of his past failures. In "Final Crisis", Kalibak's incompetence costs him his life. When he is mortally wounded by Tawky Tawny, Captain Marvel's talking tiger friend, his own troops refuse to help him. The troops are far more impressed by Tawny than by Kalibak and leave their former leader to bleed out. Most recently, a resurrected Kalibak was blinded in a battle with his sister Grail.

19 LION GOD

Gods fight each other all the time. You have to pass the centuries somehow, right? But most gods can find a better opponent than the Lion God. He first shows up in Avengers #112 when, sick of being overshadowed by his rival, the Panther God, he kidnaps Black Panther. The Lion God threatens to kill Black Panther unless he helps him destroy the Panther God's followers. Black Panther says no thanks, and Thor electrocutes the Lion God back to his home dimension.

But the Lion God learned nothing from this encounter. A couple of issues later, he returns to get his vengeance, this time with the aid of newbie Avenger Swordsman and his girlfriend, Mantis. Thanks to their help, the Lion God makes it into Avengers Mansion. That's right, Lion God couldn't even get past the Avengers' puny mortal security systems, a feat that even Hawkeye could handle. Adding insult to injury, the Swordsman and Mantis were stringing him along the whole time. Now that they have successfully lured him into the open, they can hypnotize him so he walks right into an adamantium cylinder. Thor then shoots said cylinder into another dimension. No wonder Wakandans prefer the Panther God.

18 STEPPENWOLF

Not to be confused with the '70s rock band, who probably have a much better chance of winning a fight, Steppenwolf is Darkseid's uncle. You may recognize him as the big bad from the 2017 movie Justice League, but before he was disappointing film audiences with his generic characterization and blatantly computer-generated body, he was disappointing his relatives. He suffered his first death at the hands of the Highfather, the ruler of New Genesis, after Steppenwolf started an interplanetary war by killing the Highfather's wife.

When he was resurrected, Darkseid allowed Steppenwolf to return to duty as the commander of Apokolips' vast military.

In Terror Titans #2, Steppenwolf is gruesomely killed by Clock King, an extremely mortal D-list villain who really, really should not have posed a threat to a literal god. Steppenwolf was eventually granted yet another new lease on life, returning to comics after the New 52 reboot in 2011. Sadly, he wasted that opportunity too. Steppenwolf failed to conquer Earth, became stranded there for several years, and then actually did conquer Earth for about fifteen seconds before he was killed by a Superman clone. And yet when he returned again, Darkseid still let Steppenwolf serve him. Does Steppenwolf just make really great coffee or something?

17 CRONUS

If you heard a prophecy that your son was going to rise up and murder you one day, and you genuinely believed that prophecy to be accurate, how would you react? You would probably avoid having kids, right? Well such a solution apparently never occurred to Cronus, ruler of the Titans of Myth. He and his sister-wife, Rhea, have multiple children. Immediately after each birth, Cronus snatches the newborn from Rhea's arms and swallows it whole. Rhea finally tires of that nonsense and, when Zeus is born, substitutes the kid for a baby-sized rock. The real Zeus is stashed safely elsewhere while Cronus wolfs down the stony substitute.

Anyone who can be tricked into believing a hunk of rock is a newborn godling is perhaps not the brightest deity ever to rule the world. Cronus remains oblivious as the distinctly undigested Zeus grows to adulthood and plots revenge, finally returning to confront his father. After rescuing his older siblings from Cronus' stomach, Zeus fulfills the prophecy, after a fashion. In some versions, he does kill his father as foretold. In others, he simply banishes Cronus and the other Titans of Myth to Tartarus for eternity. Well that's so much better.

16 GAROKK

In Uncanny X-Men #113, the X-Men pay a visit to the Savage Land, a dinosaur-filled jungle hidden under the Antarctic ice. Their arrival coincides with the rebirth of Garokk the Petrified Man, a sun god with tough gray skin. One of Garokk's priestesses is responsible for the resurrection, having transformed an unfortunate mortal into her god. Garokk, like any good evil god, is very eager to start conquering stuff right away. He builds a giant city in the middle of the Savage Land. It's very impressive, but the effort leaves him almost no power for capturing and sacrificing the X-Men. Garokk apparently meets his end when he falls into a bottomless pit and Storm is unable to get to him in time.

