Thor Odinson: God of Thunder Appreciation 2020

[Cronus]

I find it interesting....My first real exposure to a Thor comic was Incredible Hulk annual (2001) and DC vs Marvel. Based on those comics, I thought that Thor would go all out using Thunder, Lighting, & weather abilities ( like Storm of the X-Men). Based on the stories like Thor: Rebirth, Godbutcher/Godbomb, & The Accursed, it appears he doesn't. It seems Thor mainly uses his strength and and throwing Mjolnir as his primary attack.

I guess in the past I saw him like Marvel's Superman with all of these abilities, but he's not. I have recently read some Wonder Woman (who I aslo saw like a female Superman) and I realize they are very similar. One is roman/greek mythology and the other in norse.

He's an interesting character.

He isnt a Superman analog per se, but Stan Lee definitely had Superman in mind when he created Thor. I think Marvels first Superman analog was Hyperion. Nevertheless, Stan mentions him several times in his prologues for a few characters (Hulk, Thor and Spider-Man) in his book, Origins of Marvel Comics, by Stan Lee. With Hulk, he mentions creating a character with strength like Superman (but with an obvious twist). With Thor, Stan always wanted a "cape" at Marvel. He talked about how he never understood how Superman flew (and joked later at a university lecture that it was funny his response was to have a guy pulled around by a magic hammer). He also said he was hooked on superlatives at the time, " ...who could be stronger than the Hulk?", he mused. The only thing he could think of was that he would have to create "Super God". Then it hit him: he wouldnt do a strip featuring God, but he could do one featuring a god. Hence Thor was born.

Today, I suppose as far as Superman copy cats, marvel still has Hyperion, Blue Marvel, Sentry and a few others.

[Vibranium Weave]

He isnt a Superman analog per se, but Stan Lee definitely had Superman in mind when he created Thor. I think Marvels first Superman analog was Hyperion. Nevertheless, Stan mentions him several times in his prologues for a few characters (Hulk, Thor and Spider-Man) in his book, Origins of Marvel Comics, by Stan Lee. With Hulk, he mentions creating a character with strength like Superman (but with an obvious twist). With Thor, Stan always wanted a "cape" at Marvel. He talked about how he never understood how Superman flew (and joked later at a university lecture that it was funny his response was to have a guy pulled around by a magic hammer). He also said he was hooked on superlatives at the time, " ...who could be stronger than the Hulk?", he mused. The only thing he could think of was that he would have to create "Super God". Then it hit him: he wouldnt do a strip featuring God, but he could do one featuring a god. Hence Thor was born.

Today, I suppose as far as Superman copy cats, marvel still has Hyperion, Blue Marvel, Sentry and a few others.

I thought for a guy who is the god of thunder and can control storms, that Thor would be hurling thunder & lightning for every battle. Also, I figured that he would be using his control over Storms to defeat every foe at the outset, like Storm of the X-Men. The more I read about him that seems not to be the case.

It appears his main method of attack is to overwhelm an opponent with strength and bludgeon them with Mjolnir. If that doesn't work then it seems Thor will up the ante with lightning and the like.

[Shadowcat]

Unfortunately most writers go straight to physical strength challenges for Thor, with limited use of his elemental abilities.

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

Unfortunately most writers go straight to physical strength challenges for Thor, with limited use of his elemental abilities.

Remember when he could absorb the explosion of a galaxy busting bomb back in Tom Defalco's run?

[Intothevoid]

That Juggernaut fight was bad for both sides. Thor had none of his powers and had to beat Juggy by breaking a bunch of knockoff hammers on his face repeatedly.

And those other feats happened when Thor still had Mjolnir, and they got quickly forgotten with the many, many jobbing moments and out of character moments Aaron gave to Thor, while her pet Jane steamrolls through mythological monsters even as a normal human nurse.

But yes, this idea that Mjolnir is the be-all-end-all of Thor's character needs to be buried deep into Earth's core.

It was worse for Juggernaut, even Cytorrak later made fun of Juggernaut for losing to Unworthy Thor while being amped himself.

No they didn't, punching that Viking through Earth happened thousands of years ago when Thor didn't pick up Mljonir, moving a planet sized ship also didn't have Mljonir, tanking the 9 million bomb happened in that short Unwrothy Thor series Aaron wrote where Thor didn't have Mljonir and was trying to pick up Ultimate Thors hammer, same with the giant lightning bolt and smacking around Collector all happened in the same story, the lightning appearing all over Earth was while he had Mljonir that is the only instance out of all i mentioned.

[Intothevoid]

I imagine that he was overwhelmed because he didn't want to kill them. Thor being, ya know, not evil

That has nothing to do with him being physically overwhelmed by them, my 2 nephews(4 and 6) would grab me and try to wrestle with me but they couldn't even make me budge if i didn't want them to, doesn't mean i have to pick them up and throw them against the wall because i am evil or something, all those aliens trying to overwhelm Thor should look as if they were trying to wrestle a mountain. He should have been completely unbothered by them, not looking like he is struggling for his life.

