Thor vs. Zeus redefined Thor’s place in Marvel’s hierarchy of gods

Summary

• When the great battle between Thor and Zeus begins, Thor averts the Sky Father’s lightning with a single word.
• According to Thanos’ hierarchy of gods, Thor’s ascension to the level of Zeus puts him on the same level as Galactus and the Celestials.
• Thor has what it takes to defeat Zeus. Having become the Allfather, his powers are now nearly limitless, limited only by his ability to act in harmony with nature.

The Mighty Thor has long been one of the Avengers’ most powerful heroes, but his battle with Zeus proves that he has reached a whole new level of godhood. In current Marvel history, the hierarchy of Marvel gods is in upheaval. The cosmic wheel has turned and led to new transformations of the gods and the return of the Utgard gods – a higher plane of divine beings who act as primordial archetypes for the gods of several different pantheons. Thor battles these emerging forces, leading to a confrontation with the leader of the ancient Greek pantheon, Zeus Panhellenios.

In a preview of Immortal Thor #14Thor begins his fight against Zeus, who has recently been reborn in a dark new conqueror form. While the Sky Father of Olympus hurls a lightning bolt at Thor, Asgard’s God of Thunder is able to avert it with a word. This moment shows that Thor is now able to surpass the leader of Olympuswho exists at the same level of power as Odin and Galactus (at least according to Thanos).

Thor recently became the Allfather of Asgard, officially unleashing the omnipotence previously known as the Odin Force. This is the raw power of a creator god and clearly puts Thor on the same level as Zeus.who previously had absolute control over the weather. However, Thor’s recent adventures suggest that he has gone even further and is now even more powerful than this reincarnated version of Zeus.

In the MCU, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor was able to defeat Russell Crowe’s Zeus by impaling him with his own thunderbolt. In the comics, Zeus is a far more imposing figure and has traditionally been far above Thor’s level.

The image of Zeus hurling a lightning bolt but then “deciding” to obey Thor is an important symbol of how and why Thor is so powerful today.

Allfather Thor stands at eye level with Zeus

Thor’s Odin level upgrade allows him to deflect Zeus’ lightning with a word

Earlier in the series, Thor explained that his power over lightning is not based on an ability to “control” the weather. Instead, he is tied into the cosmic order and has a unique relationship – almost friendship – with the natural world. This is part of his job as a storm god, but also an effect of his role as part of the Elder God as the biological son of Gaea. Thor generally portrays this as a relationship – the storm chooses to do what he asks – however It is also clear that omnipotence requires him to act in cosmic sympathy with the forces of natureThe more in tune with his environment Thor is, the more his power exceeds that of all others.

Gaea is the embodiment of Earth in Marvel lore, and recently warned Thor that she wants to wipe out humanity because of the way they treated her. When Thor protested that she needed to give humanity a chance, she replied that she had done that – she had given them him.

Thor has long been considered a lower level of godhood than Zeus, but that is no longer true. Thor’s heroism has kept his mythology and worship alive not only on Earth, but throughout the galaxy. At the same time, he has now taken Odin’s place as the Allfather of an entire pantheon. It is clear that Thor now sees himself as Zeus’s image and declares that their fight “the business of the heavenly fathers.” The Sky Father archetype represents Marvel’s most powerful gods, but Thor’s new understanding of his limitations allows him to use his abilities in a much more versatile way. This will be crucial in the fight against Zeus, who is more dangerous than ever.

Zeus’ Olympians were recently killed and have been resurrected, returning in new, powerful conquering forms.

Zeus was one of Marvel’s top gods even before his recent rebirth

The Sky Father of the Greek Pantheon even crushed the Hulk

Zeus has long been less involved in Marvel stories than Odin, but he does have a soft spot for his half-human son Hercules, who long walked the earth as a hero. However, the Olympians were recently killed by the night goddess Nyx and subsequently reborn in far more aggressive forms whose goal was to conquer the cosmos and force humanity to worship them. Star-Lord and the Guardians of the Galaxy took on the Pantheon and, with the help of Athena, were able to banish Zeus to another dimension – a dimension into which Loki had just sent Hercules and Thor.

In
Immortal Thor
Loki has taken on the symbolic role of Thor’s honorable enemy. Loki repeatedly creates situations that could kill Thor, but if he finds a way to survive, they will teach him an important lesson he needs to defeat the Utgard gods.

Before his upgrade, Zeus was incredibly powerful, warping reality to his will. Even the Hulk learned to respect Zeus’ power when he faced him on Olympus, where Zeus promptly delivered a beating that shattered the Green Goliath’s ribs, collapsed his lungs, and caused him to vomit green blood. In many ways, Zeus embodies the concept of raw power on a cosmic level. This is all the more significant given the arrival of the Utgard Gods, as the ideas that fundamentally define every god have new power, but also new influence on their behavior.

For Al Ewing fans, the return of Zeus is a big win. Ewing wrote several volumes of Guardians of the GalaxyStar-Lord’s powers and backstory were developed in a character-defining way. Many fans felt that Ewing’s Guardians of the Galaxy ended too soon and so it is a relief to see that the author was able to continue the themes of the series by bringing back one of its major villains.

If Thor can not only match Zeus’ power but also find a way to defeat the mad conqueror, he will have accomplished something that not even Odin could have done.

About in Guardians of the GalaxyZeus represented a patriarchal, traditional concept of power, with a single, all-powerful god-king at the top, destroying and conquering everything in his path. In many ways, he is the perfect enemy to test Thor’s new, more subjective form of power, based on some kind of cosmic consent. The image of Zeus hurling a lightning bolt but then “deciding” to obey Thor is an important symbol of how and why Thor is so powerful today.

Thor’s new power level reveals the magic of the gods

Thor’s limitless powers are determined by his knowledge and cunning

Immortal Thor paints a new picture of Thor’s powers, in which his abilities are tied to his wisdom, just like Odin. This means that Thor may do almost anything, but only if he finds the way that works best in harmony with the cosmic order and his own principles. For example, when Thor fought the Utgard god Toranos, he was vastly outnumbered. Toranos is also known as Utgard Thor and is the original form of all ideas, embodying Thor in a more human way. Because of this, Thor’s strength and storm powers were of no use.

To win, Thor had to rely on his wisdom and decided to declare Toranos worthy of Mjolnir. While this made his rival even stronger, it also shackled Toranos to the concept of worthiness, forcing him to confront the moral dimensions of his actions and ultimately surrender. Toranos was undoubtedly more powerful than Thor – Thor’s divinity is only a shadow of Toranos’ – and yet, thanks to his wisdom, the Omnipotence was able to achieve a great victory.

Defeating Zeus in the same way will underscore just how influential Thor now is in Marvel’s hierarchy of gods. While Thor is a relatively new threat, Zeus has been around as long as the Asgardians, and has always been rivaled only by Odin as his divine equal. If Thor can not only match Zeus’ power but also find a way to defeat the mad conqueror, he will have accomplished something that not even Odin could have done.

Thor’s ability to deflect Zeus’ lightning with a word shows that he has reached the upper limit of godhood, having previously been portrayed as equal to Galactus and the Celestials, inferior only to the Universal Abstracts like Eternity and the Living Tribunal. If Thor can continue to dominate Zeus, he can easily be called Marvel’s most powerful god. That will depend on Thor‘s continued ability to act from a position of wisdom and balance, and continue the journey he must take to thwart the Utgard gods’ fearsome plans for Earth.

The Immortal Thor #14 will be published by Marvel Comics on August 14th.