This Captain of the Crimson Lion Kings is loved and inspiring to many magic knights. Of all the royals we have come to know in Black Clover, Fregoleon is arguably the most regal of all we have seen thus far. The words honorable, noble, and commanding come to mind with Fuegoleon Vermillion. Though he lost his arm, he seems to be even stronger after his injury. When he awoke, he had been chosen by the fire spirit, Salamander. He is the brother of Leopold and Mereoleona, and he slays on the battlefield. As cool as he is, he loses a few spots for being unconscious for a whole season. He literally met us, inspired us, took one for the team, and lost consciousness until the boss fight. Kudos for waking up, but fans haven’t seen enough of this character to place him higher on the list. That aside, he’s strong, and people love to follow him!

We all know and love the Wizard King! He has the job that Asta and Yuno both want. He is the leader of all of the magic knight captains, and his time magic is unlike anyone else in Black Clover. Julius has an appreciation for all variance of magic, even Asta’s lack of it! He is a genuinely nice guy who sneaks out of the castle a little too often to mingle with the masses. After his fight with Light/Vengence, the Wizard King lost his life but restored it with saved time. But he’s a child now! Even though his knowledge is deep and his time magic is deadly, the Wizard King loses a few spots from the last update. Since the battle with the elves, Julius has gone back in age to a teenager and now spends his time hiding from the Royal King at public events. Though we have enjoyed seeing the royal physician dress up and pretend to be the wizard king with a throat injury, it looks like Julius is in a more precarious spot these days.

She started from the bottom, now she’s here! We met Noelle as a royal reject, whose magic power seemed unable to be controlled. Now she is a skilled attach mage of the Black Bulls and uses her strength to protect others around her. Noelle went from being one of the most powerless people in Black Clover to being one of the best offensive fighters in the Black Bulls. She has water magic, like her closest siblings, and armor that resembles her mother’s magic. Since Black Clover began, Noelle has been on a soul-searching journey to find herself. Noelle had specific issues with a subconscious part of her not wanting to fight. After overcoming this, her gains have been continuous! After first acquiring her massive attack spells, she then managed to create armor with her magic and has most recently been in training with Lolopechka to get stronger before the battle with the Spade Kingdom.

Charmy Papittson is one of Asta’s fellow Black Knights. She spends her time enjoying a cozy place on a cotton cloud and enjoying meals prepared by her cotton-sheep-chefs. Usually, she lazes about with little to no motivation, but her focus starts to sharpen once food is involved. Charmy is unusual because she is also part dwarf. Because of this, Charmy has not one but two magical attributes. When Charmy loses her cool against a foe, her cotton sheep becomes a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The wolf in sheep’s clothing eats any spells it can manage and is the embodiment of gluttony itself. Reflecting, maybe that’s a little fitting for Charmy? In any case, Charmy takes seventh place! She has a lot of power, but she lacks self-control and quickly loses sight of her goals.

Nacht is the secret member of the Black Bulls, who is also their vice-captain. Though Asta has a devil who he deals with all the time, Nacht has FOUR. We never saw Nacht until now because he has been undercover in the Spade Kingdom for the entirety of Asta's time with the Black Bulls. Though the Spade and Heart Kingdoms seem to have a higher standard for what they consider to be powerful, Nacht has no problem taking care of himself. He appears after Yami is taken prisoner by the Spade kingdom when he introduces himself and takes Asta for training almost immediately. He is a strict guy who likes and dislikes specific things about others. While training Asta, he dons a new type of armor that is him working in tandem with one of his devils. He is an expert spy, one of the Clover Kingdom’s only devil-possessors, and secretly a kind guy.

