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Jean has had quite a rocky history when it comes to her power levels, portrayal and hype. Jean is an Omega Level telepath who (despite many retcons and de/repowerings) we've often been TOLD is unbelievably powerful despite spending several eras of comics being more of a punching bag and tag-a-long psychic then a true powerhouse. She was frequently pointed out as the pinnacle of mutant power, but her power levels without the Phoenix Force have always come into question as they were left up to word of god from writers, characters making allusions to her capabilities and generally just being revered without much hard facts to call upon.

However from the end of the 90s onward we see a increase in her showings and capabilities to more properly give her this position even without tapping the power of a certain cosmic fire bird. Interestingly enough, she's often stated to have held her powers back out of fear of them, which is an interesting justification for low showings when her incredible power levels have been a plotline in more then a dozen different plots and backstories for other characters.

In the past, this has lead to a solid stalemate with the next person on our list as Jean didn't quite measure up in showings to the "Greatest Mutant Mind in Existence" but had firmly been stated by said "greatest mind" to be above him in both potential and realization.

Not today. By the year 2023, she has gotten the feats to back up her accolades, and it's safe to say the stalemate has been broken (even if only slightly) and that Jean has taken the lead as the #1 Telepath in our Tier List.

Reasons Jean deserves this spot:

• Statements from the vast majority of this list about her power being greater then their own.
• Invading the minds of multiple cosmic beings from the Phoenix Force, to Knull, most recently a Celestial, and being able to harm or fend off powerful beings like LifeSeed Nate Grey and Nightmare.
• Boasting one of, if not the best, telepathic defenses among her peers. Some notable instances were shielding the 8.5m population of NYC from a psychic attack that would have killed them, tanking huge psychic attacks from a Celestial while heavily multitasking, and shielding her mind from Cassandra Nova's attack even while already stretched to her limit.
• Shown to outperform fellow high-tier Emma Frost on multiple occasions
• Creating powerful psychic phenomenon across the planet during Phoenix Resurrection, including psychic constructs/projections that were giving teams of X-Men trouble
• Several feats of doing things Professor Xavier was unable to do, or that he has stated were otherwise "impossible", without effort or foresight.
• Statements from several writers and creators from different Eras on how powerful she can be, with a few stating she is more powerful than Xavier
• Breaking through telepathic shielding, immunity and resistance on multiple occasions

Jean's Respect Thread:

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/jean-grey/4005-3552/forums/updated-jean-grey-respect-thread-the-all-powerful--2134520/

Some Highlights

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The long revered strongest mind on the planet. Is it any wonder that he ended up here?

Charles Xavier, up until Jean Grey's most recent resurrection, was the strongest mind on the planet since his character's creation. With over 60 years of feats as Marvel's premier telepath, it isn't any wonder why some might still see him as being in the number one spot.

Alas, by his own admission, Jean was destined to surpass his own power....and while his knowledge and skill as a telepath may surpass Jean's overall telepathic abilities, it's important to note that creators also seem to be on Jean's side.

Reasons Xavier deserves this spot:

• He has the most feats of any telepath in Marvel, regardless of the tier.
• He has the most accolades of any psychic character in Marvel Comics or possibly any major comic company.
• He has defeated, threatened to over power or trained every X-verse telepath in our High Tier List.
• His best feats are above the best of any of the other telepaths on this list.
• Has the most experience in all things telepathy among his peers
• He's squared off with multiple God Tiers and Cosmically powered beings and given them runs for their money. (including various iterations of the Phoenix Force, Galactus, Ego)
• Received a power increase from the M'krann Crystal that made him even more powerful than when he performed his best feats.
• Defended and battled against the Eternals' Uni-Mind for hours on end with the aid of Cerebro

Xavier's Respect Thread

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/professor-x/4005-1505/forums/the-reigning-king-of-psi-charles-xavier-respect-th-2032907/

Some Highlights

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Charles Xavier's evil twin and a psychic parasite known as a Mummumdrai, Cassandra Nova is nothing if not powerful.

A creation of Grant Morrison during his run that increased the X-Men's active telepaths by a good amount, Nova made it clear from the beginning that she was a force to be reckoned with by dropping Xavier at the height of his power. And while she's only had limited canon appearances....in almost every one of those appearances, she's utterly defeated, incapacitated or outshone one or more of the X-Men's most powerful psychics.

