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Archangels view themselves as the highest authority over all of creation since [[God]]'s departure from Heaven. As leaders in Heaven, Michael and Raphael commanded the Host of Heaven, issuing orders to the "Senior Management" who were responsible for deploying angels to Earth. They did not share all their plans, especially their intention to allow Lucifer to be freed, to avoid rebellion in the lower ranks.<ref name="four22" /> Most of them show little respect while interacting with humans, although Gabriel eventually confesses his appreciation of humanity.
The relationships between archangels and their vessels can be complex. Holding an archangel is damaging to a human; Raphael's vessel, [[Donnie Finnerman]], was left catatonic after his possession.<ref name="five03" /> Lucifer's continued presence in [[Nick]], an alternate vessel, causes the human's body to break down, as evidenced by burn-like marks on his skin. Lucifer's vessels can be strengthened with demon blood to better survive the ordeal. Despite his contempt for humanity as a whole, Lucifer showed some sympathy toward Nick, and toward Sam, his true vessel. However, as it was later revealed, Lucifer's sympathy towards Nick was simply an act of manipulation as he had orchestrated the murder of Nick's family to get him to say "yes."<ref name="fourteen11" /> Michael, though condescendingly, was willing to explain his position to Dean while occupying his father, and promised not to leave Dean a "drooling mess" like Donnie Finnerman after his service.<ref name="five13">[[5.13 The Song Remains the Same]]</ref> Lucifer also displayed the ability to use [[Castiel]], a lesser angel as his vessel without causing visible damage to the body. However, Castiel is noted by Sam to have a particularly strong vessel<ref name="eleven18">[[11.18 Hell's Angel]]</ref> and Castiel later states that being Lucifer's vessel is in fact slowly burning both it and him out.<ref name="eleven22">[[11.22 We Happy Few]]</ref> In contrast, while housing the [[Apocalypse World]] [[Michael (Apocalypse World)|Michael]] who is far stronger than the Michael from the Winchesters world, Dean was not only able to remain conscious without any apparent ill effects, he was able to retain control of himself and even use some of Michael's powers as per a deal with the archangel. It was only when Michael betrayed their deal that Dean lost control of his body.<ref name="thirteen23" /> The Michael of the Winchesters' world, after escaping from Lucifer's Cage, shares control with his vessel, [[Adam Milligan]]. The two are able to openly converse with each other, with Michael appearing as a duplicate of Adam in the waking world, though only Adam can see him. Adam later explains that he and Michael reached an understanding when they were trapped for all of those years together in Lucifer's Cageduring which time they were all each other had. Michael appears to be protective towards Adam, particularly angry with Dean over abandoning Adam in the Cage while he was willing to let Lucifer roam free and the archangel and his vessel even appear to be friends with each other.<ref name="fifteen08" />
===Powers and abilities===
Archangels possess the powers and abilities that are inherent in other angels, which are detailed in "[[Angel Lore]]," but have additional strengths commensurate with their rank. Their telekinesis, for example, appears to have a wider range than that of the average angel. [[Gabriel]] snaps his fingers and flames appear on two candles.<ref name="five19" /> [[Raphael]] can manipulate electricity.<ref name="five03">[[5.03 Free to Be You and Me]]</ref> Lucifer can alter temperature.<ref name="five22" />
Perhaps the greatest measure of the archangels' strength is their ability to overpower other supernatural beings. [[Lucifer]], unarmed, kills a number of [[:Category:Deities|pagan gods]] with ease using his bare hands and telekinesis (or molecular combustion).<ref name="five19" /> Lesser angel have also been defeated by archangels. Gabriel banishes [[Castiel]] to another location with a snap of his fingers.<ref name="five08">[[5.08 Changing Channels]]</ref> [[Michael]] does the same to a young [[Uriel]].<ref name="five13">[[5.13 The Song Remains the Same]]</ref> They may resort to more violent methods to make a point. Raphael beats Castiel, and leaves him bloody in his favorite corner of Heaven when Castiel refuses to give him his allegiance.<ref name="six20">[[6.20 The Man Who Would Be King]]</ref> They fight again at [[Balthazar]]'s house, and once again Raphael easily overpowers Castiel, throwing him down Balthazar's staircase.<ref name="six03">[[6.03 The Third Man]]</ref> When they choose, archangels can kill without fighting. Michael incinerates [[Anna Milton]] with a simple touch when she threatens his plans.<ref name="five13" /> On separate occasions, Lucifer and Raphael both cause Castiel to explode.<ref name="five03" /><ref name="five22" /> Following his return, Lucifer commonly uses this power to kill angels and demons.<ref name="eleven11" /><ref name="eleven18" /><ref name="twelve15">[[12.15 Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell]]</ref><ref name="thirteen02">[[13.02 The Rising Son]]</ref> Archangels can also block the powers of their lower ranking brothers; Raphael prevents Castiel from using his powers on [[Crowley]].<ref name="six22">[[6.22 The Man Who Knew Too Much]]</ref> When attacked by a lesser angel, Lucifer casually causes him to explode without even paying attention to the angel.<ref name="eleven11">[[11.11 Into the Mystic]]</ref> During a fight in close quarters with Sam, Dean, and Castiel, Lucifer is able to casually beat all three even though Castiel is armed and he is not. Notably, none of the blows any of the three land cause any harm to the archangel.<ref name="eleven10">[[11.10 The Devil in the Details]]</ref> During a confrontation with [[Asmodeus]], the last of the [[Princes of Hell]], Gabriel effortlessly deflects an energy blast from the powerful demon and incinerates him with just a gesture despite Asmodeus' high level of power, boosted by regular injections of Gabriel's [[grace]] and the fact that Gabriel himself is in a weakened state.<ref name="thirteen18">[[13.18 Bring 'em Back Alive]]</ref> However, Gabriel later admits that it took much of the power he had at the time to kill Asmodeus, leaving him more vulnerable to attacks.<ref name="thirteen20" /> Michael effortlessly obliterated [[Lilith]] despite her incredible power as the first demon and later overpowered and strangled Castiel even while restrained by the [[Angel Cuffs]] which bound much of Michael's power.<ref name="fifteen08" />
