Thor Odinson: God of Thunder Appreciation 2020

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

I think I've said before that one of the smartest things Stan and Jack did was to make Thor's level of resistance to injury somewhat ambiguous, with his whirling-hammer-shield suggesting that he was somewhat vulnerable to harm, even though by rights if he could take the superhumanly strong Ulik smacking him in the face with those knuckle-dusters without breaking the skin he shouldn't really be worried about bullets doing any damage. Whatever the logic, I find the whole invulnerable hero kind of dull - I'd rather see a Thor who bled a little in fights and used his hammer as a shield sometimes, to the modern version that stands there as bullets bounce off him. I'd keep it ambiguous if I could.

Yeah, it's pretty badass seeing characters like Thor and Superman bloodied and half-naked fighting against nightmarish foes.

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

I would rather have Thor fighting aliens then fighting on Earth against mortal weapons or whatnot.

have that cosmic scale, pls.

I like Thor's earthbound foes like Absorbing Man and the Wrecking Crew and Myster Hyde. Say what you will about Thor staying out of Midgard but you can't deny those characters are cool.

[Frontier]

This kind of reminds me of the question of Wonder Woman's durability. She's sometimes depicted as being on par with Superman in terms of strengths and invulnerability but she always deflects bullets with her bracelets.

[Cronus]

I'm not saying Thor should be (completely) invulnerable per se, but outside of the inconsistencies I already pointed out in terms of Thor's bullet durability (withstanding planetary level explosions, etc...), this is a guy who (used to) give Hulk a hard time in a game of fisticuffs. That is an astronomical level of force being exchanged between two of Marvel's strongest characters. I suppose I'm saying Thor's durability should be commensurate with his level of strength. Not being able to take a simple bullet is just silly. Here's another thought: Mr. Busiek wrote Thor as being able to destroy secondary adamantium when going all out. If the guy can't handle bullet fire, wouldn't he naturally be injured by secondary adamantium if trying to rip it apart with his bare hands?

[Wall-Crawler]

I also forgot to mention Rick Remender, his Thor in Uncanny Avengers was also a beast.

[Ichijinijisanji]

I'm not saying Thor should be (completely) invulnerable per se, but outside of the inconsistencies I already pointed out in terms of Thor's bullet durability (withstanding planetary level explosions, etc...), this is a guy who (used to) give Hulk a hard time in a game of fisticuffs. That is an astronomical level of force being exchanged between two of Marvel's strongest characters. I suppose I'm saying Thor's durability should be commensurate with his level of strength. Not being able to take a simple bullet is just silly. Here's another thought: Mr. Busiek wrote Thor as being able to destroy secondary adamantium when going all out. If the guy can't handle bullet fire, wouldn't he naturally be injured by secondary adamantium if trying to rip it apart with his bare hands?

wonder-woman can get shot in certain interpretations

same energy

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

I'm not saying Thor should be (completely) invulnerable per se, but outside of the inconsistencies I already pointed out in terms of Thor's bullet durability (withstanding planetary level explosions, etc...), this is a guy who (used to) give Hulk a hard time in a game of fisticuffs. That is an astronomical level of force being exchanged between two of Marvel's strongest characters. I suppose I'm saying Thor's durability should be commensurate with his level of strength. Not being able to take a simple bullet is just silly. Here's another thought: Mr. Busiek wrote Thor as being able to destroy secondary adamantium when going all out. If the guy can't handle bullet fire, wouldn't he naturally be injured by secondary adamantium if trying to rip it apart with his bare hands?

Hel yeah!

[Cronus]

I also forgot to mention Rick Remender, his Thor in Uncanny Avengers was also a beast.

I met Mr. Remender at ECC in 2016. Real nice guy. Trust me, he was commended for his fine work on Thor!

[Cronus]

wonder-woman can get shot in certain interpretations

same energy

Pretty much. I think I prefer a sturdier Thunder God though. That's just me it seems.

[Cronus]

Hel yeah!

Dude, the fight with the Forgotten One and Juggernaut? They were utterly EPIC. I miss those days. I'm also excited to see where Cates takes Thor. Thanks for sharing!

[GodThor]

wonder-woman can get shot in certain interpretations

same energy

you mean most.

I remember only once where she was invulnerable to bullets.

remember when her original weakness was being bound by a man???

[Doombot]

The idea of Thor not being bullet proof is laughable. The guy can punch through mountains, is perfectly fine in the vacuum of space, can fly into the sun/stars on and on. A thick concrete wall can stop a bullet, can punching through that same wall break even the skin on Thor's knuckles?

[Ichijinijisanji]

Pretty much. I think I prefer a sturdier Thunder God though. That's just me it seems.

busiek's the only one here who probably prefers thor vulnerable to bullets
others like the basic concept of him being harmed during battle but would prefer stronger attacks to accomplish it.

[Ascended]

I don't think I even had him say it.

But Stan did. Len did. Walter and Tom (deFalco) established that Asgardians (and others of their environs) were vulnerable to gunfire, and Walt's Thor called a bunch of ordinary spears fired at him "deadly," and defended himself from them.

Thor's comics history is full of times when he behaves or speaks in a way that suggests that either bullets and blades are dangerous to him, or that he's very, very mixed up. I don't think he's mixed up.

kdb

This is fascinating. I haven't read much classic Thor; I've gotten my hands on most of Simmonson but other than that, it's basically just from JMS on, with a lot of holes in the collection.

But I had never considered that Thor's durability is....situational, rather than static. But that makes sense to me, even setting aside the original myths (which I'm a huge fan of) and the canon you referenced from the comics themselves. Wonder Woman is (was) in the same kind of range; bullets and man-made weapons could harm her, she'd lose her powers if she was bound by a man, yet other attacks and offensive powers wouldn't harm her. It all seemed to be wrapped up in the philosophy behind her creation, and being a divine creature, it made "sense."

I wonder, if Thor's more invulnerable now than he used to be, is that due to writers making him more powerful in response to the Superman archetype, or is the general power creep found within many comics to blame?

Always nice to see you post, Mr. Busiek, your insights are always interesting to read. Man, I have *so* many questions I'd love to ask, if this weren't a public forum with a specific topic....

[Cronus]

This is fascinating. I haven't read much classic Thor; I've gotten my hands on most of Simmonson but other than that, it's basically just from JMS on, with a lot of holes in the collection.

But I had never considered that Thor's durability is....situational, rather than static. But that makes sense to me, even setting aside the original myths (which I'm a huge fan of) and the canon you referenced from the comics themselves. Wonder Woman is (was) in the same kind of range; bullets and man-made weapons could harm her, she'd lose her powers if she was bound by a man, yet other attacks and offensive powers wouldn't harm her. It all seemed to be wrapped up in the philosophy behind her creation, and being a divine creature, it made "sense."

I wonder, if Thor's more invulnerable now than he used to be, is that due to writers making him more powerful in response to the Superman archetype, or is the general power creep found within many comics to blame?

Always nice to see you post, Mr. Busiek, your insights are always interesting to read. Man, I have *so* many questions I'd love to ask, if this weren't a public forum with a specific topic....

His Avengers run was pretty stellar.

It's hard to say why writers went the direction they did. The first I can recall Thor resisting bullet fire was in Thor 315, by Doug Moench.



There have been subsequent showings since then, but it's hard to really put a finger on it?