Thor Odinson is an Asgardian warrior-prince, the God of Thunder and a self-proclaimed protector of Earth. Thor subsequently became well known for his actions on Earth, which included acting as a founding member of the Avengers. First appearing in Thor, Thor is a major character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the only Avenger that is non-human and one of the few superheroes in the MCU with genuine super powers (the others being the Hulk and Captain America). Thor wields the mystical war hammer Mjolnir, which controls the weather, but he himself also has godlike strength, durability and agility. He is based on the mythological thunder-god of the same name from Norse mythology.
Into the modern period, Thor continued to be acknowledged in rural folklore throughout Germanic regions. Thor is frequently referred to in place names, the day of the week Thursday ("Thor's day"; Old English Thunresdaeg, Thunor's day) bears his name, and names stemming from the pagan period containing his own continue to be used today.
Powers and AbilitiesLike all Asgardians, Thor is incredibly long-lived and relies upon periodic consumption of the Golden Apples of Idunn to sustain his extended lifespan, which to date has lasted many millennia. Being the son of Odin and Frigga, Thor is physically the strongest of the Asgardians. If pressed in battle, Thor is capable of entering into a state known as the "Warrior's Madness" ("berserkergang" in Norwegian), which will temporarily increase his strength and stamina tenfold, although in this state he attacks friend and foe alike.
Thor possesses a very high resistance to physical injury that approaches invulnerability. He possesses keen senses that allow him to track objects traveling faster than light and hear cries from the other side of the planet. Thor has the ability to travel through time. His stamina allowed him to battle the entire Frost Giant army for nine months without any sustenance or rest; Thor has shown the ability to regenerate wounded portions of his body, including entire limbs or organs, with the aid of magical forces such as Mjolnir. Thor has superhuman speed, agility, and reflexes, enabling him to deflect bullets with his hammer. Like all Asgardians, he has immunity to all Earthly diseases and some resistance to magic. Exceptionally powerful magic can overwhelm Odin's enchantment that transforms him between Asgardian and mortal forms. As the Norse god of thunder, Thor can summon the elements of the storm (lightning; rain; wind; snow) and uses Mjolnir as a tool to focus this ability, although the hammer cannot command artificial weather, only natural. He can cause these weather effects over the world and destroy entire buildings; by whirling his hammer he can lift entire buildings with the wind.
Thor is a superb hand-to-hand combatant, and is skilled in armed combat, excelling in the use of the war hammer, sword, axe and mace. Thor possesses two items which assist him in combat: the enchanted Belt of Strength, and his signature weapon, the mystical hammer Mjolnir. The first item doubles Thor's strength and endurance while the second is used to control his weather abilities; flight; energy projection and absorption; dimensional travel; matter manipulation and the most powerful of his offensives, the God Blast (which taps into Thor's life force), the Thermo-blast, and the Anti-Force (which counteracts another force). Using Mjolnir by throwing in the desired direction and then holding on to the handle's leather loop, Thor can fly at supersonic speeds in Earth's atmosphere and travel faster than light in space. He can throw an object out of Earth's atmosphere using his strength, and throw his hammer to Asgard from which it will return.
