Thor’s True Form is More Powerful Than Marvel Fans Realize

Warning: Contains spoilers for Eternals #10

Despite being one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe, the All-Father Thor has still not reached his full potential, as revealed in Eternals #10 by Kieron Gillen, Esad Ribic, and Matthew Wilson.

The Eternals have a vast knowledge of the universe thanks to their very long life spans and to the heritage of their progenitors, the godlike Celestials. This knowledge does not just include the planet Earth but also different worlds and dimensions, including the realm of Asgard. The origins of the race known as Asgardians are shrouded in myth. As is the case with most of its characters based on real-world mythology (such as Mephisto), Marvel tries to avoid giving them a clear “origin story.” Readers know that Asgard is a pocket dimension adjacent to Earth, which includes nine separate worlds (the Nine Realms), home to a race of humanoid beings possessing an array of superhuman abilities. Their appearances on Earth in the past – especially in Middle-Ages Scandinavia – have inspired various myths, and they were worshipped as gods.

The appearance of Thor on Earth in modern times made humans realize that Asgard and its inhabitants are not just legends. Since the God of Thunder became active as a superhero and an Avenger, more and more Asgardians started showing up on Earth. Loki, Thor’s sometimes evil brother, is responsible for bringing the Avengers together, while Amora the Enchantress and Skurge the Executioner have often acted as Thor’s enemies. The most powerful Asgardian, however, was Odin, the All-Father, who ruled over Asgard and was feared and respected throughout the Universe, until he recently fell in battle against one of his own creations gone rogue, the enchanted hammer Mjolnir. Odin’s death made Thor the true All-Father, transferring to him the incredible energy known as the Odinforce and making him more powerful than he has ever been, but it appears that the God of Thunder is still far from reaching his full potential.

In Eternals #10, the Eternals are infiltrating Avengers Mountain in order to interrogate the corpse of the Celestial that functions as the base of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, all to find a way to kill Thanos. The book contains an overview of the current Avengers team, as seen by the Eternals. Some entries are jokingly funny, such as the one for Captain America: “Surplus WWII-era weaponry held with nostalgic affection.” Thor’s entry, instead, reveals that the Eternals know a lot about the Asgardians: “An ‘All-Father’ class god-being in an adolescent stage.” Apparently, Thor is in a class of his own even among his godlike race, which makes sense as he and Odin were always more powerful than their fellow Asgardians. However, it also seems that Thor is still in his “adolescent stage,” meaning that he can still grow and develop to become even more powerful than he currently is.

Thor has often been depicted as a reckless youngster (despite being thousands of years old), but these stories were usually set in his past, before he became worthy of lifting Mjolnir. The current Thor is the All-Father, the King of Asgard, and the holder of the Odinforce, but it seems that he is still an adolescent in the eyes of the Eternals, immortal beings with a knowledge of the cosmos that defies even the Asgardians. It will be interesting to see if the Eternals‘ assessment of the God of Thunder is actually contemptuous and diminutive, or if Thor will really grow into an even more powerful creature in the future.

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