Next time, maybe save the world building for after the world is actually yours.

Somehow Garrok survives the fall, though he soon wishes he had not. Magneto rescues him and forces him into service as guardian of Magneto's underground lair. The X-Men once again show up to stop him, and Garokk dies again when he lunges for Kitty Pryde, despite knowing she can turn intangible. He sails right through her, inadvertently hurling himself into yet another bottomless pit.

15 OSIRIS AND ISIS

The Egyptian pantheon claims to be the oldest in existence. One wonders how they lasted so long with Osiris and his wife Isis as their leaders. They have two sons: Horus, a great hero, and Seth, a great pain in everyone's backsides. Seth has caused his family no end of problems, and at every turn, his parents have proven incapable of stopping him. He chopped Osiris to pieces, requiring Isis to wander the world looking for the scattered pieces to reassemble her jigsaw puzzle of a husband. In general, Isis and Osiris seem to prefer pawning the Seth-wrangling duties onto Horus. And while Horus does tend to do better in battle with Seth, he too has his limits.

After a centuries-long battle, Seth finally gets the better of Horus. As a result, the whole family spends several centuries locked in a pyramid while Seth decimates ancient Egypt. When they get out, they are compelled to kidnap Odin in the hopes that the Allfather is powerful enough to clean up Seth's mess. For a couple of ancient, all-powerful deities, they sure spend a lot of time running to the Asgardians for aid. At least Odin, for all that he’s constantly being outsmarted by Loki, usually manages to contribute to Loki’s punishment in the end.

14 HODER

Hoder, as mentioned elsewhere in this list, is the brother of Balder, a slightly more well-known Norse deity. He is sort-of-but-not-really responsible for his brother's death. That is to say, he hurled the weapon that killed Balder, but it was Loki who handed it to him and encouraged him to throw it. Not that that little technicality could save Hoder from the other Asgardians' wrath.

Gods aren't exactly known for their gentle and forgiving dispositions.

The tale of Hoder's downfall is retold in Thor: The Trials of Loki. According to this version of the myth, Hoder once assaulted the goddess Idunn. Idunn is in charge of harvesting the golden apples that keep the gods young and healthy. In retaliation for Hoder's attack, she denies him access to the apples, causing him to age like a normal person. Soon enough, Hoder is a weak old man, while all of his peers remain as hale and hearty as ever. But one day Idunn promises to give him an apple if Hoder will throw a mistletoe branch at Balder. Hoder, not knowing that mistletoe is the only thing that can hurt Balder or that "Idunn" is really Loki, happily agrees. So not only is Hoder just an old mortal man, he'd not a very bright one either.

13 GOG AND MAGOG

According to Incredible Hulk #257, the gods Gog and Magog began life as Nephut-Sha, an Egyptian sorcerer who served Pharaoh during that little dust-up with Moses and the ten plagues. Furious at losing to the Israelites, Nephut-Sha prays to Seth, the god of death, for superhuman powers so he can get revenge. In response, Seth transforms Nephut-Sha into Gog and Magog, a pair of demon gods. Gog and Magog ask Pharaoh for permission to pursue the Israelites. A weary Pharaoh not only refuses but buries them alive. Angered by Pharaoh's actions, the demons bide their time, waiting for a chance to free themselves.

At some point in the past, they got that chance, only to be swiftly reburied by a human with a magic sword. In the present day, history repeats itself. Gog and Magog again escape their tomb, and again they fail to make it anywhere near Israel. They are swiftly and violently put down by the Hulk and the Arabian Knight, a Bedouin chieftain who just happened to stumble across the magic sword at the same time as the demons escaped. We can't help wondering how Gog and Magog expect to fight all of Israel if they can't even handle one big green guy and one shirtless man with an enchanted knife.

12 VOLSTAGG

Okay, we feel bad about this, but facts are facts. Volstagg the Voluminous debuted in Journey into Mystery #119 as one of the Warriors Three. Along with Hogun the Grim and Fandral the Dashing, he accompanied Thor on many of his early adventures. But while his fellows were forever charging valiantly into battle, Volstagg... wasn't. If ever he wins a fight, it's a happy accident that occurs while he's attempting to hide or retreat. To hear Volstagg tell it, however, he could totally beat people up if he felt like it -- he's just so tough that he might end up hurting them. It's really for his enemies' benefit that he holds back.

