Warning: The following contains spoilers for Solo Leveling's manhwa!!Although Solo Leveling's anime has shown Sung Jinwoo struggling to defeat some of his opponents, like Igris or Baran, the manhwa wasn't exactly known for having invincible villains, since after gaining more of the Shadow Monarch power, he became massively overpowered by the second part of the story. However, there's only one character in the manhwa who actually went head-to-head against Jinwoo to the point of being impossible to deal with on his own. That villain is none other than the King of Dragons and Monarch of Destruction, Antares, who still remains hidden to anime-only viewers.

Though Antares was the biggest threat lurking on the Earth as the strongest of the Monarchs, he only forged an antagonistic relationship with Jinwoo almost at the end of the manhwa, which may not have conveyed how truly terrifying his powers were. However, in his short appearances, Antares proved why he's deserving of the title of the definitive villain in Solo Leveling and Jinwoo's greatest enemy.

Antares Was a Step Away From Killing Sung Jinwoo

The Monarch of Destruction Was Stronger Than Jinwoo

Antares' power sets him apart from any other character in Solo Leveling, but he was also the only enemy that outmatched Jinwoo and couldn't defeat him on his own. Antares was the strongest original monarch, and he thought after Ashborn became the Shadow Monarch there was a possibility of them being equal, as both didn't have a vessel due to their great power. The Monarch of Destruction was superior to Jinwoo at the time of their first fight.

When Jinwoo decided to face Antares, he was still inexperienced, commanding all the powers of the Shadow Monarch. That way, even after gathering all his shadow army to confront the Dragon King, with Igris and Bellion being Marshall rank, and his regeneration skill, he couldn't match Antares' raw power and was overwhelmed in the battle.

Still, as Jinwoo kept getting stronger with each battle, he was confident in being capable of dominating the Shadow Monarch's powers. He decided to use the cup of reincarnation and fight Antares once again in the dimensional rift. In the end, Jinwoo reaches a higher level along with his Shadow Army, managing to defeat the monarchs alone and even Antares in a one-on-one battle. However, the fact that it still took him 27 years to win on his own highlights how powerful Antares was and how Jinwoo could have originally been killed if he hadn't called for the Rulers.

Antares Is the Ultimate Villain in Solo Leveling

Baran, the Ant King, and the Architect Were Good Enemies, but None Compare to Antares

Although Jinwoo had to work hard to defeat Baran and Kandiaru, he never experienced as much danger as with Antares. Antares was the only antagonist capable of giving Jinwoo more than just a challenge, not only thanks to his army of dragons, Dragon's fear ability, destructive flames, and strength that sured even that of the rulers, but also because he was designed to embody destruction itself.

Antares's destructive powers were at a level that could negate even death to an extent, as proved by the scar he left on Jinwoo's hands when he saved Igris from the breath of destruction, that he couldn't regenerate. This denotes why Jinwoo was so scared to face him before his final battle, as he had predicted that he could lose. As a result, even if Antares was used very sparingly in Solo Leveling's final arc, it was more than enough for him to get extremely close to killing Jinwoo.

It's clear that Antares has immense strength, but due to his personality, he didn't consider Jinwoo a real threat until way ahead in their battle when he was outsmarted by his strategy. Sadly, fans also didn't get to see Antares's full potential in the dimensional drift with the knowledge of his previous fight against Jinwoo, which could have created a different type of battle. Nevertheless, luckily, the Monarch of Destruction's role has been further explored in the series' sequel, Solo Leveling: Ragnarok, but Antares still proved to be Solo Leveling's most terrifying villain.