Reasons Nova deserves this spot:

• Surprise attacking and tearing apart New X-Men Era Xavier's mind while his powers were Cerebra amped by x10, leaving him powerless to stop it and resorting to ending his own life with a gun to prevent her from taking over.
• Leaving New X-Men Era Jean Grey a drooling mess just from touching minds.
• Getting into Emma Frost's shielded mind and planting powerful suggestions despite being near death.
• Mindcontrolling and enslaving Rachel Summers while declaring her as "no threat" to her and then mind screwing Rachel when she was done using her.
• Remained undetected despite living in the X-Mansion with fellow telepaths such as Jean Grey, Emma Frost and the Stepford Cuckoos
• Attacking Jean Grey's mind while she was amped by Searebro
• Stated to be as powerful a telepath as Jean Grey and Professor Xavier
• Orchestrated and did the heavy lifting in a telepathic circuit that wiped the minds of the inhabitants of Avalon, including Exodus
• Lobotomized trillions of bacterial beings threatening to take over the world with a psychic attack when Sublime and Arkea attempted to assimilate her

Cassandra's Respect Thread:

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/forums/gen-discussion-1/respect-cassandra-nova-2006720/

Some Highlights

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The White Queen of the Hellfire Club and the dominant psychic presence of the mid to 2000's through early 2010's, Emma comes it at number 4 on our rankings with some of the most abundant showings of skill of any telepath and 3 decades of "World Class/Omega Class/Psi of the Highest Order" statements.

While there was and still is a lot of debate on how much raw power Emma actually possesses, the group opinion was pretty strong on where she ended up.

Emma's strengths include range, mental traps and outsmarting opponents...but her feats and comparisons to Charles Xavier are what earned her this position....and it doesn't hurt that she's beat almost everyone else below her.

Reasons Emma deserves this spot:

• She's repeatedly gotten past defenses and shields created by Xavier, even going as far as trapping him in his own mind
• She's blocked Xavier, the Phoenix Force and Exodus' telepathy casually
• Implied to be one of the 5 most skilled telepaths on the planet
• Defeating or getting the upper hand against telepaths more powerful than herself
• Defeating the Hiveminds of Sinister, the Thousand in One Cuckoos, The Skrull Blockade, and recently the Eternal's Uni-mind
• Defeated or outperformed fellow High Tiers Xavier, Rachel Summers, Exodus, Mr. Sinister and the Stepford Cuckoos at one point or another.
• Defeating the Cuckoos that were empowered by Phoenix Force shards
• Broken through telepathic shielding or resistance on multiple occasions
• Her telepathic handiwork was so complex and well done that fellow high-tier Exodus was unable to undo/unravel it
• Shielded the X-Men from Sinister's telepathy in Antarctica while she was in New York

Emma's Respect Thread:

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/forums/emma-frost-168/hellfires-queen-an-emma-frost-respect-thread-2010010

Some Highlights

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Shadow King is a monster of a telepath who has repeatedly been compared to Charles Xavier and is even hinted to be a multiversal embodiment of hate.

Realistically, he has a bit of an issue with context, as some of his best feats of power have him amplified by some form of psychic nexus or link between all the minds of the world that he gained access to off screen. (Almost never the same one twice) Still, he often manages to lose confrontations despite these amps to his supposedly Xavier level power, often losing to people far weaker, less experienced and even without powers at all.

Still, while it's easy to crack jokes at his failures, he's still shown that when he enters combat with or without an amp, he isn't to be played with...even if he decides to play with you instead.

Reasons Shadow King deserves this spot:

• Has unsurpassed knowledge of the astral plane.
• Has created 4 different global links to possess/control/corrupt all psychics and/or all minds on the planet.
• Capable of controlling hundreds, if not thousands, at a time with ease
• Has defeated and mind controlled multiple high tiers and alternate versions of them from around the multiverse, such as Xavier, Jean, Emma, Rachel and Betsy.
• Has more than a few impressive statements from being the strongest mind on the planet to even a multiversal threat depending on the appearance.
• Is able to defeat and imprison a young Phoenix Force Rachel Summers

Shadow King's Respect Thread:

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/profile/professorrespect/blog/respect-the-shadow-king/140269/

Some Highlights

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Rachel Summers, daughter of the Phoenix. She is an interesting look at how raw power can carry you a VERY long way before we examine anything else.

Rachel's statements and status as a Grey-Summer child provide a lot of arguments for her (Pre-Hickman) Omega Level powers, and her repertoire includes some power house showings with other high tiers, dominating mid tiers and comparable feats to Xavier and Jean Grey.

Her downside being that she has a good number of lackluster showings of being mindcontrolled by people that really shouldn't be able to do that to her.

That said, Rachel has some of the best offense feats and combat showings among the telepaths when she's actually in a fair fight and a major power up to her abilities has added to some hype.

