When you hear the phrase “top 10 people who claim ownership of celestial bodies,” you might picture sci‑fi villains or eccentric billionaires, but the reality is a surprisingly eclectic mix of lawyers, dreamers, and even a mischievous club of elves. From a Chilean attorney who registered the Moon as his property to a Spanish woman selling square‑meter plots of the Sun on eBay, these ten characters have taken the concept of space real‑estate to literal extremes.

Why the Top 10 People Chase Space Real Estate

Each claimant was driven by a unique blend of personal ambition, legal curiosity, or plain old stubbornness. Some wanted to join exclusive societies, others hoped to cash in on a future interplanetary gold rush, and a few simply wanted to prove a point that the final frontier could be owned—at least on paper.

10 Jenaro Gajardo Vera

In 1953, a 34‑year‑old Chilean attorney and part‑time composer named Jenaro Gajardo Vera found himself turned away from a social club because he lacked any real‑world property. While leaving the Club Unión Social, he glanced up at the Moon and thought, “No one actually owns that.” Determined, he marched to the national property registry and filed paperwork to list the Moon as his own parcel.

The clerk warned him that registering the Moon might earn him a reputation for folly, but Gajardo was undeterred. Chilean law required the claim to be published three times in an official journal, which he dutifully did. No one contested his filing, and by September 1954 he paid a modest 42 pesos, receiving a certificate that officially named him owner of the Moon.

Armed with that document, he marched back to the club and was finally admitted as a member. Years later, just before the historic 1969 Apollo 11 landing, Gajardo sent a formal accusation to the United States, alleging trespass on his lunar property and even hinted at legal action.

Legend has it that President Nixon later sent a telegram asking permission before the astronauts set foot on what Gajardo considered “his” Moon—a story that remains unverified. Adding to the absurdity, the Chilean tax authority once claimed he owed lunar taxes; Gajardo replied that he could not assess the Moon’s value and invited the auditors to meet him there, a meeting that never happened.

Gajardo passed away on June 29 1998, reportedly bequeathing the Moon to all Chileans. As of 2005, his granddaughter Ivonne Gajardo Quezada continued to assert the family’s lunar claim.

9 Dennis Hope

Dennis Hope entered the arena in the 1980s after realizing that the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty barred nations—not private individuals—from laying claim to space. He seized the loophole and announced ownership of Earth’s Moon, Jupiter’s moon Io, and several inner planets, including Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Pluto.

Hope began selling lunar acreage at $19.95 per acre, with a surcharge for “lunar tax, shipping, and handling” that lifted the price to $36.50 per acre. He offered volume discounts and once sold a staggering 2.66 million acres—about the size of a small country—for $250,000. He deliberately avoids selling specific lunar landmarks and even turned down a $50 million offer from a group eager to buy the Moon’s north pole.

Over the years, Hope claims to have netted more than $11 million from over six million customers, boasting a roster that includes media icons like Barbara Walters and Tom Cruise, as well as former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. He focuses on the Moon because his maps for the other bodies are still a work in progress, though he teases that a $250,000 investment could secure the entire surface of Pluto.

Hope also founded the so‑called Galactic Government, a self‑styled democratic republic whose citizens are his lunar landowners. The fledgling nation even minted its own currency, the “delta,” which Hope has tried to have recognized by the International Monetary Fund and various governments. In a bizarre twist, a rival claimant once sent Hope an energy bill for using the Sun; Hope replied that the sender should simply switch the Sun off.

8 Greg Nemitz

The near‑Earth asteroid 433 Eros, first spotted on August 13 1898 by astronomers Gustav Witt and Auguste Charlois, earned its place in history as the first asteroid orbited—and later landed upon—by a spacecraft. NASA’s NEAR probe performed the orbit in February 2000 and touched down in February 2001.

When the probe touched the asteroid, Greg Nemitz proclaimed the rocky body his private property, arguing that because neither Witt nor Charlois ever filed a claim, he was the first legitimate owner. He promptly mailed NASA a “parking bill” of $20 for occupying “space 29” in his asteroid parking lot, calculated at 20 cents per year for a century.

NASA refused to pay, and the dispute escalated to court, where the space agency ultimately prevailed, rejecting Nemitz’s claim to the celestial rock.