Yuno is that rival of Asta’s that we all know so well, who is now the vice-captain of the Golden Dawn. Chosen for companionship by the wind spirit, Sylph, Yuno protects his squad and keeps pushing himself towards the goal he shares with Asta: to be the Wizard King. Yuno puts his family at the church first but otherwise commits his prodigious skill to his work as a magic knight. Though we have not seen much of Yuno since the battle with the elves, we know that Yuno is in training to go to the Spade Kingdom and reclaim his captain from his kidnappers. Recently, Yuno learned that he is a Spade Kingdom prince abandoned as an orphan in a neighboring country (the Clover Kingdom) due to his family being killed for succession as a baby. Though Yuno does bear some semblance to the members of the Dark Triad, we do not know yet what this guy will do with the knowledge that he may be the rightful heir to this country’s throne.

Yami is the captain of the Black Bulls. He hails from Japan and arrived at the Clover Kingdom as the result of a fishing shipwreck. With his dark magic, Yami overpowers his enemy and uses it to enhance his physical swordsmanship. Yami now leads another group of misfits, who all seem to have much more potential than anyone thought possible. This captain is crude, to the point, and has no room to be bothered by any amount of formality. This guy is the reason we know the phrase “push past your limits!” Until very recently, every time a villain came back from the dead (they need to start checking for that, btw), Yami would step in and take out whoever his whole team together could not destroy. He is an absolute powerhouse who takes no guff from others but has a way of seeing the world that you can’t help but respect.

Black Clover’s main character has finally measured up with the rest of these heroes. Magicless Asta has spent years determined to be the Wizard King. Since he possesses no magic, Asta spends his days pushing his body to its peak physical condition. When you couple that with the antimagic he has spent time training now, Asta is a leader in strength. He has overcome the issue of not having magic entirely! One way he has overcome the difference is with transportation. Instead of the transportation issue he always had, Asta can now travel around on his antimagic sword. Let’s take a moment to note the new things that make Asta even better than this guy’s determination and antimagic had given him before. Asta can now brave strong magic regions with mana skin from his training with Mereoleona and the Crimson Lion Kings. From his training with Nacht; Asta, and Liebe (his grimoire’s devil) have more joint power than ever before after participating in a Devil-binding ritual. And lastly, Asta has a new sword in his grimoire’s collection! Asta now has Yami’s katana in his sword collection. What’s more, is that during their last fight together, Yami asked for help. Where is the ceiling for Asta’s potential?

This Queen of the heart kingdom lives protected by the Water spirit, Undine. With the strength of her magic, Lolopocheka keeps her entire country under constant protection with her water barrier and even causes the rain when desired. She is loved by those that know her and has the ultimate dress-up/dress-down transformation. While not neglecting to sustain her country’s barrier, she and Undine train Noelle and Secrè for their upcoming battle. More than that, she has the wisdom and knowledge of all the queens who have come before her. The only thing about Lolopocheka is that she is fatally clumsy. If she did not have Undine, she might be too inelegant to even run for her life. She is currently indisposed/kidnapped by the enemy, and they are actively using her inherited wisdom to get the answers they need, and they can do it without her will. Though she has been cursed by the devil Megicula, the final battle is upcoming, and we’re betting that she gets up and gets real.

Let’s be honest. Mereoleona is the baddest bitch in Black Clover. As a royal, she rejected the court and went to train by herself in strong magic regions. Only after her brother, Fuegoleon, was unconscious for an indefinite amount of time after being attacked did we meet her. She shouldered his role of Magic Knights Captain without missing a beat and led them through a hell that only this lioness could prepare for them. Her training was vicious, but the gains were exceptional! See her above, kidnapping the magic knights from spots two and eight of this article. When Yami goes to train, he decides to ask Mereoleona. After their near-death encounter, Mereoleona is almost starting to get pumped up for battle. At this point, Yami says he has learned enough and splits. Never defeated, this feral wild woman does what she wants HOW she wants. We won’t spoil too much here, but if the upcoming Black Clover movie is anything like the manga, then we are about to see her tear it up again!

