Odin Borson

"I have sacrificed much to achieve peace. So too must a new generation sacrifice to maintain that peace. Responsibility! Duty! Honour! These are not mere virtues to which we must aspire! They are essential to every soldier, to every king!"

- Odin

Odin is the father of Thor, Loki, and the ruler of Asgard in the film, Thor. He is based on one of the gods of Norse mythology.

Thor Prologue
Odin is a member of the Asgardian race, once looked upon by people of Northern Europe as gods, and is the ruler of Asgard. At one time he led a force of Asgardians against the jotuns in defence of people on Earth. The Asgardians beat the jotuns back to their home realm of Jotunheim where Odin granted them mercy and offered them a truce. In the process, he also confiscated the Casket of Ancient Winters that gave them much of their power and rescued a baby jotun who had been abandoned in the conflict. The infant Loki grew up as a brother to Odin's real son Thor, and Odin kept the boy's heritage a secret in the hope that he would one day come to end the enmity between the two races.

Captain America: The First Avenger
Odin was mentioned by Johann Schmidt as keeping the Cosmic Cube in his trophy room.

Thor
Centuries after the Asgadian/Jotunheim war, Odin held a ceremony to name Thor as his heir, but the event was interrupted by several jotuns breaking into Odin's vault. He activated The Destroyer in defence of the vault, thus ending the threat of the jotuns reclaiming their artefact, but opted not to press the matter any further. Thor insisted that he launch an attack on Jotunheim, but Odin rejected the idea, preferring instead to preserve the shaky truce. Thor then defied his father's will and launched a small-scale attack of his own. Upon learning of Thor's defiance, Odin went to Jotunheim himself and drew his sons and their friends back to Asgard. Thor had foolishly reignited the war with the jotuns, and for his transgression Odin banished him to Earth.

Loki had discovered the truth of his long-concealed ancestry during the fight on Jotunheim and confronted Odin with the discovery. Odin could only relate an historical account of how he had found and rescued Loki before lapsing into his restorative "Odinsleep". With Odin incapacitated and Thor exiled, Loki seized the throne of Asgard for himself. He manipulated the others around him as Odin slept, even going so far as to arrange Odin's assassination at the hands of the jotuns.

Odin finally awoke after Thor had secured a return to Asgard with an act of self-sacrifice and had defeated Loki. He raced to witness Thor grabbing hold of Loki's spear as Loki fell into an endless void and in turn grabbed Thor to prevent both his sons from falling. Loki, dangling from the spear, looked up and appealed to Odin that he did what he did for the good of Asgard. Odin quietly rejected this, and then watched with sadness when Loki released the spear and fell.

Some time later, Odin was approached by a sullen Thor. They both had suffered loses, and Thor had come to make an admission that he'd been wrong and hoped that one day he'd make his father proud. Odin, understanding the personal sacrifices that Thor had made for the good of three races, told Thor that he had made him proud.

The Avengers
After descovering that Loki was in Earth after the Cosmic Cube, with the Bifrost destroyed, Odin had to summon dark energy to send Thor to Earth, so he could stop Loki.

Character traits
Odin is the all-powerful ruler of Asgard. As such, he is wise and honorable. He is dedicated to keeping the peace between the Nine Realms. He believes in being responsible (in terms of being careful and responsible for your actions), duty (in terms of to the protection and keeping of peace between the Nine Realms) and honor (always being an man of your word). However, when angered and/or upset, he can be very stern, if not almost ruthless (not in terms of being bad but doing what he feels is necessary to send a message) to an extent. As Frigga stated, "everything he does, he does with an purpose." He loves Thor but when Thor went Jothunheim and can the problems he did, he exiled Thor to Earth, to teach what it means to a good warrior and hero.

As all Asgardians, he possesses superhuman physical attributes, such as strength, speed, stamina and reflexes, and extremely skillful with a weapon. His weapon of choice being the equally powerful Gungnir, which allow its wielder to emit powerful energy blasts and blinding light. It also enables the wielder to have full control over the Destroyer.

