When Marvel’s Thor hit the big screen in 2011, it wasn’t one of the studio’s finest efforts. As rather ugly movie visually, Thor was saddled with a boring story and lame characters who delivered sitcom-quality level jokes.
Despite its drawbacks, Chris Hemsworth was able to convincingly bring life to the deity of Thor, and his aloof performance (along with mesmerizing sequences in Asgard) was able to popularize and humanize the character for new audiences.
Two sequels later, and a particularly epic stint in Infinity War, Thor has skyrocketed to the top ranks of beloved Marvel Cinematic Universe characters, having come a long way from the dreary and face-palm inducing debut entry.
Thor’s character arc is also one of the best defined throughout the entire MCU so far, and Chris Hemsworth has, to his credit, been able to continually keep up with the pace and remake his character as necessary.
While Thor is enjoying riding high on his recent successes and appearances, we wanted to take a closer look at the character, specifically the corporeal vessel that channels his god-like strength and power.
In our list of 15 Crazy Facts Only True Fans Know About Thor’s Body, we’re going to be diving into the nitty-gritty of what makes the Asgardian hero tick, taking cues from the movies, the comics and even a little from Chris Hemsworth’s own preparation on crafting the character.
He's Overwhelmingly Strong
Let’s get the most obvious aspect of the character out of the way first: he’s incredibly powerful.
We see that on display in almost every comic and movie, yeah, but do you have any idea just how strong the God of Thunder really is?
Well, let’s start off by saying he’s not just the God of Thunder-- he’s also the Asgardian God of Strength, which means that the reaches of his raw power are generally considered to be absolutely unlimited.
While comic book heroes are no slouches when it comes to over-the-top feats, Thor is on the highest ranking, as he’s been seeing performing such incredible acts like lifting the literally-larger-than-the-Earth Midgard Serpent.
He's even been seen crushing it in his grip, which makes his shattering of adamantium, one of the hardest substances in the Marvel Universe, seem like child’s play.
He’s thrown star cores, his punches can close dimensional tears, and, of course, has gone toe-to-toe with the Hulk and lived.
Truthfully, we’ve yet to see many of these incredible displays of raw power in the cinematic universe, likely because suspension of disbelief and the pretense of peril would be lost in the process.
However, we’re hoping that if Thor’s time in the MCU is ever up, we get to see at least one uppercut that’ll send someone straight to space, or at least one punch that’ll put an adversary through the crust of the Earth and out the other side.
He's Impressively Resilient
Having the strength to battle the Hulk and come out on top is one thing, but being able to take a prolonged beating from the green giant (who also has a rather low opinion of “puny” deities) is another.
Thankfully, the immense power of Thor’s body is coupled with extreme resistance to damage.
On a human level, Thor’s Asgardian physiology is utterly resistant and immune to such trivialities like poison, illness, fire, viruses, freezing temperatures and, of course, lightning.
In the movie, we’ve seen him get brutalized by the aforementioned Hulk, resist the direct sunlight and radiation from a star, and also take blasts from the Destroyer head-on, but in the comics, his list of survivable events are on an entirely different tier.
He’s been hit by a planet-destroying Doomsday Bomb, assaults from the uber-powerful Celestials, has been crushed under the weight of planets and, even with his powers reduced to half, was able to live through a hit from the Bloodaxe.
With more Thor to come in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we’re hoping we get a greater taste of Thor’s resilience, but we understand that too much will result in us losing any fear that our favorite God of Thunder could ever be defeated, which would remove any and all drama.
He Lost His Eye (And Got It Back)
Thor: Ragnarok is one of Marvel’s best movies.
Where other Marvel movies stumble finding a balance between snappy comedy, serious drama and exciting action, Ragnarok was able to create an atmosphere that logically and seamlessly implemented those elements with great success.
Even more critically, Ragnarok was unafraid to take chances with its characters, story, writing and even its visual design and atmosphere.
Where so many other Marvel Cinematic Universe entries tread the dangerous line of feeling “the same” atmospherically and tonally, Thor: Ragnarok boldly swerved off the well-beaten path.
One of the most well-known parts of the film has Thor actually losing his eye at the ends of his sister (and Goddess of Death) Hela, who has returned to rule Asgard.
With his eye no longer a permanent resident of its socket, Thor dons an eye-patch, and bears a striking resemblance to his late father, Odin (deftly played by Anthony Hopkins.)
Despite this legitimately awesome character development and moment, Infinity War unfortunately takes some steps back into “safer territory” by having Rocket restore the Asgardian’s lost eye with an advanced prosthetic (one that is apparently rather dirty.)