Vanessa is a witch originally from the Witches’ Forest, though she currently works as a member of the Black Bulls. She has an affinity for drinking, usually spending most of her free time at the base with alcohol in hand. During her time in the Witches’ Forest, Vanessa was imprisoned by the Witch Queen until she was able to perfect her fate magic, though Yami eventually broke her out of her cage. Despite her broken past, she treats people with kindness, especially her fellow members of the Black Bulls. Vanessa is mainly a supporting character at the beginning of the series, though she grows in strength over time. We see her true strength appear during the battle of the Witches’ Forest when she develops the power to use the Red Thread of Fate and change the outcome of a moment in battle. In a dire moment of need, Vanessa is able to protect her true family, and we are excited to see how much more she grows from here!

Finral is a cheerful and helpful senior member of the Black Bulls. He is also one of the few nobles who is a member of this unruly squad. Despite being the elder brother, Finral was always seen as a failure by his family. His brother Langris has more impressive attack magic, so Finral has resigned himself to his own fate, though he has vowed to make the Black Bulls the strongest squad through his support magic. At first, Finral is reluctant in his role as the “transportation,” using his spatial magic to move the members of his team around. He seems to come into his own after he helps Asta and Vanessa fight Vetto. Finral later finds the strength to stand up against his brother in battle, displaying some new skills that surprise everyone!

Licht is the leader of the elves and one of the most powerful beings in the Clover Kingdom. He was originally a kind and benevolent leader, but the deaths of his people made him into a much angrier person. Licht sought to have peace between humans and elves, even convincing the rest of his people that they should trust the humans. He protects Patri and reincarnates him into William Vangeance, with Patri working to reincarnate the elven people so they can exact their revenge. Licht is reincarnated into a new body as well, though he seems far less expressive than he used to be. He is one of the strongest reincarnated elves, claiming some swords back from Asta for a time, but he doesn’t seem to be much of the person he used to be, which puts him on the lower end of our list—at least, for now.

Mereoleona is the eldest sibling of her house. She is also the current leader of both the Crimson Lions and the Royal Knights task force. We have only met her rather recently when Fuegoleon became injured, as she took over leadership of his squad for the time being. Mereoleona is one of the strongest Magic Knights, though she did not originally join up, as she resided in the wilderness living freely for many years. Mereoleona seems like a stern person, but she actually cares about the well-being of all the younger Magic Knights, as shown when she forces them all to climb the volcano in order to get stronger. Mereoleona is one of the few who can overwhelm the power of the Third Eye on her own, easily defeating Raia before the reincarnation. When she thinks Asta and Zora might be in danger, she puts their safety before her own, throwing them out of the chamber while she faces the elves all on her own. We are excited to learn even more about her; that is, once she wakes up from her comatose state!

From the moment we met Yami, we knew that he was one of the toughest characters in Black Clover! He is the leader of the infamous Black Bulls, a group of misfit Magic Knights. However, Yami gathered these people on purpose, recognizing their various strengths even when society would have shunned them. He may seem stoic on the outside, but Yami’s softer side shines through in moments where we see him with the Black Bulls, as he pushes each one to be the best version of themselves they can be. Yami is one of the best leaders and strongest fighters of all Magic Knights. The only reason we have included him a bit lower on our list is that much of what we learn about Yami’s personal growth is through flashbacks, as he has already achieved his current goals.

The Wizard King has always been a bit of a mystery for viewers. Julius Novachrono has achieved the ultimate goal that many Magic Knights are striving for, including Asta and Yuno, and wields powerful time magic, which seems to be virtually unstoppable against every foe he faces. Yet the first time we see Julius running around observing magic, it’s easy to see that he is just as flawed, just as human, as everyone else in the Clover Kingdom! The Wizard King loves to see magic in all its different forms, which is partially why he does not discriminate against commoners like most people do. He sees value in everyone, wishing for each person to keep improving and to achieve their individual goals so that everyone in his kingdom can be happy. Julius is truly the best leader the Clover Kingdom could have asked for, even down to the moment he sacrifices his own life to save his people.