Reasons Rachel deserves this spot:

• Entering the minds of every person on the planet and cross galactic projection, without any external amps, which only Xavier has done among High Tiers.
• Psychic attacks that rivaled Xavier's own even as a young teen have taken down mid tiers in one shot, showing some of the best offense feats among her peers.
• Implied that with Xavier and Jean off the board that she was the most powerful telepath on Earth
• Repeatedly has gotten around the defenses of Storm who has resisted Xavier, Jean, Shadowking and Emma
• Giving other high tier telepaths a good fight during her weaker incarnations
• After she started tapping into more of her power, she wiped out an entire city of nano-sentinels. The Stepford Cuckoos only managed to take out a street's worth before tapping out
• Cloaked herself and the X-Men from Xavier's telepathy, including phoenix Namor, then saw through Xavier's own illusion. Xavier said she was as much of a threat as he was.
• Was able to tear into the death god Morrigan's mind and lock her down

Rachel's Respect Thread:

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/rachel-grey/4005-3566/forums/starchildebright-lady-a-rachel-grey-summers-respec-2000634/

Some Highlights

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A very interesting character on this list. The man is very inconsistent on exactly WHAT powers he possesses in any specific appearance...but as far as we've been able to gather, he is at the very least a high tier telepath to some degree with his sheer knowledge of the art allowing him to perform incredible feats.

Proof that even when half the time you don't have a certain power, what you do with it when you do can make all the difference.

Reasons Mr. Sinister deserves this spot:

• Inferno....mostly Inferno.
• After being drained by Rogue, his consciousness dominates her mind and then he uses his drained powers to return himself to his body.
• Blocked Emma Frost's telepathy on multiple occasions
• He no sells 80s Psylockes attack while smashing memories inside Jean's mind.
• After creating his "Sinister System" that perfects his clones, he stalemates Hope Summers who has mimic'd Emma Frost's telepathy
• Was able to give Xavier some real trouble when he took over his body and mind
• Was able to break into Jean Grey's mind when she was undergoing her Celestial Judgment

Mister Sinister's Respect Thread:

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/mr-sinister/4005-3179/forums/dark-gentleman-of-genetics-a-mister-sinister-respe-2118091/

Some Highlights

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Exodus is another one of the interesting characters.

His powers aren't consistent across any of his appearances, but it's also been implied in the past that his power level is based on his faith/fanaticism, and currently stated to be stronger when people believe in him.

Inconsistency can be a good thing when you have high showings like his, but when you have less showings, it means low showings like getting your mind screwed with by a single Stepford Cuckoo becomes more viable.

Still, a happy medium has been found that fits across all but one of his appearances where he seemed to be at his strongest ever (Bloodties).

Reasons Exodus deserves this spot:

• He fought Rachel Summers on 6 different fronts of the Astral Plane to a standstill while he was actively fighting the other X-Men in the physical world, including Iceman, Rogue and Cannonball.
• He swatted 90s Jean Grey out of his mind casually while fighting a city busting battle with Holocaust
• Tanked a full on TP blast from Professor X after fighting off a team of X-Men and Avengers and keeping up a force field over Genosha that he was slowly pulling in to crush the structures.
• Clashed with Xavier to a degree that thousands of miles away other psychics could feel it and was still aware enough to block attacks from people and hurl Magneto (without his powers) across the room.
• Enthralled 90's Jean Grey and Wanda while actively fighting a team of X-Men and Avengers while maintaining a city-wide force field.
• Is stated to be to have unknown limits to his powers
• Fought off the eternals Uni-Mind telepathically while fighting the Eternals Hex in the real world
• Is among the most skilled telepaths around, replicating a few of the feats that have made Jean, Xavier and Emma top tiers to differing degrees of success.
• Capable of rebuilding and containing the minds of high tiers like Xavier in his own

Exodus' Respect Thread

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/forums/gen-discussion-1/respect-exodus-the-psionic-savior-complete-respect-2053022/

Some Highlights

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The Son of Xavier, Legion

Where previously we saw Legion as both a Mid Tier (for his average portrayal) and as a God Tier (for any of his showings when merging or tapping into the full power of his personalities), it was decided that we'd be better off if we gave Legion a clean slate given his recent character development showed he'd gained greater control over his powers and his personalities and that some of his previous anti-feats shouldn't be applied.

With that said, this ranking will be for Legion as of his 2019 Uncanny X-Men appearance and going on through to his current showings in the Krakoa Era.

So why does Legion deserve this spot?

