Thor Odinson: God of Thunder Appreciation 2020

[Brice]

The dialogue certainly indicated everything you say, but is belied by how quickly Thor was knocked out. Superman claimed "he may be the toughest opponent" doesn't add up when the fight ended so quickly. Both Thor and Superman have had fights that lasted longer than the one they had so...



I never figured that it would be? I mean anymore than Shazam engaging in fisticuffs with Clark should be.



True that. Fans wanted the fight to end in a way that showed a winner. Superman fans have a far larger fan base.



Thank you! I will check it out!

Edit: as far as writer interpretation of character's level of power, I appreciate it when writer's make an obvious attempt to research these things. But there are no industry standards in place for this kind of thing. As I mention above, Clark has the larger fan base. I can remember reading letter columns in Superman books (post Crisis) where fans weren't exactly thrilled with "Byrne era" Superman. Guess what? Clark got a power up thereafter. Superman is a big part of DC's bread and butter; fans complain, things get done. With Thor? Eh, he gets the **** end of the stick more often than not.

Continuing with writer interpretations, Kevin Grevioux thinks Thor should be stronger than Superman or Hulk. Wasn't it Jurgens that said something similar regarding Thor and Clark? I'll see if I can find the quote...

2nd Edit, 'kay so...evidently (mileage may vary on the source for this information) Jurgens said magic from Thor should've won the fight for Thor, but otherwise Superman was millions of times more powerful than Thor. If you factor in pre Crisis Superman I could maybe see that. Post Crisis, definitely not going by each character's best feats.

At any rate, my point is writer opinions vary regarding power levels for the heavy weights as do fan perspectives on the same. For my part, I'm a purist I guess? Stan made Thor "a god" in an effort to eclipse his other previously collaborated creations, including Marvel's poster boy for superhuman strength, the Hulk.

Kurt Busiek himself has shed light on the Thor vs Superman fight and I got nothing more to add.

Honestly, yeah. Power levels vary with writers (if they bother all that much to begin with) and that makes intercompany scaling very tricky. Though Jurgens clearly says whatever he needs to for shutting the fans up and I wouldn't put a lot of stock in it. I doubt he actually believes Superman = Thor X 1 mil.

Personally, I think Hulk is physically stronger than Thor, but less powerful.

[Cronus]

Kurt Busiek himself has shed light on the Thor vs Superman fight and I got nothing more to add.

Honestly, yeah. Power levels vary with writers (if they bother all that much to begin with) and that makes intercompany scaling very tricky. Though Jurgens clearly says whatever he needs to for shutting the fans up and I wouldn't put a lot of stock in it. I doubt he actually believes Superman = Thor X 1 mil.

Personally, I think Hulk is physically stronger than Thor, but less powerful.

And in fact, under DeFalco that was "Marvel's stance" on Thor vs Hulk. I will add, maybe some writers dislike Thor because he is painted by some as arrogant. I actually disagree with that perspective.

[Username taken]

Regarding Thor's power level, I'm going to go against the grain here a bit because I think Aaron wrote a powerful Thor.

Granted there were some wonky points (like sun obliterating mjolnir or Thor struggling with Namor) but its been mostly different writers that jobbed out the character. Thor getting his skull smashed was Al Ewing, Thor getting punked out by Amadeus Cho Hulk was Greg Pak and the list goes on.

Yes, Aaron wrote Jane as Thor as very powerful but between Thor and Gorr's fight cracking a planet to King Thor killing Galactus with the Necrosword and destroying the foundation of the universe, Aaron gave Thor some very decent feats.

[Frontier]

Regarding Thor's power level, I'm going to go against the grain here a bit because I think Aaron wrote a powerful Thor.

Granted there were some wonky points (like sun obliterating mjolnir or Thor struggling with Namor) but its been mostly different writers that jobbed out the character. Thor getting his skull smashed was Al Ewing, Thor getting punked out by Amadeus Cho Hulk was Greg Pak and the list goes on.