In fairness, Volstagg has received an upgrade recently.

The live-action Thor films cut way back on his comedic aspects, although he did end up as cannon fodder in Thor: Ragnarok. And in Mighty Thor #20, after witnessing some children's deaths, Volstagg goes into a full-on berserker rage. But for most of his history, Volstagg has been the weak link of the Warriors Three. All that being said, while you could defeat Volstagg fairly easily, why would you want to? He’s the nicest person in Asgard. If a friend is having trouble coping with something, Volstagg is the first to offer advice and a shoulder to cry on. If an orphan needs adopting, he’s your god. Honestly, if you win against Volstagg, you're still the loser.

11 YUGA KHAN

Yuga Khan has the dubious honor of being Darkseid's father. He ruled Apokolips before Darkseid came to power. And how did Darkseid eventually come to power, you ask? His dad got himself stuck in the Source Wall. The Source Wall is a cosmic structure located at the edge of the universe. It is composed of the bodies of every power-hungry maniac to ever try to find the thing it was designed to protect: The Source, from which all energy in the universe originates. Yuga Khan is so obsessed with discovering the Source that he lets it override his self-preservation instincts.

Eventually, in New Gods #17, Yuga Khan busted loose and destroyed a planet, absorbing its energy. For one brief, glorious moment, he enjoyed truly unlimited power. He mocked Darkseid and murdered his underlings as much as his wicked heart desired. And then he figured, hey, "I'm basically omnipotent now, why not give that whole discovering-the-Source thing another shot?" Well, points for tenacity, but Yuga Khan still ended up melded with the Source Wall once again. So if Yuga Khan ever backs you into a corner, just point over his shoulder, tell him the Source is right behind him and then run in the opposite direction. Odds are it'll work.

10 THE BEAST-GOD OF XOCHATAN

Here's a god so weak that he doesn't even get a real name. In Teen Titans #1, our young heroes head on down to the South American nation of Xochatan to build a dam for the locals. The dam is very important because... um... well anyway, the project is immediately beset with problems most fantastic. A giant robot conquistador scares away the native workers. The Teen Titans dispatch the conquistador in short order, and the dam is soon completed. This causes an ancient pyramid to begin flooding with rerouted river water. And as the floodwaters rise, so does a new menace: the titular Beast-God of Xochatan.

The Beast-God takes the form of a jaguar, a snake and an eagle, all with a justifiably angry human face on them.

One by one, each facet of the Beast-God expresses his displeasure at the destruction of his temple by attacking the Teen Titans. But the Beast-God is no match for our heroes. The Titans defeat all three of their animal opponents in the time it takes the temple to go under. When the temple disappears, so does the Beast-God. Because that sure is what we'd do if we discovered something alive in an ancient temple: continue to drown it anyway.

9 SLEEZ

With a name like Sleez and an appearance like if Yoda really let himself go, nobody should have expected this guy to amount to much.  And guess what? He wasted no time in meeting our mediocre expectations when he debuted in 1987. In Action Comics #592, Sleez informs us that he was banished by Darkseid from Apokolips for being “too disgusting.” But he does have an actual power beyond creeping out murderous tyrants. Sleez can control minds. With such a power, a smarter god might well have posed a serious threat to Earth.

Fortunately, Sleez is Sleez, a dude who has hung out in Earth’s sewers for centuries and whose brightest idea was to try to break into a certain infamous industry. Not as a star, mind, although we’re sure someone somewhere is into that. No, Sleez set himself up as a producer, using mind control to compel Superman and Big Barda to star in his first production. Superman freed himself from Sleez's control, and that was the last anyone heard from the exiled Apokolipsian. Well, almost. This abominably bad character showed up in Countdown to Final Crisis for the express purpose of being killed off. Gee, what a shame.

8 DAMBALLAH

In Avengers #152, Wonder Man, a former Avenger, is resurrected via voodoo magic. The Avengers trace that magic to a Louisiana bayou. There they run afoul of the Black Talon, a voodoo priest who brought Wonder Man back to life at the behest of Wonder Man's brother, the Grim Reaper. Faced with the full wrath of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the hopelessly outclassed Black Talon calls upon the dark god Damballa to lend him a little assistance.

