Question about the mother of Thor

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

Did Jason Aaron know that Thor's biological mother is the Elder goddess Gaea? If so, why did he decide to turn the Phoenix into Thor's mom?

(The likely answer is: because Aaron is the second coming of Bendis)

[GodThor]

he mentioned her a few times during his God of Thunder run.

he is purposely retconing this.

[Clea]

he mentioned her a few times during his God of Thunder run.

he is purposely retconing this.

Knowing how Marvel works, eventually another writer will come along and change it back.

[Sataniel]

Did Jason Aaron know that Thor's biological mother is the Elder goddess Gaea? If so, why did he decide to turn the Phoenix into Thor's mom?

(The likely answer is: because Aaron is the second coming of Bendis)

Aaron is very different from Bendis. Bendis appears to just not give a damn about continuity and thus not follow it. Aaron goes out of the way to purposefully retcon as many things as possible and leave his mark on the comics.

[GodThor]

Knowing how Marvel works, eventually another writer will come along and change it back.

maybe in a decade or two.

I don't see this going away anytime soon.

same with his other retcons.

Aaron is very different from Bendis. Bendis appears to just not give a damn about continuity and thus not follow it. Aaron goes out of the way to purposefully retcon as many things as possible and leave his mark on the comics.

greatly said.

Aaron wants to go with a bang so that people will remember him.

[Celtic1967]

maybe in a decade or two.

I don't see this going away anytime soon.

same with his other retcons.


greatly said.

Aaron wants to go with a bang so that people will remember him.

Aaron is John Hinckley Jr., comic book characters and continuity are Ronald Reagan, and comic fans are Jodie Foster.

[Username taken]

Knowing how Marvel works, eventually another writer will come along and change it back.

I doubt it.

The creative landscape is very different than things back in the day.

These days creators are quite close and often time build on what their colleagues have done. See Cates and Aaron on Thor or Duggan and Ewing on GoTG. Some creators make massive changes but put everything back in the box when they leave (Bendis largely did this with a few exceptions).

These days, the only time things get retconned is when editorial explicitly orders stuff. Or when a creator is given complete carte blanche to do whatever they want (like Hickman on X-men right now).

[Ken Ashcroft]

Strange that Marvel editors will allow such a major retcon of basically the very origins of Thor in the Avengers book and not in his own relaunched book? Generally ever since Aaron has been writing the Avengers book, Thor’s role in the team has been to be frequently beaten up and look ineffective just to show how big a threat the villains are so this major revelation about his origins was a total surprise.

[Cronus]

Did Jason Aaron know that Thor's biological mother is the Elder goddess Gaea? If so, why did he decide to turn the Phoenix into Thor's mom?

(The likely answer is: because Aaron is the second coming of Bendis)

he mentioned her a few times during his God of Thunder run.

he is purposely retconing this.

Whoa, whoa...what? OMG....

*wondering if I should ask...*

Okay. 1) Have you guys read this? 2) Am I going to be...upset?

[Dreaded Porcupine]

Aaron is very different from Bendis. Bendis appears to just not give a damn about continuity and thus not follow it. Aaron goes out of the way to purposefully retcon as many things as possible and leave his mark on the comics.

Best definition ever. As much as I dislike these two writers you are spot on. They both irritate fans in different ways.

[myownlittleusername]

Strange that Marvel editors will allow such a major retcon of basically the very origins of Thor in the Avengers book and not in his own relaunched book? Generally ever since Aaron has been writing the Avengers book, Thor’s role in the team has been to be frequently beaten up and look ineffective just to show how big a threat the villains are so this major revelation about his origins was a total surprise.

The Phoenix story is not quite over yet, right?

So there might still be a swerve coming.

Not that I personally think it's a big deal, Gaia or the Phoenix, neither have of them have had a significant role in Thor stories over the years, it's really only Odin that matters when it comes to Thor's parents.

[JudicatorPrime]

Knowing how Marvel works, eventually another writer will come along and change it back.

If we're lucky, yes.

[JudicatorPrime]

Aaron is very different from Bendis. Bendis appears to just not give a damn about continuity and thus not follow it. Aaron goes out of the way to purposefully retcon as many things as possible and leave his mark on the comics.

