DC’s Thor Replacement Has Always Been More Interesting Than Marvel’s Original

Superheroes and comic books are often regarded as modern mythology because they tell tall tales of fantastical heroes battling the forces of evil. When people think of mythology and comics, their first thought is almost always of Marvel Comics’ Thor, derived from the Norse God of Thunder. With his mighty hammer, Mjolnir, and his stories that combine science fiction and fantasy, Thor has become one of the most popular superheroes of all time. However, DC Comics has its own superhero and warrior of divine origin – the far more compelling Orion, who challenges what it truly means to be a god.

Both superhero gods were created in part by the same person, the legendary comic book writer and artist, Jack Kirby. At Marvel, Kirby worked alongside Stan Lee to develop Thor, who made his first appearance in 1962. Eventually, Kirby left Marvel for DC in 1971 to gain more creative freedom. Kirby’s biggest projects were Fourth World and the New Gods—an original pantheon of deities divided between those ruled by the benevolent Highfather on the planet New Genesis and those governed by the cruel Darkseid on the twin planet Apokolips. One of the most important characters of Fourth World, and the one who was meant to be DC’s equivalent to Marvel’s Thor, is Orion, the New God of War and son of Darkseid.

Orion may not get a lot of attention nowadays, but he is arguably one of DC’s most underrated characters and, from a moral and psychological perspective, a far more interesting hero than Thor has ever been. While Thor is inherently a noble and powerful hero, Orion’s struggle between good and evil makes his heroism a conscious choice, not a birthright.

Orion is a War God Who Resists His Nature

Both Orion and Thor are deities who live for battle. They are both capable of incredible feats of strength, each able to demolish entire hordes of enemies while entering a berserker rage. However, where Orion and Thor differ is in the nature of the challenges they face as superheroes. Thor is the prototypical storm god: violent, arrogant, and brash. His story has always been one about learning humility and becoming worthy of being both a hero and the next in line for Asgard’s throne. Orion, in contrast, is a far more damaged and nuanced figure who represents how nurture can override nature.

Orion is the son of Darkseid, who is the embodiment of evil and the big bad of DC Comics. As part of an uneasy peace treaty, Highfather and Darkseid switched sons. Unlike Darkseid’s other children, including Kalibak and Grail, who freely indulge in their savage urges, Orion’s upbringing led him to become New Genesis’s strongest protector. Yet, even though Orion was raised in a peaceful utopia by a loving family, he struggles to fight against the savage instincts he inherited from his ruthless father. This fundamental contradiction between his nature and his aspirations, as well as his determination not to be like Darkseid, fills Orion with deep self-hatred and dread of what he might become. To cope, he pours his energy into channeling his warlike tendencies into something good —a God of Just War.

While most gods are fully committed to their assigned roles and destinies, Orion actively resists his nature and potential future. He lives in continual fear that he is doomed to become just like Darkseid. He knows that, when sufficiently angered, he can enter a blind rage that threatens his friends. Additionally, his face resembles that of Darkseid, and he hides it out of shame. Consequently, Orion seeks balance between his innate savage nature and his desire to protect New Genesis and the DC Multiverse from Darkseid. While Thor, whose primary struggle is his own arrogance, revels in his duties as a God of Thunder and flaunts his heroics, Orion sees his role as a God of Just War as a burden and a reminder of the cruel lineage that he must overcome.

Orion and the New Gods are More Worthy of Their Status as Gods

Orion and Thor hold the position of gods in their respective worlds, with Orion a New God and Thor an Asgardian. However, Orion and the New Gods are far more important to the cosmology of their universe than Thor is to the Marvel multiverse and represent a far more nuanced and compelling concept of what a god can be and the level of impact they can have on the world.

There have always been contradictory depictions of Thor and the Asgardians, with some writers portraying them as living archetypes, more akin to the New Gods or like Norse mythology come to life, while others portray them as merely magical aliens, essentially as spacefaring Vikings. In contrast, the New Gods, consistently portrayed as entities from a higher dimension, incomprehensible forces of nature, whose actions directly impact the fundamental laws of reality. In short, Orion plays a much more significant role in the preservation of the multiverse than Thor does.

Orion’s status and essential role among the New Gods are best exemplified during Final Crisis when Darkseid’s forces successfully murder Orion. With Orion’s death, Apokolips begins to win the war against New Genesis, which causes the entire DC Multiverse to fall into disarray. The villains start beating and killing heroes. Without Orion to fight against Apokolips, Darkseid would have ultimately taken over all of creation, if not for the intervention of Superman.

In Reflecting Humanity’s Struggles, Orion Rises Above Thor

Orion and the New Gods are a fascinating deconstruction of what gods truly are: living ideas and omnipotent beings that shape the universe’s natural order. The Orion we see in the comics is, just like all the other New Gods, merely an avatar, containing only a fraction of the true Orion’s power, which resides in the higher levels of Fourth World as the essence of war itself. It’s this sense of overwhelming and incomprehensible power and influence of the gods that Marvel’s Thor rarely explores. The war between New Genesis and Apokolips represents the eternal struggle between good and evil, with Orion embodying the crossroads between the two and the choice every mortal must make as to which path to follow.

While Orion’s heritage means that the potential for evil will always exist within him, the love from his friends and family helps motivate him to resist his primal urges. Moreover, beyond simply battling the darkness within himself, Orion channels it into a force for good and emerging as the most powerful defender of New Genesis. As a result of the inner struggles we witness in Orion, his story ultimately shows that one’s identity is not defined by their bloodline, but by the family and influences that guide their development and the values they choose. By leaving Marvel, Jack Kirby was given the freedom to create a far more compelling, multilayered god who represents humanity’s eternal struggle between good and evil and its drive to be better.

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