Thor Odinson, God of Thunder Appreciation 2019

[kilderkin]

IMO ever since Walt Simonson Sif hasn't been Thor's romantic interest. The way she fawned over Beta Ray Bill after Lorelei trick her into thinking Thor was being unfaithful changed the dynamic completely.



And now if Jamie Alexander had her way with the new movie she could end up romantically involved with Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie.

The art on that second picture is especially fantastic imo

[Frontier]

IMO ever since Walt Simonson Sif hasn't been Thor's romantic interest. The way she fawned over Beta Ray Bill after Lorelei trick her into thinking Thor was being unfaithful changed the dynamic completely.



And now if Jamie Alexander had her way with the new movie she could end up romantically involved with Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie.

I think Simonson made it pretty clear that part of why Sif loved Bill was because of how much he reminded her of Thor, and that she still carried a torch for Thor even when she was with Bill.

[Sunny]

The art on that second picture is especially fantastic imo

That second pic is absolutely gorgeous. I've always loved it.

[Triniking1234]

So Wanda got to bone a robot but Marvel drew the line at boning horse dudes?

[Frontier]

Thor: The Road to the War of Realms:

- I swear I've read this exact same story Aaron did with Young Thor before. It was collected in the "Trials of Thor" trade. It had the exact same premise...Thor leaves Asgard, falls for a mortal woman, Thor goes off to war and leaves her behind, and then comes back and she's dead. The only difference is "Erika the Red" is this muscle-bound warrior woman which, considering Aaron's take on She-Hulk, seems to be his preferred type of female character.

- Did Thor really learn anything about worthiness? I mean, mortality, love, I can get but it didn't seem to really have anything to do with "worthiness." Especially when the story just seemed to highlight humanity's excess more then the kind of nobility and honorable nature I think is supposed to be more inherent in worthiness.

- Thor and Valkyire end up stripped naked while Angela still has her clothes...well, I guess there's only so much shading and hair one can use to hide one's naughty bits.

- Angela being Thor's long-lost sister still feels so tacked on. Their relationship just seems kind of forced and non-existent, even if it was nice to have another character who thought Thor was worthier then he did.

- So we get Jane, Roz, the All-Mother, and even Angela all concerned about Thor...but no Sif. Heck, we learn about yet another mortal woman Thor loved before her. Jeez, does she not have enough muscle's or something? She's lucky Aaron even gave her a page of sparring.

- I honestly don't believe Agger made that phone call, even drunk. He's always felt like a psychopath who probably wouldn't care about any of what Malekith is doing.

- Did Roz and Thor really date? The last significant romantic moment I remember with them was Roz complaining about Thor not taking the perfect opportunity to kiss her. So apparently they had a completely off-screen relationship, or Aaron just wanted to make her one of Thor's girlfriends to make her seem more important or relevant compared to "Thor's other female human friend."

- Roz has my exact same reaction to the Thor/She-Hulk relationship.

- It's weird that Aaron talks about how omnipotent, powerful, and all-seeing Odin is when he acts nothing like that in the actual books. It feels more like lip-service then anything else. Like, he can still be a flawed father figure but at least capture his position, power, and majesty correctly.

- Odin thought enlisting Cull was a good idea? When there's so many other more competent and trustworthy Asgardians? I guess he doesn't care what happens to Cull, and it makes as much sense as working with Loki in the Young Thor issue.

- The whole Thor vs. Odin thing just feels like something that would work in an isolated instance and not in the long-running continuity of Thor, because I just don't feel like they should have this kind of relationship at this point. Thor has loved and respected Odin, Odin has honored and respected Thor for what he has achieved. This set their relationship back, like, decades. And I can't believe Odin hasn't been deposed by now with how apparently unlikable and incompetent he is, unless we're supposed to assume Asgard's been suffering under his rule all these years.

- Why was Heimdall crying? Like, really? He's seen worse, or he's probably seen this before from the sounds of how Thor and Odin's relationship has been characterized by Aaron.

