Thor is one of the greatest superheroes of the Marvel Comic Book as well as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He is the God of Thunder and the erstwhile King of Asgard. One of the strongest Avengers there is, Thor is a living legend and a literal God. So it was bound to happen that one day DC will try to copy the character. It is not like Marvel hasn’t returned the favour. But we believe that DC does a way better job at imitating Marvel’s coolest characters and creating a better niche. Their version of the Mighty Thor is called the Thunderer and trust us when we say this, not only is he cooler than Marvel Comics’ Thor, he is way more powerful than him. And the guy has already gone on several adventures to save not just universes but the entire Multi-Verse. Presenting – Did you know DC has his own version of Thor called the Thunderer?
First Thing first, who exactly is the Thunderer?
The Thunderer’s original name used to be Wandjina, a living Storm God hailing from another plane of existence in a parallel universe called Earth – 7. He is of Australian Aboriginal descent and is the Thunder God of the Aborigine culture. He is also the Lightning brother of the Mowanjum people and a deity of Storm and Lightning. The Thunderer was saved from being completely annihilated at the hands of the Gentry (a race of sinister beings that live in a region outside the Multi-Verse), by Nix Uotan (yet another instance of DC copying one of Marvel Comics’ greatest super villains – Doctor Doom). Uotan would then seek help form the Thunderer, who would hop from one Universe to another to recruit superheroes from different universes in the hopes of saving Nix Uotan and returning the favour. He is currently the member of Justice Incarnate, a superhero team tasked with protecting the Multi-Verse from threats like the Gentry.
Origin Story of the Thunderer
The superhero known as the Thunderer hailed from the world of Angor, a parallel universe, where he was originally called Wandjina. Angor is special in the DC Multi-Verse because it is basically the mainstream Marvel Universe in different packaging. Angor has several parallels with the Marvel Comic Book universe with many heroes and villains resembling the Marvel Heroes and Villain characters. Wandjina is a weather spirit from Aboriginal culture. He is responsible for bringing rain and thunder to the Land of the Aborigines. He was part of the Assemblers, a group of dc Superheroes modeled after Marvel Comics’ Avengers. Wandjina was the equivalent of Thor. Instead of a hammer-like Thor does, Wandjina wielded a Thunder spewing Axe.
The crisis changed the entire origin story of Wandjina. As part of the Assemblers, Wandjina fought and was defeated by the Extremists, a group of supervillains who harnessed deadly nuclear energy that laid waste to Angor. The Extremists traveled to the Mainstream DC Earth and Wandjina gave up his life to ensure the Extremists do not succeed here as well. The Flashpoint Paradox added two more Wandjina’s two the DC Multi-Verse. One was similar to the one from Angor. This Wandjina was even more similar to the Odinson. He hailed from Earth 8. But the Wandjina of Earth 7 proved him-self to be an even better imitation than the former with respect to mimicking the Marvel God of Thunder. This version of Wandjina hailed from Earth 7.
This is the one we are talking about.
The Earth 7 Wandjina was called the Thunderer. He seemed to be a combination of the Thor from the Marvel Ultimate Universe and the Wandjina of the New 52 reality. Like Thor, he too wields a signature weapon. The Thunderer wields a Silver Lance that spews electricity and control the weather like Thor’s Mjolnir does. The Thunderer is the God of the Mowanjum people of Aboriginal descent. The Thunderer was resurrected by his people as a living God to help save the world from incoming threats. The Thunderer talks of a rainbow-themed transportation device that his people can use to travel between realms much like Thor and the Asgardian Bi Frost.
The Thunderer also possesses inhuman levels of strength, speed, durability, and endurance just like Thor of Marvel Comics does. He is also a part of the world’s most premiere superhero team called the Retaliators. The Retaliators were based on their Earth – 7 counterparts called the Assemblers. Earth – 7 was unfortunate enough for being targeted by the Gentry, who turned that reality into their personal playground of chaos. The Assemblers lost and were absorbed into a strange energy power source up above in the sky. Erath – 7 had both DC and Marvel-based superheroes. The DC Based heroes died and the Marvel-based superheroes were left to fend for them-selves, and fight the Gentry alone. The remaining superheroes lost the fight dearly since the Gentry had near unfathomable power they could not handle alone.
Nix Uotan, last of the Monitors and the Judge of the Multi-Verse, arrives in that universe. Seeing the devastation caused by the Gentry, Nix Uotan is taken aback. The only remaining survivor of all that destruction is the Thunderer. Now a shadow of his former self, the Thunderer asks Nix Uotan to let him die and go to other worlds and tell them about their story so that the rest of creation is prepared to take on the Gentry’s Might. Nix Uotan instead makes a deal with the Gentry. The Gentry will let the Thunderer go and in return, Nix Uotan will offer him-self. The Thunderer vehemently protested but Nix Uotan sealed the deal anyways. He asked the Thunderer to go to other universes and rally a group of powerful like-minded superheroes to fight the onslaught of the Gentry.
The Thunderer, now healed from his wounds, decided to do just that. He hopped from one universe to another, telling them about the Gentry and looking for soldiers to fight the Gentry and save Nix Uotan, whom he owed a debt of life. The Thunderer breaches Earth 8 and he one of the first heroes to set foot there.
Reaching Earth 8, the Thunderer sees his old friend Nix Uotan corrupted and evil. The Gentry had somehow managed to turn Nix Uotan into an evil being and he had embraced the Dark Side. Nix Uotan has now become an agent of the Gentry. He intends to enact their grand plan of conquering the Multi-Verse. To do so, Nix Uotan intends to break down the very fabric of time and space so that the universes die in a fiery but silent death, leaving the Gentry as the sole masters of the cradle of creation.
Nix is using the corpses of the dead heroes of Earth – 7 as his zombie army, who fight on his behalf. The Thunderer is forced to fight his own friends and comrades. His powers prove to be an asset for the good guys. Using his weather manipulation powers, the Thunderer summons a massive downpour of rain and lightning on Nix Uotan and his armies. Aqua-woman uses that water to launch a decisive but devastating blow against Nix Uotan.
The Thunderer even reveals himself to be powerful enough to fight the Gentry one on one (to some extent). The Gentry was pushed away but it was later revealed that they were but merely a faction and the real masterminds behind the attack were led by the Empty Hand, the King of the Gentry, who will surely not stop until all of creation is his to spare. Nevertheless, the Thunderer then became a vital part of Justice Incarnate, a superhero team with members recruited from all across the Multi-Verse with the sole purpose of fighting the Gentry wherever and whenever they pop up. This means that the comic books have made the Thunderer a rather popular and formidable superhero and part of the larger DC Community. Will the movies show DC’s own version of Thor in the theatres anytime soon?
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