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Overlord's Ainz Ooal Gown is the protagonist of the series but also, ironically enough, viewed as the strongest. Ainz has immortality, regeneration, many different mental abilities, necromancy, death manipulation... he is by all accounts the ultimate RPG boss and fans have begun to wonder if there are characters that can stand up to this guy.
Like many other anime series with overpowered characters, the answer usually lies in the context. This series has some characters that, given the context, could stand up to Ainz Ooal Gown and even straight-up defeat him, although this is easier said than done.
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the Overlord series.
Analyzing Ainz Ooal Gown and who could realistically defeat him in Overlord
Ainz's abilities
To say that Ainz Ooal Gown is overpowered in the series would be one of anime's biggest understatements. Author Kugane Maruyama really broke the mold of many of the medium and the isekai genre's tropes by having an overpowered and evil main character, thus putting a lot of different plot threads in a very unique direction.
Be that as it may, part of what makes Ainz seem like such an unbeatable foe in the Overlord show is the wide array of abilities that he has.
This is a character that can summon and manipulate the dead, curse his opponent with the True Death spell, can resurrect those who have died, The Goal Of All Life, which is set to kill any enemy within a certain radius, and many, many more.
As mentioned earlier, Ainz can also regenerate, use many different types of magics, is immortal, and can even exchange three wishes for experience points through the Wish Upon A Star magic.
Part of what makes him such an awful enemy to face is the fact that he has so much variety with his abilities that seems impossible to defeat him.
Characters that could potentially defeat Ainz Ooal Gown
As mentioned earlier, context is everything when facing someone like Ainz. For all intents and purposes, he is the most powerful character of the Overlord franchise.
However, being the strongest doesn't mean he is unbeatable, which is something that these characters could potentially seize if facing Ainz in combat.
Shalltear Bloodfallen has the benefit of having already fought him during the first season of the anime and proves this point quite well. She could have very well defeated Ainz if she had planned things a lot better as she knew her enemy's weaknesses. But it was through the small details that she lost.
Another candidate is Gargantua, whose strength is supposed to surpass Shalltear's among the floor guardians. The problem regarding Gargantua is that he doesn't have a lot of exposure in the franchise, so is hard to tell how far he can go in battle, which makes his status against Ainz all the more dubious.
Real possibilities of beating Ainz
Ainz Ooal Gown has never been beaten in the Overlord franchise, which speaks volumes of the man's abilities on every single metric. This is part of the reason there are these debates surrounding the character: he has so many powers, skills, and abilities that make him a handful in almost every single battle.
Therefore, while Shalltear seems to be the best fit for this battle because of their previous battle and how her build is a direct counter, there are theories about other characters that could potentially defeat Ainz.
The Elven King has been mentioned by some fans as a challenger, although this depends on much information they have on one another because Ainz could simply overpower him.
The True Dragon Lords have also been mentioned as individuals that could give him a run for his money. The problem with the True Dragon Lords (and anyone else facing him in battle) is the fact that the man is not going to go to war unprepared and is going to gather a lot of information on him.
This is something that could tip the scale once again in his favor, which is worth taking into account in the Overlord franchise.
Final thoughts
The Overlord series has a very special character in Ainz Ooal Gown and it shows through how many debates and discussions he has created in the fandom over the yeas.
While him losing a battle seems like a very complicated scenario and hard to see at the moment, it is something that shouldn't be discarded, as of yet.
