The 10 Most Powerful Versions of Thor, Ranked

Over nearly seven decades of Marvel Comics, the most powerful versions of Thor include doctors, nurses, architects, far-future kings, and even frogs. This power is almost always earth-shaking, with the most powerful being cosmic-scale tier characters, with the ability to kill gods and survive the end of the universe. It is important to remember that Thor is not only Thor Odinson. It is also a title and a mantle that rewards worthiness even more than bloodline, which is why so many different beings have held the title. While this does not include Beta Ray Bill, as he was given similar powers to Thor but was never actually Thor, it does include some very powerful heroes over the centuries.

From the original God of Thunder to several entries from Jason Aaron’s decade-long Thor saga (2012-2019), these characters show how powerful Thor could get.

10) Throg

At one time, Thor himself was turned into a frog. In Thor #364 (1986) by Walter Simonson, Loki turned Thor into a frog, where he befriended Puddlegulp, another frog who lived in Central Park. He helps Puddlegulp and the other frogs to survive an attack by Ratso and his rat horde. Thor still had his powers and might as a frog and helped save Puddlegulp and his allies, and then returned to his role as the God of Thunder. This is when Puddlegulp ended up as a version of Thor.

It turns out that Puddlegulp was a human turned into a frog. His real name is Simon Walterson, a former football player who ended up unhoused when he gained Thor’s power when he lifted a sliver of Mjolnir and was found worthy. Calling his new weapon Frogjolnir, he has the power to summon thunder and lightning like Thor, but on a scaled-down level. Throg is so powerful that he ended up working in the Pet Avengers (2009) with Lockjaw, where he helped them gather all six Infinity Gems and defeat Thanos.

9) Dargo Ktor

Dargo Ktor debuted in The Mighty Thor #384 (1987) by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz. He is the Thor from an alternate dystopian future (Earth-8710) where humanity is oppressed by the Corp. There was a group in the year 2587 called the Cult of the Hammer, who believed someone could lift Mjolnir, and while he doubted the legend, he was the one who ended up lifting Mjolnir and becoming worthy as the future Thor.

Dargo has all the main powers of Thor, including superhuman strength, durability, flight, and weather and lightning manipulation. His power levels were shown while he was also one of the members of the Thor Corps and fought alongside Beta Ray Bill to defeat Zarrko the Tomorrow Man, who was trying to collapse the entire multiverse into a single timeline. However, the actual Thor here is also one of the more tragic versions, as he was the last champion of Midgard, left for dead by Loki before he reclaimed the Thor mantle.

8) Eric Masterson

Eric Masterson was a new Thor in the 1980s when Odin found his son unworthy of the title. Masterson debuted in Thor #391 (1988) by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz. He was an architect and ordinary human who Odin sealed into Thor’s body in Thor #408 (1989) to save his life. He then became Thor on his own without the actual God of Thunder in his body in Thor #432 after the real Thor killed Loki and Odin banished him for the act.

As Thor, he wielded Mjolnir with the genuine power of the God of Thunder, and he was such a great replacement that he remained a hero when the original Thor returned. Odin gave him a mace, and he became Thunderstrike. Eric was the Thor who defended Earth during the Infinity Gauntlet event series, proving he was up to the battle of replacing the original Asgardian hero. He eventually died when he sacrificed his own life to stop a Skurge duplicate by destroying the Bloodaxe and his own mace to end their threat to the world. Eric’s son Kevin became the new Thunderstrike, but only Eric was a Thor.

7) Unworthy Thor

Unworthy Thor is Thor Odinson when he was unable to lift Mjolnir, which happened in “Original Sin” (2014) when Nick Fury whispered a secret in his ear. The era ran through The Unworthy Thor (2016–2017) by Jason Aaron and Olivier Coipel. The words that Fury whispered, and the ones that cost Thor his worthiness, were “Gorr was right,” which was Gorr’s overall belief that gods are unworthy of worship. This doubt made Thor unworthy.

However, stripped of Mjolnir, the Unworthy Thor had to fight as a “lesser” version of the hero. While he now lacked Mjolnir’s enchantment, he was still a god and had his Asgardian godhood and strength. Even without Mjolnir and its enchantment, he was still an A-list powered hero in Marvel, and he eventually reclaimed the war-axe Jarnbjorn, later a new hammer, and finally, the throne of Asgard. It was during this time that a new Thor arrived with Mjolnir, when Jane Foster replaced him in that role, and this Thor only became known as Odinson.

6) Ultimate Thor

Ultimate Thor made his debut in The Ultimates #4 (2002) by writer Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. The origin of this character remained ambiguous since the Ultimate Marvel world tried to make things a little less mythological and based more in reality. The books questioned whether he was a Norse god, an alien on the planet, or just a delusional eco-activist who used a high-tech belt and harness. Eventually, he was revealed to be the real Thor.

