The Most Powerful Gems In Steven Universe

Steven Universe is a series that starts off fairly grounded, by the standards of superhero fiction anyway. Steven himself is pretty much just a normal human boy, and the other Crystal Gems seem to have some fairly tame superpowers like nigh-indestructibility, magic weapons, and a light dash of shapeshifting on the side.

However, over the course of the series, the power level slowly ramps up. Steven discovers that his three guardians have quite a bit more power than he once thought, and as the foes the Crystal Gems face become ever greater, Steven has to develop new abilities in order to keep up. By the series finale, the team has reached peak levels of superhero ridiculousness, so far from being grounded that they're often, quite literally, in outer space.

Looking back on the many Gems we meet throughout the series, the question inevitably arises, who's the most powerful one? It's a difficult question because there are many different kinds of power. There's physical power, magical might, the ability to break reality itself, and rarest of all, the wisdom to know how and when to apply your power for maximum effectiveness. After all, a power is only as useful as its user makes it. Depending on your criteria, any of these Gems that we discuss today could be considered the strongest Gem of all time, but for our money, there's a pretty clear winner in the end. Without further ado, these are the most powerful Gems in Steven Universe.

Though Rose Quartz passed away long before season one of Steven Universe began, her shadow looms large over the entire series. We never get to see her in action for an extended period of time, but by putting together all the little fragments of information we get about Rose throughout the show, we've assembled a mostly complete roster of her various powers and capabilities, and it's pretty clear to us that she was one of the most powerful Gems to ever live.

Rose was one of the most skilled sword fighters in history, she had incredible empathic telepathy, she could float through the air like Princess Peach, she could transform normal plants into monsters, and she could bring people back from the dead with her tears. Also, she had the Laser Light Cannon, a seemingly one-of-a-kind weapon that could shoot Homeworld starships out of the sky. Exactly where the cannon came from is never explained, but one possibility is that Rose somehow used her powers to make it.

Because we never get the full picture of exactly what Rose Quartz was capable of at her peak, we can't say for certain that she was the strongest Gem ever, but we can't rule her out, either. Then again, since most of what we learn about her comes through Pearl, who was hopelessly in love with Rose, there's always a chance the image we have of her capabilities might be a little, if you'll pardon the pun, rose-colored.

From her first appearance in "Mirror Gem," Lapis Lazuli opened up a new world of possibilities for just how powerful a Gem could be. First, there are her wings, which apparently allow her to fly through deep space from Earth to Homeworld. We don't know how long it takes, but given that Homeworld is light years away, any answer other than "after the end of linear time" is pretty darn impressive. Next up, there's Lapis' water clones, creations of hers which seem to be an even match for our four core heroes, until Steven convinces her to call them off.

Now, for the main course, we've got hydrokinesis. Lapis' control over water is so obscenely powerful that she can shape a decent portion of the ocean surrounding Beach City into a tower that stretches all the way up into space. We don't see exactly what percentage of the world's water made up this tower, but it may have been as much as the entire Atlantic Ocean. This absurd power level is eventually explained when we learn that Lapis was originally designed for terraforming.

Lapis also possesses another unique strength among Gems, and that's her emotional resilience. After the many traumas she's survived, Lapis has shown that she can weather whatever storms come her way. This might not sound like much, but remember, when Blue Diamond unleashes a wave of sadness with her emotion control powers, reducing the ranks of the Crystal Gems to tears, Lapis is the only one left still standing.

In terms of non-fused Gems, Jasper is potentially the strongest fighter in the universe. She's incredibly skilled in combat, nearly indestructible, and totally ruthless. Peridot comments at one point that Jasper is "the ultimate Quartz." Because of all this, you might think that Malachite, the fusion of Jasper and Lapis, would be basically the strongest Gem ever, and you'd sort of be right. First off, she's enormous, easily at least 30 feet tall. Also, the combination of Jasper's fighting prowess and Lapis' mind-bending hydrokinesis is truly terrifying. Malachite is more than a match for anyone that comes her way, including Alexandrite — the fusion of Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl.

However, due to a lack of harmony between her two halves, Malachite is never really able to reach her full potential. Because of Jasper and Lapis' hatred for one another, she often ends up fighting herself a lot more than her enemies. This lack of synergy is also reflected in Malachite's abilities. She'll often use one of Jasper's abilities or one Lapis', but she doesn't display many abilities of her own that are totally new. You might say that, unlike some fusions, who are more than the sum of their parts, Malachite ends up being a little less. However, if Lapis and Jasper ever had ever learned how to get their act together a bit more, Malachite would certainly be in the conversation for the strongest Gem of all time. Fortunately, for the sake of all humanity, that never happened.