But Damballa never gets the chance to do anything more than just show up.

Even then, he only ever appears as a pair of glowing eyes. Within a page, the Scarlet Witch takes him out by lighting a torch and waving it vaguely in Damballa's direction. Yup, that's it. And even though she did light the torch with her magic, it's pretty clearly implied that it's the light itself and not the magic that brings about Damballa's downfall. So basically, as long as you have a flashlight on you, you're safe from Damballa. One last note: this comic pretty grossly misrepresents Damballa, which is the name of a very important spirit among certain voodoo adherents. But here, he's just a disembodied and deeply disappointing deity.

7 MEPHISTO

Despite being one of the Marvel Universe's most malevolent influences, Mephisto has suffered some embarrassing defeats. In Thor #180, Odin banishes Loki to Mephisto's realm, not realizing his sons have swapped bodies and that he has actually banished Thor. Mephisto decides to keep Thor for his very own. Thor's friends come to his rescue, but their strongest blows do nothing. Thor ends up having to save himself. How, you ask? By projecting his innate goodness at Mephisto. This blitz of benevolence is too much for Mephisto, who quickly surrenders. So there you have it, folks. To defeat Mephisto, all you have to do is think nice thoughts at him and he crumples like soggy cardboard.

Mephisto is also terrible at deal-making. In the infamous One More Day, Spider-Man is so desperate to save his dying aunt that he asks Mephisto for help. Mephisto has Spidey right in the palm of his ruby red hand. He could demand absolutely anything from Spider-Man, and Spider-Man would probably agree. So what does Mephisto ask for? Spidey's marriage. And nothing else. For crying out loud, he’s a demon! His entire shtick revolves around making deals with mortals. He’s had thousands of years to perfect his craft, and yet this is the best deal he can come up with? Better go back to demon school, buddy.

6 THRAX & ALEXA

The plot of the 2009 Wonder Woman cartoon seems to revolve around characters whose entire reason for existing is to show that literally anyone could beat them in a fight. First up is Thrax, who was born after Ares forced himself on Hippolyta. Hippolyta beheads him within the first five minutes. The next time we see him, he has become a mindless slave in Tartarus, unable to fight back as Hades takes vindictive glee in abusing him. And so he remains, despite Ares' attempts to win his freedom.

Then we have Alexa, the only Amazon in history who can't even throw a punch.

Alexa spends the entire opening battle cowering and crying that she doesn't want to fight. Her inaction results in Persephone being blinded in one eye. Even after centuries on Themyscira, Alexa is still patently incapable of anything but reading. You'd think someone as smart as she is would recognize the importance of learning basic self-defense, especially since she lives among warriors. But no, Persephone stabs her to death. Alexa is basically what would happen if you transplanted Belle from Beauty and the Beast to Themyscira. Except Belle actually tried to fight off those wolves instead of quivering behind a tree.

5 HERCULES

Hercules is famous for his strength, and rightly so. Even Thor on his best day is evenly matched with this legendary fighter. But there’s one part of his body that Hercules could stand to exercise a little more often: his brain. More than once, we've seen Hercules fall for the most transparent of evil schemes. In Avengers #38, Hercules accepts a drink from the Enchantress, even though he knows it's a bad idea. The Avengers have to rescue him from the resultant brainwashing. Zeus is so unimpressed that he immediately exiles Hercules from Olympus.

Earlier, in Thor #128, Pluto disguises himself as a Hollywood agent named Hellman and sticks a contract in Hercules' face, promising that he can make Hercules a movie star. Most of us would give a fellow like that a suspicious side-eye as we hurry across the street to get away from him. But Hercules? He happily puts his thumbprint to it, even though it states flat-out that, by signing, he agrees to rule the netherworld forever. And then he is shocked when Hellman turns out to be Pluto and Hercules is in fact stuck ruling the netherworld forever. In conclusion, if you start a fistfight with Hercules, you deserve what you get. But if you are capable of telling blatant lies with a straight face, congratulations! You, too, can defeat mythology's most famous demigod.

