The Mighty Thor Appreciation

[Biclopcicle]

I am self conscious this kind of talk is not really for this thread but just on the Celestial clarification. They seem to be dealing with a Celestial that didn’t leave when the rest did. So it seems this isn’t directly from one of the two known periods it’s an anomaly. Aaron is doing one of those ‘between the panels’ stories.

He is also thematically possibly suggesting a recurrence of the Avengers archetypes over time that is somehow initiated by this interaction with the clelesial and the Infinity Stones. We really can’t tell yet where this story will go or how it will develop but I suspect it will lay down a modern version of prehistoric canon and a long history of superheroes. Think Wikdiv for Marvel with perhaps a dusting of DC’s Metal. A hint that mythology impacted the MU and humanity early on and shaped its whole existence. I imagine we will all have plenty of time to discuss this in Avengers threads.

Fair point, it was a bit of a tangent, but Thor/Odin are involved. I look forward to Aaron's Avengers run, and I'm sure there will be some interesting discussion.

[JKtheMac]

It is impossible to imagine Aaron wasn't at least thinking about The Death of Captain Marvel for various reasons. But they are very different stories. In the case of Starlin’s story it represented a palpable feeling of frustration that mankind couldn’t get its act together to live up to a key promise of modernity so expected in the previous decades.

Captain Marvel and Thor are inexorably linked as concepts. That basic idea of swapping personalities was in Thor's DNA from the start. Even though that idea was minimised it keeps coming back. As Jane brings up here - Jane and Beta-Ray need the hammer to transform into Thor. Odinson was born Thor.

The differences are more striking than the similarities.

Mar-Vell was fatally poisoned in the line of duty. Jane seems to have just randomly got cancer like so many do. Mar-Vell was already a hero, Jane was almost exclusively a civilian character. For Mar-Vell he had a lover to share the pain, Jane’s boyfriend moved out. Mar-Vell’s temporary alter-ego Rick Jones was now separate and distinct again, someone that he could be concerned for just in case the cancer had effected both of them. Telling Rick inadvertently hurt his feelings. Jane didn’t feel she could tell Thor the full truth and then he was kidnapped so she couldn’t.

For Jane, transforming stops her treatment, for Mar-Vell the negabands helped keep him healthy for a while but then thwarted a cure through his immunity and dependence on them. For Jane there is a known treatment that had a good chance of working, for Mar-Vell there was only a very slim chance of successful treatment (0.09%). Isaac develops a way to prolong Mar-vell’s life while Jane continually shortens hers. Mar-vell is impotent and filled with frustration and rage, but Jane has an opportunity to do something positive. At the very end Jane stood with only her closest friend in heroic glory, Mar-Vell died with his assembled friends around him.

In death Mar-Vell’s story moves from Despair to Acceptance where Jane’s moves from Sacrifice to Hope.

Two very different stories.

[theoneandonly]

this is the new death in marvel comics where a character dies int the last issue but appears alive in the next. cue Johnny storm quicksilver and the other avengers in the no surrender arc not to mention the hulk who has had his third resurrection since civil war 2, cable in Deadpool kills cable and absorbing man Kaine (scarlet spider)etc.dont even bring up the pathetic resurrection of the black widow as a clone.It's like they die have a necrosisial cup of tea with death and she suddenly watches them disappear as presto they re brought to life almost instantly. death has lost all meaning in marvel universe if it ever had one. Even cities bombed so that not a single citizen survives are getting resurrected.

[leo619]

Well Jane is alive again like I expected them to. Magic handwave.

And again, you and others are posting in a mighty thor appreciation thread why? Take you're hatred to the regular review thread.

[JKtheMac]

this is the new death in marvel comics where a character dies int the last issue but appears alive in the next. cue Johnny storm quicksilver and the other avengers in the no surrender arc not to mention the hulk who has had his third resurrection since civil war 2, cable in Deadpool kills cable and absorbing man Kaine (scarlet spider)etc.dont even bring up the pathetic resurrection of the black widow as a clone.It's like they die have a necrosisial cup of tea with death and she suddenly watches them disappear as presto they re brought to life almost instantly. death has lost all meaning in marvel universe if it ever had one. Even cities bombed so that not a single citizen survives are getting resurrected.