7 Adam Ismail, Mustafa Khalil, And Abdullah Al‑Umari

In 1997, three Yemeni gentlemen—Adam Ismail, Mustafa Khalil, and Abdullah al‑Umari—filed a lawsuit against NASA after the agency’s Sojournor rover set foot on Mars. The trio asserted that they descended from the Himyarite and Sabaean tribes, ancient Arabian peoples who, according to their claim, had erected seven temples dedicated to the seven known planets, including Mars, as sacred gateways to their god.

They insisted they possessed the proper documentation to cement their claim over the Red Planet and presented the case to Yemen’s national prosecutor, who dismissed it and even threatened imprisonment. Undeterred, the men abandoned the lawsuit but continued to market Martian parcels for $2 per square mile.

6 Phillip Davies

When President Obama signed the U.S. Space Act in 2015, it granted American companies the right to keep any resources they extracted from celestial bodies. This legislative shift inspired Dr. Phillip Davies, a physician from Hampshire, UK, to proclaim that the existing 1967 UN Space Treaty was outdated and that he would stake a claim on Mars to pre‑empt any other individual or nation.

To underscore his claim, Davies fired a laser beam at the Martian surface, asserting that the light would warm the planet and improve its atmosphere, thereby “enhancing” any potential life. He also began selling tiny plots for a single cent each, attracting roughly 13 000 supporters who bought a piece of his imagined Martian estate.

Davies has announced that once his community reaches a critical mass, he intends to hand over his Martian claim to the United Nations, framing his venture as a stepping stone toward a globally shared future on the Red Planet.

5 Maria Angeles Duran

Spanish entrepreneur Maria Angeles Duran made headlines in 2010 when she announced ownership of the Sun itself. Inspired by Dennis Hope’s lunar empire, she launched an eBay storefront in 2013 selling one‑square‑meter (approximately 11 ft²) slices of the star for a modest €1 each. Buyers received a certificate of ownership, though no precise coordinates were ever disclosed.

eBay quickly suspended her account, arguing that the Sun could not be sold as a tangible good. Duran fought back, hiring lawyers and filing a complaint that claimed she was merely selling a natural resource—comparable to water or wind—that other vendors were allowed to market.

Her legal battle centered on whether the 1967 UN Space Treaty prohibited individuals from claiming celestial bodies. The court ultimately sidestepped the treaty question, focusing instead on whether Duran had violated eBay’s terms by offering intangible assets.

4 Sylvio Langevin

Canadian litigator Sylvio Langevin took the concept of space ownership to the extreme in 2012, filing a lawsuit that claimed he possessed the entire solar system—including every planet, four of Jupiter’s moons, and even the vacuum that separates them. He argued that only a divine being could contest his claim, effectively positioning himself as the supreme proprietor of all cosmic real estate.

Langevin was notorious for filing frivolous suits; between 2001 and 2012 he lodged more than 45 lawsuits. In 2009 a court barred him from initiating any further actions without explicit permission after he pursued a baseless $1 billion claim. Some speculate that his 2012 filing was a strategic move to test the limits of that injunction.

3 James Thomas Mangan

On the evening of December 20 1948, James Thomas Mangan declared the entire expanse of space his personal domain, dubbing himself its “first representative.” He rushed to the Cook County, Illinois recorder of deeds, where a judge eventually ruled in his favor, allowing him to register a micronation called the “Celestial Republic.”

Mangan then sent letters to the United Nations and to the secretaries of state in all 50 U.S. states, requesting official recognition of his sovereign claim. While the UN politely declined, Mangan unfurled his flag in front of its New York headquarters and began issuing a unique currency called the “Celeston.” He also mailed passports and coins to astronauts, promising them citizenship in his interstellar nation.

Although he initially advertised Earth‑sized plots of space for just $1 each, he refunded anyone who actually tried to purchase a parcel. Mangan passed away in 1970, bequeathing his celestial charter to his descendants.

2 Martin Juergens

Martin Juergens asserts that the Moon was gifted to his family by King Frederick the Great in the mid‑18th century. According to Juergens, the Prussian monarch frequently consulted a local healer—one of Juergens’ ancestors—who treated the king’s gout and blessed him, contributing to Frederick’s victories in the Seven Years’ War.

In gratitude, Frederick allegedly presented the Moon to the healer’s lineage, decreeing that every child born into the family would retain ownership for as long as Earth existed. Juergens has used this historic claim to challenge Dennis Hope’s lunar empire, though Hope dismissed the story, noting the absence of any legal paperwork to substantiate Juergens’ claim.