• He created and maintains a psychic space in the astral plane that allows people to enter into dozens of levels of his mindscape.
• He locked the Life Seed empowered Nate Grey (a certified God Tier) into his mind and made him believe he'd spent months depowered and under attack in the Age of Apocalypse
• While containing Nate, he was able to block Jean Grey and Betsy Braddock from entering or observing the inside of his mind until they worked together to break through
• He went toe to toe with the Eternal Uranos, reaching a stalemate in their minds and facing off against his “arsenal” on the astral plane.
• Has a unique perspective on TP being able to detect both Onslaughts rebirth as well as Nate Grey's ascension to Life Seed when no one else was able to.

Legion's Respect Thread:

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/legion/4005-13349/forums/son-of-xavier-legion-respect-thread-2096832/

Some Highlights

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Xemnu, the original Hulk

If there's one thing Xemnu has shown in his very few appearances, it's a lot of raw power. So much so that he could give the people that top our list a run for their money when it comes to power.

In the few times he's been around, he has managed to affect the planet on multiple occasions, such as mind controlling everyone on one occasion, and on another, editing everyone's memories.

He also boasts very powerful telepathic offense, being able to take down beings like The Hulk and Doctor Strange with his Psi-Bolts.

What he does lack though, are showings of skill. Perhaps due to his overall lack of appearances, he has not showcased much variety in his applications of telepathy. This hurts him in comparison to his peers on this tier who do have such showings and capabilities. However, this does not stop Xemnu from being an extremely big telepathic threat, being able to swing against the best of the best by virtue of his sheer telepathic might

Reasons Xemnu deserves this spot:

• Mind controlled the Earth within moments
• Has taken down Savage Hulk with his TP on numerous occasions
• Knocked out Dr. Strange with a Psi Bolt
• Rewrote the memories of the entire planet Earth to forget about Hulk and view Xemnu as a hero, going so far as to replace Hulk in people's memories with himself
• Manages to mentally dominate Savage Hulk, Devil Hulk and Green Scar
• Trapped Cho Hulk and everyone in Seoul in a detailed illusion, giving them specialized fantasies

Xemnu's Respect Thread

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/forums/gen-discussion-1/respect-xemnu-the-one-and-only-living-hulk-complet-2068972/

Some Highlights

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Moondragon, the face of cosmic telepaths.

While Moondragon is a human, she has operated in space for the majority of her existence. This has allowed her to get some massive range feats, spanning the galaxy. However, her repertoire is not limited simply to range. Aside from this, Moondragon boasts great power, skill and combat ability as seen with the things she's done.

Moondragon has battled the likes of Dr. Strange on the Astral Plane, resulting in a double KO, and defeated the Greek god Hermes in mental combat. At one time, she also defeated the Thanos clone called X who was created to test the telepathic might of Professor X. We can see that she is very adept at telepathic confrontations.

One of her most famous showings is mind controlling millions of a planet's citizen for a prolonged period of time. She has even managed to send her telepathy through time on more than one occasion. We clearly see that she is a very capable, well rounded telepath.

On top of that, she recently merged with an alternate universe version (from the Heroes Reborn universe) of herself. This version was capable of defeating 616 Moondragon in telepathic combat. This merger grants Moondragon access to feats from both versions, making her an even greater threat currently than in the past.

Reaons Moondragon is ranked here:

• Moondragon senses the panic of hundreds of citizens while maintaining control over millions.
• Moondragon wiped the memory of the Avengers, which included members like Iron Man, Thor, Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Mar-vell.
• Moondragon seized psychic control of X (a clone of Thanos designed to test Professor X's telepathic might) and brought out his greatest desire, which was to experience the collapse of reality. This in turn causes his own mind to kill him.
• Managed to mindlock a weakened Thanos with the help of Cosmo and Mantis
• Had an explosive fight with Dr. Strange on the Astral Plane that ended up with both of them passing out
• Defeated the Greek god Hermes in mental combat
• Moondragon hides the Guardians of the Galaxy's spaceship while Phyla-Vell and Nova fight Zeus, Apollo, and Hera and scans four more gods (Hermes, Artemis, Athena, and Hephaestus) in Mount Olympus.
• Moondragon intercepts Doctor Doom attempting a body swap with Hulkling and transfers his consciousness with Rocket Raccoon despite Doom's telepathy scrambler

Moondragon's Respect Thread

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/moondragon/4005-7214/forums/draconic-psi-of-titan-moondragon-heather-douglas-r-2130788/

Some Highlights

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This particular version of Onslaught was born from Red Skull's evil and hatred, and powered by Xavier's stolen telepathy. He was a bit of a beast in the short time he was around.

While he appeared for the most part to have only limited thoughts beyond hatred, his sheer raw power was enough to get him to high tier with what little he was able to do.