Last time Thor died he was alive on the next page. But now everyone hates God of Thunder I assume.

[Holt]

I'm surprised people are really surprised. Not only did Jane prove more popular than expected, but giving a character the name of a more popular hero for a time before eventually spinning them off under another identity is what happens with almost all of these legacy characters.

[MindofShadow]

I'm surprised people are really surprised. Not only did Jane prove more popular than expected, but giving a character the name of a more popular hero for a time before eventually spinning them off under another identity is what happens with almost all of these legacy characters.

I was more surprised she was resurrected just as Jane.

[kilderkin]

Last time Thor died he was alive on the next page. But now everyone hates God of Thunder I assume.

I never liked it

I do this this quick return was too quick given the build up to her death

But that is what it is

I do think this was a better version of odin, much more what I expect, thor also came off very well in feel, not giving up trying to save jane

there were some nice interactions between thor and odin I felt, a father helping save his son

odin did turnaround quick, from what I felt was a sustained poor characterisation, but it's often forgotten he is the god of the heros heaven, so him recognising her sacrafice works for me

The creative still tried to push the perspective jane was the best god, I still don't see anything Thor hasn't already done but that doesn't take away from it being a truly heroic story for jane

still can't resolve Mjölnir being killed by the sun, I still find it ridiculous

but generally some nice moments with better thor and much better odin for me

A few years more like this and I might think ja can write Thor and odin as I like

I though it a good move to show she was still ill but ready to fight the illness, it's too real world an issue to magic away for me, I thought that very wise and nicely done, typically good work with jane

[JKtheMac]

I was more surprised she was resurrected just as Jane.

Yes and I kind of like that. Every option is still open, including Jane just going back to a normal life, which would make most sense.

[MindofShadow]

Yes and I kind of like that. Every option is still open, including Jane just going back to a normal life, which would make most sense.

it is not unheard of for writers to put the pieces back where they go towards the end of their long runs.

I fully expect Thor to get Mjolnir back somehow before Aaron is done with this story

[kilderkin]

Yes and I kind of like that. Every option is still open, including Jane just going back to a normal life, which would make most sense.

I agree, I thought it best at least in the immediate future, it leaves lots of option open

[JKtheMac]

it is not unheard of for writers to put the pieces back where they go towards the end of their long runs.

I fully expect Thor to get Mjolnir back somehow before Aaron is done with this story

See my diagram to explain how that might happen.

[Daniel22]

Well Jane is alive again like I expected them to. Magic handwave.

It's not a handwave. Jane had a treatable form of cancer. She was only dying because transforming was negatively impacting her chemo treatments. It was clear the whole time that if she would just stay in human form she had a very good chance of achieving remission. This was all very clearly stated on page.

[Daniel22]

Certainly seems so. And now he has a sounding board of somebody that understands him and can hopefully inspire and cajole him in turn. There are some potentially fascinating possibilities arising from this. We have already seen one. Jane delivering her speech instead of it reverberating at her funeral.

Yeah I think the Jane/Odinson relationship is in a more interesting place than ever. I think both will have a newfound and strengthened respect for each other. They share an incredible bond now. You really can go in so many different directions from here.

I can't think of many runs that have taken a character I didn't care about and made them so much more interesting to me. Remender with Flash on Venom and Spencer on Ant-Man come to mind... Pak on Hercules.. But none of those runs elevated a character to me in the way Aaron has with the Mighty Thor.

[DurararaFTW]

It's not a handwave. Jane had a treatable form of cancer. She was only dying because transforming was negatively impacting her chemo treatments. It was clear the whole time that if she would just stay in human form she had a very good chance of achieving remission. This was all very clearly stated on page.

Yes. And that's not what happened. She did not stay in her human form, she was transformed by Mjolnir into a god wiping away the chemo several times, robbing her off her fair chance of beating the cancer. Then she died because of it.
it. The Asgardian magic that brought her back apparently identifies as cancer as bad but instead of destroying outright (because magicing away cancer entirely sends the wrong message) it set it's progression back months/year and something ago so she once again has that fair chance she had before she ever started to become Thor.. As opposed to the Asgardian magic that has been healing her so far that has been seeing the cancer as part of her and has been letting it spread to a terminal stage. Why? Handwave.