Marvel’s Thor Has a Secret Power That Is Similar to DC’s Superman
Thor and Superman have quite a bit in common. Besides both being superheroes, albeit for the opposing sides of Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Universe, they also have god-like powers. Thor is literally a god, and Superman, while not a deity, sometimes gets framed as one in his movies.
As it happens, Thor and Superman share a power, with the difference being that Superman uses it fairly often, while we never see Thor doing it. It’s the power to pack a heck of an exhale. But the similarities are few. One hero is still going strong in the movies, while Superman, despite being arguably the OG hero of them all, has struggled on the big screen lately.
Thor has super-breath
One could argue that Thor and Superman have almost identical powers in that both have super strength and endurance. Thor doesn’t exactly fly on his own, but he can go airborne with some help from his hammer. Thor doesn’t have heat vision per se, but that lightning he directs can certainly burn someone.
As Screen Rant points out, they share the super-breath power, although Thor hasn’t displayed it as often because even Marvel kind of forgot about it. Evidence of this comes from a 1962 Thor comic, Journey Into Mystery #86 (1962) by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, and Artie Simek. It’s about a scientist named Zarko who is from the future and who isn’t into humanity being peaceful.
Thor travels through time to stop him. Zarko pulls out a “delta-electron gun” in an effort to send Thor to another dimension. Thor deflects the blast of the gun with his own “great breath,” which is super breath to the folks at DC, except it doesn’t have freezing properties. This was the only time Thor actually used this, and it may have been one of those “convenient” powers that stops a particular situation and then is never used again.
Thor has a fourth movie coming up
For all his potential as a character, Thor got off to a somewhat rocky start at the box office, says The Numbers. His first movie in 2011 made $181 million, which seems like pocket change to Marvel now, but back then that was considered a solid if not spectacular start. The second movie, Thor: The Dark World did marginally better, making $206 million, but even many fans consider that sequel to be one of Marvel’s weakest movies.
Enter director Taika Waititi and the “friend from work;’ the Hulk. Thor: Ragnarok re-energized the franchise, with the freewheeling third movie making $315 million here. That set up Thor for a strong arc in the Infinity War/Endgame two-fer, when he fails to kill Thanos. He blames himself for the Thanos snap and lets himself go, before rallying the courage to fight on another day. When we last saw him, he was traveling with his new pals, the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Thor will be back in Love and Thunder, which will see him reuniting with his paramour, Jane Foster, who will apparently become a new Thor. Thor couldn’t beat back the pandemic, which delayed his movie from November of 2021 to February of 2022.
When will we see Superman at the movies again?
Just as Superman was one of the first wildly popular superheroes, the 1978 Superman with Christopher Reeve was the first wildly popular feature-length superhero movie, and for many is still the standard against which all superhero movies are measured. However, time has not been entirely kind. The 1980s sequels gradually declined in quality, and we didn’t get another Superman movie for nearly 20 years.
That movie, Superman Returns did OK business but was considered a ponderous disappointment by some. Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel was another solid but not outstanding success that divided fans. Then, Snyder’s misbegotten Batman v. Superman tarnished both of DC’s characters in the eyes of many. Justice League was no Avengers by even the most generous appraisal. Reports came out that Henry Cavill, who had played Superman since Man of Steel, was done with the role.
Now, Cavill, in a Variety chat with Patrick Stewart of Star Trek and X-Men fame, says, “When you meet children, children don’t necessarily see me as Henry Cavill, but they might see Superman, and there’s a responsibility which comes with that. Because it’s such a wonderful character, it’s actually a responsibility I’m happy to have, and I hope that I get to play more of Superman in years to come.” We will at least get to see Cavill again in the fabled Snyder cut of Justice league, which is due out next year on HBO Max.
