Thor Is Now Very Close To Being As Powerful As MCU's Odin

Warning: Contains spoilers for Thor: Love and Thunder.

Following Thor: Love and Thunder, it’s very easy to say that Thor is close to being as powerful as Odin, if not even more powerful. While Odin wasn’t very active in the MCU, he was still regarded as one of the most powerful characters in the MCU, if only because he had long since had that status in the comics. One specific power contributed a lot to that, and Thor’s possible connection to that power is what might end up putting him above Odin.

One of the most powerful abilities of Odin is the power to harness the Odinforce, a mystical force of energy exclusive to whoever is the king of Asgard. The exact abilities and limitations of the Odinforce haven’t been clarified, but one notable moment from the comic book story Blood and Thunder had Odin fending off Thanos and the Silver Surfer at the same time, so it’s clear that the Odinforce makes Odin one of the most powerful characters in the comics. While the Odinforce hasn’t been explicitly addressed in the MCU, the Odinsleep is a side-effect of it, so Odin still having the Odinsleep on occasion suggests that the Odinforce exists in the MCU. This, in turn, would suggest how powerful MCU Odin is, as it appears his powers in the movie universe are on par with his comic self.

The Odinforce is one of the most powerful abilities in the Marvel universe, and it’s why Thor might now be at Odin’s level in the MCU. In Thor: Love and Thunder, Thor has shown off the ability to enchant and empower people and objects - first when he accidentally enchanted Mjolnir to protect Jane, and later when he shared his power with the Asgardian children in the final fight against Gorr the God Butcher. The reason that’s important is that being able to enchant people and objects is one of the abilities of the Odinforce, so Thor being able to do it suggests that he’s inherited the Odinforce and can potentially be as powerful as Odin, if not more powerful.

Why Hasn’t Thor Used The Odinforce Before Love & Thunder?

Naturally, this invites the question of why Thor never used the Odinforce before the plot of Thor: Love and Thunder, but that’s easy enough to explain. While Thor has used the Odinforce on multiple occasions in the comics, he was never able to fully control it, with the recent God of Hammers arc even revealing that he was never tapping into its full power in previous uses because Odin was still alive. Assuming that Thor has the Odinforce in the MCU, then his not using it before Love and Thunder could be explained by him still working to master it. Thor enchanting Mjolnir by accident especially gives credence to the idea, and while he consciously empowered the Asgardian children, the desperate situation probably forced him to do it.

Despite his lack of involvement in the MCU, Odin was still one of the most powerful characters introduced, and Thor might finally be reaching his level. Thor’s new powers in Thor: Love and Thunder can be viewed as a sign of him inheriting the Odinforce, and if that’s true, then he could be close to reaching Odin’s level of power and definitively becoming one of the strongest characters in the MCU. Chris Hemsworth's Thor is set to make future appearances in the MCU, and with any luck, those will work to further explore just how powerful Thor has become.

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