- Man, Thor almost killed Odin. That...that's a lot to take in. Poor Balder's the only reasonable character in this issue, especially when Freyja doesn't seem to care at all about Thor almost killing Odin.

- Loki and Malekith feel like the exact same character to me when they're in the same pages together.

- Oh, now even Freyja has a hammer she can swing and wield with the best of 'em. Why not just give every Asgardian a hammer at this point? It just felt ridiculous.

- Aaron's trying to depict this close and deep relationship between mother and son when I just don't feel it at all with how little we've seen of Thor and Freyja in this run and that, in the long history of Thor, they've just never been that consistently close. So I just didn't really buy into the mom issue.

[kilderkin]

Thor: The Road to the War of Realms:

- I swear I've read this exact same story Aaron did with Young Thor before. It was collected in the "Trials of Thor" trade. It had the exact same premise...Thor leaves Asgard, falls for a mortal woman, Thor goes off to war and leaves her behind, and then comes back and she's dead. The only difference is "Erika the Red" is this muscle-bound warrior woman which, considering Aaron's take on She-Hulk, seems to be his preferred type of female character.

- Did Thor really learn anything about worthiness? I mean, mortality, love, I can get but it didn't seem to really have anything to do with "worthiness." Especially when the story just seemed to highlight humanity's excess more then the kind of nobility and honorable nature I think is supposed to be more inherent in worthiness.

- Thor and Valkyire end up stripped naked while Angela still has her clothes...well, I guess there's only so much shading and hair one can use to hide one's naughty bits.

- Angela being Thor's long-lost sister still feels so tacked on. Their relationship just seems kind of forced and non-existent, even if it was nice to have another character who thought Thor was worthier then he did.

- So we get Jane, Roz, the All-Mother, and even Angela all concerned about Thor...but no Sif. Heck, we learn about yet another mortal woman Thor loved before her. Jeez, does she not have enough muscle's or something? She's lucky Aaron even gave her a page of sparring.

- I honestly don't believe Agger made that phone call, even drunk. He's always felt like a psychopath who probably wouldn't care about any of what Malekith is doing.

- Did Roz and Thor really date? The last significant romantic moment I remember with them was Roz complaining about Thor not taking the perfect opportunity to kiss her. So apparently they had a completely off-screen relationship, or Aaron just wanted to make her one of Thor's girlfriends to make her seem more important or relevant compared to "Thor's other female human friend."

- Roz has my exact same reaction to the Thor/She-Hulk relationship.

- It's weird that Aaron talks about how omnipotent, powerful, and all-seeing Odin is when he acts nothing like that in the actual books. It feels more like lip-service then anything else. Like, he can still be a flawed father figure but at least capture his position, power, and majesty correctly.

- Odin thought enlisting Cull was a good idea? When there's so many other more competent and trustworthy Asgardians? I guess he doesn't care what happens to Cull, and it makes as much sense as working with Loki in the Young Thor issue.

- The whole Thor vs. Odin thing just feels like something that would work in an isolated instance and not in the long-running continuity of Thor, because I just don't feel like they should have this kind of relationship at this point. Thor has loved and respected Odin, Odin has honored and respected Thor for what he has achieved. This set their relationship back, like, decades. And I can't believe Odin hasn't been deposed by now with how apparently unlikable and incompetent he is, unless we're supposed to assume Asgard's been suffering under his rule all these years.

- Why was Heimdall crying? Like, really? He's seen worse, or he's probably seen this before from the sounds of how Thor and Odin's relationship has been characterized by Aaron.

- Man, Thor almost killed Odin. That...that's a lot to take in. Poor Balder's the only reasonable character in this issue, especially when Freyja doesn't seem to care at all about Thor almost killing Odin.

- Loki and Malekith feel like the exact same character to me when they're in the same pages together.

- Oh, now even Freyja has a hammer she can swing and wield with the best of 'em. Why not just give every Asgardian a hammer at this point? It just felt ridiculous.