It's not a bad approach, to be honest -- shaking things up wherever necessary. But this change should have been disallowed.

It is the second time that Thor benefited from having his mother upgraded.

In the myths, Thor is merely the son of a giantess named Jörð. In some passages, the name is Fjörgyn, Hlóðynn, Fold, and others, but the main point here is that she was an obscure Earth-aligned deity who was not particularly popular and therefore, not particularly powerful. And so, adjö, Jörð.

Marvel, of course, decided to conflate Jörð with the central Mother Earth personification -- and the most powerful -- in the Greek goddess, Gaea. Linking Thor to Gaea, the daughter of Chaos and ultimate mother of skyfathers, set Thor on a tier far beyond his original mythical origins. And far, far beyond the lineage of any other hero in the Marvel continuum. Naturally, we expect the marrying of the Earth (Gaea) and the Sky (Odin) to have this result, but apparently that wasn't good enough, either. Aντίο, Gaea.

The only way to improve on Odin-Gaea progeny is to make Thor the son of the Phoenix Force -- an entity that in the words of the Watcher was second only to the Creator in terms of power, standing and cosmic significance. And so they did. I suppose next we'll see Odin copulating with the nothingness that is Chaos -- which is not a female abstraction, but that's Marvel for you.

Why is it necessary for Thor to be the son of the PF? Why do any of this? It's almost as if they are positing that Thor's superiority is secured by lineage. Hmmm...where have I heard that disturbing worldview before???


Sidebar: The PF loves redheads. Now it all makes sense! When do we get Becky with the Good Hair, er, I mean Thor with the Red Hair back?

[GodThor]

It's not a bad approach, to be honest -- shaking things up wherever necessary. But this change should have been disallowed.

It is the second time that Thor benefited from having his mother upgraded.

In the myths, Thor is merely the son of a giantess named Jörð. In some passages, the name is Fjörgyn, Hlóðynn, Fold, and others, but the main point here is that she was an obscure Earth-aligned deity who was not particularly popular and therefore, not particularly powerful. And so, adjö, Jörð.

Marvel, of course, decided to conflate Jörð with the central Mother Earth personification -- and the most powerful -- in the Greek goddess, Gaea. Linking Thor to Gaea, the daughter of Chaos and ultimate mother of skyfathers, set Thor on a tier far beyond his original mythical origins. And far, far beyond the lineage of any other hero in the Marvel continuum. Naturally, we expect the marrying of the Earth (Gaea) and the Sky (Odin) to have this result, but apparently that wasn't good enough, either. Aντίο, Gaea.

The only way to improve on Odin-Gaea progeny is to make Thor the son of the Phoenix Force -- an entity that in the words of the Watcher was second only to the Creator in terms of power, standing and cosmic significance. And so they did. I suppose next we'll see Odin copulating with the nothingness that is Chaos -- which is not a female abstraction, but that's Marvel for you.

Why is it necessary for Thor to be the son of the PF? Why do any of this? It's almost as if they are positing that Thor's superiority is secured by lineage. Hmmm...where have I heard that disturbing worldview before???


Sidebar: The PF loves redheads. Now it all makes sense! When do we get Becky with the Good Hair, er, I mean Thor with the Red Hair back?

While I agree with most things you said, why do I have a feeling you have something against Marvel's portrayal of Norse myths only (not only in this post but in other posts before as well)???

I mean, every fictional universe that uses irl mythologies have their own version of deities and their origin.

nothing against you but I'm just curious from where is this bite coming from.

or my feeling is wrong so I apologize.

[Zelena]

Why is it necessary for Thor to be the son of the PF? Why do any of this? It's almost as if they are positing that Thor's superiority is secured by lineage. Hmmm...where have I heard that disturbing worldview before???

I don’t think it was necessary per se… But that gives me bad vibes. Like all Marvel characters must belong to a sort of club with close ties… It reeks exceptionalism, elitism. Marvels characters should be exceptional not just because of what they are, but also because of their lineage.

I like complexity and otherness. Thor doesn’t need to be the son of Phoenix to be a great hero.