Previous Post There's that yes, I don't quite see Thor as Marvel's equivalent to Superman myself but Thor was the 'God' who could potentially solve the plot at hand and had his Kryptonite in the 60 seconds rule, as Gernot points out below he owes more of a debt to Captain Marvel/Freddy Freeman, with a whiff of the equally established Wonder Woman. But there is also the fact that 'Thor' had appeared in numerous comics throughout the 1940s and 50s, read This for a very direct idea of why Jack Kirby's input was likely a key factor in the creation of Marvels version... If you wanted to stretch the comparison further it is worth pointing out that in those early Thor tales Asgard is as much science-fiction futurism as it is mythology. Still, as with Starman's boots the addition of a red cape is a very specific nod to Superman, who's television series was still in syndication at this point incidentally. It would have been acceptable to copy the obscure and (at that time) forgotten Doctor Fate for Stephen Strange, or adopt the Challengers of the Unknown for the Fantastic Four, but Superman and Batman were too high profile. DC comics t that time would not have tolerated such a blatant poaching of their key character concepts.

Think that Stan and jack did indeed intionally make Thor to be their premier/most powerful Hero, to occupy same role/position in Marvel as Supermn had, and only when the Hulk and Wolverine/Spidey etc all took off, waa forced to have a multiple yop heros division instead!