Superman Vs. Thor by Snorlax

And yes, the Mighty Snorlax makes his 5 Guys and a Blog debut!!!

Sorry for the delay guys...I have already mentally crafted an AWESOME debut article, but recent events (read: Final Fantasy 3 for the DS Lite and leveling up my Jack-6 in Tekken 6) have prevented me from finishing said article. Needless to say, since my maiden contribution is still in the works, let me just post a little sumpin I posted a few months ago in one of the 1337 forums I hang out in. Some guys were bugging me who would win, Superman or Thor, and to shut these guys up, I wrote this summarized version of the legendary Superman vs Thor Comic Book Battle.

DC Comics' flagship boyscout hero vs. Marvel's Norse God of Thunder.......LETS GET IT ON!!!!

"....Well, the crux of this conflict is the fact that Superman's one known weakness is his weakness to magic (his other weakness is of course Kryptonite). Most Thor fanboys jump on this weakness by saying that Thor's magical lightning can definitely put down the Man of Steel (see Kingdom Come where Captain Marvel pummels Superman to a bloody pulp with magical lightning), or that Thor can conjure a magical vortex and banish Superman to another dimension (as Thor has done lots of times in the past against different foes, like the Absorbing Man).

However, Superman has had a LOT of experience against magical-based foes, and obviously lived to tell the tale. Superman's high invulnerability and durability negates a lot of magic-based attacks, but he has been known to succumb to mental based attacks (see Superman's mind control by Maxwell Lord in OMAC, Poison Ivy in Hush, or by the Vampire Crucifer, where he ended up going against his teammates in the JLA). Here is an interesting article on Superman's weakness to magic.

Although Thor has no known mental-based attacks in his arsenal, he has a LOT of magic based attacks, most of which emanate from his trusty Uru Hammer, Mjolnir. Being the god of thunder, Thor can conjure lightning of both the natural and magical kind. From a single bolt to an electrical maelstrom the size of Kansas, Thor can easily manipulate magical lightning to do his bidding. Thor can also call forth magical winds, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other forces of nature related to his power-set as the god of thunder. Thor's ultimate magical attack is known as the "Godblast", a concentration of all of Thor's power whilst channeling his father's Odinforce.

To negate Thor's obvious edge in magic-based attacks, Superman fanboys on the other hand tout Superman's superior feats of strength. In Comic Book Battles, the equivalent of evidence in a court of law is listing published feats of strength, and Superman edges Thor in this handily. Superman has been known to push the Planet Warworld in Our World At War on his own power (albeit after a "sundip", a plot device wherein Supes dives into the sun, and since he is a solar battery, every cell in his body is supercharged beyond normal limit), while Thor's most impressive strength feat is carrying away the Midgard Serpent, the legendary dragon almost as big as the Earth itself. In most Comicbook almanacs and trading card ratings, both Thor and Supes are rated as "Class 100", meaning they can both lift in excess of 100 tons. But in actual comic appearances, Superman has shown a distinct edge in brute force feats, having moved planets and planetary-level beings...feats which Thor has yet to match.

A caveat before we continue. When talking about Superman duels, it is important to note if we are talking about his pre-Crisis or post-Crisis version. By Crisis, I mean the famous Crisis on Infinite Earths DC series that forever changed the landscape, timeline and dimensions of the DC Universe. Superman's pre-Crisis self is on another level altogether, able to sneeze away planets, and pull multiple planets in tow. He has since been toned down to make him more interesting and "human". Regular Thor is no match for pre-Crisis Superman, but maybe Rune-God Thor (the version of Thor where he absorbs all of Odin's power and single-handedly saves Asgaard from Ragnarok) is more of a match. Needless to say, in this battle, their most recent and standard versions are used. (For an example of variants, there is pre-Crisis Superman, Blue Lightning Superman, Sundip Superman, Superman Prime, etc. while for Thor, there is Rune-God Thor, Battle Madness Thor, Thor with the Odinforce, Thor with his Belt of Strength, etc)

With magic based attacks favoring Thor, and raw power favoring Superman, we now look at Fighting ability. Most put Thor at the advantage here, being a Viking Warrior all his life, fighting Frost Giants and RockTrolls like Ulik since childhood. He is also the wielder of one of the most powerful weapons in the Universe, Mjolnir, and can use it to fly, pummel, absorb energy (like heat vision), summon lightning and vortexes (or is it vortices...hmmmm...). But Superman is no Kansas-bred hick anymore, since he has been trained by the alien Mongul in the most lethal martial arts and fighting styles of the Universe, and has years of fighting experience.

There are other factors of course, like speed (edge: Superman), durability (edge: Superman), variety of powers (edge: Thor, due to Mjolnir), and mental fortitude (edge: Thor).

However, Superman fans have had reason to rejoice recently, since in the series JLA vs Avengers, in issue # 3, Thor and Superman actually get into a fight, and Superman walks away the victor (although he was bloody and shaken up). Thor fans were given a consolation prize though, Superman mentions Thor was the toughest opponent he ever faced. But this battle is by no means definitive, or even canon, since most fans argue that JLA vs Avengers was a cross-over comic, and did not happen within real DC or Marvel continuum, hence inadmissible in comic-book battles (it is inadmissible in the sense that not being canon or part of the main continuity of both comic companies, it is like a What If? or Elseworlds comic)

Heres the aftermath of the Supes/Thor battle in JLA vs Avengers:



To sum it up (there have been thousands of pages of forum battles devoted to this topic, and I just summarized the most salient points), Thor and Superman are virtual equals, and depending if you're a Marvel or DC fan, it really could go either way. But most level-headed fans place Superman winning 5.5 out of 10 times. A slight edge.

Want to know the Marvel character who can easily beat Superman? It's the Silver Surfer. But that's another battle altogether.

That was my uber-geeky post in some forum. Sorry for the re-run, but I have to return playing Final Fantasy 3 now. My level 50 Knight just recently got Excalibur and is now dual-wielding Ragnarok and Excalibur, while my level 49 Ninja is dual-wielding Masamune and Kiku-Ichimonji.

Snorlax, out.