• Thor vs. Superman

  

  Written by Zeromage 2,311 Comments
  Last Updated:: July 15, 2008

  The Mighty Thor and Superman are the heavy-hitters of Marvel and DC respectively, each of them arguably the most powerful hero in their respective universes. So its natural that this is without question the most discussed versus debate amongst comic book fans. No other versus battle comes close to being talked about as much than this one.  Try to start a “Superman vs Thor” thread on any forum and the first response is sure to be: “Not this again”.

  Some of you may remember our “Top 10 Most Powerful Superheroes” list that we released a while back, where we made the controversial claim that Thor was the most powerful superhero of all time (Superman coming in at number three on that list). Months later we are still receiving emails either agreeing with us, or flaming us for that decision. Many fans cite Superman’s speed as the deciding factor in any fight between the two behemoths. Other emails claim that Thor’s magical powers would be enough to stop the man of steel in his tracks. So, the natural question is, do we still stand by our claim that Thor is more powerful than Superman? The answer is still “yes.” In this article we’ll break down the seven most common arguments and give you our take on them.

  1. Super Strength

  The claim has often been made that Superman is stronger than Thor. Many times on versus forums threads this claim is accepted as a given by both sides of the debate. We don’t concede that the Man of Steel is physically stronger than the god of thunder though. Thor has performed feats such as lifting the World Serpent, and once hurled the Odinsword, an enormous mystical blade, through a Celestial!  Thor has also single-handedly matched the strength of the Hulk on numerous occasions (the Marvel Universe’s strongest character). Not only that but Thor is capable of entering into a state known as the “Warrior’s Madness”, which will temporarily increase his strength tenfold. Some of these feats have no true equivalent in the DC universe. We think at the very least, the two character’s physical strength is equal.

  2 . Super Speed

  This is Superman’s one true advantage in this fight. Superman is fast. We’re talking warp speed fast. We’re talking once around the entire planet and back before you can blink fast. You could easily make the argument that Thor would be lucky if he even saw Superman before he got pounded. But is Thor as slow as everyone seems to think? Unknown to many DC fanboys Thor can throw his hammer at the speed of light (See Thor#140, Thor#274). He can also swing it at TWICE the speed of light (Journey Into Mystery#102). In Thor -#393- it’s established that the speed of Thor’s hammer TRANSCENDS both TIME & SPACE. In addition Thor can appear anywhere across the Universe or other dimensions in just seconds (see- FF#339, and Thor#166). And, most importantly, Thor could, visually, detect objects that move at fantastic speeds (this happened when Thor was the target of artillery fire- see Invaders#33- and Avengers-#281- when he saw the speedy Hermes. And yes, I do need a life). Now if we accept that Superman can move at 99% of the speed of light, and that Thor can swing his hammer at twice the speed of light, it stands to reason that big blue is in some trouble.  It’s true that Thor doesn’t use his super speed abilities often, but how many times have you seen Superman not use his super speed when he should have?

  3. Stanima

  Who can take more punishment, Thor or Superman? This is a difficult question. Thor has withstood a blast from Asgardian Destroyer. Superman has withstood a direct hit from a nuclear bomb. Thor has taken everything the Hulk could dish out. Thor also once took a glancing hit by a Doomsday Bomb that was capable of destroying an entire planet, and soon after that explosion he fell from space (leaving a crater miles wide) to a planet called Pangoria-see Thor#387. Thor has also taken everything that Gladiator (an arguably more powerful version of Superman) could dish out.  Both characters have come back from the dead a couple of times. In my mind this one is a draw. Both characters have approximately the same stanima. The difference is Superman has weaknesses (i.e. Kryptonite, Magic, and the fact he is powerless without yellow sunlight) whereas Thor pretty much doesn’t.

  4. Magic

  Even the most diehard Superman fan would concede that Thor’s magical abilities would be an advantage for Thor. First, I would like to note that just because an opponent can wield magic, it in no way guarantees a win over the last son of Krypton. Superman has defeated countless magic users in the past, and so I have no illusions that just because Thor has magic powers and a magic hammer that he would automatically own Superman. That being said magic is just as lethal against Supes as kryptonite. Superman has no defense against it, and it can affect him greatly. Superman getting pounded by Mjolnir is the same as you and me getting pounded by a normal hammer. And consider the guy who’s swinging it. It’s Thor. The god of thunder. Not only that, but Thor’s lightning is magical too. Remember that just a single lightning bolt is equivalent to 15,000,000 volts of electricity and could travel over 224,000 miles an hour. The clear advantage here goes to Thor.

  5. Super Powers

  Before Thor inherited the Odinforce, the super powers of these two heroes were a little more even. Now there is absolutely no contest. Thor has a clear edge over Superman here. His magical hammer gives Thor the ability to control the weather, the ability to fly; energy projection and absorption; dimensional apertures; matter manipulation, as well as the most powerful of his offensive powers: the God Blast, and the Anti-Force. Superman is no push over in this department either, with the already mentioned super strength, super speed, as well as heat vision, x-ray vision, enhanced senses, and the ability to blow hurricane force winds from his mouth. But what is that compared to being able to summon an actual hurricane? Not only that but with the Odinforce Thor was then capable of feats such as reconstructing the Earth’s Moon, willing the Asgardian monster Mangog into nothingness, and by focusing his entire power into a hammer throw that even decapitated a Desak-occupied Asgardian Destroyer. Having accepted his heritage as the son of the earth goddess Gaea, he has recently been shown to be capable of opening chasms in the earth itself, and who knows what other abilities he’ll be displaying now that he’s done that.