Juergens says the original decree, dated July 15 1756, was even captured on film by several contemporary crews. While he has yet to sell any lunar plots, many suspect his public challenge is a strategic move aimed at curbing Hope’s commercial exploitation of the Moon.

1 The Elves’, Gnomes’, And Little Men’s Science Fiction, Chowder, And Marching Society

In February 1952, a quirky collective known as the Elves’, Gnomes’, and Little Men’s Science Fiction, Chowder, and Marching Society—yes, that’s their full, unabashedly whimsical name—announced a claim on a portion of the Moon after allegedly discovering deposits of a mineral called sylvanite.

The Berkeley‑based science‑fiction club wrote to the United Nations, requesting a patent and title for their lunar parcel, offering to surrender 90 percent of any mining profits to the UN in exchange. Their letters also reached President Harry Truman and various media outlets, sparking a brief wave of publicity.

The stunt was never meant to be taken seriously; it was primarily a fundraising gimmick. Nonetheless, the story captured public imagination, and while the UN’s legal chief, Oscar Schachter, clarified that the organization lacked jurisdiction to grant lunar titles, the society’s claim remains a delightful footnote in the annals of space‑law eccentricities.

In the beginning of the Marvel Universe, there was just one omnipotent being who created the universe. After the Big Bang, a number of celestial beings came into existence. The universe eventually split off into multiple universes, hence why they call it the “Marvel Multiverse.”

In some cases, there are multiple copies of these beings, as well, so the versions of their stories may actually change depending on the comic series they were published in. With that in mind, we’re going to do out best to talk about these character as accurately as we can. Today, we’re going to go over 10 of the gods and celestial beings that rein over the multiverse…

10. The Celestials

After the creation of the universe in the Big Bang, a race of 2,000-foot tall creatures wearing robot-like armor called The Celestials came into existence. They were the very first race of living beings, and they are responsible for pretty much every significant event in human evolution. They are constantly experimenting, and they make improvements on mankind, including the mutant X-gene that is responsible for the X-Men’s powers. The Celestials also created other powerful cosmic entities like the Eternals and the Deviants.

Celestials never truly die, they are just reborn into a new body. That makes them practically immortal. Even though they are all individuals, they contain a sort of telekinetic hive-mind. So, if you communicate with one, you’re talking to them all. Mere humans could never understand the Celestials’ end-goal, but there is a theory that they are experimenting over time, trying to create a perfect species, and destroying the creatures they deem to be unworthy.

9. Uatu the Watcher

There is yet another race that appeared after the Big Bang called the Watchers. They are equally as powerful as the Celestials, and the two have been at odds for billions of years, because they have polar opposite philosophies about how to deal with lesser life forms. As their name suggests, the Watchers have a strict rule that they should only observe life in the universe for the sake of gathering data without actually interfering. But one Watcher named Uatu broke those rules. He had been watching over Earth, and felt compassionate toward humans and their many issues, so he stepped in to help Earthlings.

Unfortunately for him, he was exiled from the Watchers after breaking the rules. So he decided to make a new home on the moon, and he serves as a middleman between superheroes and celestial beings. Uatu has appeared in multiple Marvel comics over the years, and he has helped saved the planet more than once. While we have yet to learn a lot about them in the films, the Watchers made a brief appearance with Stan Lee in Guardians of the Galaxy 2. In fact, you know all of those Stan Lee cameos in the MCU? Turns out he may have been playing Uatu all along.

8. The Phoenix Force

The Phoenix Force is the force of life and passion that exists in the energy throughout the multiverse. It does not have a true physical form, but it usually appears in the comics in the shape of a phoenix made of flame. It is the guardian of all creation, and it guards the powerful M’Kraan Crystal.

Normally, the Phoenix Force does not interact with living things, but it becomes a sort of soulmate with the X-Men character Jean Grey. When she was a child, Jean’s best friend was killed during a car accident, and she used her telepathic powers to attempt bring her back to life. The Phoenix Force was so impressed by her power that it spared Jean’s life. We don’t want to go into too much more detail with this one, since it just might give away too many spoilers for the upcoming Dark Phoenix movie in 2019. (Of course, if you were a fan of the X-Men cartoon in the ’90s, you no doubt know the general storyline regardless of whether you’ve read the comics.)