- Aaron's trying to depict this close and deep relationship between mother and son when I just don't feel it at all with how little we've seen of Thor and Freyja in this run and that, in the long history of Thor, they've just never been that consistently close. So I just didn't really buy into the mom issue.

Imo

Aaron has completely the wrong take on the Thor and Odin relationship, probably deliberately because he wanted to make a point about father figures, I could be wrong but I really don't think so

I think he has completely disregarded the clear points where Odin and Thor have literally layed down their lives for love and respect for each other,

Sure there are times when they were at loggerheads and Odin can be bad at times, but for me he has only focused on these points to press the Odin is bad point of his story

Imo this was very one dimensional writing and not particularly well done at that

I feel

[juan678]

[Frontier]

I've finally seen Endgame...suffice to say, I did not like how they handled Thor.

I mean, Ragnarok was one thing but he felt like a parody of himself in this movie. He felt more like the "Big Lebowski" in a Marvel movie then he felt like Thor for 2/3 of the film. Like, I get he's been through a lot and had severe trauma but I would've thought that would turn him into something more like Old King Thor and not Volstagg. But gotta get those jokes in.

The talk with his mom was nice but it didn't seem to actually kick in from what we saw afterwards. He still felt like a bumbling buffoon right up until the fight with Thanos.

I was genuinely surprised he could still wield Mjolnir with how he was acting up to that point, but I guess they had to have that so Thor could bring Mjolnir back for Cap to use.

And did anyone else think Cap and Iron Man ended up doing much more against Thanos in their fight then he did?

And handing off the kingship to Valkyrie...like, was there a point to Thor even being king then? Him sitting on that throne? He never did anything with it or get to strut his stuff as King Thor. And how is Valkyrie more qualified to run Asgard then he is? He had to be the one to inspire her to come back to stop Hela in the first place and as far as we know they have the exact same amount of leadership experience. Does Asgard even need a king? It's basically just a rural community of people just doing stuff. At this point the king seems more like a mayor then a king.

[Ascended]

And did anyone else think Cap and Iron Man ended up doing much more against Thanos in their fight then he did?

Cap definitely had his big hero moment here. Tony....I'll have to watch the movie again, haven't seen it since opening weekend, but I don't recall him doing much more than Thor did (a few nice hits that ultimately didn't accomplish much other than looking cool), until he stole the stones and Snapped Thanos and his forces away. Could be forgetting something of course, it's been months.

Thor got his big moment in Infinity War (everything from his arrival in Wakanda to his attack on Thanos was just all manner of badass), and Hemsworth is coming back to the role so I'm not terribly bothered by how Endgame played out. Evans and Downy were leaving and taking their characters with them; let them get the spotlight. Thor and Hemsworth will (hopefully) have their big send off after Thor 4 (or whenever Hemsworth stops playing the role).

And handing off the kingship to Valkyrie...like, was there a point to Thor even being king then? Him sitting on that throne? He never did anything with it or get to strut his stuff as King Thor. And how is Valkyrie more qualified to run Asgard then he is? He had to be the one to inspire her to come back to stop Hela in the first place and as far as we know they have the exact same amount of leadership experience. Does Asgard even need a king? It's basically just a rural community of people just doing stuff. At this point the king seems more like a mayor then a king.

I doubt if Val is as qualified for the role considering Thor was raised to take the throne and didn't spend millennia drunk of Sakaar, but she's the one who kept the Asgardian refugees together after Thor fell into depression. So she seems capable of at least managing the small town they're in. And I'm willing to bet that no, they don't really need a king and probably barely need a mayor....but who knows what she dealt with during the five year jump?

I'm bummed we didn't get King Thor; that's something I'm always interested in seeing play out. But I think Thor views his brief time on the throne as an utter failure; after Odin died things went south pretty fast and Thor likely blames himself for a whole lot of it. So I can see why he'd give up the throne and see what life is like when he's got less/no greater responsibilities. But I too wish we had seen All-Father Thor.