While it’s cool to see that Thor can see clearly again, it’s also a bummer to see such a pointless backpedal from Ragnarok. It’s also pretty bizarre, because even we have no idea what his wimpy, cyborg eye doesn’t fry as Thor channels the power of lightning through his body to wipe out countless adversaries during the climactic battle of Wakanda.
He Has Been Both A Man And Woman
When we think of Thor, we typically picture a burly man with long, flowing blond locks with a Viking helmet and a powerful hammer.
In the comics, this was the classic look of the character, so it was obvious that when Thor would come to the big screen, his interpretation would follow suit, and it did.
Chris Hemsworth fit the description of “burly man with long, flowing blond locks,” and he was very easily able to encapsulate the visual aspects of the character.
It may come as a shock then that, for quite some time, Thor wasn’t a big burly man with long, flowing blond locks, but a woman instead.
Jane Foster, portrayed by Natalie Portman in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was actually able to take up the mantle of Thor while the Asgardian was otherwise occupied with Gorr the God Butcher.
In a tussle with Nick Fury, Thor lost the use of Mjolnir and the blessed hammer sought out Dr. Jane Foster as its new wielder.
Grappling with breast cancer, she refused the call of the powerful relic at first, but eventually gave in, gaining the luster of the God of Thunder himself.
Using what she remembered of how Thor wielded the hammer, she slowly learned to unlock the potential of her new powers.
Sadly, Jane would pass away from her cancer due to a loophole in the cleansing process of transforming into Thor, though she defeated an overwhelming force of evil in the process, earning her tremendous respect.
Energy Manipulation
Thor and his hammer are inseperable. Well, not literally, but certainly in terms of iconography.
From way back to the ancient myths to the legends brought to life within the world of the Marvel comics, Thor’s mighty Mjolnir is a powerful weapon and tool for the Asgardian God of Thunder.
Despite that, if Thor were to part ways with Mjolnir, he’d be no slouch in terms of strenght or resilience, as the hammer only grants a few new powers, and simply amplifies and augments his already impressive arsenal of natural abilities, one of which is energy manipulation.
In the Dragon Ball franchise, multiple people and creatures across the many universes are able to channel their ki, or life force, into devastating bursts of energy and Thor is the master of a similar feat.
Digging deep, he’s capable of projecting massive blasts of destructive energy in any direction.
Even aside from the above example of raw energy dispensing, Thor can conjure lighting bolts naturally (though it is amplified through Mjolnir) and even summon rain if necessary.
We haven’t gotten a real taste of his ki-like power blasts in the films, but after Thor’s similar use of lightning in Ragnarok, or his explosive return to the battlefield in Infinity War, we have a feeling his Kamehameha-styled attacks might be the next trick up his sleeve.
He Withholds His True Power As Necessary
Superman is generally regarded as the top tier of super-strong superheroes. Throughout the years, the character of the Last Son of Krypton had become more and more godlike through increases in his available repertoire of powers and his ever-increasing physical prowess.
Because of this exponential increase, the likelihood (and believability) of someone conceivably being able to overcome the Man of Steel seemed increasingly impossible, which threatened the ability of the storytellers to create situations of peril that would ensnare readers or viewers, depending on the medium.
Because of this, they devised the concept that Superman, who is acutely aware of his supremacy, created mental blocks to lessen his powers for both the safety of the people he has sworn to protect, and also as a safeguard in case he ever took a heel turn.
In the meta sense, this was also great for writers, as Superman could at least be put into danger once again.
Thor is in a similar boat, though not quite for the exact same reasons as Superman.
Thor willingly withholds his power (and even his durability) unless up against an opponent who is his equal or superior, likely due to both honor and excitement. And possibly to protect the mortals who he is surrounded with.
He Is Half-Elder God And Half-Asgardian
Thor is undeniably one of the strongest members of the Avengers, and Ragnarok shows that he can both rival and surpass the Hulk himself in straight combat. Even amongst Asgardians, Thor’s people, he’s naturally above and beyond their abilities.
The reason for this discrepancy in terms of power is his biology and lineage: Thor is half-Elder God and half-Asgardian.
His father is Odin, king of Asgard, while his mother is Gaea, one of the Elder Gods that materialized on Earth, and one of those responsible for affecting the geology of the planet.
Many of Thor’s traits are common amongst Asgardians, but it’s the Elder God portion of his blood that notably separates him from his peers.
Chiefly, his mother’s side has granted him his exceptional nigh-invulnerability, and extra-strong physicality. He also has unique powers thanks to her genes, such as the ability to control Earth itself.
What this entails is creating enormous cataclysms like earthquakes or huge chasms, or manipulating avalanches, landslides or other geological events.