4 LITTLE BARDA

You’ve probably heard of Big Barda, toughest of the Female Furies, member of the Justice League and loving wife of Mister Miracle. But have you ever heard of Little Barda? Not likely -- and there’s a reason for that. Little Barda also hails from Apokolips and bears many striking similarities to her jumbo-sized counterpart. She’s got the armor, the megarod and the desire to protect Earth. Unfortunately, she has yet to develop the fortitude or the resilience of her namesake. She joins the Teen Titans in 2006, when the team was desperate to fill its roster. So right off the bat, you can guess that Little Barda and the other new recruits are not the cream of the superhero crop.

Sure enough, after their first team outing results in the death of an enemy, Little Barda quits. 

Not to sound callous, but Little Barda is from Apokolips, a ruthless purgatory of a planet where death is routine. If she really is a warrior aspiring to be as great as Big Barda, one dead body shouldn't affect her this much. Some time later, she joins Titans East, a team that has not, historically speaking, enjoyed long-term success. Again, Little Barda doesn't last long. Neither does anyone else: the entire group suffers grievous injuries. The only Titan to escape injury is Power Boy, and that's because he died.

3 HYPERION

Hyperion is one of the Titans of Myth, the generation of Grecian gods that humanity worshiped before the Olympians came along and kicked the Titans out.  In New Teen Titans #11, he hypnotizes Wonder Girl into falling in love with him, but he does a slapdash job of it.  Even as she fights the Teen Titans alongside the Titans of Myth, Wonder Girl senses that something is wrong. In the end, Hyperion's influence can't stand up against good old-fashioned logic. When Athena tells Wonder Girl that Hyperion's plans will bring about the end of civilization as we know it, she snaps out of her trance. We're not sure whether that reflects better on Wonder Girl, who resisted the mind control powers of an ancient deity, or more poorly on Hyperion, who should have done better.

The Olympians send the Titans of Myth back to Tartarus. Hyperion goes reluctantly, complaining about how unfair it is that his peers won't let him keep the teenager he brainwashed and abducted. He comes off as a whiny, manipulative creep instead of a god. But he did finally make himself useful. In New Teen Titans #9, Hyperion took himself out, choosing to immolate himself alongside his homicidal maniac of a wife.

2 BALDER

In one of Norse mythology's most enduring tales, Balder is the most beloved of the gods. His mother Frigga loves him so that she makes everything -- animal, vegetable and mineral -- swear to never hurt her son. Only mistletoe is exempt from taking the pledge, as Frigga believes it to be so impotent that it could never cause any harm. Yeah, even if you don't know this story, you can pretty much guess how it's going to end. Enter Loki, the reason why none of the gods can ever have nice things. He sees the other gods throwing things at Balder.  Since nothing can hurt Balder, the gods think it's good sport to watch rocks and sticks and such bounce right off him. Let's not judge -- if we knew someone invulnerable, we'd do the exact same thing to them.

Deciding that the other gods' brand of entertainment isn't good enough for him, Loki sidles up to Balder's brother, Hoder. 

Hoder, being blind, has decided not to take part in the festivities. Loki encourages him to quit being a wallflower and even promises to guide his aim. Hoder, for some reason, accepts both the offer and the weapon Loki gives him, not realizing it's made from mistletoe. The results are predictable. Balder may be a strong warrior, a fair leader and a loyal friend to Thor, but only so long as you keep him away from the Christmas decorations.

1 MISTER GENIE

Wonder Woman, like most older comic book characters, went through a really weird phase during the Silver Age. In deference to the Comics Code Authority, which frowned upon Wonder Woman's penchant for getting tied up and for not hanging around with men, the Amazing Amazon strove to go on more "kid-friendly" adventures. And so, in addition to seeing Wonder Woman fight off giant, racially insensitive eggs every month, readers were treated to flashbacks to the days when Diana was not a wonder woman, but a wonder tot.

At an age when most kids are still trying to come to grips with the alphabet, this pint-sized paladin travels the world punching asteroids. Accompanying her in these stories is the creatively named Mister Genie. He is a genie -- we know, you're so shocked -- who allegedly has all of the powers one would expect from such a being. But he somehow still needs a preschooler to save him in every single issue. And heaven forbid anyone get hold of his turban. It's the source of his mystical power -- without it, he's helpless. Well, more helpless. In other words, the hardest part of defeating Mister Genie is getting him away from his toddler friend first.