Onslaught

Every once in a while I have trouble thinking of characters that can beat Superman in a fight, I'll ask one of my many friends. One name that comes up fairly often is Professor X. I am not of the opinion that the Professor X everyone knows and loves could beat Superman. Superman moves faster than Professor X can think, and Xavier is way too physically frail take even a single hit from Superman.

Onslaught is the manifestation of Professor X's repressed emotions, augmented by the absorbed personality of Magneto (after Professor X erased Magneto's mind in retaliation to a brutal attack on Wolverine). Initially, he possessed the combined powers of Professor X and Magneto. Later he would gone on the gain the powers of X-Man and Franklin Richards (the son of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman). The addition of Franklin Richards' power set is noteworthy, as it gave Onslaught the boy's reality warping powers, essentially making Onslaught powerful enough to spontaneously create universes (Franklin Richards did this once).

However, all these additional powers aren't really what gives Onslaught the advantage over Superman. Even Magneto's powers aren't really that necessary. Onslaught possesses all the powers of Professor X, without the weaknesses associated with having a flesh and blood body. Onslaught is nothing more than a psychic manifestation of Xavier, a being of pure mental energy. Even after the powers of Franklin Richards gave him the ability to make himself into a seperate entity, he was just psionic energy in a metal shell. The point is, Onslaught is basically a ghost. All energy of the mind. Unable to be harmed by any means at Superman's disposable.

So Superman would easily be able to swoop in and probably get one hit in on Onslaught. Onslaught would shrug it off and use his incredible mind powers to take over Superman's mind. Professor X has used his powers to communicate with beings on other plantes, so it's safe to say he doesn't really have any type of range on his telepathic powers. Superman then becomes Onslaught's puppet, razing the planet of any resistance to his rise to power. Or he makes Superman kill himself. Is Superman power enough to kill himself? Huh, I never really thought about it before.

Anyway, it's a real act of charity on Charles Xavier's part that he spent his whole adult life training other mutants to use their powers, when had he been training his own he might have learned to create autonomous mind ghosts like Onslaught to destroy the enemies of mutantkind. Although given what happened when he accidentally created one, I guess he probably spent all that time training himself NOT to make mind ghosts.

Next Week: Sunstorm