Thor has almost always been one of the Marvel Universe's strongest powerhouses. The Asgardian God of thunder has gone toe-to-toe with some of the biggest villains in comics history, and he's usually walked away with a victory. However, one surprisingly strong threat to Thor actually comes not from a magical realm or forgotten world, but rather the X-Men's corner of the Marvel Universe.
The nigh-immortal Apocalypse has confronted Thor in the past when both the hero and the villain were younger and more headstrong. Now, CBR is taking a look back at their legendary fights.
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WHEN THOR MET APOCALYPSE
The first battle between the two takes place in Uncanny Avengers #6. Written by Rick Remender with art by Daniel Acuña, the first duel between the characters occurred roughly a thousand years before the events of the main Marvel Universe. Thor was still a young brawler, who was not yet worthy enough to wield his hammer, Mjolnir. This version of Thor had recently been featured in the beginnings of Jason Aaron's co-current run on Thor and was played as an over-eager and confident warrior.
In #8 of Uncanny Avengers, the Pharoah Rama-Tut (secretly Kang the Conqueror, a long-time time-spanning villain of the Avengers) recruited Apocalypse to a mission. He revealed to Apocalypse that someday, Thor would stop him from accomplishing his goals. Rama-Tut and Apocalypse come to Scandinavia, where the young Thor is drinking and fighting the locals for a laugh. Aware of what he's about to face, Apocalypse decides to attack Thor by surprise and kill him before he ever could become a threat. The battle does not start out well for the young Thor. Although he does get the chance to stab Apocalypse with his axe Jarnbjorn, the Godling didn't get many other good hits on the mutant. Apocalypse threw Thor through buildings and blasted him with energy blasts. Eventually, Thor was forced to retreat to survive, something the young God hated to do.
Thors vs. Apocalypse
Thor sought his father's help, but Odin refused on the grounds that the All-Father was involved in a pact with the Celestials to never interfere in their works. Thor ended up imbuing his axe with Celestial-damaging magics, taught to him by Kang masquerading as Loki. When Apocalypse turned his attentions to an ancestor of Wolverine, Thor returned and wiped out his Horsemen with the newly empowered axe. Thor brazenly attacks Apocalypse and is injured in the attempt. But when Apocalypse closes in for the kill, Thor is able to get the drop on him seriously wounds him with the axe. Apocalypse is this time the one forced to retreat, destroying his base and disappearing in the chaos.
Neither combatant entered into either fight with a clear understanding of their opponent were bringing to the battle. It shows as both Thor and Apocalypse were knocked out of these fights with ease. The pair would have another fight during The Unworthy & The Mighty Thor tie-in to Generations, where the arrival of the Jane Foster version of Thor returned to the past and helped Thor overwhelm and defeat Apocalypse. But that doesn't seem like the most fight the pair ever had, as the addition of a Thor fully capable of using Mjolnir was able to make the fight significantly shorter.
AXIS
The pair came to blows again in the pages of Axis, during the period where Thor wasn't worthy enough to wield his hammer. Scarlet Witch accidentally inverted the morality of a number of heroes and villains, leading to a number of characters to change their actions and motivations. Among the affected heroes were both Thor and Genesis, the young clone of Apocalypse who's been raised as a hero. As a result, Thor became a brutish and cruel man, while Genesis embraced the darker aspects of Apocalypse and began a new plan to make Mutants the dominant species on the planet. The inverted Avengers sought to maintain their power and attacked the X-Men.
Again, the battle began with a surprise attack. This time, Thor stabbed Apocalypse in the shoulder. With Thor devoid of any restraints, he quickly hit Apocalypse with a barrage of Jarnbjorn attacks that brought down the mutant with a series of deep cuts and stabs. Absorbing Man's sudden appearance is the only thing that keeps Thor from killing the young Apocalypse. While traces of Thor's lingering original personality may have kept him from going all-out, Thor definitely walked away with the victory in this rematch.
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