For a whole host of reasons, Garnet is a definite contender for number one Gem. With her rocket-propelled gauntlets, superhuman speed, and ability to generate electricity, there aren't many who can tangle with her. However, that's just scratching the surface of Garnet's true power. She has two unique abilities that truly set her apart from other Gems.

Garnet's first unique power is her future vision. Garnet is a fusion of the Gems Ruby and Sapphire, and she inherited her ability to see the future from her Sapphire half. By herself, Sapphire was only able to see one future, the one most likely to occur. After fusing with the more chaotic and free-thinking Ruby, the strength of Sapphire's future vision amplified greatly. As a result, Garnet has the ability to see many potential futures and their relative probabilities, based on what actions she and the people around her decide to take. However, it isn't perfect. Garnet sometimes fails to predict the coming of certain highly unlikely events, but it gives her an enormous leg up on many of the Gems' deadlier foes.

Garnet's second superpower is, quite simply, love. Unlike other Gems, who fuse temporarily during battle, Garnet is a permanent fusion because her two Gems are in love with one another, and they have, without question, one of the most stable relationships in television history. In Steven Universe, emotional well-being is directly tied to a Gem's power level. Happy Gems just fight better, and there's no one happier than Garnet.

This one's a bit obvious, but it's nonetheless true. Obsidian — the five-way fusion of Ruby, Sapphire, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven from "Change Your Mind" — simply has to be one of the strongest Gems we've ever encountered.

First off, she's huge, easily 50 feet tall. Even more impressive, she's able to hold her own against the even larger Diamond Mech, which stands well over 300 feet tall. Apart from that, there's not much to say about this rage-fueled lava monster. She's big, she's got a sword, but she doesn't seem to have any other powers. In an episode of The Steven Universe Podcast, creator Rebecca Sugar offered an explanation why. When asked whether or not Obsidian has Garnet's future vision, Sugar claimed that Obsidian does technically have it, but it's so powerful that it creates a "cacophony of noise" that ends up being totally useless. As she puts it, "The immensity of the power is overwhelming, just like all of Obsidian's ... powers."

For now, Obsidian is so overwhelmed by her own abilities that she's just an enormous blunt instrument, albeit an effective one. After all, despite her constant burning anger, she's still a far more stable fusion than someone like Malachite. Even during the heat of battle, Obsidian took the time to stop fighting and save a falling Connie. We've only seen her once, so it's tough to say what else she might be capable of one day, but Obsidian is certainly one case where the skies are the limits.

If a five-way fusion like Obsidian is impressive, how about six? The enormous caterpillar-like Flourite may be a total pacifist, but don't forget that she's a six-way permafusion. We have to at least take some time to consider what a Gem like that might be capable of.

On the surface, Flourite seems like potentially one of the least threatening characters in Steven Universe. She's far more of a kind grandma than a hardened warrior, and whenever something dangerous happens, she usually favors running away rather than fighting back. That being said, if the six Gems that comprise her manage to stay fused at all times, they must have some unparalleled levels of compatibility, potentially more so than even Garnet. So even if the individual gems that comprise Flourite aren't individually anything special, their incredible synergy means that they could certainly develop fantastic new powers that none of them could manifest alone, if they worked at it. Given how long Flourite's component pieces have had to know each other, there's a chance that she could be even stronger than Obsidian, if she chose to be.

That's the catch, though. Flourite is so kindhearted that we seriously doubt she's ever spent any serious time devoting her immense potential towards thoughts of hurting anyone. We wouldn't want to see it happen, because Flourite is such a teddy bear, but who knows what kinds of reality-bending magic Grandma would be able to unleash if she ever got angry.

If you want a big powerful Gem, how about one that's larger than the entire planet Earth? How about one that, if it ever fully materialized, would destroy the world?

Deep inside the Earth's core lies "the Cluster," an experimental superweapon created by Homeworld to destroy Earth once they realized it wasn't going to be a viable colony. Made from millions of broken Gem fragments all forcibly fused together into a single enormous Gemstone, the Cluster is, without question, the largest Gemstone in the galaxy. Homeworld's original plan was that once the Cluster's many scared and angry disparate consciousnesses all connected with each other into a single hive mind, it would attempt to create a body for itself, and that body would end up being larger than the Earth itself.

Fortunately, Steven managed to prevent this disaster from occurring. With the help of Peridot, he traveled down to the center of the Earth and communed with the Cluster's confused and rage-filled consciousness. He was able to show it the harm that it would do if it emerged and helped it reach a state of relative peace. The Cluster now slumbers beneath the Earth, and we saw during "Reunited" that it's gained the ability to manifest small sections of its body without destroying the planet. Plus, it's also willing to help defend the Earth from alien threats. What a rock solid friend.

