Which Cosmic Beings Has The Living Tribunal Fought?

When I was a kid paging through back issues on a rainy Saturday, the Living Tribunal always felt like the guy who’d quietly step in when everything else went off the rails. Keeping it simple: he’s tangled with Marvel’s big abstract forces (Eternity, Infinity, Death, Oblivion) and agents of balance (the In-Betweener), and he’s had run-ins with reality-benders and multiverse-scale threats like the Beyonder. The Beyonders were the ones who ultimately erased him during the 'Time Runs Out' lead-up to 'Secret Wars', which is one of those moments that proves even cosmic judges aren’t invulnerable.

Beyond that headline, he’s been involved whenever cosmic hierarchy or balance is at stake — that includes confrontations or disputes involving Master Order and Lord Chaos (and their later machinations), as well as the more physical, existential threats from Celestials or Galactus-level forces. He tends not to be a punching-focused character; his clashes are often courtroom‑style showdowns stretched across worlds, and that courtroom vibe is what stuck with me the most when re-reading 'Infinity Gauntlet' and the later big events.

I got into comics in college and the Living Tribunal felt like the ultimate backstage referee — not a wrestler you see every month, but the one who can end the whole show. In terms of who he’s actually clashed with, think of two categories: cosmic abstracts and universe-level movers. He’s been shown alongside or in opposition to cosmic concepts like Eternity, Infinity, Death, and Oblivion — these aren’t typical enemies but peers who sometimes have competing pulls on existence. He’s also had tense interactions with beings who mess with reality: the Beyonder (whose multiversal meddling culminated in the 'Time Runs Out' storyline), and the Elders, Celestials, and Galactus when their actions threatened broader equilibrium.

A practical example: during 'Infinity Gauntlet' era material, the Tribunal’s stance on Thanos’ gauntlet-wielding reign was emblematic of his role — he’s not a cosmic cop who jumps in for every crisis; he judges whether intervention would upset the balance. Later, when the Beyonders started destroying universes, the Tribunal was actually killed, which opened an enormous can of worms about hierarchy and limits of power. It’s a refreshing change from the usual punch-first comics approach: the Tribunal’s battles often feel like legal philosophy fought with cosmic rays, and that’s why readers who love metaphysical stakes gravitate toward his stories.

Some nights I fall down a Marvel rabbit hole and the Living Tribunal is one of those characters that always drags me in deeper. He isn’t your usual punching-bag villain — he’s the multiversal judge, and most of his conflicts are less about slugfests and more about cosmic balance and jurisdiction. That said, he’s been in the ring, or at least in standoffs, with a lot of big names: the abstract siblings like Eternity, Infinity, Death, and Oblivion; agents of balance such as the In-Betweener; universe-shakers like Galactus and the Celestials; reality-warpers like the Beyonder; and even incarnations of order and chaos (Master Order and Lord Chaos) who have tried to alter the cosmic pecking order.

If you want the headline moments: the Tribunal is famously outside even the Infinity Gauntlet-level personal wars in tone, but the events of 'Infinity Gauntlet' indirectly put him into conflict with what Thanos represented — absolute power upsetting cosmic equilibrium. The one that really changed everything occurred in the lead-up to 'Secret Wars': the Beyonders during the 'Time Runs Out' event essentially erased huge portions of the multiverse and the Living Tribunal was among the entities who were destroyed by that assault. That death (and the questions around why an entity of his stature could be killed) is a huge part of how modern writers explored the limits of cosmic hierarchy.

So yes, he’s tangled — sometimes philosophically, sometimes physically — with abstracts (Eternity/Death/Oblivion), cosmic manipulators (Beyonder), world-devourers (Galactus/Celestials), and metaphysical agents (In-Betweener, Master Order/Lord Chaos). For me, what’s coolest is how his “fights” often read like courtroom dramas stretched across galaxies: the real conflict is about law, balance, and who gets to decide reality, which is endlessly fun to debate over coffee and comic scans.