Meruem vs Sukuna: King of Ants vs King of Curses

Two kings. Two apex predators. Two beings who considered humanity nothing more than food or entertainment.

Meruem, the Chimera Ant King, was born to rule. His power exceeded anything the Hunter x Hunter world had produced, and he continued growing stronger with every meal. Sukuna, the King of Curses, terrorized ancient Japan so thoroughly that sorcerers couldn’t seal him properly—they could only scatter his fingers and pray.

This is a cross-series battle between two of anime’s most terrifying villains. Both combine overwhelming power with genius-level intelligence. Both have killed countless humans without remorse. And both have that intangible quality that makes them feel invincible.

So who actually wins when the King of Ants faces the King of Curses?

Meruem: Powers and Abilities

!Meruem powering up

Key Abilities

Overwhelming Physical Stats: Meruem’s base physical abilities exceed any human in the HxH universe. His strength, speed, and durability are stated to surpass even the strongest Hunters by a massive margin

Nen Absorption: By consuming other Nen users, Meruem can absorb their abilities and add their aura to his own. This is how he gained Pouf’s and Youpi’s abilities

Photon (Youpi’s Ability): After eating Youpi, Meruem gained explosive shape-shifting and metamorphosis powers

Spiritual Message (Pouf’s Ability): After eating Pouf, Meruem gained enhanced sensory abilities and microscopic particle manipulation

Genius Intellect: Meruem mastered complex games instantly, developed strategies that outclassed experienced tacticians, and learned at impossible speeds

Adaptive Combat: Can analyze and counter fighting styles after minimal exposure

Best Feats

Killing Netero’s guards instantly: Two of the strongest Hunters in the world were dispatched before they could react

Tanking the Poor Man’s Rose (initially): Survived the explosion of a miniature nuclear weapon at ground zero, though mortally wounded

Outpacing Netero’s Buddha: After analyzing Zero Hand’s limit, Meruem found gaps in Netero’s “invincible” defense

Forcing Netero to suicide: The Chairman of the Hunter Association—the strongest Hunter alive—had no path to victory other than mutual destruction

Post-Rose power increase: After being reconstructed by Youpi and Pouf, Meruem’s aura exceeded his original by a massive factor

Speed blitzing everyone: Only Netero could even perceive Meruem’s attacks, and even he needed to simplify his prayers to keep up

Meruem’s power ceiling is unclear because he was still growing when he died. The Rose’s poison cut his story short, but his trajectory suggested limitless potential.

Sukuna: Powers and Abilities

!Sukuna in full power

Key Abilities

Shrine (Reverse Cursed Technique): Sukuna’s innate technique, consisting of:

– Dismantle: A slashing attack for objects with cursed energy

– Cleave: An adaptive slash that adjusts power based on target’s durability/cursed energy—always enough to cut

– Spiderweb: Omnidirectional Dismantle covering an area

Open (Flame Arrow): A fire-based attack that creates flaming arrows of devastating power

Malevolent Shrine: Sukuna’s Domain Expansion, unique in that it doesn’t require a barrier. It creates a guaranteed-hit field over a wide area that continuously fires Cleave and Dismantle at all targets

Reverse Cursed Technique: Can heal any injury, including regenerating his heart

Cursed Energy Reserves: Unmatched reserves that let him fight indefinitely

Four Arms/Two Mouths: In his true form, enhanced combat capability

Best Feats

Defeating Gojo Satoru: Beat the “strongest sorcerer in history” in extended combat—as we analyzed in detail here

Surviving Mahoraga’s attacks: The Shikigami that adapts to any phenomenon couldn’t put Sukuna down

Cutting through Infinity: His Malevolent Shrine achieved what nothing else could—bypassing Gojo’s absolute defense

Killing Mahoraga with World-Cutting Slash: Developed an attack that cuts the world itself, not just targets

Fighting Gojo for 15+ chapters: Continuous combat against another ceiling-tier entity with neither able to quickly finish the other

One-shotting Jogo: Casually killed a Special Grade Curse that could destroy cities

For full analysis of Sukuna’s power, see our Sukuna vs Muzan: King of Curses vs Demon King breakdown.

Battle Analysis

Speed

Edge: Contested

This is closer than it might appear.

