Thor Vs. Scarlet Witch: Who Would Win and Why?

Thor and Scarlet Witch are arguably two of the most powerful members of the Avengers team. While Thor is one of the strongest superheroes on the team, Wanda has unfathomable reality-warping powers that make her a deadly threat to anybody. The question is, who would win in a fight?

Thor wins in a fight against Scarlet Witch almost every time. One can’t neglect Wanda’s incredible powers, especially her reality-warping and telepathic abilities. However, she still has the durability of a regular human being. If Thor can get through her defenses with one good shot, it’s over.

There’s a lot more evidence that supports this claim other than their durability. Even at her strongest self in the comics, Wanda knew she couldn’t defeat Thor but only remove him from the battle. Still, some things point to her being one of the most powerful characters in the entire Marvel Universe – she just doesn’t know it yet. Let’s dig into the comparison.

Strength & Durability

If we’re talking about pure physical strength and raw force, Thor is above and beyond Scarlet Witch. The guy fought the Hulk and eventually knocked him out in Thor: Ragnarok, and that’s just the MCU version of the God of Thunder. He gets even stronger in the comics – the Rune King Thor.

However, strength doesn’t always have to mean physicality. Scarlet Witch can lift a school bus and throw it at you without even breaking a sweat. That strength comes from her telekinetic abilities and powers. Still, I don’t think she could summon enough power to knock out the Hulk, while Thor’s physical strength is only furthermore enhanced with his god-like abilities.

There’s also the question of durability. On one side, you have a guy who took a nasty beating from the Hulk without even a scratch. The God of Thunder survived Thanos detonating his ship with the Powers Stone and floating in space for god-knows-how-long before the Guardians of the Galaxy found him. And then – he took the full force of a neutron star over his back.

And, again, that’s just the MCU version of the character. In the comics, Thor had some situations where he was even more impressive.

On the other side, you have Wanda, who gets hurt, cut, and bruised after only getting slapped by Proxima Midnight, one of Thanos’ subordinates. Scarlet Witch had shown to have difficulty fighting enemies who can match her speed, let alone exceed it. 

Her defense is extremely tough, but the problem is, if you can overwhelm her and get through, one good hit is enough to knock her one, and if it’s a superhumanly strong hit – which is usually the case in the Marvel Universe – it’s game over for Scarlet Witch.

That being said, it’s not that simple to get through her defenses, especially in later versions of the character when Wanda already learns a lot about harnessing and controlling her Chaos magic. If she could learn to control her powers completely, nobody could beat her. But we’ve never seen that version of Wanda and likely won’t see it any time soon.

Thor is stronger and more durable, so he gets the first point.

Point: Thor (1:0) Scarlet Witch

Close Range & Long Range Combat

Any other superhero hardly matches Thor’s close-range combat skills. He’s extremely physically strong, experienced in battle, and an expert combatant. To add to it, he uses the mighty Mjolnir – or even mightier Stormbreaker – to enhance his strength and give him additional close-range abilities.

Thor can summon lightning, and he gets superhuman speed (he can go as fast as Mjolnir can, even fly with it). In close range, hand-to-hand, or melee combat, I can’t think of anyone other than the Hulk or Infinity Gauntlet-wielding Thanos who could even match Thor’s abilities. 

That only plays into his long-range arsenal. Thor can throw Mjolnir or the Stormbreaker as far as he can imagine, and they’ll destroy anything in their way. Then, he only needs to raise his hand to return it to his hand, again destroying anything in their path.

Both Mjolnir and Stormbreaker are not just incredibly tough and durable, but they’re also enchanted. Thor can summon incredibly strong lightning strikes as the God of Thunder, expanding his long-range options to new heights.

To testify to the strength of his long-range attacks, all you need to do is watch Avengers: Infinity War. When he threw the Stormbreaker at Thanos, it was powerful enough to penetrate through the defense of all six Infinity Stones. Thanos tried to stop it, but the force behind the throw was too hard.

If only he had gone for the head. Well, he did later and literally chopped the Mad Titan’s head off like it was butter. That’s how powerful he is, at close or long range.

On the other hand, Scarlet Witch usually refrains from using weapons. She also rarely fights hand-to-hand, as she’s not particularly strong. Instead, she uses her powers either to cast beams of her Chaos magic called hexes and use them in a ton of ways.

At close-range, that usually means blasts to hit her enemies or her telepathic skills to inflict damage, alter their minds, etc. If she can get close enough, Wanda is capable of mind control. If she can get Thor by surprise, he’d have a hard time defending himself. We’ve seen it in the Avengers: Age of Ultron, where Scarlet Witch easily tampered with his mind for a second.

Long-range, Wanda can cast her hexes at fairly long distances. Still, her greatest power is manipulating objects using telekinesis or altering the environment to the molecular level using her reality-warping skills. And, those skills are powerful – if Thanos hadn’t broken her concentration with a hailstorm of projectiles, Scarlet Witch was close to ripping him apart.

