One of Supernatural’s most prominent species over its fifteen seasons, aside from maybe the demons, was definitely the angels. Although they weren’t officially introduced until season four, they played a huge part in the show from that point onward. Some of the best and most beloved recurring characters were introduced belonging to that species.
What’s most notable about them is their sheer power. Far surpassing humans and even demons, they are a force to be reckoned with, and what’s worrying is not all of them are good. Actually, very few of them proved themselves to be over their eleven years in the show.
Updated on March 26th, 2021 by Rhys McGinley: Across the fifteen seasons of Supernatural and the eleven which were graced by the presence of angels, fans were introduced and said goodbye to a plethora of the soldiers and messengers of God. Many of them proved themselves to be fantastic additions to the show, but apart from that, so many, from all different classes of angels, proved themselves to be riddled with power. Ten alone does not do justice to the strength of some angels, with fans having seen incredible power from a variety of the winged individuals between seasons four and fifteen.
15 Uriel
Uriel was a creature who was present when the angels were first introduced, and he didn’t seem instantly very powerful in comparison to the rest. It became clear that he was rebelling, though, killing angels and blaming it on demons — so, clearly, he was a lot more powerful than some of his species.
Still, he was taken down by Anna once it was found out what he was doing, so he clearly wasn’t the be-all and end-all and was mostly relying on the element of surprise to take down angels. He’s still not one to tussle within a dark alley, though.
14 Naomi
Naomi was a later addition to the series. She was very high up, and her duty seemed to be getting rebellious angels in line — which is not an easy task to be trusted with, which suggests in its own right that she was incredibly powerful. She proved herself to be a very intimidating force and seemed to think she had what it took to take over Heaven.
She was supposedly killed but secretly survived, proving that she was more powerful than anyone suspected. Although not as high up as the archangels and presumably not quite on their level, she’s definitely not one to be underestimated.
13 Balthazar
Balthazar was only around for a season but did many things in that time (including sink the Titanic). Although he was an amusing personality, there was definitely a great strength there; after all, he stole all of Heaven’s weapons at one point and wielded them, which meant he even managed to beat Raphael in a face-to-face fight at points.
Despite that, it could probably be assumed that he wasn’t quite as powerful without them, and Raphael could have crushed him if Balthazar hadn’t had the weapons behind him. After all, Castiel took him down pretty easily, though he certainly had the element of surprise on his side.
12 Akobel
Akobel was a Seraphim, an angel more powerful than regular angels but not quite of the level of power of an Archangel. Sent to watch over and observe humanity, Akobel became fascinated with them and married one.
Akobel and his wife Lily Sunder were hunted by a garrison of angels led by Ishim, who had convinced the garrison that Lily’s daughter was a Nephilim and must die; this was a lie. Akobel’s power was never really shown, but it was definitely implied he was strong, and the fact he was a Seraph proves that.
11 Ishim
Speaking of Ishim, he was no run-of-the-mill angel. He was not a Seraph, but he was a high-ranking, highly powerful angel with both strength and influence as a leader.
Ishim became obsessed with Akobel’s wife Lily before she and Akobel wed, leading to him convincing his garrison to kill her child, who was simply a human girl. Ishim was cruel, punchable, but also a respected warrior, and a powerful one at that.
10 Virgil
Virgil is not an angel name that immediately springs to the minds of fans, but he has a crucial part to play in one of Supernatural’s best-ever episodes, ‘The French Mistake.’
Virgil was a high-class angel who held a vital role for thousands of years, the keeper of heaven’s weapons. When Balthazar stole the weapons, Virgil tracked Sam and Dean to the alternate universe, where he got trapped and presumably killed by God. Nevertheless, he was a powerful, respected angel with a crucial role in heaven.
9 Zachariah
After Uriel, the next big angel bad introduced for Supernatural fans to despise was Zachariah, a significant yes-man angel who played a crucial role in orchestrating the apocalypse Sam and Dean were trying to prevent.
Zachariah was a direct subordinate of the archangels and was one of the most well-respected angels in all of heaven. He showcased his immense power over the likes of humans and demons multiple times, as well as the level of power he held above angels like Castiel at the time of seasons four and five, and as well as being one of the most powerful Kripke-era angels; he was one of the best angel characters of the show.
