Thor: Love And Thunder revisits Thor after he has lost everything, including his home in Asgard, his brother Loki, and his sense of place in the universe. Despite his power and courage, Thor suffers many terrible losses in Marvel Comics, including some that inspired his current MCU status quo.
Thor loses more than fights with powerful foes like Gorr the God Butcher. He loses his power, his worthiness, and dear friends and family. His worst losses in the comics often come from unlikely sources, with Nick Fury rendering him unworthy with a single phrase and Emma Frost delivering a beatdown for the ages when she gains the Phoenix Force’s cosmic might.
Gorr The God Butcher
Thor faces many threats in Marvel Comics but few are as dangerous as Gorr the God Butcher. Gorr initially fights a younger Thor in Medieval Iceland and uses his powerful weapon, the Necrosword, to make short work of the Asgardian. Gorr overwhelms Thor, stabbing him and slicing him with the sword, nearly killing him in the process.
Thor escapes to fight another day, but this brutal defeat lingered with him through the centuries. Comic book fans know Gorr the God Butcher eventually fell to Thor in the future, but the experience left deep scars, as it likely does in the upcoming movie.
Unworthy
The most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe struggle to defeat Thor, but Nick Fury did with a single phrase. During the Original Sin storyline, Fury whispers “Gorr was right” to Thor, instantly rendering him unworthy of Mjölnir and sending him spiraling into self-doubt. This leads directly to Jane Foster finding the hammer and becoming Thor.
The psychological scars from Thor’s battle with Gorr run deep, leaving him uncertain about the place and purpose of gods in the universe. That doubt allows Fury to exploit a weakness no one else ever had before.
Falling To Hercules
The Thor: Love and Thunder trailer reveals Zeus will appear in the movie, meaning a classic comic book fight from Thor #126 may occur in the movie. In that classic issue, Thor suffers a terrible defeat at the hands of Hercules, Zeus’ son. Hercules matches Thor in strength and stamina and outmatched Thor in a fight where they threw cars and trucks at each other.
Hercules benefits somewhat from Odin stripping some powers from Thor at the time, but the Olympian god remains among the strongest challenger Thor ever lost to in the comics.
Siege
Thor suffers a terrible loss in Marvel Comics during the Siege storyline from 2010. During this battle, Thor defends Asgard, now relocated to Oklahoma, against the Dark Avengers led by Norman Osborn. Thor loses everything in an instant when Sentry, among the most powerful Avengers in Marvel Comics, knocks Asgard out of the sky.
Sentry then kills Loki, leaving Thor in much the same place he is at the moment in the MCU. Though Thor ultimately defeats Sentry, it comes at a terrible price for him personally.
Loki Turns Him Into A Frog
Thor experiences a terrible – a humiliating – loss in the comics when Loki turns him into a frog. Loki uses the enormous mystical power housed within Surtur’s sword to transform his brother into a frog in Thor #364, from the classic Walt Simonson run and among the best Thor comics from the 1980s.
Thor spends the issue trying to get through Central Park, as well as not getting eaten by alligators. He eventually reverses the spell, but it remains the most indicative display of Loki’s cruelty and power in their antagonistic relationship.
Bor Destroys The Hammer
During the Secret Invasion storyline in 2008, Thor fights his grandfather, Bor. Bor proves Thor’s equal in every way in the titanic battle and hands his grandson a major defeat when he destroys Mjölnir. Bor, among the most powerful Asgardian gods in Marvel Comics, leaves the hammer shattered much as Hela did in the MCU.
Thor ultimately defeats Bor in battle, but the hammer remains damaged. He eventually seeks assistance from Doctor Strange, who magically links Thor and the hammer through the Odinforce, repairing it.
The Ultimate Defeat
Thor suffers a major loss against the Ultimates, the Ultimate Comics version of the Avengers from Earth-1610. In this alternate reality, Loki manipulates the team into thinking Thor is mad and dangerous. The team brutally dispatches Thor, with Quicksilver stealing the belt that allows this powerful Thor variant to wield Mjölnir.
The Ultimates then imprison Thor, reducing him to a nearly powerless captive. Though he eventually gains his freedom, the experience represents one of his worst losses in the comics.
Beta Ray Bill Takes The Hammer
Sometimes Thor simply gets beat, even with all his power and strength. In Thor #337, another iconic issue from Simonson’s run, he encounters the alien warrior Beta Ray Bill for the first time. Beta Ray Bill simply punches Thor and then takes Mjölnir from him, handing the God of Thunder a shocking comic-book loss.
Beta Ray Bill appeared in Thor: Ragnarok as a statue on the planet Sakaar. With Thor returning there in the new movie, it’s possible the powerful warrior finally makes his proper MCU debut.
Avengers Vs. X-Men
Emma Frost utterly destroys Thor in Avengers Vs. X-Men, after she becomes one of the Phoenix Five. Armed with the Phoenix Force, she instantly becomes a powerful cosmic being. Thor fought the Phoenix Force elsewhere in the comics, but he never faced a host so determined or cutting as Emma Frost, who rips him to shreds with her diamond skin.
Thor initially destroys Emma in her diamond form, scattering the shards, but she rains down on him in a blistering attack. She reforms and summarily defeats him with a few savage blows.
The Infinity Gauntlet
Thor survives Thanos’ snapping half the universe away in the highly influential storyline The Infinity Gauntlet but ultimately falls in battle to Thanos. Thor joins the surviving superheroes from Earth and takes on the Mad Titan in his celestial lair. Thanos delivers Thor perhaps his greatest loss in Marvel Comics history by simply turning him to glass.
Thanos then shatters Thor to pieces, killing him in a swift, shocking scene only later reversed thanks to Adam Warlock. Despite his god-like strength and the mystical power inherent in Mjölnir, Thor becomes helpless with the unimaginable power the Infinity Gauntlet provides Thanos.
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