Meruem’s speed is stated to exceed anything human Hunters can achieve. Only Netero—after 10,000+ years of training—could perceive and react to him, and Netero needed to cut his attack motions to their absolute minimum to even compete.

Sukuna’s speed has him blitzing Special Grade Curses and keeping pace with Gojo, whose movement is described in supernatural terms. He can perceive and react to Cursed Speech, Domain Expansions, and attacks from multiple directions simultaneously.

Neither series gives explicit speed measurements. Meruem’s feats are impressive but capped by Netero’s reactions. Sukuna’s feats are impressive but capped by Gojo’s abilities.

If we assume both series’ power ceilings are roughly equivalent (strongest human = strongest sorcerer), then their speeds are comparable. Neither has a decisive advantage.

Strength/Attack Power

Edge: Sukuna

Meruem’s physical strength is overwhelming. His tail attack killed experienced Hunters instantly. His casual swipes destroy terrain. Post-Rose Meruem’s aura multiplied this dramatically.

However, Sukuna’s attacks operate on a different principle. Cleave isn’t about raw force—it’s about adaptive cutting. The technique reads the target’s durability and cursed energy, then delivers exactly enough force to cut through. Against beings without cursed energy (like Meruem), Cleave would adapt to cut his physical durability.

Additionally, Malevolent Shrine is an area-of-effect technique that hits everything within its range with continuous Cleave and Dismantle attacks. It’s not a single strike to be tanked—it’s an omnidirectional assault.

Sukuna’s attacks are simply more versatile and harder to defend against. Meruem’s strength is immense, but it’s conventional force. Sukuna’s is hax-adjacent.

Durability

Edge: Meruem

Meruem survived a nuclear bomb.

Let’s be clear about what this means: the Poor Man’s Rose is explicitly a miniature nuke. Meruem was at ground zero. He was blown to pieces—and then reconstructed by Pouf and Youpi. Even before reconstruction, parts of him survived the initial explosion.

Post-Rose Meruem has even greater durability. His Nen aura increased dramatically after absorbing Pouf and Youpi’s power. He shrugged off attacks that would have seriously damaged him before.

Sukuna is durable by JJK standards, tanking attacks from Gojo and Mahoraga. He can also regenerate through Reverse Cursed Technique. But he’s never shown durability on the level of surviving nuclear weaponry.

In terms of pure “how much damage can this being absorb,” Meruem has the better feats.

Intelligence

Edge: Draw (different types)

Both kings are geniuses, but their intelligence manifests differently.

Meruem’s intelligence is analytical and strategic. He mastered Gungi in hours, developed optimal strategies against Netero mid-fight, and could process information at superhuman speeds. His mind is a supercomputer optimizing for victory.

Sukuna’s intelligence is ancient and combat-tested. He lived for centuries, developed techniques that surpass modern sorcery, and can adapt his fighting style in real-time. His experience across thousands of fights gives him combat wisdom that can’t be replicated.

In a fight, Meruem would analyze Sukuna’s patterns faster. Sukuna would recognize the nature of analysis-based fighting faster (he’s seen it before). Neither has a decisive edge.

Special Abilities/Hax

Edge: Sukuna

This is where Sukuna’s toolkit exceeds Meruem’s.

Meruem’s Special Abilities:

Nen absorption (requires eating, not viable mid-combat)

Photon shape-shifting

Enhanced senses

Sukuna’s Special Abilities:

Cleave (adaptive cutting that always cuts through)

Malevolent Shrine (guaranteed-hit Domain Expansion)

Reverse Cursed Technique (regeneration)

World-Cutting Slash (cuts space itself)

Meruem’s abilities enhance his already overwhelming stats. Sukuna’s abilities specifically counter conventional durability.

Cleave is the critical factor. It doesn’t matter how durable Meruem is—Cleave reads durability and cuts through it. This isn’t raw force versus durability; it’s a technique designed to bypass durability as a concept.

Malevolent Shrine compounds this. A barrierless Domain that guarantees Cleave hits everything in range. Meruem can’t dodge what automatically connects.

The Key Question: Can Cleave Cut Meruem?

!Sukuna using Cleave

This determines the fight.

