[Discussion] Do you think there will be stronger characters than Meruem

[Kayhos]

Oh yeah, I'm pretty positive that the royal guards will be fodder compared to whats on the Dark Continent and the King will be fairly average.

Obviously just a guess but that's what I think.

 

[V h o]

Yeah I'm pretty sure everything in the dark continent is at Mereum's level or at least above the threat of the chimera ants.

 

[Killua Zoldyck]

The simple answer is NO. We have already seen Gon at his peak physicality (He may get new techniques, but Jajanken will always be his strongest attack). He was hyped to be as strong as Meruem (Pre-RGA), of course we know that's not entirely true since he will obviously never be quiet as smart as Meruem (Not even close lol) and his durability was clearly inferior. And lets be honest, Gon will be the strongest living character by the end of the series. Furthermore, there is also Netero as a measuring stick, there is no doubt that Netero was the strongest person in the world (He was both respected, and feared as much), and he got beat by a Meruem who was not even going for the kill.

Conclusion: Pre-RGA Meruem might be surpassed, though I have my doubts. Post-RGA Meruem will remain the strongest character.

 

[Rainbow Dash]

Probably not. If there was someone in the Dark Continent that is stronger than Meruem, then how on earth will he be defeated? Netero is deemed as the strongest hunter, yet he had to blow himself up to kill Meruem. And that was with the poisonous after effects of the Rose. Meruem was so durable that he survived the initial explosion of the nuke. All in all, Meruem was so strong that it forced the strongest human to blow himself up. There is no one else stronger than Meruem in the human world, which would make it practically impossible to defeat someone who is stronger than Meruem.

 

[Darkakatsuki]

First of all, it was fifty years ago that Netero was regarded as the strongest in the world, top tiers like Ging and Chrollo weren't even born back then and probably most if not all of the top 5 nen users weren't born yet. Netero was definitely not the strongest human when he fought the King. Also, it's obvious that the monsters in the dark continent will be stronger than Mereum. Think about it, they sent two rookie kids, an old man past his prime, two average warriors (Knuckle and Shoot), and two above average/strong ones (Morel and Knov) to deal with the chimera ants. Comparatively speaking, look how many warriors are going to the Dark Continent. We have the princes all bringing fifteen bodyguards each, and then they too seem haxed with their nen beasts. Then we have the zodiacs along with Pariston and Ging. We also have Beyond Netero and his crew. It's obvious that what awaits in Dark Continent is far greater than the King of the ants and his army, hence why so many strong warriors are involved this time around, some of which are stronger than Netero if you follow logic and what was said in the manga. Lastly, regarding Gon going to the Dark Continent. I don't see why not. Killua is already strong enough to go in my opinion thanks to Kanmaru, he can pretty much evade most attacks launched at him and he's an assassin so he can deliver the killing blow. Gon I think just received a new idea for his next hatsu/ability from his transformation. We've seen many enhancers manipulate their body in various ways, examples are Youpi who can transform/shape-shift his body into various convenient shapes and sizes, and we have Hollow's (the owl chimera ant Gon fought) Gorilla Mode where his shifts/grows/tranforms his body into a much bigger, durable, strong, and more muscular form for combat. I don't think it's a coincidence that Gon fought Hollow and briefly encountered Youpi before he made that Gon-san tranformation. I think that if he can increase his aura reserve enough he can do something similar again (we've already seen two enhancers do it without a vow/restriction). It will require alot of aura though so he needs to train hard to build his aura reserve and do it, and even then, I don't think he'll be able to do it to the same extent, maybe he'll be able to turn himself into a muscular sixteen/eighteen year old at the expense of a great deal of aura and with a time limit. Special mention to non-enhancers/manipulators who can manipulate/shift their bodies (Neferpitou, Bisky). Netero also did something similar although a smaller scale (grew his muscles in a way that they sealed his wounds) and even Killua does it to turn his hands into claws. I apologise for the wall of text but my phone is screwed up that way, it doesn't use spacing on this website, anyway, I think Gon is set for his next power-up, I could be wrong though.