Powers
The nature Odin powers are unknown but it is heavily implied the he is extremely powerful, having the ability to take aways Thor's power and to pull a spell on Mjolnir to enable the one who is worthy of it to wield it. Odin is by far the most powerful being yet revealed in the Marvel Cinematic universe, seemingly far more powerful than either Thor or Loki or all the superheroes and supervillains combined. Odin possesses all the conventional attributes of an Asgardian. However, as the King of the Asgardians, many of these attributes are significantly superior than those possessed by the majority of his race (with the exceptions of Thor, Heimdall and Loki).
 * Superhuman Strength: In spite of his advanced age, Odin possesses superhuman strength surpassing that of most Asgardians. Odin is capable of lifting over 100 tons. He was able to lift an Frost Giant over with his spear and threw him a good distance. He was able to catch Thor by his leg while Thor was using the spear to hold on to Loki, essentially hold them both.
 * Superhuman Agility: Odin's agility, balance, and bodily coordination, are far superior to the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.
 * Superhuman Reflexes: Odin's reflexes, are much more superior to the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.
 * Superhuman Stamina: Odin's musculature produces considerably less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the musculature of a human, and most other Asgardians. As a result, he possesses superhuman stamina in all physical activities. He can exert himself at peak capacity for years before fatigue would begin to impair him.
 * Superhuman Durability: Odin's body is considerably more resistant to physical injury than the body of a human being, or even most other Asgardians for that matter (with the exceptions of Thor, Loki and Heimdall). Odin's body is capable of withstanding great impact forces, exposure to temperature and pressure extremes, falls from great heights, and powerful energy blasts from cosmic level beings without sustaining injury, however, though to what extent is unknown.
 * Extended Longevity: Odin, like all Asgardians, is extremely long-lived, maybe even immortal as some other god pantheons. Nonetheless, Odin still ages at a pace much slower than human beings. He is also immune to all known Earthly diseases and infections. From his looks from the beginning of the movie, he may very be anywhere from 1,500 to almost 3,000 or more years old.
 * Odinforce: Odin is capable of manipulating vast amounts of magical energy, referred to as the Odin Power, or the Odin Force, for a number of purposes. With this power, Odin is capable of feats such as read minds from across even dimensions (as he was about to crown Thor king, he notices that Frost Giants were in his trophy room), projecting force blasts (mainly through either Guniger or Mjolnir; it is unknown if he is physically capable of doing so without any of these items and even so, with his spear, he was able to destroy hordes of Frost Giants), and more. Odin is highly skilled in the use of his powers during combat situations, and was able to casually take down and kill Frost Giants with ease during the war. Odin's full power is thus considered at the least equal to that most every other "deity of Earth" (if they exist, which could be more than likely). Odin is also capable of placing multiple permanent enchantments on items, as he did for Mjolnir when he exiled Thor to Earth.

Abilities

 * Master Combatant: Odin is a master hand to hand combatant and close quarter combat.
 * Master Tactician: His thousands of years of experience resulted in him becoming a master tactician. He has led the Armies of Asgard in battle for countless years in wars over all the Nine Realms.

Weaknesses
While possessing the Odinforce that is inherent opposed to the need for outward sustenance, Odin must undertake the Odinsleep - a state of deep sleep lasting for an unknown period of time to keep his powers from waning. During this time Odin is guarded closely as he is vulnerable. Despite his limitations and weaknesses, such as the need for the Odinsleep annually, Odin is nonetheless the most powerful being the Nine Realms.

Friends and Allies

 * Thor
 * Frigga
 * Sif
 * Jane Foster
 * Fandral
 * Volstagg
 * Hogun
 * Heimdall
 * Sleipnir

Enemies

 * Loki
 * The Destroyer
 * Laufey

Behind the scenes

 * In an interview Hopkins stated he knew nothing of the comic. About the film he said, "It's a superhero movie, but with a bit of Shakespeare thrown in".I'm very interested in that relationship between fathers and sons", and that, "My father's relationship with me was cold. He was a hot-blood character but to me, cold. When I was young, he expressed his disappointment because I was bad in school and all of that. He didn't mean any harm, but I felt I could never meet up to his expectations."
 * Hopkins expressed that he found a personal resonance in the Odin role, saying, "He's a stern man. He's a man with purpose. I play the god who banishes his son from the kingdom of Asgard because he screwed up. He's a hot-headed, temperamental young man... probably a chip off of the old block but I decide he's not really ready to rule the future kingdom, so I banish him. I'm harsh and my wife complains and I say, 'That is why I'm king.' He's ruthless, take-it-or-leave-it. Women are much more forgiving; men are not so forgiving. I know in my life, my karma is, 'If you don't like it, tough, move on.' And I move on. I'm a little like Odin myself".

Appearances/Actors

 * (3 films)
 * Thor (First appearance) - Anthony Hopkins
 * Captain America: The First Avenger (Mentioned only)
 * The Avengers (Mentioned only)

Trivia

 * In the comics, Odin has several more sons, such as classic Thor supporting characters Tyr and Balder. Balder was originally in several drafts for Thor but was cut for time.