8 Gadreel
Gadreel, who originally claimed to be the revered angel Ezekiel, was one of the most vilified and hated angels in heaven for his role in Lucifer entering the Garden of Eden. However, despite Lucifer’s seduction, Gadreel was still powerful.
To realize how powerful Gadreel was, one only needs to think about the fact that Lucifer, one of the most powerful beings in his universe, chose to trick Gadreel rather than go through him with force to enter the garden. Gadreel also showed himself able to take out groups of angels at once when at full strength and groups of demons in a weakened state.
7 Anna
Boss of Castiel and Uriel at one point, Anna was a pretty high-ranking angel who fell and lost her Grace. She was determined to rebel against Heaven but still much more focused on the greater good than the more emotional angels (such as what Castiel eventually became). She was also one of the few angels with no vessel; her body was her own.
She traveled in time, convinced Castiel to rebel, and did a whole host of other things that caused Heaven some travel. That, combined with her status before she ripped out her own Grace, is enough proof that Anna was a mighty being before her death. It’s just a shame she wasn’t always fighting for the right side.
6 Castiel
Castiel is still the most prominent angel in Supernatural; he was so popular that he became as integral to the show as the Winchester brothers. He started out a seemingly average angel in comparison to the others but grew enough to challenge Raphael, even to have a short stint as God. The amount of things he’s done has given him the experience to almost be on the level of the archangels.
Add in the fact that Castiel is not a regular angel, he is another Seraphim, and he far exceeds most angels’ power. He also has something that most angels don’t have; experience being close to humans, so more of an insight into what to do on earth than his brothers and sisters. This may not be magical angel power, but it’s pretty invaluable.
5 Gabriel
As an archangel, Gabriel is pretty up there in terms of raw power. He was first introduced as the Trickster — actually, way earlier than any of the other angels, though we didn’t know what he was back then. When he resurfaced, he was revealed to be Gabriel.
Although his tricks were seriously impressive, he didn’t seem to have the same power as his archangel brothers. Of course, this might just have been because he was unwilling to use it — Gabriel definitely wanted peace more than any of the others and didn’t seem particularly thrilled with the idea of a showdown between Michael and Lucifer.
4 Raphael
Raphael was definitely one of the most brutal of the archangels. Determined to make the apocalypse happen because he thought it was destiny, he went head-to-head with Castiel and would surely have won if Cas hadn’t swallowed all those souls. After all, every time they came face to face before Castiel had sucked down the power of Purgatory, Raphael managed to send him away bruised and bleeding.
He didn’t come across as the most clever of the angels, but on sheer brute strength alone, he’s earned his place near the top of this list. If he’d had a little more intelligence, too, he might have been downright unstoppable.
3 Metatron
The only non-archangel to outrank a couple of them is Metatron. The Scribe of God was pretty angry at the angels after he was forced to leave Heaven and his main goal was revenge against them.
Aside from the Devil himself, he was probably the most objectively villainous of the angels, even killing Dean at one point and turning him into a demon. He did eventually team up with the Winchesters—what character in this show doesn’t switch sides at some point?—but he was killed by Amara, which is really just good karma; in the end, after all, he did.
2 Lucifer
Satan himself was one of the most powerful angels once an archangel, heel, cast into Hell for what he claimed to be petty reasons — refusing to bow to humans. This, of course, was probably just one side of the story. Lucifer was bitter, angry, and downright evil in the way he went about things. Despite trying to convince everyone he was a good guy, he was definitely sadistic and selfish.
But no one can deny that he proved his power time and time again. When he rose from the cage, he was slowly ruining the Earth, and there was said to be only one who could stop him…
1 Michael
The oldest archangel; the only one who could stop Lucifer. Supposedly, anyone. It turned out Sam could do that too. Michael was supposed to be righteous and good, but he was just as scary as Lucifer himself.
He was too focused on being a good son, doing all the wrong things for reasons he thought were right, and his power was downright unstoppable. Had Sam not thrown him into the cage, he and Lucifer’s fight would have destroyed at least half of the planet. Safe to say that in terms of magical power and abilities, nothing beats the archangels. And more specifically, nothing beats Michael, except maybe God himself.
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