mental power
Telekinesis
Also called TK, Psychokinesis, Mind over Matter
Telekinesis is moving matter with the mind. The meaningful ranking is not who lifts the most — it is who has the finest control. Characters who can manipulate matter at the molecular level, or apply force at a distance without line of sight, sit far above characters who throw heavy objects.
How it works
Raw lifting capacity is the least interesting axis of telekinesis and the one fans argue about most. The three that actually determine outcomes are resolution, range and application.
Resolution is how finely the force can be shaped. Jean Grey stopping blood flow, or Psylocke condensing psychic force into a blade, is a higher-order feat than lifting a building. Tatsumaki holds a city's worth of debris in the air and separates it into individual pieces — both axes at once, which is why she sits at the top of the anime tier.
Range and line of sight vary enormously. Most users need to see the target. The strongest do not.
Application is where the ceiling really is. Force fields, flight, disassembly at the molecular level and internal manipulation of a living body are all telekinesis applied differently. A character who only pushes and pulls is using perhaps a tenth of the power.
How it scales
- Gross force
Pushes, pulls and lifts. The entry tier and the one most commonly depicted.
- Constructs and fields
Shapes force into barriers and platforms; enables flight.
- Fine resolution
Manipulates small structures precisely — machinery, biology, individual objects within a mass.
- Molecular
Disassembles matter at the molecular level. The boundary where telekinesis becomes indistinguishable from reality alteration.
Who has telekinesis
Across 4 universes. This list crosses publishers — something no single wiki can do, because every franchise keeps its own separate database.
| Character | Universe | Franchise | Feats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin Richards | Marvel | Marvel Comics | 2 |
| Jean Grey | Marvel | Marvel Comics | 3 |
| Molecule Man | Marvel | Marvel Comics | 2 |
| Professor X | Marvel | Marvel Comics | 1 |
| Psylocke | Marvel | Marvel Comics | 3 |
| Scarlet Witch | Marvel | Marvel Comics | 2 |
| Martian Manhunter | DC | DC Comics | 1 |
| Raven | DC | DC Comics | 2 |
| Superboy | DC | DC Comics | 4 |
| Byakuya Kuchiki | Anime & Manga | Bleach | 3 |
| Mob | Anime & Manga | Mob Psycho 100 | 4 |
| Nagato | Anime & Manga | Naruto | 2 |
| Saiki Kusuo | Anime & Manga | The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. | 2 |
| Tatsumaki | Anime & Manga | One-Punch Man | 4 |
| Trafalgar D. Water Law | Anime & Manga | One Piece | 3 |
| Darth Vader | Other Media | Star Wars | 1 |
| Eleven | Other Media | Stranger Things | 4 |
The feat ledger
Every entry cites the work it comes from. Feat means it was shown in the work; Statement means a character or narrator said it. Nothing here is a fan estimate unless it is tagged Calc.
Tatsumaki — Held a city's worth of falling debris suspended in the air while controlling the pieces individually
Jean Grey — Manipulated matter at the molecular level while acting as a host of the Phoenix Force
Psylocke — Condensed psychic energy into a focused blade, trading broad force for extreme precision
Mob — Output is gated by an emotional counter that escalates to an uncontrolled release when it reaches 100% 100 %
Eleven — Telekinetic effort produces nosebleeds and collapse, with severity scaling directly with output
Martian Manhunter — Carries telekinesis alongside telepathy, shapeshifting, intangibility, flight and strength in a single power set
Darth Vader — Applies Force telekinesis at small scale with high precision, lifting and constricting individuals rather than moving mass
Saiki Kusuo — Uses telekinesis constantly and casually, to the point that the series treats it as an inconvenience rather than an asset
Jean Grey — Holds a damaged craft together by will while piloting it
Jean Grey — As Phoenix, disassembles matter at the molecular level
Professor X — Demonstrated, but consistently secondary to his telepathy
Scarlet Witch — Restrains multiple opponents simultaneously at range
Scarlet Witch — Flies by applying force to herself
Saiki Kusuo — Moves objects casually and constantly, without gesture or concentration
Raven — Lifts and restrains multiple opponents through the soul-self
Raven — The soul-self acts as a shield able to absorb sustained attack
Psylocke — After the power shift, telekinesis becomes her primary rather than secondary ability
Psylocke — Lifts and restrains several opponents at once
Nagato — Bansho Ten'in pulls a target toward him instead of pushing away
Nagato — Removes a soul by touch, one of the six paths' abilities
Franklin Richards — Moves matter directly without touching it
Franklin Richards — Power output is tied to his age and grows as he does
Molecule Man — Moves and reshapes any material without contact
Molecule Man — Holds an entire planet's worth of debris in place
Tatsumaki — Lifts and hurls buildings with no visible effort
Tatsumaki — Stops incoming projectiles mid-air and returns them
Tatsumaki — Ranked the second most powerful hero, which sets her scale in-universe
Mob — Moves objects at a scale no other esper in the series approaches
Mob — His power is tied to suppressed emotion, and releases when it reaches 100%
Mob — He deliberately avoids using the power, which is the premise rather than a limit
Eleven — Moves and crushes objects and people by will alone
Eleven — Heavy use causes nosebleeds and exhaustion, the series' consistent cost
Eleven — Opens and closes the gate, the largest application of the power
Trafalgar D. Water Law — Rearranges objects and people without touching them
Trafalgar D. Water Law — Swaps himself with a distant object to escape instantly
Trafalgar D. Water Law — Redirects an incoming attack to a different target inside the sphere
Byakuya Kuchiki — Senbonzakura disperses his blade into a thousand fragments he directs at will
Byakuya Kuchiki — The fragments are too small to see, which is why the attack cannot be blocked
Byakuya Kuchiki — Control is stated to depend on his own reiatsu, so exhaustion disperses it
Superboy — Tactile telekinesis, not Kryptonian strength — he grips objects at a distance to move them
Superboy — Extends the field around objects to make them invulnerable too
Superboy — The field fails when he is unconscious, unlike true invulnerability
Superboy — Catches a falling aircraft using the field rather than his hands
Limits
- Most users require line of sight or direct awareness of the target.
- Concentration is the standard weak point — interrupt it and the effect drops.
- Physical cost scales with output in the better-written systems: Eleven's nosebleeds, Mob's percentage counter.
- Fine control and raw scale rarely coexist in the same character.
Counters
- Psychic shielding and helmets.
- Speed — closing distance faster than the user can react.
- Attacking concentration rather than the body.
- Opponents with no mass to grip, or too much of it.
Questions
Who is the strongest telekinetic in fiction?
By demonstrated scale, Tatsumaki and Jean Grey are the usual answers — Tatsumaki for city-level mass with individual control, Jean for molecular-level manipulation as a Phoenix host. Mob is the clearest case of an unmeasured ceiling, since his output is written as capped by emotion rather than by power.
Is telekinesis the same as telepathy?
No, though many characters have both. Telepathy acts on minds; telekinesis acts on matter. Marvel treats them as separate mutations that frequently appear together, which is why Jean Grey and Professor X are often assumed to have one power rather than two.
Last updated 2026-09-06 · machine-readable version
