• Thor vs. Superman

  

  Written by Zeromage 2,308 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.

2,308 Comments

1. #1 ShadowHunter says:
   March 17th, 2010 at 12:09 am

   Your link isn’t even working. By the way, that debate is pretty much dead since we are arguying on the Top 10 of the most powerfull superheroes. Head there.
2. #2 Reporter says:
   March 17th, 2010 at 12:12 am

   @Alberto

   http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo326/OneDumbG0/Thor%20Mjolnir/ThorMjolnir75-TimeFreeze199.jpg

   Thor’s time freeze prevented Hela from claiming Odin(this could be the effect of the true Time Dislocation Reed Richards mentioned in Avengers#300).
3. #3 ALBERTO says:
   March 17th, 2010 at 1:07 am

   @Reporter

   With evidence with solid base no one can arguee and if you arguee against solid eveidence, It makes you a fanboy.

   Agreed then The time dislocation that happened in Avengers #300 is clear evidence that Thor still posses some degree of chronal manipulation.

   However Journey into mystery #111 hapenned before the immortus incident in Thor #282. there is also another showing like this one in which Thor creates a chronal barrier arround spiderman and him in marvel team up vol 1 #7 I think.

   This two incidents of marvel team up and journey into mystery happened BEFORE Thor #282.

   The only evidence after the removal of time travel by immortus, came in Avengers #300, Like I said before, it is not clear if THOR can use this stasis vortex during combat (I actually believe He can’t, because He did not did it during the actual combat against the demons) as shown in the Issue the feat came AFTER the enemy was defeated and not during actual combat.
   It is also not clear if He STOPS or SLOWS time, and also what is the Radious of the effect.

   However I will not arguee that Thor has some sort of chronal manipulation. Fact
4. #4 joe says:
   March 17th, 2010 at 11:42 pm

   you suck
   superman would win
   i hate it when people say “it would be like you or me getting pounded by a regular hammer” like that is just the way it is and its a fact, it might be your opinion, but there is plenty of reason to think other wise
   for example
   the hulk-he is not invulnerable to magic, therefore he is vulnerable to magic, him getting hit with thor s hammer isnt like you or me getting beaten with a hammer-because he is very tough

   other things, i think the speed you really got to acknowledge how fast superman is, of course he is never written as using this effectively, so it seems fair enough to ignore it, but really he should pwn with his superspeed

   yes thor has experience, but to say oh thousands of years, like it is such a big advantage, he certainly has had plenty of trouble with people who have only been around for 30 years or whatever

   as for who can take more punishment, this has got to be supes, for however long he was just considered invulnerable period end of story (cept kryptonite) ok fine since doomsday we see that not invulnerable, but still thor has never been portrayed as being as unhurtable as superman

   strenght-again, goes to superman, yes they are in the same ball park, but superman has the edge

   also he can fly
   thor can with hammer but it s not the same, maneuverability

   so it would be a slugfest, but superman should win, probably lands like 3 to 1 hits to thor and those hits would do slightly more damage than thor’s, figures to stay clear of the hammer after the first few shots
   lightning no hurt supes
5. #5 Ernest Manigo, Jr. says:
   March 17th, 2010 at 2:19 am

   Superman is the most powerful super hero in comics. He would win 8 or 9 times out 10 times against Thor. Thor is a better match up against Captain Marvel
6. #6 JiAM says:
   March 17th, 2010 at 6:55 pm

   Superman…is corny…

   I thought the babyboomers and lil kids only liked superman?…

   O well…I rule!