Yes, Aaron wrote Jane as Thor as very powerful but between Thor and Gorr's fight cracking a planet to King Thor killing Galactus with the Necrosword and destroying the foundation of the universe, Aaron gave Thor some very decent feats.

Like a lot of things with Aaron, I felt it was inconsistent.

Like, Thor in the first arc of the relaunch and in Avengers seems to be a on a whole lower level power-wise then Thor in War of the Realms.

Thor in the beginning of Aaron's run is much different from Thor at the start of his 3rd volume power-wise (because Mjolnir makes all the difference I guess).

Jane is the only Thor I can think of where Aaron consistently depicted her as being a very powerful, imposing, figure.

[oldschoolfan]

Like a lot of things with Aaron, I felt it was inconsistent.

Like, Thor in the first arc of the relaunch and in Avengers seems to be a on a whole lower level power-wise then Thor in War of the Realms.

Thor in the beginning of Aaron's run is much different from Thor at the start of his 3rd volume power-wise (because Mjolnir makes all the difference I guess).

Jane is the only Thor I can think of where Aaron consistently depicted her as being a very powerful, imposing, figure.

**Spoiler On King Thor Ahead**

To me, one of the biggest inconsistency was when Aaron had Loki tell Gorr how worthy Thor was during all of his adventures as part of Gorr's defeat. Of all the stuff in King Thor, this was the hardest thing for me to accept.

I think Aaron just panders to a segment of the audience. I am seeing it in Avengers also.

[oldschoolfan]

Aaron's Thor was arrogant. Aaron's Thor was really Hercules in disguise (my opinion).

Most everybody else's Thor was confident, Thor knew who he was, what he was about and saw the value of each individual (go back and look at how Thor addressed the Recorder in the Galactus origin story). There were times when Thor lost it, but it was always part of the story, part of a natural reaction to the situation Thor found himself in.

The new team on Thor seems to be striking off in the right direction, I reread the first issue again and I am looking forward to next issue.

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

Nobody predetermined any fights in JLA/AVENGERS.

They went the way the creative team thought best, with the approval of the editors, and the editors were fine with what we suggested.

The one power-related change requested by any editor was a minor bit where I had Aquaman do something in a fight (I don't remember what any more), and both Tom Brevoort and Bad Dan Raspler told me they didn't think Aquaman was that strong. I didn't fully agree with them, but I replotted the bit so that the question of Aquaman's strength did not come into play.

There were other editorial changes, of course, but none of 'em about fights.

kdb

It's really nice to see legendary writers interacting with fans on forums.

JLA/Avengers is one of my favorite comics of all time.

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

Yes, ancient cosmic beings managed to all gather the infinity gems and have no clue whatsoever about how to use them.

Also they're not really immortal, just really old.

So yeah, Starlin dumped on the characters and concept for his pet.

Again, name me a time when someone other than Thanos, defeats Thanos, under Starlin. And no, Nebula does not count

Have you read my wall of text?

He was defeated by Mar-Vell, Adam Warlock, Odin and Galactus.

And aside for the Grandmaster, the Elders never struck me as intimidating entities, especially that blockhead douchebag Champion of the Universe. In his debut story, he went all the way to avoid fighting Hulk, Thor and Namor in his boxing tournament, and he only stopped threatening the Earth because he liked the Thing's determination and refusal to lose.

But my main gripe Is not about power levels. It's about the dumbing down of Thanos' character during the Alonso era as EiC, and that no one except for Ron Marz and Keith Giffen tries to follow Thanos speech pattern and moral ambiguity.

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

Aaron's Thor was arrogant. Aaron's Thor was really Hercules in disguise (my opinion).

Most everybody else's Thor was confident, Thor knew who he was, what he was about and saw the value of each individual (go back and look at how Thor addressed the Recorder in the Galactus origin story). There were times when Thor lost it, but it was always part of the story, part of a natural reaction to the situation Thor found himself in.