Archangels can resurrect humans at will, even when out of contact with Heaven. Michael heals Sam completely after he was impaled with a pipe, and bled out.<ref name="five13" /> Gabriel, while posing as the Trickster, kills and resurrects Dean dozens of times in a time loop.<ref name="three11">[[3.11 Mystery Spot]]</ref> Lucifer tells Sam that if he killed himself he would resurrect him,<ref name="five03" /> and Castiel states that if Anna killed Sam that Lucifer would only resurrect him.<ref name="five13" /> After Sam was killed when a [[vampire]] ripped out his throat, Lucifer was able to resurrect him with apparent ease, having recharged his [[grace]] by feeding on the grace of several other angels.<ref name="thirteen21">[[13.21 Beat the Devil]]</ref>
A degree of prescience is also shown by the archangels, though they may not have a complete picture of the future. They know that Dean and Sam are the predestined vessels of Michael and Lucifer.<ref name="five08" /> Michael has a glimpse of the confrontation between Zachariah and Dean before it happens, in particular the damage inflicted on Sam and Adam.<ref name="five19" /> Lucifer predicts, correctly, that Sam will surrender to him in [[Detroit]] within a few months, but he does not see his downfall before it happens.<ref name="five10">[[5.10 Abandon All Hope...]]</ref><ref name="five22" />
The archangels have an ability to manipulate reality, which Gabriel in particular embraces. Gabriel can construct alternate realities and time loops, and control who is aware of the situation. He can create things out of thin air, including murderous accomplices and duplicates of himself.<ref name="two15">[[2.15 Tall Tales]]</ref> Gabriel can change the appearance of objects, as he proved when he made a can of diet Orange Slice look like his archangel blade,<ref name="five19" /> and can change his own form.<ref name="three11" /> Lucifer claims to have taught Gabriel all his "tricks," and uses some of them himself. Lucifer appears to his vessel Nick as Sarah, Nick's murdered wife, and makes him see blood in his bed and his dead child's crib. Lucifer appears in Sam's dreams as [[Jess]] as well. He later does the same thing to [[Vince Vincente]] by making him see blood in a sink faucet, levitating objects, and impersonating his dead wife.<ref name="three11" /><ref name="five03" /><ref name="five10" /><ref name="twelve02">[[12.02 Mamma Mia]]</ref> While possessing Adam Milligan, Michael is able to manifest to his vessel in the waking world as an exact duplicate of Adam so they can communicate as easily as if they were two regular people having a conversation. This manifestation is more of a hallucination, however and is not a physical duplicate with only Adam being able to perceive Michael. Michael's manifestation is extremely realistic to the point that he can, to Adam's eyes at least, pick up a French fry and pace around a room during an argument.<ref name="fifteen08" />
Every archangel apparently possesses knowledge of [[Lucifer's Cage]] and how it works, above and beyond the existence of [[the 66 Seals]]. Michael understands the prison very well because he cast Lucifer into it. Lucifer, having been imprisoned in the Cage for thousands of years, knew how to escape through the 66 Seals and also by taking advantage of a loophole found in the summoning spell from the ''[[Book of the Damned]]'' to escape.<ref name="eleven10" /> Gabriel knew that the Cage can be reopened with the Horsemen's Rings,<ref name="five19" /> and Lucifer, despite Gabriel's word, knows this too.<ref name="five22" /> Raphael may have known of another method to open the Cage, as he intended to reopen it to restart the Apocalypse.<ref name="six03" />
Archangels can grant their [[vessel]] access to some of their powers even while the vessel is in control, making the archangel effectively act as a power source. In this state, the vessel is also capable of using an [[archangel blade]] against other archangels no matter who's in control.<ref name="thirteen23" />
Like all angels, archangels are able to give up control to their vessels if they so choose without ever leaving their bodies. Lucifer was able to surrender control to Castiel briefly to convince the other angels to help against [[the Darkness]]<ref name="eleven22" /> while the alternate Michael was able to allow Dean to retain control and use his powers to defeat Lucifer for a brief period of time.<ref name="thirteen23" /> Michael could openly share control with his vessel Adam Milligan whose interactions with the world around him when Adam was in control suggests that Adam is able to remain aware of everything happening around him even when Michael is in control, aiding a seamless transition between the two.<ref name="fifteen08" />
===Vulnerabilities===
Very few things in existence are capable of harming, let alone killing an archangel. [[God]], as the Creator, was stated to be the one being capable of stopping [[Lucifer]] and the Apocalypse if He so chose to.<ref name="five02">[[5.02 Good God, Y'All]]</ref> While trying to keep Lucifer under control, God proved capable of negating Lucifer's powers without Lucifer even noticing until he tried using them on Sam and Dean Winchester.<ref name="eleven22" /> [[Amara]] was shown easily overpowering Lucifer and causing him incredible pain and damage.<ref name="eleven18">[[11.18 Hell's Angel]]</ref><ref name="eleven21">[[11.21 All in the Family]]</ref> Amara is also capable of effortlessly pulling an archangel from their vessel.<ref name="eleven22">[[11.22 We Happy Few]]</ref> A [[Hand of God]], a colloquial term for any object that has come into contact with God and taken on a portion of His power, can possibly kill or at the very least injure an archangel, as an indirect blast from the [[Rod of Aaron]] caused Lucifer to bleed.