I still love fat Thor....but yeah, the jokes got old real fast and if they hadn't ended his arc the way they did I'd have been pissed. I get why others aren't down with it. But I think it's a viable direction given what he went through and it was a complete surprise, which is always nice since I've been reading comics too long to be surprised by the genre very often anymore, and since he's coming back to the MCU it's not like Endgame was his last chance for a big hurrah of a goodbye, yknow?

If Hemsworth leaves the MCU without getting his crazy fun fanservice sendoff moment I'll be quite cross however.

[Frontier]

Cap definitely had his big hero moment here. Tony....I'll have to watch the movie again, haven't seen it since opening weekend, but I don't recall him doing much more than Thor did (a few nice hits that ultimately didn't accomplish much other than looking cool), until he stole the stones and Snapped Thanos and his forces away. Could be forgetting something of course, it's been months.

Yeah, Tony got the final hit on Thanos and his army. I'd say he got a big enough moment comparable with Cap turning the tide solo.

The most I remember about Thor is him dual-wielding Mjolnir and Stormbreaker (which was pretty cool) and lightning up Thanos, but both weren't as impressive as what Steve and Tony did in my opinion.

Thor got his big moment in Infinity War (everything from his arrival in Wakanda to his attack on Thanos was just all manner of badass), and Hemsworth is coming back to the role so I'm not terribly bothered by how Endgame played out. Evans and Downy were leaving and taking their characters with them; let them get the spotlight. Thor and Hemsworth will (hopefully) have their big send off after Thor 4 (or whenever Hemsworth stops playing the role).

Hopefully Thor 4 serves Thor well. Kinda feel bad that I'm so unsure about that .

I doubt if Val is as qualified for the role considering Thor was raised to take the throne and didn't spend millennia drunk of Sakaar, but she's the one who kept the Asgardian refugees together after Thor fell into depression. So she seems capable of at least managing the small town they're in. And I'm willing to bet that no, they don't really need a king and probably barely need a mayor....but who knows what she dealt with during the five year jump?

I guess we're kind of supposed to assume that even though we didn't see much of it. All Valkyrie did when she showed up was point them to where Thor is.

New Asgard...did not look like a happy place. I guess hopefully Valkyrie can turn things around, maybe?

I'm bummed we didn't get King Thor; that's something I'm always interested in seeing play out. But I think Thor views his brief time on the throne as an utter failure; after Odin died things went south pretty fast and Thor likely blames himself for a whole lot of it. So I can see why he'd give up the throne and see what life is like when he's got less/no greater responsibilities. But I too wish we had seen All-Father Thor.

Which is really a shame since most of what happened was completely out of his control. I fee like it's more heroic to take on more responsibility then less of it, even if he's not going to stop being a hero.

I still love fat Thor....but yeah, the jokes got old real fast and if they hadn't ended his arc the way they did I'd have been pissed. I get why others aren't down with it. But I think it's a viable direction given what he went through and it was a complete surprise, which is always nice since I've been reading comics too long to be surprised by the genre very often anymore, and since he's coming back to the MCU it's not like Endgame was his last chance for a big hurrah of a goodbye, yknow?

If Hemsworth leaves the MCU without getting his crazy fun fanservice sendoff moment I'll be quite cross however.

Waititi's Thor (by comparison) was less of a buffoon so I'm hoping that carry's over.

[Ascended]

Yeah, Tony got the final hit on Thanos and his army. I'd say he got a big enough moment comparable with Cap turning the tide solo.

The most I remember about Thor is him dual-wielding Mjolnir and Stormbreaker (which was pretty cool) and lightning up Thanos, but both weren't as impressive as what Steve and Tony did in my opinion.

Those are definitely bigger moments than Thor got in Endgame, but they were also the actors' and characters' final moments, so I'm cool with it. Plus Thor got the biggest, coolest moment in Infinity War, so.....can't be greedy, right?

