Cosmic King Thor: Origins, Powers, Abilities & More

Marvel characters frequently go through changes where we see them weakened or empowered – or we simply get a whole new version of the character. Thor is no exception, as there have been countless versions of the God of Thunder – but probably none more epic than Cosmic King Thor. So, what are Cosmic King Thor’s origins, and how powerful is he?

Cosmic King Thor first appeared in 2020’s Thor #1. Galactus turned King Thor into his herald, giving him a fraction of the Power Cosmic. It resulted in Thor becoming Cosmic King Thor, also known as the Herald of Thunder.

With all Thor’s regular powers already at a peak (after mastering the Mother Storm) and gaining the Odinforce after becoming the All-father, Thor now possessed the powers of a Galactus herald. That easily makes him one of the most powerful beings in the universe. What can he do? Let’s find out.

Who Is Cosmic King Thor?

Thor’s power levels have changed dramatically over the past several years from becoming unworthy and powerless to possibly the most powerful version of the superhero ever. That version is Cosmic King Thor, also known as the Herald of Thunder.

Now, Cosmic King Thor is still the Prime Marvel Universe Thor Odinson but amplified with several power-ups. First, Thor mastered the Mother Storm – a power that was once encapsulated in Mjolnir by Odin – and used his newfound powers and mastery to end the War of the Realms.

Seeing his worth and realizing Thor is a bigger hero on his own than he ever was, Odin bent the knee in front of his son, proclaiming him to be the All-father. Prince Thor became King Thor, gaining all the powers of the All-father (the Odinforce) on top of his own. That happened in the War of the Realms #6.

Fast forward to Thor Vol. 6 #1 in 2020, a huge new threat emerges, seemingly intending to destroy the entire cosmos. Galactus – one of the mightiest entities in the universe – sought help from King Thor to defeat the threat, bestowing upon him a fraction of his Power Cosmic.

King Thor became Cosmic King Thor, or the Herald of Thunder, wielding the power of Thor, the power of the All-father, and now, the power of a Galactus herald. Let’s take a closer look at how it happened.

Cosmic King Thor’s Origins

We’ve seen Galactus ask for help a few times over the years. The guy creates his heralds to help him find planets to devour. However, this time, the Devourer of Planets asked for help to defeat something much more powerful and sinister than himself – an entity called the Black Winter.

Black Winter is virtually a dark version of Galactus that operates on a much larger scale. Galactus devours planets to feed on their cosmic energy, whereas the Black Winter devours entire galaxies, even universes. The entity was responsible for the complete destruction of the sixth iteration of the universe – the one that only Galactus himself got out of alive.

Now, the unfathomably powerful, evil entity is back, and Galactus claims it’s here to devour this universe as it did with the last one. The Black Winter has no shape or form – it presents itself differently to anyone who gazed upon it. It creates frost made out of eldritch darkness – the same stuff that makes All-black the Necrosword capable of decapitating Celestials.

Seeing how powerful, skilled, and experienced King Thor already was, Galactus decides to seek help from him, giving him the Power Cosmic and turning him into one of his heralds. That moment was the birth of Cosmic King Thor, the Herald of Galactus, the Herald of Thunder.

In the first encounter with the Black Winter, the entity easily put both Cosmic King Thor and Galactus in their place. However, it explained to Thor that Galactus was lying to him the entire time. You see, Black Winter didn’t come for the galaxy or the universe (it can see the future and foretold that the universe is doomed anyway).

Instead, all Black Winter wanted was Galactus himself, the one that got away. Why? Because Galactus was actually the herald of Black Winter that rebelled and got away – that’s how he survived his universe being destroyed. Angered at Galactus’ misleading, Thor confronts the Devourer of Planets, to which Galactus angrily attacks the Herald of Thunder. 

But, the unfathomable power Thor has is overwhelming, even for Galactus, and Cosmic King Thor drains the entity of all its power, leaving nothing but a shell, a body behind. Now, becoming the Herald of None, one of the most powerful beings ever to live, Thor was ready to confront the Black Winter.