Arguments for Cleave working:

Cleave adapts to ANY level of durability within the JJK framework

It’s designed specifically to cut through beings that seem impossible to cut

Meruem doesn’t have cursed energy resistance—he has physical durability and Nen aura

Arguments against Cleave working:

Meruem’s Nen might function similarly to cursed energy for defense purposes

His post-Rose durability is potentially beyond what Cleave has demonstrated cutting

Cross-series hax interactions are always speculative

For this analysis, we’ll assume Cleave works as intended—adapting to Meruem’s durability and cutting through it. If it didn’t work, the fight becomes a physical brawl that Meruem likely wins through superior raw stats.

The Verdict: Who Wins?

!Kings clashing

Winner: Sukuna

This goes against the grain of many power scalers, but Sukuna’s kit specifically counters what Meruem brings.

Why Sukuna Wins:

1. Cleave bypasses durability: Meruem’s greatest advantage is his ability to tank damage. Cleave doesn’t care—it adapts. No matter how tough Meruem is, Cleave reads it and cuts through.

2. Malevolent Shrine is unavoidable: Sukuna’s Domain doesn’t need a barrier, meaning it expands instantly over a massive area. The guaranteed-hit nature means Meruem can’t dodge. He WILL be cut, repeatedly.

3. Regeneration sustains Sukuna: Meruem’s attacks would deal damage to Sukuna—probably severe damage. But Reverse Cursed Technique heals it. Meruem doesn’t have regeneration; damage to him accumulates.

4. Experience with impossible opponents: Sukuna has fought beings with hax abilities his entire existence. He knows how to handle enemies who seem invincible. Meruem has only fought one truly threatening opponent (Netero), and he still doesn’t fully understand how that fight went.

5. World-Cutting Slash exists: Sukuna’s technique that cuts space itself is a trump card that likely bypasses all conventional defense, including Nen.

Why Meruem Makes It Close:

His speed might let him pressure Sukuna before Domain activation

Post-Rose Meruem’s power is genuinely enormous—he might one-shot Sukuna if he lands clean hits

His intelligence might let him recognize Domain vulnerabilities

If Cleave doesn’t adapt to Nen/non-cursed energy durability, the fight flips entirely

Scenario 1: Straight Fight, No Intel

Winner: Sukuna

Sukuna immediately recognizes Meruem as a threat and uses Malevolent Shrine. The guaranteed-hit Domain continuously slices Meruem. Even with nuclear-level durability, continuous adaptive cutting accumulates damage. Sukuna survives Meruem’s counterattacks through RCT and eventually wins through attrition.

Scenario 2: Meruem Has Intel on Domains

Winner: Still Sukuna (barely)

A prepared Meruem rushes Sukuna to prevent Domain activation, attempting to end the fight quickly. His speed and power are sufficient to seriously wound Sukuna. But Sukuna’s experience lets him survive the opening exchange, activate Domain, and turn the fight.

This version goes longer and could flip on any exchange—but Sukuna’s toolkit still gives him the edge.

Scenario 3: Post-Rose Meruem at Full Power (No Poison)

Winner: Could go either way

Post-Rose Meruem with unlimited time to grow is a different beast entirely. His power increased massively after absorbing the Royal Guards, and his trajectory suggested continued growth.

At full potential, Meruem might reach a durability level that even Cleave struggles with. His speed might exceed Sukuna’s ability to react. This version approaches a coin flip.

Final Thoughts

Meruem vs Sukuna is a battle between raw overwhelming power and hax-based lethality. Meruem is the unstoppable force—nothing in his world could damage him, and his growth had no visible ceiling. Sukuna is the immovable object—his techniques are designed to bypass the very concept of “too tough to cut.”

In most scenarios, Sukuna’s specific counter to durability-based fighters gives him the edge. Cleave and Malevolent Shrine don’t care how strong you are—they adapt and overcome. Meruem’s strength and durability, while immense, are conventional advantages that Sukuna’s techniques are built to bypass.

But this fight is close. Meruem’s intelligence, speed, and raw power make him genuinely threatening even to the King of Curses. In another scenario, with different starting conditions, Meruem could take it.

Two kings, one throne. The King of Curses claims it—but the King of Ants made him earn it.