Luck is one of the wilder members of the Black Bulls! He loves to fight and seems to have endless, enthusiastic energy, which is only compounded by his energetic lightning magic. As with many of the other Black Bulls, Luck is merely a supporting cast member in the early stages. Yet we quickly learn about his dark past—one that caused him to believe he needs to fight alone and always win. Over the course of these 100+ episodes, Luck has become able to rely on his teammates in battle and realized that he has a reason to fight other than just to keep his somewhat twisted promise to his mother. He has developed into one of our favorite characters, so much so that his recent reincarnation as an elf and subsequent fight against his former friends was devastating for us!

Yuno has some of the most powerful magic in Black Clover despite being a rookie. He and Asta were both raised as orphans, but Asta’s determination inspired Yuno to also strive towards becoming the Wizard King one day. He has a great affinity for magic, making his abilities far stronger than that of many royals! Yuno also keeps a cool head in everything, in contrast to Asta’s loud personality. Though Yuno can be a bit too overpowered and even-headed for us at times, his determination to prove the Kingdom wrong and his continual acknowledgment of Asta’s strength have made us more fond of him—even despite his obnoxiously tsundere new companion, the wind spirit.

When we first met Zora Ideale, he was going under an alias and seemed like an enemy, telling everyone that he was actually the Purple Orcas’ vice-captain. He ended up being Asta and Mimosa’s teammate in the Royal Knights exam, though he didn’t act as much of a team player at first. He gradually learns to trust and works with his team more, earning him a spot with the Royal Knights. Zora was actually a member of the Black Bulls all along, though it was unofficial since he had never put on the cloak. His father was also a Magic Knight, but was killed in battle by his comrades because he was the first commoner to ever join. Zora fosters a lot of hatred because of this, but Asta manages to befriend him, as he starts to work alongside other knights more. Let’s be honest—we all loved Zora’s smart mouth and arrogant nature from the beginning. Yet with everything we have learned about him in such a short time, he has become one of the best characters of the series through all his development!

Asta is our main protagonist in Black Clover. He has easily undergone the most change over the course of the series, going from an orphan on the outskirts of the kingdom to one of the most influential rookie Magic Knights around! Asta has also gone through the most change in terms of appreciation by the viewers. In the early stages of Black Clover, many complained at how loud his character is, as he shouts nearly every line—and being the main character, that’s a lot of lines! However, we have watched him grow up, as he mellowed out a little and became more reasonable in his interactions with other people. He is still boisterous, loud and overly enthusiastic, but his nature really has grown on us over time. As the face of Black Clover, Asta has become dearer to us, and we can’t wait to see where his actions will take him next!

Yami is like that bad-ass older brother who smothers you with tough love. He is the leader of the Black Bulls squad of Magic Knights. He uses his position as leader to choose those who are unique or misfits to join his squad, always seeing untapped potential. The way he goes about fostering that potential is by sending the members of his squad on dangerous missions, believing it is the best way to make them surpass their limits and grow stronger. We know that Yami is originally from a land far away called the “land of the rising sun,” making us think is he an Isekai protagonist in his own story. His was also looked down on as a foreigner, yet the current Wizard King gave him a chance to prove himself and rise to be a captain in the Magic Knights. Yami is a master of Dark Magic, which literally allows him to manipulate the element of darkness. He can draw in or absorb other forms of magic into the darkness. He is also a master swordsman and uses a katana. He has unbelievable strength, speed, and durability. He also, as given for most Magic Knight Captains, has a large amount of magical power. Yami also has an ability so sense “ki,” to perceive and react to unseen attacks and determine a person’s moves and position, giving him an edge in battle. Yami is the ultimate tough guy in Black Clover. He fights hard, plays hard, and trains hard.