Reasons he deserves this spot:

• Created a global "Hate wave" that effected the entire planet, causing violence and giving him control over the populace
• The Wave's pure strength was enough that just shielding from it for a few hours left Omega Level Telepath Quentin Quire a bloody mess before he finally gave out
• Was able to control and/or effect resistant minds from Scarlet Witch and Sabretooth all the way up to Doom and Dr. Strange while focusing his assault on others.

Red Onslaught's Respect Thread:

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/red-skull/4005-2250/forums/the-eternal-reich-red-onslaught-red-skull-clone-re-2117225/

Some Highlights

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The Sisters of the Hive, The 5 in 1 Stepford Cuckoos....

The cloned daughters of Emma Frost that are linked by a Hivemind stronger than the sum of it's parts

In their original run during New X-Men, we got hints of the Cuckoos power and skill as they were able to completely stomp long standing X-Men psychics as powerful as Oracle and Sage without any seeming effort. It wasn't until we later learned that they were clones of Emma Frost that we began to understand the implications.

The 5 in 1 are 5 psychics that share a single hive mind that is greater than sum of the 5 together. But what really sells them is that despite two of them dying, is that the 3 in 1 were still powerful enough to accomplish feats of global telepathy and defending from high tiers while dominating in confrontations with psychics as powerful as Quentin Quire, Legion and the Teenaged Jean Grey.

Adding on the two sisters who were supposedly stronger than the other three? Well that's a pretty good case for a High Tier.

The continued growth of the girls means the sky is the limit for the hivemind's position. The girls individually possess feats of dominating low tiers, resisting Phoenix fragments and going head to head with some infamous psychics from the ranking, but when grouped together the girls have some pretty impressive feats, even just from the Krakoan Era. These include giving a hand to Emma on a massive Earth to Mars range feat, to Jean on even more massive Earth to Otherworld feat, and later worked together to control the minds of the 5 Eternal Hex to battle the Celestial Progenitor.

While the Cuckoos have mostly had supporting roles in the Krakoan Era, their scaling from their 3 in 1 days and individual growth leaves potential for some serious questions down the line and some fun scaling debate for their powers.

Reason they deserve this spot:

• Broke Cassandra Nova's mind control over the entire school
• Stomping the Shiar's “strongest telepath”, Oracle, and locking her in her own mind
• Assisting in massive cross dimensional range feats from Krakoa to Other World.
• When they joined the school, they put a psionic block into the minds of all of the X-Men so they would never ask where the girls came from. This included Emma Frost, Xavier and Jean Grey.
• Scale above the 3 in 1 who were already solid mid tiers by adding 2 more powerful individuals

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/stepford-cuckoos/4060-4443/forums/sisterhood-of-the-hive-a-stepford-cuckoo-respect-t-2015688/

Some Highlights

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Betsy Braddock, the current Captain Britain, rounds out the high tier section of our rankings.

It's been a long road, but Betsy's finally broken into high tier with a few more powerful statements and showings from the Krakoan Era for her telepathic power.

Betsy's a very well rounded telepath who's resourcefulness makes her a difficult opponent for anyone, but who lacks a pure telepathic advantage she can exploit in a TP battle without resorting to her "Psychic Knife" as a hax way to accomplish a task.

While certain things about her stats make it hard for her to fend off some challengers in Mid-Tier decisively, it's pretty clear that Betsy's unique approach to telepathy gives her far more room to swing up in a confrontation with other High Tiers than it does for her to swing down.

Betsy's growth is summarized best in creating powerful psychic phenomena as an astral form and earning a few more statements on her strength. There's definitely some room to grow, but there isn't any room to stop her so she's crossed the threshold.

Reasons for Betsy's rank:

• With Xavier, Emma, and Jean Grey out of the picture, she was considered to be the 3rd strongest mind on the planet.
• Creator statements say that after AoA Jean unlocked her potential, she became comparable to Xavier and Jean Grey.
• She has resisted, fought, and defeated Shadow King on several occasions.
• Kept Shadow King trapped in a mental prison in her mind over a long period of time.
• She has broken through Dark Archangel's mental defenses, which were compared to the psychic defenses of Apocalypse.
• For a long period of time, she stored the memories of thousands of people that she mind-wiped in her head, and then restored the memories all at once across North America.
• The Psychic Knife. While we don't like to include it as a factor too much, it pretty much guarantees that even when she's outclassed, she has a win condition if she can get an opening to strike.
• She has harmed Juggernaut with a psychic blast in one of her weaker incarnations, despite the fact that he is normally highly resistant to telepathy.

Psylocke's RT:

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/psylocke/4005-3176/forums/butterfly-of-death-a-psylocke-respect-thread-2008949/

Some Highlights