The Diamonds are often referred to as the greatest of the Gems. It's possible that this is because they truly are that much stronger than the others, but it's also possible that their power is primarily social, since they sit at the top of the Gem hierarchy.

That being said, when the Diamonds do throw down, they're quite impressive. We see that Yellow Diamond is able to "poof" Blue Zircon with a single finger, and Blue Diamond has the ability to afflict those around her with sudden and overwhelming sadness. However, without a question, the most terrifying Diamond of all is White.

In addition to all the usual Diamond stuff — enormous size, superhuman strength, energy projection — White Diamond has one of the most frightening powers is superhero fiction: mind control. With a blast of her mind control ray, White can take control of someone for, well, pretty much indefinitely, and there doesn't seem to be a way to resist this, apart from deflecting it with Steven's indestructible shield, that is.

Additionally, 4,500 years ago, with the help of Yellow and Blue, she unleashed perhaps the single greatest magical attack that in Gem history: the Corrupting Light. This enormous pulse of energy covered the entire planet Earth and permanently transformed all the Gems in its path into mindless monsters. And even more impressive, with the help of her fellow Diamonds in the episode "Change Your Mind," she also showed that she was capable of reversing it.

Listing off what someone could do is all well and good, but what if instead we look at what someone actually has done. For all their theoretical strength, the Diamonds were never able to defeat the Crystal Gems, and can you really claim to be the strongest Gems in the galaxy if a bunch of meddling heroes are consistently able to mess up your plans? So let's talk about a foe who's actually gotten some results. Let's talk about Spinel.

She might not look like much, but Spinel, the primary antagonist of Steven Universe: The Movie, arguably gets far closer to defeating the Crystal Gems and destroying the Earth than any other villain has before. During her initial battle with our heroes, she quite easily defeats Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven by herself. Her absurd agility and elasticity means that she's impossible to lay a hand on, and her weapon, the Rejuvenator, was able to strip away Steven's powers and erase the memories of Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl.

Beyond that, her massive drill doomsday weapon almost succeeds at its goal of filling the Earth with a toxic chemical that would eliminate all life from the planet. And the only reason our heroes win at the end of the movie is not because they're able to best her in combat, but rather because Steven manages to convince Spinel that the revenge she's seeking against Steven isn't going to fix her broken heart, so she decides to back down.

Many of the Gems discussed here today have the ability to bend reality itself, but there's only one who can totally break it. By "it," of course, we mean the fourth wall. Sunstone, the fusion of Steven and Garnet, has perhaps the single greatest power that any TV character can possess, in that they're aware they're in a television show.

In the middle of various action scenes, Sunstone regularly pauses to turn to the camera and address the viewer, often warning them to not mimic the dangerous stunts that they're attempting. Why Sunstone has this ability is never explained, but there's a surprisingly plausible reason that emerges when you think about what happens when you mash up the powers of Garnet with the sensibilities of Steven.

If Garnet can see beyond time and space and Steven possesses an unparalleled knowledge of pop culture, then perhaps the two of them put together are finally able to realize the artifice of their own reality and conceive of the fact that they exist within a TV show. And what do they decide to do with this forbidden knowledge? Well, given how wholesome both Garnet and Steven are, the answer is clear. They give some PSAs to the kids watching at home. Then again, maybe Steven got his first inklings that something was amiss with his reality after his crossover episode with Uncle Grandpa, one of the most notorious fourth-wall breakers ever.

We've talked about size, strength, the ability to see the future, control minds, and even break the fourth wall. But we haven't talked about another type of superpower, a force that time and again Steven Universe shows us is the greatest power in the galaxy, and that's empathy.

All throughout the series, Steven manages to stop world-ending disasters again and again. Although his immense powers are partially to thank for this, that's not what we're talking about, because that's not why Steven wins. Steven wins because he always manages to see not just an enemy on the other side of the battlefield but a person who honestly believes they're doing the right thing, no matter how polluted their thinking has become. And he almost always manages to connect to this person and show them that what they're doing is wrong. He's helped redeem former villains like Lapis, the Cluster, Spinel, and even White Diamond herself. All of these former foes have become Steven's allies because of his greatest power of all — his truly superhuman empathy.

Steven managed to dismantle an entire galaxy-spanning fascist empire all without ever taking a single life, and there's no other accomplishment we've listed that even comes close to that, so if you ask us, the most powerful Gem in the series is Steven. If you don't agree, then perhaps you need to re-watch the show, because you may have missed the point of Steven Universe.