Nozel is an arrogant nobleman and wizard who is the captain of the Silver Eagle squad of the magic knights. He looks down on all non-royals feeling he’s superior to them. He takes his position as a magic knight seriously and holds his entire squad to a very high standard. Nozel doesn’t show much affection to anyone, even his own siblings. He particularly doesn’t like his sister and member of the Black Bulls squad Noelle, blaming her for the death of their mother as well as looking down on her for poor magic control. Nozel uses magic to generate and manipulate mercury, a toxic element. He can transform the shape of the element with precise mana control allowing him to use it to attack and defend. He has enough control to create a giant eagle out of mercury. Nozel, like all the captains, has a lot of magical power. He completely overpowers his opponents. His official weaknesses aren’t known to us yet, but you can be sure that there is something out there. His biggest weakness is his noble arrogance because we all know what happens to those who overestimate their own power and underestimate their enemies’ strength in anime: they lose.

Charlotte is a noblewoman who is the captain of the Clover Kingdom’s Blue Rose squad of magical knights. She is a tall woman with blond hair and is often seen wearing a helmet and armor. She has a detached attitude and no patience toward men. Yet, she has the cutest crush on Yami, the captain of the Black Bulls. We don’t know a lot about Charlotte’s power. We do know she is powerful and is always a presence on the battlefield. Licht, leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun (bad guys), himself described her as very powerful. She uses her magic to create an manipulate briars. She can use this power to create cages, brambles and one of her favorite weapons: a whip. Charlotte is on this list not necessary for what she has done so far in the anime but for her predicted impact on the series.

Julius is the current Wizard King of the Clover Kingdom. Despite his position, he seems to have a rather laid-back attitude and bucks the nobility from time to time. Julius is a bit of a magical nerd. He obsesses over magic. He loves to sneak out of the palace and shirk his duties in order to explore the kingdom in search of new magic. Julius gets terribly excited when he comes across a new kind of magic. Julius has a lot of tricks up his sleeve and being the Wizard King with his massive amount of power, he can cast spells over the whole kingdom. He can manipulate time like using a VCR by fast forwarding, stopping, and reversing it. He uses that power to anticipate his opponents’ moves as well as to restrain them in a time loop as we witnessed in the one episode where we see him actually fight. Julius can also disguise himself as someone else, which is useful when he is sneaking out of the castle to conduct his own research. We understand he is powerful but haven’t seen him use his powers a lot in the anime. That’s why he’s not further up on the list.

Gauche is a young dispossessed noble and magical knight that is a member of the Black Bulls. He doesn’t look like much, being skinny and having shaggy hair that covers one eye, but he has amazing control of his magic. He also has one focus in life: his young sister Marie. Gauche gets extremely jealous of anyone else in her life. The sister-obsessed wizard is extremely proficient at Mirror Magic. Gauche uses this form of magic to cast mirror-based spells. He uses a mirror to do things like reflecting light, focusing light (like a laser), or creating copies of things like himself or someone else. The reason his hair hangs over his eye is that there is a mirror embedded in his left eye socket. He can use this mirror to create a kind of amplifier to increase the power of his spells.

Vetto is a villain. He is one of the members of the group the Eye of the Midnight Sun. He is a very tall and muscular man. Vetto isn’t human, his roots are most likely that of some sort of elf. Yes, we understand his origins are clear in the manga, but they haven’t been made clear in the anime so we won’t be spoiling them. Vetto wants to instill the same hopelessness and despair he has felt in his life into his opponents. He feels a true connection with other members of the Midnight Sun, especially Licht. He is willing to come to their aid and mercilessly fight for them. We won’t mince words; Vetto is extremely powerful. He is the most powerful villain we’ve seen in the anime thus far. He uses his magic to generate a beast-shaped aura that boosts his physical prowess. Vetto is also a tank when it comes to durability. He seems almost invulnerable to short-range and long-range attacks. The giant of a man uses his overflowing mana reserves to form a dense shield around himself, protecting him from spells.