  6. Superman beat Thor in the Avengers / DC Crossover

  I don’t want to spend much time on this one. Most fans of comics know how much weight we should give to crossovers.  Besides, I personally have no doubt that Superman would beat Galactus in a crossover. He’s DC’s flagship character after all. Enough said on that one.

  7. Thor has Thousands of Years of Combat Experience

  This is a common argument used by Thor fans to claim that Thor would take down Superman. It seems fairly obvious. If I somehow gained super powers and a Viking Warrior somehow gained the exact same or nearly equivalent powers, most people would put their money on the Viking if we fought each other. Now imagine the Viking warrior was thousands of years older than me, and had been using his powers for all those thousands of years to battle trolls, giants, demons, robots, aliens, and gods, and I have only been using my powers for 20-30 years. It seems clear to me that the Viking Warrior god has a clear cut advantage over me in a fight. Again advantage Thor.

  It seems obvious to me that Thor has a clear advantage over Superman in a fight. I don’t think that Thor is so powerful that there is no way that Superman could ever defeat him. But I believe that the majority of the time Thor would beat Superman in a one on one fight, assuming its not a fight to the death. If it is a fight to the death, then I think Thor would almost invariably win. So there you have it, the definitive answer to one of the most talked about and controversial debates in comic book nerdom. Brought to you by your pals at Old-Wizard.com.

  Discuss Thor vs Superman in our forums.

2,311 Comments

1. #1 ShadowHunter says:
   February 9th, 2010 at 7:57 am

   Same here. The difference is that we are open to suggestions and informations. Real fanboys are not open minded. They don’t even care about anything even if their favourite Superhero got his ass kicked by someone like Hawkeye of Green Arrow… lol.
2. #2 ShadowHunter says:
   February 9th, 2010 at 7:58 am

   For every Hulk fans, Green Arrow > Any version of Hulk.

   How? Phantom Arrow. An arrow that send anyone in the Phantom Zone. The only one who escaped was Superboy Prime and WWH is FARRRRRR Away from SBP strenght level, lol!
3. #3 Paul says:
   February 9th, 2010 at 7:40 pm

   Is this a joke? With the Odin Force Thor willed the Moon back together!!! He tore open the crust the Earth with a thought. He recreated Asgard from thin air! He resurrected gods from the dead. He defeated the Asgardian destroyer (while it was inhabited not just by a single human but by all the gods of Asgard at once!!!) (Keep in mind when its inhabited by a mortal man it whooped classic Thor and the Hulk!). Odin himself has wiped out ENITRE GALAXIES!!! Thor is more powerful than Odin too. And Odin created Thor’s hammer, and Beta Ray Bill’s. He swatted the Silver Surfer like he was a bug. He stripped Thor of all his powers with the wave of a hand. He stood against Eternity and there battle destroyed galaxies and sent ripples across the entire multiverse. Odin has been stated ON PANEL to be the most powerful of the skyfathers. Stan Lee called him a meta-skyfather. And OF Thor was stated on panel to be more powerful than Odin. That’s not even taking into account Thor’s mastery of the RUNES. If Odin with no Runes destroys galaxies, what does OF Thor do with Runes? Superman can stand up to Thor? Don’t make me laugh.
4. #4 hobanho says:
   February 9th, 2010 at 9:00 pm

   well i think point 6 really sums it all up, superman already beat thor, with the fate of two universes “kinda” hanging in the balance. and i’m not really a huge hulk fan, but i only ever remember a couple good fights with him and thor. hulk smokes thor on a regular basis. that hulk vs thor movie was literally hard to watch, he blasted thor that badly. so if hulk does that to thor, superman would also… just quicker.
5. #5 ShadowHunter says:
   February 9th, 2010 at 11:33 pm

   Paul : We’re talking about Classic Thor. Wanna use Rune King Thor? I’ll take Gold Superman Prime. Gold Superman Prime beat Rune King Thor anytime. Why? Million years old, learned powers from EVERYWHERE in EVERY Universes, the Sun gave him INCREDIBLE powers and he got the last GL Ring. How is the ring usefull? The Green Lantern rings are limited by the will of their users. Supermans will is infinite. That close the debate.
6. #6 alberto says:
   February 9th, 2010 at 12:15 am

   I love how people assume OF THOR is more powerful than Odin. Odin was a MASTER of the Odin Force, Thor did no have enough time to master the OF.

   Yes Thor is stronger than Odin, but Odin was master of the ODIN FORCE. So stop saying that OF Thor is more powerful than ODIN, because it has never been stated at a canon comic (at least I have not seen it)

   Odin will own any day OF Thor, because Thor is an Odin Force Rookie, Odin is not, Odin is an ODIN FORCE MASTER.
7. #7 Ken says:
   February 9th, 2010 at 7:16 am

   They already fought. Superman won. End of story. You can’t just glance over that fact. I admit that I don’t know much about Thor, but I do know that when everything is on the line Superman cannot lose. His will is too strong. How many times does he have to prove it?

   Superman cannot lose and so by definition Thor cannot win.