Hopefully Thor 4 serves Thor well. Kinda feel bad that I'm so unsure about that .

Eh, I'm a little concerned too. Not very much, but as much as I enjoyed Ragnarok the humor totally killed any emotional resonance and Thor isn't exactly in a great place post-Endgame. Not that he's as bad as he was at the start of the "five year jump" but he's still far from his former self. And when you add in Jane taking up the hammer I can see why you'd be worried. I'm not *that* worried, but I'm a cynical bastard so I can't say I'm 100% confident the movie and Thor's story going forward will be great. But I'm *mostly* sure it'll be fine. Like, 95% sure. 90% at least.

I guess we're kind of supposed to assume that even though we didn't see much of it. All Valkyrie did when she showed up was point them to where Thor is.

New Asgard...did not look like a happy place. I guess hopefully Valkyrie can turn things around, maybe?

Were you expecting a happy place? They're a bunch of refugees who lost 75% of their race (more, if Hela killed a significant chunk of the population). They lived in splendor in Asgard and ruled a small but respected empire in the Nine Realms......and now are living in a rural, small town far removed from anything important, even by earth standards. They've fallen about as far as they possibly could shy of extinction. Val could be the greatest ruler the universe has ever seen and New Asgard still wouldn't be a happy place.

Which is really a shame since most of what happened was completely out of his control. I fee like it's more heroic to take on more responsibility then less of it, even if he's not going to stop being a hero.

I do think Thor blames himself for things that were beyond his control, but at the same time a lot of things can be traced back to his decisions too. He's far too hard on himself but I also can't blame the guy, considering everything he's lost. Hell, I get grumpy whenever I think work is taking too much time away from my kids (and I spend more time with them than most parents), so I can't imagine what Thor has experienced.

Waititi's Thor (by comparison) was less of a buffoon so I'm hoping that carry's over.

Seems like Waititi is giving us more of the same we had in Ragnarok, so if you don't like that movie you're not gonna like Love & Thunder, but if you did like Ragnarok you'll enjoy Thor 4 too. We'll just have to see. But I think we're probably in good hands.

[Frontier]

Those are definitely bigger moments than Thor got in Endgame, but they were also the actors' and characters' final moments, so I'm cool with it. Plus Thor got the biggest, coolest moment in Infinity War, so.....can't be greedy, right?

True. At the very least he got cooler scenes then Hulk did.

Eh, I'm a little concerned too. Not very much, but as much as I enjoyed Ragnarok the humor totally killed any emotional resonance and Thor isn't exactly in a great place post-Endgame. Not that he's as bad as he was at the start of the "five year jump" but he's still far from his former self. And when you add in Jane taking up the hammer I can see why you'd be worried. I'm not *that* worried, but I'm a cynical bastard so I can't say I'm 100% confident the movie and Thor's story going forward will be great. But I'm *mostly* sure it'll be fine. Like, 95% sure. 90% at least.

I admire your optimism .

Were you expecting a happy place? They're a bunch of refugees who lost 75% of their race (more, if Hela killed a significant chunk of the population). They lived in splendor in Asgard and ruled a small but respected empire in the Nine Realms......and now are living in a rural, small town far removed from anything important, even by earth standards. They've fallen about as far as they possibly could shy of extinction. Val could be the greatest ruler the universe has ever seen and New Asgard still wouldn't be a happy place.

Yeah, they definitely don't seem to be in the best state as a people right now. Maybe part of Love and Thunder will be trying to restore Asgard to it's former glory or at least to a state where they're distinguishable from regular people again.

I do think Thor blames himself for things that were beyond his control, but at the same time a lot of things can be traced back to his decisions too. He's far too hard on himself but I also can't blame the guy, considering everything he's lost. Hell, I get grumpy whenever I think work is taking too much time away from my kids (and I spend more time with them than most parents), so I can't imagine what Thor has experienced.

I mean, the one I can clearly see Thor feeling is all his fault was not going for the head. Which they drummed into our heads in the movie.