That being said, her attacks take time, focus, and energy, and it’s hard to see a way where she could use any of them to hurt such a durable superhero as Thor unless she catches him by surprise and manages to mess with his mind. Even if she could catch him like she did Thanos – Thor could cast a lightning bolt as fast as, well, a lightning bolt.

Close or long-range, Thor takes out Scarlet Witch 9/10 times.

Point: Thor (2:0) Scarlet Witch

Mental & Intellectual Abilities

Thor is goofy, immature, and funny, both in the comics and MCU. However, that doesn’t mean he isn’t smart. Mostly, the God of Thunder uses his strength to battle others, and his narcissistic behavior often leads him into trouble. But, when push comes to shove, Thor is not an idiot. He can think reasonably and intelligently and plan his actions before acting.

However, he doesn’t have any mental abilities, such as telepathy, mind-control, or anything similar. Thor has to rely on physical traits to defeat his enemies, but luckily for him, he has more than enough – physical strength, weapons, thunder/lightning summoning, super-speed, flight, and more.

On the other hand, Scarlet Witch relies almost exclusively on her mental and intellectual abilities. Sure, her hexes are kind of a physical attack, but still, they come from her mental, reality-warping abilities, as well as her telepathy and telekinesis.

Apart from reality manipulation, Wanda can also seemingly teleport (as shown in WandaVision). Scarlet Witch can also control others’ minds and make them do anything she sees fit if she can get close enough.

Would that be possible against Thor? I’m not so sure. But, if we’re comparing their mental and intellectual abilities alone, Scarlet Witch tops Thor in that department.

Point: Scarlet Witch (1:2) Thor

Weaknesses

Thor seemingly has no weaknesses. He is almost unkillable – infinitely durable, powerful, and he can take any kind of damage. As I mentioned, the guy took on the full force of a neutron star over his back, and while it nearly killed him, the Asgardian prince recovered the moment his weapon touched his hands. When he’s holding Mjolnir or Stormbreaker, almost nothing can harm him.

He had shown to be susceptible to mental powers, though, such as Wanda’s telepathic skills. Still, one has to surprise him or come close enough to enchant him, which is almost impossible when Thor has his guard up.

On the other hand, Wanda’s powers are incredible for protecting herself. She fended off Thanos while he had five Infinity Stones for quite a while (Avengers: Infinity War) using only one hand. However, there’s a catch. Well, two, actually.

First, Wanda spends a lot of energy when using her powers. With time, she grows tired and weakens. Therefore, Scarlet Witch would eventually lose simply due to fatigue if the fight goes for long enough – especially against a highly-durable enemy.

Second, her biggest weakness is her human-like frailty. Scarlet Witch’s body is only human, injury-prone, and imperfect despite having incredible superhuman powers. Even Proxima Midnight managed to knock her down, and she’s ten times less powerful than Thor.

Therefore, Thor has one weakness – telepathy defense – while Scarlet Witch has two – stamina and durability – enough to give Thor another point.

Point: Thor (3:1) Scarlet Witch

Comic Battles

Finally, if you needed any more proof that Thor beats Scarlet Witch almost every time – how about Wanda saying so?

In the Uncanny Avengers Vol. 1 #4, the Red Skull steals Charles Xavier’s brain to telepathically control and manipulate superheroes – including Thor – into a war between humans and what is known as the homo superior or mutants.

He manipulates Thor into attacking Scarlet Witch. At first, she fends off the Asgardian’s attacks, but as the battle continues, Wanda realizes there’s no way she could harm Thor. Even with she and Havoc both going against Thor and expressing that they’re holding nothing back, he just keeps on coming.

Wanda is forced to tap into the source of her Chaos magic, one that drove her on the brink of insanity – even beyond – so many times. I quote: “She knows there is no defeating Thor in direct conflict… there is only removing him from the battle.”

Scarlet Witch manages to harness her Chaos magic and launch Thor into space. Simply put, she didn’t harm him in any way, just made him go away. Even at her strongest, not holding back anything, she couldn’t harm Thor in any way. 

That sums up all the debate – if any one of them would win a fight, it would be Thor. Even he knows it, as he told her in the same issue of the Uncanny Avengers – “I remember your black gifts require time and rest – of which you will have neither!” Thor would just keep coming at her until she was finished.

Point: Thor (4:1) Scarlet Witch

Thor Vs. Scarlet Witch – Who Would Win and Why?

There you have it – Thor wins 4:1. He is way too durable for Wanda to harm him in any way. Even if she can match him for a while and defend herself for a while – even catch him in a tight spot like she did with Thanos –  Thor is too versatile of a warrior with too many powers that would simply overwhelm Scarlet Witch.

She’s too fragile physically, and she would eventually go tired, allowing Thor to attack – and one big punch is more than enough.

The only chance Scarlet Witch has is catching Thor off-guard, coming close, and using her telepathic skills to mess with the Asgardian’s head, but in any other case – Thor trumps her.

However, that’s only true if we’re taking things as they are right now, not including potential power. Many pointers show that Wanda might be the most powerful being not only among the Avengers but the entire Marvel universe – she just doesn’t know how to control her Chaos magic. If she ever masters it and achieves her full potential, this fight would go the other way.