While some of this lineage has been hinted at in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, along with Loki’s own origins, we can’t help but wonder if Gaea’s role in Thor’s prominence will be revealed at a later date, as it would certainly explain a few of Thor’s most outrageous feats.
His Body Requires An Intense Workout...
We have to give credit where credit is due: Chris Hemsworth, for all his mediocre acting abilities, has genuinely brought memorable life to Thor, injecting an aloof personality and intoxicating humor to the table, truly selling the audience on this Asgardian God of Thunder.
Part of what makes his portrayal so memorable and believable is his physicality, and Chris transcended the limits of his human body by training incredibly hard in order to create the chiseled, other-worldly body of Thor.
Chris isn’t the first actor to go through a major physical beefing-up for a role, and he won’t be the last, but his trainer (and former Navy SEAL) Duffy Gaver has helped make this transformation unique.
What’s most interesting about Gaver’s approach is his adherence to old-school bodybuilding techniques, rather than advanced or more elaborate methods, which certainly helps create the look of a god that is naturally bulked up rather than carefully crafted.
With attention paid predominantly on Chris’s arms and shoulders, and small variations to prevent plateaus (and boredom), Gaver explicitly avoids any experimental techniques or fancy equipment, opting for a look and style akin to the first Mr. Olympia contest.
Well it may seem unorthodox at first, Gaver’s approach (and Chris’ hardwork) have clearly paid off repeatedly.
... And An Even More Intense Diet
When Chris Hemsworth was given the role of Thor, his main athletic endeavor was surfing. Sadly, surfing wasn’t going to cut it if he wanted to embody a ripped Asgardian god.
With the help of former Navy SEAL Duffy Gaver, the two set out on an intense, if not antiquated, workout to bulk Chris up to muscular form of Thor that we’ve seen for multiple films at this point.
The workout techniques were simple enough: just hard work and classic bodybuilding techniques with a touch of protein powder.
However, as many in the world of fitness know, the workout is only part of the puzzle. A major component is the nutrition and diet.
For Hemsworth, creating and maintaining his physique was the result of a diet change, with Gaver adding a ton of egg whites, chicken, fish and steak to the future Thor’s diet.
Another aspect was the use of the correct carbs for the correct situations, so Gaver added in fibrous vegetables such as a spinach and broccoli, while also suggesting Chris cut back on starches, meaning white rice and potatoes were off the table, literally and figuratively.
While this workout and diet program were no doubt incredibly taxing and difficult for Chris, he’s done far more extensive physical alterations, such as his time on Ron Howard’s In the Heart of the Sea, which required the huge actor to more-or-less starve himself and become incredibly gaunt like the real sailing ship fellow he was portraying.
He Can Speak All Languages At Once
In school, learning a foreign language can be some of the most difficult courses to take.
Sure, getting the basics down isn’t overly difficult, but actually becoming fluent and able to understand (and respond) to someone who is a natural-born speaker of the language in question is often a daunting task, but it’s something that Thor will never have to go through.
Thor possesses something called the “All-Tongue,” which, in short, allows him to be understood by anyone no matter what language they speak.
This isn’t just applicable to Earth, with Spanish, English, French, German, Japanese and so on, no, it applies to the entire cosmos, including every planet, and every language on every planet.
Presumably, the All-Tongue ability also seems to allow Thor to understand nearly every language spoken to him, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to handle the nature of this power differently: in Infinity War, Thor claims to be able to understand Groot because he took a course on the language during his years of study.
Perhaps this was just done as a toss-away joke, but it otherwise seems the majority of the All-Tongue concept is fully-intact with the MCU, at least for the most part, but only time will tell.
He Is The Strongest Asgardian, Even Without His Godly Power
As we mentioned earlier in this list, Thor is a bit of a unique case amongst his Asgardian peers.
Using Mjolnier, his powerful hammer, Thor is granted supernatural powers, and great enhancements to many of his natural abilities, which brilliantly defend his titles of God of Thunder and God of Strength, but what about without his iconic tool?
However, if Thor were to abandon his hammer (or have it destroyed, as seen in Ragnarok), or relinquish the majority of his godly abilities, he’d still be far stronger than the average Asgardian, in terms of both raw strength and durability.
While many Asgardians are naturally tough and live exceptionally long lives, Thor’s divine lineage has given him a major edge. While his father is Asgardian, his mother was actually an Elder God, Gaea, which has dramatically enhanced his powers and strength.
In other words, Thor has exceptionally good genes and training, which have separated him physically from not only the people of his race, but even members of his own family.
This is perfectly shown in Ragnarok, where the hammerless Thor does battle against the ultra-strong Hulk and the evil heir to the throne, Hela.
After receiving a new divine weapon in Infinity War, we can see first hand the enormous increase in power that the tool grants him, but it also makes us appreciate how capable he is without one even more.