7. Galactus The Devourer

The cosmic supervillain named Galactus the Devourer has what is called “The Power Cosmic,” which is the ability to survive anything, even if the entire universe collapses in on itself. In order to maintain this level of power, Galactus consumes entire planets for sustenance, and throughout the Marvel comics, he very nearly has Earth for lunch more than once. 

He has appeared in the Fantastic Four and the Avengers comic books, and he also appears in the 2007 movie Rise of the Silver Surfer. Which makes sense, since the Silver Surfer is one of the heralds of Galactus–which is how he got his powers in the first place.

6. Master Order and Lord Chaos

Master Order and Lord Chaos were two more cosmic entities created at the beginning of the universe. As their names suggest, they are on the polar opposite ends of existence, and are constantly having a power struggle over causing order and chaos.

But they don’t just fight with each other. Master Order and Lord Chaos both fight with the Living Tribunal and Galactus, and they created a being known as “The In-Betweener” to help them accomplish their goals. In this process, the brothers were merged together into one cosmic entity called Logos, which appeared as a villain in the Black Panther comics. They have yet to appear in any of the movies.

5. Eon

Eon is the “cosmic custodian” of the universe, because he helps to make sure that the planets are functioning properly in order to maintain life. He is also credited for causing some of the world’s unexplained phenomena. Of course, the planet Earth is a particular favorite of his, since it has nurtured so many of these superhuman Marvel heroes.

Eon chose Captain Marvel to become the protector of the universe, and Captain Marvel (all of the various iterations) is of the only superheroes who just may be strong enough to defeat Thanos. We can’t go into too much more details, because presumably, Captain Marvel will become a very important character in Avengers: Endgame if the end credits scene in Infinity War is any indication.

4. Cyttorak

So, if you saw Deadpool 2 and wondered how Juggernaut was so powerful, he has Cyttorak to thank for that. Cyttorak is a demon who was once worshiped by humans, until he was banished from Earth. He was one of eight supreme beings known as the Octessence, each of whom crafted a totem that would imbue a human who found it with immense power. This person was known as an Exemplar, with the goal being for the eight Examplars–each having found a gem and taking its power–to lead an immense war with an eighth of the Earth’s population behind each, and only one faction remaining when the blood and dust settled. And that’s why Juggernaut is not only immensely powerful, but also endlessly bloodthirsty.

The true identity of Juggernaut under that helmet is a man named Cain Marko, who is actually Charles Xavier’s stepbrother. They clearly don’t get along with one another, which is part of why he becomes the nemesis of the X-Men. After finding the power of Cyttorak, Juggernaut’s physical strength made him virtually unstoppable, and there are very few who can even possibly attempt to take him on.

3. Eternity and Infinity

Eternity and Infinity are twin beings that represent the universe itself, and they first appeared in Marvel Comics in 1965. It is believed that Stan Lee was hoping to introduce Eastern philosophy into the Marvel Universe. They are supposed to be one the most powerful cosmic beings, and in each of the Marvel multiverses, they appear in a different way. Normally, they do not have a physical body, and only take physical form when they are communicating with the Marvel characters.

Eternity created the Infinity stones, and it’s believed that whoever holds the Infinity gauntlet has the power to control the universe. This would mean that in the next Avengers movie, Thanos could actually overtake all of eternity, if he so chose. While the characters have not played a role in a main storyline yet, some believe that Eternity may have been an Easter egg in the movie Ant-Man.

2. The Living Tribunal

The Living Tribunal first appeared in the Dr. Strange comics in the 1960s. His purpose is to balance magical energy in the multiverse, so he only shows up when there is some kind of upset in the cosmos. The Living Tribunal is a floating head with three faces that represent equity, revenge, and necessity. He’s like the judge of the universe, and when all three faces agree, it implements justice when someone has gone too far.

In 2006, there was an additional fourth face added to the Living Tribunal, which was a reflection of the person who gazes upon it. He is supposed to carry out the will of the “One-Above-All,” who you will learn about riiiiight… now:

1. The One-Above-All

The One-Above-All is omnipresent and omnipotent. He sees all, knows all, and he can change anything across any dimension of universe. This means that none of the other characters we have mentioned in this list are more powerful than he is. He also created many of the other gods and cosmic entities that we see in the Marvel comics.

Basically, he is God… like, with a capital G. His job is to make sure there is a balance of power in the multiverse, and that existence doesn’t devolve into chaos. He rarely appears in the comics, but when he does, it is in various forms to various characters. So we never get to learn what he truly looks like.