I acknowledge the possibility/likelihood/fill-in-the-blank-with-the-word-of-your-choice that Thor's feat beats Karate Kid's.
If that's all you wanted to know, I guess you've got your answer.
HOWEVER, if your actual question was the following, as I think it was:
... then I think that the answer is "Yes, pre-Crisis Karate Kid CAN, through his skill, equal Thor's brute force. Moreover, there's a REALLY good case to be made that pre-Crisis Karate Kid, as the thread title asks, CAN, indeed pierce Celestial armor.
I say this because pre-Crisis Karate Kid was able to generate force far in excess of what even today's average run-of-the-mill METAhuman is able to produce, broke through skill-as-strength techniques what gave even TRANS-level characters trouble, and contended on surprisingly solid terms with trams-level characters himself.
I cannot, for instance, see Thor lasting long against even a casually forgiving fighter with the following level of physical strength:
Karate Kid versus pre-Crisis Superboy AND the Legion of Super-Heroes
Notice that, despite his strength, Superboy is unable to escape from Karate Kid's hold, is sent helplessly spinning, AND, according to Chameleon Lad, had the "stuffing" knocked out of him:
No problem, save that I haven't actually YET gone into much depth.
Or, perhaps more precisely, I should say I've only provided 30-40% of the actual corroborating EVIDENCE for my initial reply.
For I said Karate Kid contended with Trans-level beings, or at least what KMC considers to be Trans-level beings, and this is true, and can be demonstrated by showing matches against the likes of Superboy, and Validius, and perhaps even Mon-El, though I can't at the moment swear to the last.
I have yet to show KK's showings against durable materials, though, and, with Superboy at least, it IS possible to make the case KK would not be effective given what their very first meeting was like. This ignores, however, that Superboy makes a gradual shift in the pre-Crisis era, as do arguably all other Kryptonians, from being more if not absolutely invulnerable, and in fact more invulnerable than he was strong in the 1960s, to less invulnerable though arguably stronger, and demonstrably LESS invulnerable than strong in the 1970s onward, where my selection above was taken from. The Pre-Crisis era is, after all, one that spanned DECADES, not merely a few years here and there, and featured quite a bit of evolution and devolution in terms of character abilities.
In other words, understand that, like the Flash, who only becomes the forum power he does after YEARS and years and years of upgrades and retcons, you need to be considering at least average to "HIGH-END" pre-Crisis Karate Kid.
Low-end kid probably couldn't do it. High-end KK, though ... man!
Check out the following, for instance, and note that Karate Kid not only AGAIN proves able to physically restrain powerful world-moving Superboy, but is also considered a major go-to guy, ALONG with Superboy, when the Legion needs barriers and force-fields and such broken:
Karate Kid (Val Amorr) versus Superboy (Clark Kent), Round 3.
Having pointed out that you need a high-end performing Karate Kid, it also might be worth pointing out that Karate Kid needs the opportunity to concentrate.
He doesn't necessarily need a long time to concentrate, mind you, but he does need time enough, health and strength enough, and freedom from sudden distraction. It's interesting to note, considering this, Karate Kid performed some of his best feats despite being shorted in one or more of these areas.
Exhibit A is the scan you yourself posted, of Karate Kid essentially creating an earthquake despite, in his own words, not really having time enough to calculate things as he normally might.
The following showing, escape from an oxygen-free prison constructed of thick, pure diamond, is similarly done on a short clock, with the added challenge of Val (Karate Kid's real name is Val Amorr) losing consciousness as he delivers his strike:
Most people know Superboy, whether from the 1960s OR 1970s was a literal world-moving figure. I'd wager a lot of people do NOT, however, know that there were beings ABOVE Superboy in strength. One such being was a Legion foe named Validus, a name fans of the Great Darkness Saga might find familiar ...
As can likely be gleaned from my tags, Karate Kid's success with Inertron, considering its endurance versus the likes of trans strength level characters like Superboy and Validus, is a compelling reason for saying "Yes, at his peak, given time to examine and concentrate on how best to break as Thor had, Karate Kid could, and likely would, find himself capable of matching Thor's feat of at least making a small hole in celestial armor."
Note that Validus, reckoned stronger than world-moving Superboy, is yet in the 30th century CONTAINED in a prison of Inertron. Note that, with minor modifications, Inertron is reckoned strong enough to hold Superboy AND Mon-el and the Legionnaires present with them forever. Note, nevertheless, what Karate Kid, who twice previously in this thread was shown directly containing the physical strength of Superboy, is able to do with Inertron shackles himself:
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Mar 12th, 2018 11:35 PM
