Believing that the world needed a defender, Thor, son of Odin and supreme ruler of Valhalla, bestowed upon the human Grant Farrel his own powers, which Grant used to become a crime fighter. When he transformed into Thor, Farrel could fly, throw lightning bolts, and generate storms. He wielded Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, which could be thrown hard enough to smash through multiple tanks but, like a boomerang, would return to his hand.