The new team on Thor seems to be striking off in the right direction, I reread the first issue again and I am looking forward to next issue.

I think Aaron was inspired by Fraction's run and MCU Thor.

Matt Fraction started the trend of depicting Thor and Odin as boorish barbarians with anger issues.

[jackolover]

The relaunch of King Thor had a good start. It had the feel of the Matt Fraction run in that magic was more predominant, and seeing as magic has just been regained in the ANAD it’s not unusual to have magic be more predominant now. But I was looking for the quintessential Mythical Thor of the Norse tradition, now that Odin is dead, and Thor had to take Odin’s place. In Myth, Thor was a wild brigand who dressed up as a woman to marry a guy. Thor’s power spread across the sky in endless crackling, and brought fear to all. I was wondering if we would get that Thor as King?

Donny Cates sort of started King Thor as a Fresh Start, with a little light humour from Sif about not taking himself so serious. It seems Sif has taken over from her brother Heimdall and now is in charge of the rainbow bridge. Then the byplay between Volstagg and Thor is also humorous before Thor kicks him out. And the rage of Thor at the half dozen Heralds of Galactus was more what I’d expect the Mythical Thor to be like. As to Galactus making Thor his Herald? That doesn’t work out that well for the big G, and the Mythical Thor I’d expect to be a real handful to any god trying to make Thor their vassal. I am impressed by the huge and powerful lightening flashes sparking across the wrecked Asgard sky.

I’m looking forward to finding out what this Star Plague and Black Winter is like. But this Black Silver Surfer I cant recognise as the Surfer at all by those colours. I like him more in Silver. I’m also looking forward to the evacuation of the 5 Special Planets for Galactus to eat to make him face the Black Plague, Winter, Star whatever. It sounds like the Heat Death of the Universe?

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Thor #172 Jan 1970
"The Immortal and the Mind-Slave!"
Thor returns to his office to find someone inside waiting for him.
Unable to enter through his usual window-way entry, Thor climbs his office building
and changes into Donald Blake on the roof before entering his office through the main entrance.
As it turns out it is Jim North, the doctor whom Jane Foster has been working with since she left Blake's employ.

North has come to tell Blake that Jane is in danger and hands him a letter written by ruthless billionair Kronin Krask.

The letter reads that Krask has kidnapped Jane Foster in order
to force North into performing a forbidden experiment for him.
After reading the letter himself, Blake inquires why Jim didn't go to the police.
Jim explains that due to Krask's wealth and influence the letter would be dismissed as a hoax
and he came to Donald for help because he is the only person who knows how to contact Thor.
Blake, tells Jim to leave and that he will see what he can do.

Blake begins praying to his father to bring good fortune, and the thoughts reach Odin.
Made curious of these thoughts the All-Father uses a visi-scan to look upon the realms that he rules over.
He sees Loki, trying to rally support for some scheme, as well as Balder
being cared for by Karnilla following his battle with the Thermal Man.
His last look is upon the mortal visage of Kronin Krask, whom Odin feels will be no match against his son.

Later on Earth, Jim North has been instructed by Donald Blake to go to the home
of Kronin Krask and is admitted into the property by Krask's private army.
There he is brought before Krask who brings out Jane to show that she is alive.
Then, in a moment of poorly planned bravery, North pulls out
a revolver and attempts to try and force Krask to turn over Jane.
However, Krask's army soon train their guns on Jim and he is forced to turn over his gun.
Krask explains to Jim that he intends to force him to assist Dr. Waghastein
whom Krask has also captured to perform the first even mind transfer.
Krask explains that he wants to escape mortality and cheat death. With no options available,
North agrees to aid Krask's mad scheme even though it's unlikely that he'll let them live after.