In Thor vol. 6 #6, he used Galactus’ body like a bomb to obliterate the Black Winter, with nothing but one black snowflake surviving, offering Thor to show him the future and his eventual demise. Thor accepts and sees the future before crushing the flake into oblivion, ending the Black Winter forever.

Cosmic King Thor’s Powers & Abilities

Now, I’ve said several times that Cosmic King Thor has unfathomable powers but never really stated what those powers were. That’s because the list just goes on to almost infinite lengths. Nevertheless, I’ll try to sum it up into something coherent.

First of all, let’s talk about his abilities. Cosmic King Thor still possesses all these skills, abilities, and experiences that the God of Thunder collected over the centuries of being an Asgardian warrior. Thor is one of the best combatants in the universe, from hand-to-hand combat to weapon-wielding – especially the enchanted Mjolnir, the mighty Stormbreaker, etc.

On top of the skills, abilities, and centuries of experience, the Herald of Thunder also has Thor’s powers. That includes absolute control of thunder and lightning, incredible superhuman physiology and durability, mastering of the Mother Storm, etc.

That leads us to another facet of his powers. Before becoming Cosmic King Thor, the God of Thunder became King Thor, the All-father, after Odin gave him the title and all the powers that come with it.

That means Thor now wielded the Odinforce on top of his own powers. And, the Odinforce is nearly omnipotent. Odin used it for all sorts of things: shooting unfathomably powerful blasts out of his eyes to transfiguration, transmutation, matter manipulation (down to the molecular level), matter & energy absorption, telepathy, cosmic awareness…

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Odin was one of the most powerful gods in the universe. Combine that with Thor’s powers, and you get an almost-invincible warrior. Well, it gets better.

After Thor and Galactus met, and King Thor became Cosmic King Thor, the Herald of Thunder, he became exponentially more powerful. All the powers he had have been amplified to an unlimited degree, and even more powers were bestowed upon him.

Cosmic King Thor is resistant to virtually any kind of damage, making him immortal. That includes physical damage, energy-based damage, magic, telepathy, etc. He can manipulate matter, energy, life, create cosmic illusions, warp reality, manipulate time, travel through dimensions, etc.

He was powerful enough to beat Galactus single-handedly. Not only that – he drained him of all the powers. After that, we can safely say that Cosmic King Thor, the Herald of None, could do whatever he saw fit and had all the powers you can think of. If you can name a power, Cosmic King Thor could probably do it.

Cosmic King Thor’s Greatest Features

Now we know the guy is unimaginably powerful. So, what did he do with those powers?

Well, first of all, he killed Galactus. Like, really killed him, drained him of his powers, and then used his lifeless shell of a body like a bomb – to kill the Black Winter. Galactus is one of the most powerful beings in the universe, wielding the Power Cosmic and devouring planets. Well, the Black Winter devours universes! 

The sixth iteration of the cosmos had been destroyed by Black Winter alone. Not a planet, not a galaxy – the entire cosmos. And then, Cosmic King Thor killed both of them. Let that sink in.

At one moment, there was a huge battle of Midgard (Earth), where the Avengers fought a huge monster, but to no avail. Cosmic King Thor took Mjolnir and threw it through all the ten Realms from Asgard to Midgard, right into the beast’s face, killing it on the spot. That’s probably the longest-distance kill shot in history, am I right?

Lastly, just to put his physical power into perspective, Thor and Beta Ray Bill were usually seen as equals. Bill even bested the God of Thunder in battle several times before they became allies. Well, when Beta Ray Bill tried to go after Cosmic King Thor, the guy simply slapped him away from the picture, across the universe.

Cosmic King Thor is certainly among the most powerful versions of the character ever. He not only defeated Galactus; he did it when Galactus was extremely well-fed, devouring five special planets to be powerful enough to confront the Black Winter. Others beat Galactus, but nobody could kill the guy, especially when he’s well-fed.