Why is Thor considered so powerful?

[Horrorfan]

I was thinking about this and for a god, he seems....I don't know...underwhelming.

I love the Ultimate version, not too familiar with the 616 version....
But I remember quite a lot of people saying Hercules would downright spank him in a straight up fist fight....that doesn't make him sound super powerful to me. and what kind of God needs some kind of suit to pick up a hammer?

The most impressive thing I have seen any thor do is in the ultimate comics, where he went to to toe with hulk for a little while at least, and a what if comic where he snapped Hulk's neck with minimal effort.

So he's kinda cool, but he's not as powerful as a god should be, imo....

 

[Harlekin]

I was thinking about this and for a god, he seems....I don't know...underwhelming.

I love the Ultimate version, not too familiar with the 616 version....
But I remember quite a lot of people saying Hercules would downright spank him in a straight up fist fight....that doesn't make him sound super powerful to me. and what kind of God needs some kind of suit to pick up a hammer?

The most impressive thing I have seen any thor do is in the ultimate comics, where he went to to toe with hulk for a little while at least, and a what if comic where he snapped Hulk's neck with minimal effort.

So he's kinda cool, but he's not as powerful as a god should be, imo....

Hercules is one of the strongest characters of Marvel, and Thor doesn't need a suit to carry his hammer. Have you even read the 616 comics?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_(comics)
Educate yourself first.

 

[PhotoJones]

I was thinking about this and for a god, he seems....I don't know...underwhelming.

I love the Ultimate version, not too familiar with the 616 version....
But I remember quite a lot of people saying Hercules would downright spank him in a straight up fist fight....that doesn't make him sound super powerful to me. and what kind of God needs some kind of suit to pick up a hammer?

The most impressive thing I have seen any thor do is in the ultimate comics, where he went to to toe with hulk for a little while at least, and a what if comic where he snapped Hulk's neck with minimal effort.

So he's kinda cool, but he's not as powerful as a god should be, imo....

first of all, thor does not need a "suit" to pick up his hammer. anyone can pick up thor's hammer...so long as they're worthy.
secondly, yes, herc probably would spank thor in a fistfight. he's stronger. thor's more powerful. he can call down a storm of lightning. that's not a fistfight. get it?

 

[Horrorfan]

Hercules is one of the strongest characters of Marvel, and Thor doesn't need a suit to carry his hammer. Have you even read the 616 comics?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_%28comics%29
Educate yourself first.

Thor The Norse God does.....and the Ultimate version seems to be closer (plus dresses cooler too).

But Hercules (AFAIK) isn't anywhere near Hulk like strength, and he was an accident, not a god.....and Thor snapped Hulk's neck, which makes me believe he must be on at least the same kinda level...

 

[Harlekin]

Thor The Norse God does.....and the Ultimate version seems to be closer (plus dresses cooler too).

But Hercules (AFAIK) isn't anywhere near Hulk like strength, and he was an accident, not a god.....and Thor snapped Hulk's neck, which makes me believe he must be on at least the same kinda level...

Thor the Norse God also has red hair. They are not the same character, just like the Ultimate version and the Norse God aren't the same.

Hercules is a god, and has class 100 strength, just like the Hulk and Thor. Seriously, read the article. You are really underestimating Thor's power, although you've apparently read nothing with him in it.

 

[PhotoJones]

Thor The Norse God does.....and the Ultimate version seems to be closer (plus dresses cooler too).

But Hercules (AFAIK) isn't anywhere near Hulk like strength, and he was an accident, not a god.....and Thor snapped Hulk's neck, which makes me believe he must be on at least the same kinda level...

hulk's strength is up for debate for several reasons:

1. depends on which hulk you're talking about (savage hulk, smart hulk, etc.)
2. ever heard the phrase "the madder hulk gets, the stronger hulk gets"?

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Thor The Norse God does.....and the Ultimate version seems to be closer (plus dresses cooler too).

But Hercules (AFAIK) isn't anywhere near Hulk like strength, and he was an accident, not a god.....and Thor snapped Hulk's neck, which makes me believe he must be on at least the same kinda level...

