Odin's access to the Odin-Force is his most distinct ability that allows him to defend his title of All-Father of Asgard. The Odin-Force grants Odin powers beyond the powers wielded by the rest of the Asgardian gods. Despite being used by Odin since his first appearance in Marvel Comics, this element of Odin's character was not translated into the Thor movies.
Despite not being translated into the MCU, the Odin-Force has played a major role in various Thor storylines. Since the Odin-Force plays a major role in many storylines in Thor, any fan of Thor needs to know these things about the Odin-Force. This article will examine ten important things about the Odin-Force's origins and powers.
10 Thor Has Weld The Odin-Force On Several Occasions
Despite the Odin-Force being named after Odin, His son Thor has been granted this power on several occasions. The first occasion occurred after Odin died in battle against Surtur. After Odin's death, Thor gains the Odin-Force through becoming the new All-Father of Asgard. He would keep this power until Odin was revived a while later.
More recently Thor has regained the Odin-Force after Odin's death in the War of The Realms crossover by once again becoming the All-Father of Asgard. However, with Thor recently becoming a Herald of Galactus, the status of his ability to use the Odin-Force is uncertain at the moment.
9 It Has A Will Of Its Own
The Odin-Force is usually depicted as just a mindless force that is controlled by its user's will. However, there have been several occasions when the Odin-Force has displayed a will of its own.
The most important time that the Odin-Force manifested a will of its own was during the "Ragnarok" storyline. In this storyline, the Odin-Force appeared to Thor in the form of a young boy to warn Thor about how Ragnarok is not what it seems. The Odin-Force then strips Thor of its power until he discovered that Ragnarok is a repeating cycle of destruction and rebirth manipulated by Those Who Sit Above the Shadows.
8 It Was Created By Odin's Brothers Infusing Him With Their Powers
The origins of the Odin-Force was revealed in Walter Simonson's run on Thor. This origin was a part of a larger story about Odin's first encounter with Surtur and how he came into possession of the Eternal Flame.
This story sees Odin and his brothers, Vili and Ve, traveling to Musspelheim to prevent Surtur from destroying the Nine Realms. While the three brothers succeeded in stealing the Eternal Flame from Surtur, foiling his plans, Vili and Ve had to stay behind to prevent Surtur from chasing Odin back to Asgard. Upon his brothers' death, their essences fused with Odin's creating the Odin-Force
7 It Grants Its User The Power To Time Travel
The Odin-Force grants its user immense powers that can be used in different ways. An interesting ability that Odin-Force has that was seen only once is the ability to travel through time.
This ability was used by Thor at the end of the "Gods and Men" storyline. This storyline shows a potential future, where after Asgard's destruction, Thor and the Asgardians take over Earth. After Earth's near destruction, Thor realized that his rule has been a disaster for humanity and decided to use the Odin-Force to travel back in time. Thor was then able to use his knowledge of the future to prevent Asgard's destruction and prevent a potentially dark future.
6 It Created Mangog
While the Odin-Force has saved Asgard on many occasions, it has also created one of its greatest threats. That threat would be Mangog. Mangog has nearly destroyed Asgard on two occasions, one during Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's run on Thor and later during Jason Aaron's run.
During Jason Aaron's run, Mangog's origins were finally revealed. Its origin was the result of Odin using the Odin Force to compress an entire alien race, that wronged Odin in an unknown manner, into a single being. Rather than making it easier for Odin to defeat this unknown race, the combined hatred of billions turned Mangog into a cosmic force of destruction.
5 Its Power Is Tied To Asgard Itself
While the Odin-Force was originally used by Odin alone, it has transformed over time to allow others to use it. This transformation is a result of Odin tying the Odin-Force to the very existence of Asgard itself. This means that the Odin-Force now belongs to whoever is the All-Father of Asgard rather than the force perishing with Odin himself.
Odin tied the Odin-Force to Asgard to allow the Asgard's natural cosmic energy to slowly recharge the Odin-Force, whenever Odin is not using the force in Asgard. This does create a weakness to Odin in that the Odin-Force would completely vanish if Asgard is destroyed.
4 It Can Transform Humans Into Asgardians
During the Sliver-Age, the Odin-Force was used as the justification for Odin to serve as a Deus ex Machina in any Thor story. During this era, the Odin-Force was essentially a free pass for Odin to whatever the story needed him to do. This can be seen in the storyline when he turned Jane Foster into an Asgardian.
Odin turns Jane Foster as an Asgardians, as a part of a test. Odin's test was that if Jane Foster could live as Asgardians, Thor could marry her. Jane, however, has some issues adjusting to being a person with cosmic power. What specifically made her fail the test was that Odin, who was against Thor falling into love with Jane, had her test her bravery against a literal personalization of fear. She failed the test of bravery and Odin turned her back into a human.
3 Overuse Of It Will Cause Its User To Fall Into A Deep Sleep
While the Odin-Force grants its user a lot of power, it does have a major weakness. That weakness is that if a user used the Odin-Force as a faster rate than it can be replenished, the user will fall asleep once the Odin-Force is nearly depleted. For Odin, this period of Odin-Force induced sleep is called the Odinsleep. Even when Odin is not using the full power of the Odin-Force, he uses it enough that Odinsleep is a yearly occurrence.
The Odinsleep is a dangerous time for Asgard as Odin is completely unconscious and unable to respond to any sort of stimulation. With Odin unresponsive and unable to use his unlimited power, Asgard is vulnerable to attack from its various foes. This problem is apparent in the first storyline to deal with Odinsleep involved both Loki trying to take over Asgard and Mangog trying to destroy it.
2 It Can Destroy Entire Galaxies And Then Repairs Them
The exact limits of the Odin-Force are unknown, but whatever that limited is it's pretty high. This can be seen by the Odin-Force being capable of destroying entire galaxies.
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This display of the Odin-Force full power occurred when Odin came under the possession of the cosmic entity Infinity. Under the influence of Infinity, Odin went mad and went on a universe-spanning ramage. This rampage saw Odin use the Odin-Force destroy countless planets and galaxies. After breaking free from Infinity control, Odin was able to use the Odin-Force to repair everything destroyed by his rampage.
1 It Can Teleport The Entire Human Population Into Another Dimension
One power commonly used by a user of the Odin-Force is the ability to instantly transport people from one dimension to another. The full extent of this power was seen in Journey into Mystery no. 104.
In this story, Loki unleashed a horde of Frost and Fire Giants upon Earth. To prevent needless civilian casualties, Odin decided to transport the entire population from Earth to another dimension. This transportation of the entire Earth population allowed Thor and his allies to cut loose in their dealing with the army of giants. After defeating the giants, Odin transported humanity back to Earth.