Marvel Confirms the One-Above-All’s Design for the Avengers’ Next Comic Appearance

The next appearance of Marvel’s Avengers will officially include Marvel’s supreme being, with Marvel revealing the design for its ultimate godhead, the One-Above-All. And while some fans will be thrilled, others will be disappointed by the choice.

Marvel’s One-Above-All is the supreme being of its entire multiverse, embodying and protecting existence itself on the highest possible level. Usually, the One-Above-All doesn’t take a direct hand in Marvel stories – indeed, it’s a big deal when even the supreme being’s servant the Living Tribunal appears. However, when the One-Above-All does cameo, Marvel traditionally varies its appearance.

In past appearances, the One-Above-All has switched race, gender and even species from panel to panel, representing how it is the embodiment and protector of infinite realities. Now, as the One-Above-All returns, Marvel deviates from that depiction…

Don’t forget to vote in our poll at the end of the article, and share your opinion on the One-Above-All’s design.

The One-Above-All vs The Infernal Hulk Begins

In a new preview of The Infernal Hulk #5 – from Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Kev Walker, Cam Smith, Matt Wilson and Cory Petit – the One-Above-All descends to Earth to take on the Infernal Hulk, right as the Avengers were about to make their move.

In a move that will disappoint some fans, the One-Above-All appears as a gigantic flaming male figure. This design was originally used with an interchangeable gender, but in recent years has become the default look for Marvel’s supreme being.

While it’s a hugely imposing visual, it’s also a shame to have Marvel’s One-Above-All boiled down to such a classic godlike image. In Marvel lore, beings on this level are physical expressions of cosmic forces – Marvel could do better than the representative of all life in the multiverse being a human male.

Of course, this is just a preview image, and Infernal Hulk could vary the model later in the story, but given it’s in line with the design used in Immortal Hulk and Incredible Hulk – and recent Storm issues – that seems unlikely. Instead, it seems that Marvel has simplified the character down to this singular design.

Why Is the One-Above-All Fighting the Hulk?

The Infernal Hulk is not Bruce Banner. Rather, it’s the demonic Eldest – one of the first demons, and the direct offspring of the Mother of Horrors, aka Vinruviel. Vinruviel is the first and oldest enemy of the One-Above-All – the only being to exist outside of the god’s grand design (an apparent impossibility that still hasn’t been explained.)

Hulk’s gamma energy is the result of the One-Above-All’s first direct fight against Vinruviel, who wounded the supreme being and corrupted its blood. Gamma was the result, and this gives Vinruviel dominion over gamma beings.

Having inherited Vinruviel’s power, the Infernal Hulk is attempting to plunge Earth-616 into a new Age of Monsters, setting this entire reality against the One-Above-All’s plan.

Of course, Vinruviel and Eldest aren’t exactly without motive – the One-Above-All has made it a point to scourge any and all of Vinruviel’s children from reality whenever it discovers them. As monstrous as these villains are, they are fighting for their very existence.

With Eldest stepping out in the open, the One-Above-All is once again taking a direct hand, descending to personally bring down its old enemy. However, the One-Above-All attacking before the Avengers strongly suggests it’s about to suffer its first true loss.

If the One-Above-All Can’t Win, What Can the Avengers Do?

Iron Man Is Next Up to Take on the New Hulk

It’s clear both from the One-Above-All’s placement in the story and solicits for upcoming issues that the One-Above-All isn’t going to win this fight, at least not right away. That’s pretty staggering, as previous comics have implied the supreme being is essentially omnipotent.

Images for the next issue reveal that the Avengers will get their turn to face the Infernal Hulk, with Tony Stark wielding a spear composed of the One-Above-All’s energy and piloting his new ‘Hellbuster’ armor.

Even that is unlikely to be the end of the clash, with the comic setting Bruce Banner up as the one hero who can really save the day against the Infernal Hulk.

The One-Above-All has never been more interesting than now, with cosmic lore and dark flaws finally making it a true character…

Does that mean the Infernal Hulk/Eldest is about to beat the One-Above-All? That seems unlikely, as it’s not something Vinruviel ever accomplished, even at the height of her power. It’s more probable that some cosmic rule will force the supreme being to step back and allow the Avengers to fight on its behalf. However the fact we’re even asking the question proves…

Marvel Has Broken the One-Above-All… And That’s a Good Thing

The One-Above-All was only formally introduced in 2004, taking the place of the Christian god in Marvel lore, complete with attendants patterned after Biblical angels. Marvel has spent twenty years distinguishing this character from the Judeo-Christian ‘God’, and the differences are starting to show.

Recent comics (especially those by Al Ewing) have complicated the character. Immortal Hulk revealed that the Immortal Hulk is both god and devil, with the glowing One-Above-All and eldritch One-Below-All being two sides of the same being (indeed, it was the discovery of Vinruviel that so angered the One-Above-All that its darker self was born.)

Later, Defenders Beyond confirmed that the ‘One-Above-All’ isn’t actually Marvel’s ultimate being – just the highest up the pecking order that humans can conceive of. It even teased that there may be plural beings sharing the identity – not “One-Above All”, but “Ones-Above-All.”

The One-Above-All is sometimes treated as a metaphor for Marvel’s creators and/or audience – the literal creative force behind the Marvel Universe. However, that isn’t how recent comics like Storm and Infernal Hulk have used the character, treating it more like a traditional creator figure.

The One-Above-All descending from ‘Heaven’ to confront an individual being is unheard of. The One-Above-All doesn’t deal in the fates of singular realities – indeed, before now, the supreme being didn’t even step in to stop the destruction of the multiverse itself (a correct decision, since that disaster actually led to the multiverse’s next evolution.)

Over the last few years, Marvel has turned the One-Above-All from an unknowable cosmic godhead to a (very powerful) character. However, that’s not a bad thing. The One-Above-All has never been more interesting than now, with cosmic lore and dark flaws finally making it a character, rather than a hollow echo of real-world religion.

However the One-Above-All and Avengers‘ battle against Hulk goes, it’s essentially guaranteed that the next decade will continue to erode the One-Above-All‘s mystique, and it’s likely that we’ll finally get to see what’s lurking a little higher up Marvel’s cosmic power ladder. Let us know in the poll below what you think of the One-Above-All’s design.

The Infernal Hulk #5 is coming March 18 from Marvel Comics.