Licht is a villain and member of the group the Eye of the Midnight Sun. He is a tall slender fellow with white hair braided into strands. He has two red dots where his eyebrows should be. Licht shows great compassion for his followers. He can’t abide to see one of them hurt. On the flip side of that coin he deeply despises humanity and his ultimate goal in his war with the Clover Kingdom can’t be good. Licht uses light magic to generate and manipulate light. He can use his skills to speed recovery. Licht can also move incredibly fast. He often seems to appear out of nowhere into his opponents’ blind spots. The light he generates can also be hardened to create swords and blades and spears in almost infinite numbers. He seems to have a massive mana reserve that he can barely control. We see this when he is fighting with Asta in the cave and his self-imposed seal is removed by Asta’s ability to negate magic. He has a lot of power. But at this point in the anime he has been defeated at least once by Asta and Yami.

Noelle is a young Clover Kingdom noble in a country where one's status is greatly determined by birth. She often portrays the arrogance that comes with being raised as one of the entitled elite. Noelle is also an example of the importance that is placed on one’s magical power in that society as well. She was rejected by her own family because of her lack of ability to control her magical power. Noelle is always trying to make up for her rejection by attempting to prove them wrong. The inferiority complex in combination with her royal attitude makes her a total tsundere as well as a perfect foil for Asta. The young noble and potential love interest for our hero Asta has almost overwhelming magical power. She can create a water dragon as a major offensive spell. Her main magic consists of shooting spears of compressed water, water spouts, and defensive shields or bubbles made of water. Noelle is still working on her control but if the magical reservoir she pulls from is any indication she could go toe to toe with some of the most powerful magical knights. You should also always watch out for a woman who thinks she has something to prove.

Yuno, like Asta, was raised in an orphanage in a poor area of the Clover Kingdom. When Yuno was a child he was a bit of a crybaby and depended on Asta defending him. The determination Asta showed with his dream of becoming the Wizard King inspired him to have the same goal. The magic knight Yuno is a calm, stoic individual with a massive amount of magical power. He seems a little aloof as a peasant and is considered an upstart for some of the nobility in his magic knight squad. But they respect his magical talent and he simply ignores the superiority complex many of the nobles have toward him. Yuno has lots of magical power. He can use magic to generate wind and use it as a tool. Yuno had this ability even before he received his grimoire. He typically uses this magic in the form of tornados that can knock out his opponents. Yuno also uses his control of the air to fly and lift others through the air. He even has the unique ability to summon a Sylph, the fairy-like wind spirit that serves as a multiplier to his magic. Yuno’s control of wind magic could one day be unrivaled but that isn’t what makes him extremely powerful. He has respect for others and that in turn draws other mages to him. Yuno is calm and thinks through situations whereas Asta rushes. His style may be different but his execution is often flawless and his care for the people around him makes him a leader and a great magical knight.

Asta, as we mentioned, was raised in an orphanage in a poor rural area of the Clover Kingdom. He doesn’t have any innate magical power in a world where that power can be defining of your worth to society. He is friendly and doesn’t pass judgment on anyone. He is also stubborn a part of his personality backed up by his iron will not to ever give into anything or anyone. His forthright and determined nature seems to win the respect of even the Wizard King. He also, probably for his kind nature, has turned the head of many young girls in his direction. Considering all of the more powerful wizards out there, you might ask why Asta is at the top of this list. We base that determination on the idea of that in a world filled with magic, he has the unique ability to negate magic. It doesn’t matter how strong the magic is, he can block or nullify it making him an extremely strong opponent. Asta is like the only one in a kingdom of gunslingers that has body armor. You can shoot at him, but he can take the hit and get close to you and shoot you -- or whack you with his sword in his case. Besides, Asta is the first one to join a fight and fights harder than anyone as part of his team. As he said, “I wasn’t blessed with magical power, but sure was blessed with amazing friends.”