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in the Avengers Movie, Loki manages to trap Thor in a huge glass capsule and jettisons him out of a moving cargo ship.

Why is that supposed to "test" Thor's immortality?

How is this act different from throwing Thor (if one can) out of a moving plane?

Audio Clip here - from avengers movie

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    Please attribute why you think the reason for the trapping was for 'testing'.
    – Solemnity
    Commented Feb 4, 2013 at 4:47
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    I'd guess it's based on Loki's dialogue. "the humans think us immortal. Shall we put that to the test?"
    – David Stratton
    Commented Feb 4, 2013 at 5:46

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The line is "The humans think us immortal. Should we test that?"

Loki knows that Asgardians are not immortal. He grew up there and is quite aware of the previous Asgardian deaths, their legends and prophecies. He also knows about how much damage it would take and I'm sure the cage could deliver it. Loki was sure that Thor was going to die and was twisting the knife. Perhaps "sure" is a little to strong, it might be more he hoped that Thor would eat it when the cage cratered since Loki was aware that it wasn't a perfect deathtrap for a flyer.

Thor knew it, too. Otherwise he would have ridden out the freefall and slammed into the ground, then picked up his hammer and grabbed the quinjet Loki was using to escape. Thor barely escaped that trap with his life and didn't escape without injury.

@DavidStratton is correct that throwing Thor from a plane would do nothing as long as he possesses Mjolnir. If you could keep the hammer (and thus his power of flight) from Thor, I have no doubt that he would turn into a smear when he hit the ground. As long as he has Mjolnir, he can always "roll with the blow" and mitigate some, if not all, of the damage.

This answer applies only to the movie universe Thor. The comics universe Thor has been swatted from the air to the ground before and got back up. The terminal velocity or Thor's falling body doesn't produce enough force to overcome his godly damage reduction and result in death, although it is enough to make him bleed. It would take multiple drops to kill him.

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  • But it seems like the movie gets the physics all wrong. He swings Mjolnir at the glass and barely cracks it. Then he effectively jumps with Mjolnir held in front of him and smashes through with no problem. Surely swinging a hammer delivers more force than jumping while holding it, or we've been using hammers the wrong way for tens of thousands of years.
    – Wad Cheber
    Commented Jun 1, 2015 at 1:45
  • And I don't think we can assume that Thor would have ridden out the fall if he could have survived it. There are many things I could survive but would not do, like having my legs amputated for no reason, or using a power sander to remove the skin from my face. Being able to survive something doesn't mean you should do it, or that you would be willing to do it. Maybe the fall would have broken his legs - that is enough reason to not ride it out.
    – Wad Cheber
    Commented Jun 1, 2015 at 1:49
  • @WadCheber - Thor wasn't able to put much strength behind the swing while falling, because just as it hit he was flung backwards at the same time. He then timed his jump so that he hit the cracked spot at full force.
    – Omegacron
    Commented Sep 15, 2015 at 18:33
  • @Omegacron - Swing backwards? :) But I see your point.
    – Wad Cheber
    Commented Sep 15, 2015 at 18:53
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It would be different from throwing Thor from a plane because Thor could just fly if thrown from a plane. The trap he was in prevented that (until he was able to finally smash out of it).

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Thor survived the explosion in AOU with very little damage. So I believe he would have survived the fall from the carrier.

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