The Thor neck-snapping incident was a What If? tale.

Normal continuity Hulk has had his neck snapped on at least two occasions (off the top of my head), and that hasn't killed him.

 

[Genesis 1.0]

Getting out muscled by Herc is hardly anything to qualify a character as 'not so impressive'. That's like going to the DC side of things and saying, 'well HE was overpowered by Superman, guess he's not so impressive.'

 

[Horrorfan]

Fair enough, I didn't know that much about the 616 powers. But he doesn't seem to be that powerful for a God. Also I thought Hercules, though a son of a God, was just a super strong human, not like Thor who is the God of Thunder.

So basically, would Thor be able to stand up to Hulk and Superman? I have always wondered that....If Sentry could, I figure Thor could too, being a God and al.

But I do admit having read very little of the 616 Thor, I probably have underestimated his powers.

What about King Thor?

And I count the what if comics because they aren't 616 but they are a marvel universe, just not the regular one.

 

[Kurosawa]

All of Marvel's class 100 characters are roughly equals in terms of strength. What seperates them is stuff like Hulk's rage, Hercules slyness, etc. In the case of Thor, he's a much more skilled fighter than the other Marvel strongmen, similar to the thing. but Thor has trained and fought in hundreds of thousands of battles over thousands of years. His skill and experience are pretty tough to match.

Plus his various energy manipulation powers/teleportstion powers, etc, that he generates with the hammer (and can generate some of them without it) are pretty potent. And he has complete control of the weather. Although characters like Sentry and Hyperion are direct rip-offs of Superman, Thor has always been seen as Marvel's counterpart to Superman-similar but not exactly the same and not a rip-off.

Ultimate Thor is nothing compared to Earth 616 Thor.

Thor and Hulk were always portrayed as being equals in the classic Marvel Universe, until comic book fight scenes became popularity contests. Written correctly, their fights come to a stalemate.

King Thor is signifantly more powerful than regular Thor.

 

[Genesis 1.0]

1.) Thor is NOT a Superman rip off, that Norse myth was around waaaaay before comics were even a concept. The powers he's been given fit that myth to a T, so no dice.

As for the rest, Thor's abilities put him on a level much higher than Hercules, they're only comprable in strength, other than that Thor is way over his head. King Thor? Heh, man's as high as Pre Crisis Supes is over Post Crisis.

 

[wobbly]

Thor and Hulk were always portrayed as being equals in the classic Marvel Universe, until comic book fight scenes became popularity contests. Written correctly, their fights come to a stalemate.

That's one thing I've wondered about a little down the years: Even very early on Thor & the Hulk were considered roughly equal in strengh, with the Thing & Namor a little ways behind. But both the Hulk & Thing have had their strength boosted vastly from those early days, explained in continuity as an evolution of their transformations (ie, Rocky plated Thing can wipe the floor with his earlier lumpy self) but afaik Thor & Namor have never received power-ups themselves to keep up? If not how the hell can they even last five seconds against the thing, let alone the Hulk?

If they have never explained this I guess the likes of Thor & Namor having their strengths similarly increased is just one of those things we fans should take for granted.

 

[Kurosawa]

Characters like Hulk and Thing got power upgrades because they were popular and in the mid-80's Marvel began to make their fights less a matter of what characters were established as being able to do and more just a stupid popularity contest.

And Thor did get a major power upgrade with the King Thor storyline. Although to be honest, if he recieved Odin's full power in addition to his own, then he'd be more in the Galactus/Mephisto class. Under Kirby, Odin was Galactus equal and was more powerful than Mephisto. Later writers retconed away this power level for the same "popularity contest" reasons I stated before.

 

[GNR]

Whoever called Thor a Superman rip-off is just stupid.Really.

 

[TheSumOfGod]

Yeah. Thor is clearly a Green Lantern rip-off. Power ring, magical hammer, same thing.

 

[wobbly]

Characters like Hulk and Thing got power upgrades because they were popular and in the mid-80's Marvel began to make their fights less a matter of what characters were established as being able to do and more just a stupid popularity contest.

