Iron Man’s strongest armor ever was specifically designed to help take down Thor if he lost control – and proved capable of stopping Mjolnir in its tracks. In Iron Man #64 (2003), Stark wore his Thorbuster suit for the first time and showed its ridiculous power as he fought the God of Thunder in an effort to stop a political uprising from fully erupting.
Tony Stark has developed a number of suits specifically designed to stop a mighty hero or villain. Most famously, he created the Hulkbuster armor to stop a fully raging Hulk, as seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron. However, Stark has also created other models such as the Fin Fang Foombuster, to stop the powerful alien, the Godbuster, when he was stuck in the virtual universe against Mistress, and even created the Phoenix-Killer armor, to stop the Phoenix Force when it arrived on Earth in the Avengers vs. X-Men crossover. While those are all powerful suits in their own ways, his Thorbuster suit gave him a magical upgrade, making a mere mortal able to take on Thor one-on-one.
In Iron Man #64 by Mike Grell, Alan Davis, Robin Riggs, Dave Kemp, Richard Starkings, and Jimmy Betancourt, a group of people worshipping Thor in Slokovia are threatened by the ruling dictatorship. In order to protect them, the God of Thunder arrives in order to help those who are stuck under the rule. Stark doesn’t agree with Thor arriving in Slokovia and tells him aligning with the people will just give the countries people an excuse to slaughter one another. Thor doesn’t relent, leading Stark to flee. After Doctor Doom (who has his own political motivations) tells him he could stop Thor if his armor was powered by a reactor with Thor’s enchanted energy, Stark uses an Asgardian crystal Thor gave him as a gift to study to power a new suit, the Thorbuster.
Iron Man takes a huge risk creating the Thorbuster armor, as its unknown Asgardian origins mean it could meltdown at any moment – but if its origin is true, it would have the enchantment of Odin. Once arriving in Slokovia, the Thorbuster suit makes an immediate impact. He punches the God of Thunder with a thunderous swing. Thor responds by throwing Mjolnir at Iron Man, but the enchantment allows him to stop in mid-air. Thor isn’t thrilled Iron Man used a gift from the gods to make a superweapon against him. The two exchange god-like blows, in an otherworldly slugfest. Eventually, Thor gains the upper hand and destroys the Thorbuster suit.
Yes, Iron Man would lose the fight to Thor. But, the fact he went blow-for-blow with a literal god, stopping his hammer in its tracks by gaining the Odin-Force, and gave his opponent quite the beating before his armor was destroyed was incredibly impressive. If Iron Man hadn’t rushed to put the suit together to stop Thor and had more time to test and train with it, he could have taken down his fellow Avenger. The Thorbuster suit was short-lived, but among Iron Man’s most powerful armors, it ranks at the top just by its magical capabilities.
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