[Flash Gordon]

That has nothing to do with him being physically overwhelmed by them, my 2 nephews(4 and 6) would grab me and try to wrestle with me but they couldn't even make me budge if i didn't want them to, doesn't mean i have to pick them up and throw them against the wall because i am evil or something, all those aliens trying to overwhelm Thor should look as if they were trying to wrestle a mountain. He should have been completely unbothered by them, not looking like he is struggling for his life.

Well, I mean they were all over him and kinda in the way. I thought he just was overwhelmed by the number of them. Thor pushing someone off him could still kill them.

The pacing on this issue leaves a bit to be desired though, and I felt like that whole incident could have been better conveyed. I also would have liked to actually see what that planet was like and what those creatures were like, as well as see them evacuated. It all happened so fast in service to a plot that I don't really care about.

[Intothevoid]

Well, I mean they were all over him and kinda in the way. I thought he just was overwhelmed by the number of them. Thor pushing someone off him could still kill them.

The pacing on this issue leaves a bit to be desired though, and I felt like that whole incident could have been better conveyed. I also would have liked to actually see what that planet was like and what those creatures were like, as well as see them evacuated. It all happened so fast in service to a plot that I don't really care about.

He doesn't even have to push them aside, they shouldn't make him flinch, imagine a bunch of 4 year olds trying to overwhelm Brock Lesner and than imagine Brock Lesnar is a million times stronger than he is right now and that's the kind of disparity we are talking about between them.

Yea the pacing is a bit off, things are happening to quickly, there is not much time to establish a story and characters, we jumped right into action and the comic hasn't done enough to make me care about whats going on to the planet or random aliens on it that had barely any screen time.

[Flash Gordon]

He doesn't even have to push them aside, they shouldn't make him flinch, imagine a bunch of 4 year olds trying to overwhelm Brock Lesner and than imagine Brock Lesnar is a million times stronger than he is right now and that's the kind of disparity we are talking about between them.

Yea the pacing is a bit off, things are happening to quickly, there is not much time to establish a story and characters, we jumped right into action and the comic hasn't done enough to make me care about whats going on to the planet or random aliens on it that had barely any screen time.

Yeah, you're right. I looked back over the issue and it was all so rushed that it came off really weird. Thor looks like he's being overwhelmed when it should have spent a little more time showing him interacting with that world. That whole page was really half baked.

These big and vague threats like "The Black Winter" should be what propels the narrative forward, explaining why Thor and Galactus are hanging out and what's going on- but vague nonsense isnt the actual story. The story is what happens inside the window dressing, so to speak. Not knowing any of these creatures or what the planet even looks like cheapens the whole loss. We should be able to feel Thor's anger and grief and be with him more and less with 'narration about multiversal shanagins'.

Whereas the DCU thing could have been shown as a half a page, not wasting a quarter of the real estate. That felt very "clever" and I didn't care for it.

[Cronus]

I thought for a guy who is the god of thunder and can control storms, that Thor would be hurling thunder & lightning for every battle. Also, I figured that he would be using his control over Storms to defeat every foe at the outset, like Storm of the X-Men. The more I read about him that seems not to be the case.

It appears his main method of attack is to overwhelm an opponent with strength and bludgeon them with Mjolnir. If that doesn't work then it seems Thor will up the ante with lightning and the like.

Eh, writer's write Thor that way, but he is certainly capable of spamming lightning attacks against an enemy, or otherwise using the weather, as well as energy attacks from Mjolnir, to put an enemy down. It was mentioned earlier that Thor used Mjolnir creatively to deal with Juggernaut, so the question becomes, "why doesn't he do that everytime?"

Because writers like to tell an entertaining story. More often than not, writers weave a story and then fit the powers into the story, not the other way around.

[Hypestyle]

I'd like to see Thor use more of his powers based on his biological mother Gaea. That could prove interesting in some battles. I think a lot of writers forget about it. Apparently.

[kilderkin]

Started great, then the head bump just made me put this down

[Panic]

I've just been watching the Netflix series Ragnarok, which I've heard described as a Norwegian Smallville, and that's not far off, if Smallville had a smaller budget and just one story arc. Some of the landscape is incredible, and it's fun to see another take on the Norse myths.

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

I'd like to see Thor use more of his powers based on his biological mother Gaea. That could prove interesting in some battles. I think a lot of writers forget about it. Apparently.

He split a huge chunk of land in two in a early issue of JMS run.

[Frontier]

I've just been watching the Netflix series Ragnarok, which I've heard described as a Norwegian Smallville, and that's not far off, if Smallville had a smaller budget and just one story arc. Some of the landscape is incredible, and it's fun to see another take on the Norse myths.

The story's about Thor's sons, right?