And Thor did get a major power upgrade with the King Thor storyline. Although to be honest, if he recieved Odin's full power in addition to his own, then he'd be more in the Galactus/Mephisto class. Under Kirby, Odin was Galactus equal and was more powerful than Mephisto. Later writers retconed away this power level for the same "popularity contest" reasons I stated before.

If the Hulk & Things strengths' were boosted due to popularity issues I don't follow how that then accounts for Thor having been given an unexplained power-up to keep up? (I know about King Thor but he was still able to go toe to toe against a class 100 savage Green Hulk, without his belt of strength or Gauntlets even before that).

And afaik the Hulk & Thor have never had a fight finish with a clear winner (unless you count 'What-Ifs' & the future King Thor's killing him) so that much at least has stayed consistent regardless of whoever is the more popular (the Thing finally did get to deck the Gray Hulk a while back, but that was his pineapple boosted self).

 

[PhotoJones]

i think the point here is that hulk and thor and hercules are all very powerful characters. does it matter who could beat whom on a given day?

 

[Ultimate Doom]

Thor is a god, thats why he is so powerful.

 

[Horrorfan]

What was the what if tale where King Thor killed Hulk?


Also the guy never called Thor a superman rip off- he said he was like Marvel's closest comparison to Supes, not a rip off in any way, shape or form, just in that superman has godlike powers and thor is, well, a god (why is why I maintain he could beat supes).

Another guy I have read NOTHING about is Namor.....I don't get why he's so powerful, but I guess that's just my predjudice since I can't take him too seriously for some reason. Has he ever been beaten/killed (in what ifs as well?). I read a Ult. FF4 Arc where he owned most of the heroes.

 

[wobbly]

What was the what if tale where King Thor killed Hulk?

Also the guy never called Thor a superman rip off- he said he was like Marvel's closest comparison to Supes, not a rip off in any way, shape or form, just in that superman has godlike powers and thor is, well, a god (why is why I maintain he could beat supes).

Another guy I have read NOTHING about is Namor.....I don't get why he's so powerful, but I guess that's just my predjudice since I can't take him too seriously for some reason. Has he ever been beaten/killed (in what ifs as well?). I read a Ult. FF4 Arc where he owned most of the heroes.

Thor has killed the Hulk twice afaik; once in "What if the Hulk went beserk?" (snapped his neck) and again in his own title when they jumped into the nearish future of King Thor's reign and he was shown after a unseen battle standing over the (presumably) dead bodies of the Thing & The Hulk (the Hulk looked to have been impaled by a big tree I think). Should also note another story implied the Hulk had returned the favor in another possible timeline (Future Imperfect). But as far as current continuity goes I think it still stands that the two could go at each other pretty much indefinitely.

 

[Steve_Rogers]

They've hinted he will return in Civil War (We know his hammer does). What I want to know is how powerful he'll be if he does.

 

[PhotoJones]

They've hinted he will return in Civil War (We know his hammer does). What I want to know is how powerful he'll be if he does.

i'm sure there'll be a fanboy induced fight between thor and the sentry somewhere in there.

 

[32CAGE]

Thor is a god, thats why he is so powerful.

Agreed--------------

 

[Vanguard07]

Namor's not hard to figure out in terms of why he's powerful. His people live at the bottom of the ocean. Being able to survive that water pressure alone, much less being able to move around, you'd have to be incredibly invulnerable and strong. and Namor's people live on ocean bottom as easilly as we do on the surface. That'd have to put him in the hundred range.
I never understood the wings on his feet though.

And btw I dont believe that Herc'd take thor in a fistfight. They're even in strength (they armwrestled on the top of a mountain once and the mountain exploded) and skill and experience. Thor's a full god while Herc's only half god so i'm inclined to believe he'd wear Herc out or something

 

[Guyverjay]

Depending at what point you take Herc, he's fully immortal just like any other olympian. He invented wrestling and is a damn expert hand to hand, I'd say Herc takes it in a fist fight.