The Ultimate Thor possesses immense superhuman strength, stamina, and durability, large-scale weather and lightning control, and the ability to travel across space and dimensions. His weapon shifts between a hammer and an axe. His most powerful feat of strength in comics came in Ultimatum, where his hammer was stolen and used by Magneto to cause a near-apocalyptic attack on Earth-1610, underscoring that Ultimate Mjolnir was a world-ending-level weapon. The big difference with this Thor is that he is more of an environmentalist, which always clashed with his teammates’ more militaristic personalities.

5) Mighty Thor (Jane Foster)

When Thor lost his worthiness in “Original Sin,” and he lost the ability to wield Mjolnir, someone else picked up the hammer and took his place as the new Mighty Thor. This was played out as a mystery, with the new hero’s identity kept a secret for a long time. The Mighty Thor debuted in shadows at the end of Thor: God of Thunder #25 (2014) by Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman, and then in full in Thor Vol. 4 #1 (2014). Her identity was finally revealed as Jane Foster in Thor #8 (2015).

This was a tragic tale since Jane, who was a long-time Thor supporting character and love interest, was battling breast cancer. When Jane lifted Thor’s hammer, she gained all his powers, but it also purged her body of all her chemotherapy, which meant every time she acted as Thor, she was closer to death when she reverted to Jane. She proved her power fighting powerhouses like Mangog, Malekith, the Frost Giants, the Shi’ar gods, and even Odin himself. She eventually sacrificed herself but was resurrected as a Valkyrie.

4) Thor Odinson

Thor Odinson is the real Thor, and the hero who debuted in Marvel Comics in Journey Into Mystery #83 (1962) by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby. He was based on the real Norse god, and all the Asgardians ended up being pulled into Marvel Comics from the Norse myths. In the start, he wasn’t as powerful as he would later become, as Odin forced him to share the body with a human named Donald Blake, someone who was later shown to be a man that Odin created who hadn’t existed before.

However, over time, Thor powered up and eventually didn’t need Donald Blake anymore. His powers include godlike strength and durability, near-invulnerability and immunity to disease, poison, and radiation, control of weather, thunder, and lightning, dimensional travel, and the God Blast, which can kill even immortals. He has achieved tasks that prove he is one of Marvel Comics’ most powerful heroes, and when Thor destroyed Iron Man in a fight following the events of “Civil War,” he admitted he was always holding back before.

3) The Herald of Thunder

In Thor Vol. 6 #1 (2020) by Donny Cates and Nic Klein, Galactus gave Thor the Power Cosmic to help him since he was being hunted by an ancient being known as the Black Winter. Galactus arrived in Asgard and claimed Thor was the only one prophesied to destroy the Black Winter, and he forced Thor into this role. This rejuvenated Thor, burning off his beard, turning his hair platinum again, and restoring his original appearance. It also supercharged his powers.

Thor led Galactus to five planets to feed on, and then he channeled that world-eating energy into both himself and Galactus to fight the Black Winter, which was a universal-level power feat. However, this Thor did something that no other version of the God of Thunder came close to. He drained Galactus of all his power, killing the Eater of Worlds, and then used Galactus’s dead body as a bomb to destroy the Black Winter and save all of existence. This powered up Thor and turned him into the new All-Father and King of Asgard.

2) Old King Thor

Old King Thor is the far-future All-Father version, debuting in Thor: God of Thunder #1 (2013) by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic. His saga concluded in the King Thor (2019) miniseries. This Thor is a gray-bearded, one-armed, one-eyed ruler of a dying universe and a desolate, near-empty Midgard billions of years in the future. However, despite his appearance and his weariness, this is also the most powerful Thor has ever grown through age and accumulated Odinforce.

This version of Thor was the last of the gods and was one of the only beings there to protect Earth when Galactus arrived. He and Galactus fought on a level playing ground, and the two delivered blows that injured each other. This Thor ended up using All-Black the Necrosword to end the fight, and then he was powerful enough to revive the dead Earth. He also spared Galactus and sent him off with the Necrosword to become the Butcher of Worlds.

1) Rune King Thor

Rune King Thor is the most powerful version of Thor ever to exist. He debuted during the “Avengers Disassembled” Thor arc (Thor Vol. 2 #80–85, 2004) by Michael Avon Oeming, Daniel Berman, and Andrea DiVito. His goal here was to break the cycle of Ragnarok. To gain his father’s omniscience and ultimate power, Thor made staggering sacrifices. He dropped both his eyes into the Well of Mimir for total knowledge, then hanged himself on Yggdrasil (sacrificing his life), gaining mastery of the Runes. This was a magic Thor himself later admitted is superior even to the Odinforce.

Rune King Thor combined the full Odinforce with Rune magic, granting space-time manipulation, immortality, near-omnipresence, and reality-altering power. Thor destroyed the Loom of the Fates, permanently severing Those Who Sit Above in Shadow from feeding on Asgard’s endless death-and-rebirth cycle. This finally ended Ragnarok forever. When he succeeded, he entered the gods’ slumber. This is the only version of Thor that powered up enough to rank alongside the Living Tribunal as a top cosmic abstract being.

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