Seems like Waititi is giving us more of the same we had in Ragnarok, so if you don't like that movie you're not gonna like Love & Thunder, but if you did like Ragnarok you'll enjoy Thor 4 too. We'll just have to see. But I think we're probably in good hands.

I was...mixed on Ragnarok .

[Overhazard]

I thought that Thor and the Hulk had the weakest arcs in endgame. Captain Marvel no-selling the headbutt from thanos was cool, but it should have been the Hulk fighting him, reminding us all that he's the strongest one there is, the Hulks been nerfed since the first Avengers movie.

I liked ragnarok, but I agree with people who say that the emotional tension was cut down by a joke, that could be a bit grating. Thor's lost his home, his father, his friends, his brother, and he even though he killed Thanos, he didn't get him before the snap. So of course he would feel like a failure, and dive deep into depression.

In endgame he seemed to pick himself back up, Thor will probably be a little buffoon-ish in the first half of Love and Thunder, since that's the way Hemsworth likes it, but maybe, maybe, we'll see him shine again, and get that happy ending, if anyone in the MCU deserves it, it's Thor.

[Frontier]

I thought that Thor and the Hulk had the weakest arcs in endgame. Captain Marvel no-selling the headbutt from thanos was cool, but it should have been the Hulk fighting him, reminding us all that he's the strongest one there is, the Hulks been nerfed since the first Avengers movie.

Especially when the likelihood we'll see Hulk get a big action moment after this is slim at best. Especially when he barely did anything in the final fight and has basically lost an arm.

[Ascended]

True. At the very least he got cooler scenes then Hulk did.

I was super happy about Hulk's overall arc, but really disappointed it all happened off-screen. Still, he ended up in a really cool place and I absolutely love the parallels of Hulk finding peace and balance in a broken, post-Snap world. He used to be a monster, and now he's happy and well adjusted in a world that is anything but, so in a way he's *still* a monster (just look at how Rogers and Nat give him side eye in the diner; ain't no one comfortable with happy Hulk!)

I admire your optimism .

Eh, its not really optimism so much as just doing the math. Most of us have a problem with Aaron not for how he handled Jane, but for how he handled everyone else. And in the MCU Odin and Frigga are dead, New Asgard is far removed from what Asgardia was in the comics, the Warriors Three are dead, and Thor *just* went through the MCU version of unworthy. I don't think Waititi (spelling?) is enough of a hack to retell the unworthy story so quickly after Endgame just did it (though I do expect some shades of it to still be lingering, MCU Thor isn't fully recovered yet and might still not be when the film hits). And we already know some details of the film are going to be quite different from Aaron's run, like Val looking for a queen. I expect Love & Thunder to look like Aaron's run roughly as much as Ragnarok looked like Simonson's version of the story; which is to say, not at all.

I mean, the one I can clearly see Thor feeling is all his fault was not going for the head. Which they drummed into our heads in the movie.

I suspect (and this is just me guessing) that Thor traces his own blame much further back than that. If I had to guess I'd say it goes back (in Thor's mind) to Dark World and his not taking the throne (again). That allowed Loki to rule, ignoring allies like the dwarves, which lead to Thanos getting the gauntlet without contest. The "destroyer" prophesy from Age of Ultron likely hangs over him, especially considering it was proven true in later films, and Thor's failure to find a single Infinity Stone (despite having already dealt with three of them) probably weighs on him too. And of course, once he does take the throne he immediately loses his planet and most of his people and fails to keep the space Stone from Thanos (on top of losing his brother, Heimdal, etc). Whether Thor is truly to blame for these things isn't really the point, I think Thor blames himself for all of this, all of the missteps and coincidences that, (in his mind) if he had been a little wiser he could have done something about.

I was...mixed on Ragnarok .

Then you're probably going to be mixed about Love & Thunder too. And I'll probably enjoy it but leave the theater wishing for something more serious and "Thor" like, but happy nonetheless.