Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: 8 Strongest Characters, Ranked

Alchemy is an occult science theorized in medieval times to be used for transforming matter, but in the Fullmetal Alchemist series, the applications go even beyond. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood follows the story of the Elric brothers, who are inducted into the military after failing to bring their mother back to life using alchemy.

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The oldest, Elric, lost his leg during his failed transmutation and later lost his arm to retrieve his brother’s soul. The youngest lost his entire body and had his soul implanted into a suit of armor. Alchemy is a dangerous application that revolves around the law of equivalent exchange. In addition to the dangers of alchemy, the world is also inhabited by different creatures. This list will feature some of the most powerful characters from the Brotherhood adaptation.

8 Alex Louis Armstrong

In the Fullmetal Alchemist series, Amestris is a militaristic country initially composed of several smaller nations. Throughout the nation’s long history, various disputes and wars have been fought through the use of state alchemists. Alex Louis Armstrong is one of the most potent and iconic alchemists employed by the military—the very embodiment of masculinity.

The major is a renowned member of the Armstrong family, specializing in a combat style of alchemy. In addition to his unique alchemy, Alex is shown to be a proficient hand-to-hand combatant while utilizing his immense physical prowess. Throughout the series, he has been able to take on various characters, from chimeras to homunculus’s standing his ground.

7 Roy Mustang

Another prominent member of the Amestris State Military is the ambitious flame alchemist Colonel Roy Mustang. During the Ishval Civil War, Mustang witnessed many horrific events, ultimately leading him to strive for the position of Führer. Like Armstrong, Colonel Mustang is considered an extremely powerful alchemist, one of the few characters with access to the secrets of flame alchemy, except for Rize Hawkeye.

Regardless of the medium, fire is regarded as one of the most dangerous elements as it burns anything and anyone in its path. This notion is true in the franchise, as Mustang has utilized his abilities to kill one of the immortal homunculi and severely burn another.

6 Edward Elric

Edward Elric is one of the protagonists of Fullmetal Alchemist alongside his younger brother Alphonse. When they were children, they lost their mother to a terrible disease and turned to alchemy to bring her back, but unfortunately, the process failed. Edward lost his left leg when they could not bring their mother back and his right arm after retrieving his brother’s soul.

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As a result, he is forced to wear to automail, but due to his alchemy, he can transmute various weaponry from those mechanical limbs. Edwards is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant with exceptional alchemical skills that have helped him defeat powerful foes such as Gluttony and Pride.

5 Izumi Curtis

As previously mentioned, the Elric brothers turned to Alchemy to bring their mother back to life, but it was Izumi Curtis who trained them how to harness those abilities. She usually wouldn’t waste her time taking on students, but after discovering the brothers had been orphaned, she became sympathetic to their plight. Like Elric, she too had tried using to find the door of truth upon her failed pregnancy. Sadly the experience left her barren and constantly sick.

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Despite her dark past, she has proved stronger than the protagonist and other alchemists. She easily defeated the homunculi Sloth in one instance, while the Armstrong siblings could barely survive the fight. Even without alchemy, she is a skilled martial artist, as demonstrated when she defeats Greed.

4 Pride

The representation of the Seven Deadly Sins had already existed long before the creation of the anime series with the same namesake, but not quite like this. In the Fullmetal Alchemist series, the antagonist Father had purged his body of these base sins, which physically took shape as an immortal homunculus. Pride is considered the oldest and most potent of his siblings, as he is rarely utilized by his father unless necessary.

Despite being depicted as a child, his power becomes extremely evident as it usually takes numerous characters to work together to survive his wrath. In one event, he tossed Edward and Greed around like rag-dolls while fending off two chimeras with flash bombs that played against his weakness. Even in the end, it took a human as demented as Kimblee to distract him in the vortex of souls in Pride before Edward delivered the killing blow.

3 Führer King Bradly (Wrath)

Before the events that transpired in World War II, Adolf Hitler adopted the title of Führer before leading his country into one of the most horrific wars in human history. In the Fullmetal Alchemist series, the human homunculus hybrid King Bradly donned this title when he became the ruler of Amestris.

The homunculus was already considered a sin against Alchemy, but Father took it one step further by turning a human soldier into a hybrid. Due to his hybrid nature, the sin of wrath does not have immortality like his siblings, but he is still a force to be reckoned with. He has been shown throughout the series as having more incredible speed and skills than other characters. Whether it be ninjas, alchemists, chimeras, or other homunculi, King Bradly has bathed his kingdom in the blood of his enemies.

2 Van Hohenheim

Throughout history, humankind has delved into many strange practices, such as alchemy, that would otherwise be deemed supernatural to the mundane. The estranged father of the Elric Brothers, Van Hohenheim, was no exception to this matter as involvement with the practice of alchemy began this conflict.

Long ago, Hohenheim was granted the curse of immortality when he was turned into a human philosopher stone after using his blood to conceive the first homunculus Father. Being a human philosopher stone grants him power more significant than any alchemist, as he can regenerate and destroy everything around him. Because of this, Hohenheim can stand up to the most dangerous foes, such as Father or Pride, without batting an eye.

1 Father

The gate in Fullmetal Alchemist is an otherworldly realm that only opens when a person attempts human transmutation for various purposes. Behind the gate lies a being dubbed the “eye of god” that uses its dark tendrils to drag its victims to be judged by the entity known as truth. It was here the immensely powerful being known as Father was constructed.

Crafted from the blood of Hohenheim, this homunculus would spawn the others by separating certain aspects of himself to make himself perfect. He is feared above all others as his children would never dream of taking him directly, and he could only be defeated by the combined effort of all the characters. Even then, dozens of the weaker people were instantly slaughtered, while others were nearly brutalized or killed.

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