He Has An Absurd Amount Of Stamina
We already know Thor is super strong and super resilient. We also know that a lot of his advantages over his adversaries and fellow Asgardians come from his exceptional lineage, specifically the fact that his mother was the Elder God, Gaea.
Thanks to years of training and his healthy family tree, Thor’s body rarely tires out, and he has a reserve of stamina that is borderline incalculable if not totally inexhaustible.
With his hyper-advanced musculature, his body runs exceptionally efficiently which means he rarely becomes exhausted, no matter what kind of difficult situations he finds himself in.
In fact, he could literally fight a battle for months without needing to take a breather.
To go along with this, when wearing Megingjord, better known as the “Belt of Strength,” Thor’s already impressive and seemingly never-ending stamina is exponentially increased to the point where the limits aren’t even worth trying to figure out.
In the comics, Thor received this particular belt along with a shield and gauntlet that were imbued with the Odinforce in order to decisively defeat Thanos, so it’s possible that we’ll be seeing a version of the Megingjord in the upcoming sequel to Infinity War, but it’s impossible to tell just yet.
He Doesn't Need Sleep, Food, Or Even A Breath Of Air
Thor is a superior being to not only most humans, but a good chunk of the cosmos, including his own realm of Asgard.
We’ve already detailed his powerful lineage, and the benefits he receives from artifacts such as Mjolnir, his sturdy hammer, or Megingjord, the Belt of Strength.
We’ve also explained how even without the aforementioned tools and divine powers, he’s still far stronger than the average lifeform, but his distinct advantages go even further than have special powers or increased strength.
In a major advantage over pretty much everyone, Thor has absolutely no need to sleep, no need to eat, and no need to breathe. Ever.
We already know his stamina is more-or-less limitless, but with no reason to sleep to even recover from months upon months of constant activity, it puts Thor at a level that few can even comprehend.
And although the guy certainly can eat, and enjoys the act, he has need for it since he can self-sustain. That means he can fight long and costly wars without ever having to worry about what his next meal will be.
Lastly, this guy doesn’t even need to breathe. He can survive in the vacuum of space with no issue, and he can dive to the greatest depths of the oceans without a worry.
All in all, Thor is the complete package when it comes to survivability, although the movies seem to reduce the efficacy of these powers.
The "Life-Force" Flows Through Him
In Thor: Ragnarok, Hela needed to be near Asgard to reach her full power and potential, and she posed an immensely dangerous threat to not just Thor, but the cosmos itself. Following Asgard’s destruction, her power was dramatically reduced.
Thor doesn’t have this problem, as something called the “Life-Force,” also known as the “God-Force,” flows through his body.
This is the source of his godly powers, including his nigh-immortality. In fact, this source of power is even more potent than what Mjolnir is able to channel through its master.
His Life-Force is also unique in that, unlike Hela, he has full access to his repertoire of abilities and reserves of power no matter what realm he is in, meaning that he can summon the most devastating levels of his strength at a moment’s notice, even if he were at the edge of the Universe.
Very few forces are able to alter or diminish this powerful power source in his body, with the incredibly short list containing the likes of Odin, Thor’s father (which makes sense. It’s hard to punish an unruly son if you have no affect on his divinity.)
Lastly, this unique God-Force allows Thor to tap deep into his essence to unleash the cataclysmic God-Blast, a beam so powerful that it can wipe out pretty much anything.
He's Heavy. Really, Really Heavy
Thor is a pretty bulky dude. Chris Hemsworth put on at least twenty pounds of muscles to portray the character, rounding out at 220 pounds. In the comics, the character is even more ripped.
Thor is also extremely resilient to injury, breaking, crushing, bruising and more. Part of the reason is the density of his muscles, skin and bones, meaning has a ton of mass beyond just “muscle mass.”
In other words, Thor is extremely heavy. Like over five-hundred pounds, half-ton heavy/
Clocking in around 640 pounds, Thor’s weight dwarfs typical human beings, particularly those with his well-kept physique. Most of this comes from his aforementioned density, which we humans simply can’t compare to.
Some may think that this weight, which teeters rather close to a being half of a metric ton, is due to Thor’s hammer, which has demonstrably been proven to be almost impossible to pick up by those without a certain finesse, but they’d be wrong.
Thor’s hammer is made of the fictional material Uru and weighs a measly 42.3 pounds.
So while it’s certainly heavy compared to a normal hammer, the majority of Thor’s weight comes straight from his biological make-up and enhanced physique, meaning that if he tripped and fell, you wouldn’t want to be under him.
---
Can you think of any other crazy facts about Thor's body? Sound off in the comments!