While back in the city, Don Blake transforms once more into Thor and rushes to Krask's private estate.
Unaware that Krask had intended for Thor to get involved and his men
are armed with devices that are tailored to incapacitate the Thunder God.
Initially, Thor proves too strong for his attackers.

However they use a special cannon that fires a hallucinogenic spray that is powerful enough to knock Thor out.

As the surgery is being prepped, Jim and Jane are horrified to find that the body
that Krask intends to have his mind transferred into is none other than Thor.
The procedure would involve the use of a Ultra-Oscilloscope, a device that would swap the minds of two beings.
With Jane's life at risk, Jim North breaks down and agrees to continue with the operation.
Activating the machine the mind swapping process begins.
However the minds of Krask and Thor begin a struggle half way.
A struggle which Thor wins, seemingly sending Krask's mind back into his body, which then dies.

Released form his hold, Thor consoles Jim and Jane, telling them that they were not at fault for
what had happened and that Krask met his end thinking he could defeat the mind of an immortal.

With Krask defeated, Thor leaves the two lovers behind.

Script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Bill Everett

[Intothevoid]

Donny Cates did an interview about Thor recently, the 5 main things i got from them are:

1. King Thor does have the Odinforce.

2. He'll be on the book for about five or six years.

3. Thor will get a new costume in issue 4. Will probably lose the power cosmic.

4. Knull will never show up in a Thor book.

5. Knull and the Void are not related in anyway.

Personally i was very surprised to find out that Thor has the Odinforce, i know the first issue had him talking about how he can do things he couldn't before because of some runes so i was thinking it's probably some smaller amp i wasn't expecting a full on OdinForce. Does that mean he had the OF all this time since Odin gave him the throne?

Link to the podcast http://stegmanandfriends.podbean.com/

[Brice]

Donny Cates did an interview about Thor recently, the 5 main things i got from them are:

1. King Thor does have the Odinforce.

2. He'll be on the book for about five or six years.

3. Thor will get a new costume in issue 4. Will probably lose the power cosmic.

4. Knull will never show up in a Thor book.

5. Knull and the Void are not related in anyway.

Personally i was very surprised to find out that Thor has the Odinforce, i know the first issue had him talking about how he can do things he couldn't before because of some runes so i was thinking it's probably some smaller amp i wasn't expecting a full on OdinForce. Does that mean he had the OF all this time since Odin gave him the throne?

Link to the podcast http://stegmanandfriends.podbean.com/

Well...that's a bit of a bummer to be honest. I was hoping Thor goes back to the basics and does cool stuff without any amps. Him having the OF also opens new cans of worms. I wish Cates could expound how he and when he got it. Unless he plans to answer that in the comic itself.

[Intothevoid]

Well...that's a bit of a bummer to be honest. I was hoping Thor goes back to the basics and does cool stuff without any amps. Him having the OF also opens new cans of worms. I wish Cates could expound how he and when he got it. Unless he plans to answer that in the comic itself.

This worries me a lot too, Cates is known for being inconsistent in power levels, if Thor has the OdinForce he should be insanely powerful, basically what we saw at the end of King Thor run and somehow i doubt that will be the case here...

Man prepare for a lot of inconsistencies.

[Frontier]

Donny Cates did an interview about Thor recently, the 5 main things i got from them are:

1. King Thor does have the Odinforce.

2. He'll be on the book for about five or six years.

3. Thor will get a new costume in issue 4. Will probably lose the power cosmic.

4. Knull will never show up in a Thor book.

5. Knull and the Void are not related in anyway.

Personally i was very surprised to find out that Thor has the Odinforce, i know the first issue had him talking about how he can do things he couldn't before because of some runes so i was thinking it's probably some smaller amp i wasn't expecting a full on OdinForce. Does that mean he had the OF all this time since Odin gave him the throne?

Link to the podcast http://stegmanandfriends.podbean.com/

So I guess we still have to await Thor's proper "main" costume, unless he still has that form without the Power Cosmic.