The Mighty Thor Appreciation

[Daniel22]

But why is Thor unworthy? Everything Jane did, saving people, and inspiring people, did Thor not do that for far longer?

This worthiness story literally makes no sense.

Frizb answered before I could. I think he/she laid it out very well. Being worthy is about more than being the big, dramatic hero who swoops in once the damage has already started. Small acts of courage, kindness and sacrifice count too. The major in story reason for Odinson doubting his worthiness runs through the entire JA run and has been broken down in detail in many other places if you're interested.

[TooFlyToFail]

Absolutely Odinson had done it much longer, but I don't think that is the point. The Gods were accused of only do so when it was convenient basically. They weren't doing EVERYTHING they could to answer as many prayers as possible. You could easily substitute Gods with Marvel Heroes in this instance. Over the last few years the Marvel heroes have been too busy bickering amongst each other instead of doing their job. I think that was the main purpose of bringing in the "new" heroes like Jane. To remind the real heroes why they are here. Also, I think both Thors will be around. When Odinson couldn't handle the Mother Storm on his own, Odin said something like "but many Thors can". Hence, there's enough Mother Storm to go around. I think a mangled Mjolnir will return from the sun to merge with the Uru piece to form the new hammer (and arm). I dig it.

But nobody can answer every prayer. Also, when convenient?

The very first thing Aaron wrote Thor doing was flying off to the cosmos, giving the gift of rain to a random planet whose gods were killed. He didn't even know.

How's that convenient?

[TooFlyToFail]

Frizb answered before I could. I think he/she laid it out very well. Being worthy is about more than being the big, dramatic hero who swoops in once the damage has already started. Small acts of courage, kindness and sacrifice count too. The major in story reason for Odinson doubting his worthiness runs through the entire JA run and has been broken down in detail in many other places if you're interested.

The thing is, wheres the proof of Thor not doing that? Where do we see Jane stopping bad things from occurring, before they started?

There's too much history of Thor being what you described to prove any point of Jane being the better Thor, or more worthy...whatever that means.

[Daniel22]

The thing is, wheres the proof of Thor not doing that? Where do we see Jane stopping bad things from occurring, before they started?

There's too much history of Thor being what you described to prove any point of Jane being the better Thor, or more worthy...whatever that means.

I'm not being coy or evasive, honestly, but those questions and topics have been explored for years now in the run, and are continuing to be explored. I don't have the inclination to do a deep breakdown of the run personally, but if you're interested in some exploration of the work I'd recommend reading the posts by JKtheMac here. He/she lays out the themes, context and continuity very well in my opinion. There are also several dissenting posters who make good counter arguments.

[kilderkin]

I'm not being coy or evasive, honestly, but those questions and topics have been explored for years now in the run, and are continuing to be explored. I don't have the inclination to do a deep breakdown of the run personally, but if you're interested in some exploration of the work I'd recommend reading the posts by JKtheMac here. He/she lays out the themes, context and continuity very well in my opinion. There are also several dissenting posters who make good counter arguments.

I agree with your point about JKtheMac

I might disagree often, but as analysis of the story there's some good stuff in those posts, agree or not there is to much to appreciate imo in them

[kilderkin]

Frizb answered before I could. I think he/she laid it out very well. Being worthy is about more than being the big, dramatic hero who swoops in once the damage has already started. Small acts of courage, kindness and sacrifice count too. The major in story reason for Odinson doubting his worthiness runs through the entire JA run and has been broken down in detail in many other places if you're interested.

I still see no real reason for thor being unworthy

other gods perhaps

but nothing in the entire work suggests Thor isn't imo

[Hulkout42]

Well will see his worthiness as he tries to bring order to the chaos Malekith and Loki unleashed.
I wonder though what Jane's role will be in this, i mean she has some part to play i know but what could it be?

[JKtheMac]

A few points.

‘At the Gates of Valhalla’ was a strange beast. When it was solicited it certainly felt like it would be essential reading but it ended up being the combination of an unnecessary epilogue and a prologue to the next major arc, as well as an announcement of a major story down the line which may or may not be an event.

While for people like me that will read most things with Thor in out of general interest, this isn’t too big a problem, but for the casual reader basing their pull-list on what looks essential this is just disingenuous. The cover feels like a marketing lie. It suggests Odinson will play a part in the story as Thor, and it suggested this would be a memorial issue before the last Mighty Thor issue.

There was also a big stylistic difference between the two stories. In the first story, mostly focused on the far future Goddesses of Thunder, Aaron’s dialogue was light and frothy, with optimism over Jane’s future, with an admittedly touching if sentimental ending. It felt like the kind of thing that would have better suited an annual. The second story was dark and foreboding, focusing on Malekith, and tied itself to the first by having a joint setting at the end. This felt like the kind of thing that could have been put into a FCBD issue and was thematically contradicting to the first which results in an undercutting of the overall thrust of the issue.

There is a subtle underlying theme of Jane’s mortality vs her divinity as Thor, which suggests Aaron has not finished with The Goddess of Thunder yet. Both in Odinson’s Granddaughters’ words and in Malekith’s. Interesting but fleeting, and mostly just teasing comments.

As to the thread discussion, this is really not the thread to discuss Odinson’s worthiness or any Jane vs Odinson theories. Please refer to the original post for what is and isn’t appropriate in this thread. Thanks for the incidental kind words btw.

[Digifiend]

Well will see his worthiness as he tries to bring order to the chaos Malekith and Loki unleashed.
I wonder though what Jane's role will be in this, i mean she has some part to play i know but what could it be?

She gets her powers back at some point, that's blatantly obvious (one of Thor's granddaughters mentioned something she hadn't done yet, and I can't imagine she does such a feat as plain Jane Foster!). Maybe that'll happen this time next year, in time for the 2019 summer event: War of the Realms.

[Rage.Of.Olympus]

Guys, Thor is unworthy because JA wants him to be. There is no compelling or convincing reason otherwise. Nothing Jane did, is different from what Thor has been doing for 60 years in much better stories. JA even had an issue where Thor travelled the world and did the little things, such as visiting a prisoner etc. Jane is also consistently written like a paragon while Thor is continuously devolving into an insecure drunkard. As someone who enjoys rereading older comics, this run can be so jarring sometimes.

He was rendered unworthy by a whisper that makes zero sense so I dk why people expect more. The issue of being unworthy has not been significantly explored. WHY is Jane Worthy? I swear posters on here put more thinking into these stories than JA. I hope he pays them royalties. There is a very consistent trend of posters being confused, irritated and just scratching their head.

[JKtheMac]

Guys, Thor is unworthy because JA wants him to be.

This thread is nothing to do with Odinson's worthiness issues. It is specifically ruled off-topic by the opening post:

If you're a fan of Thor, and want to talk about her without having to come across responses about how she's poorly written, forced, a disgrace, etc, then this is the place for you.

This may be relatively unique for an appreciation thread, but we like it as a place to discuss Jane as Thor outside of the wider issues of the run. There are other threads about the run as a whole, the logic of worthiness, and a general Thor appreciation thread.

[JKtheMac]

She gets her powers back at some point, that's blatantly obvious (one of Thor's granddaughters mentioned something she hadn't done yet, and I can't imagine she does such a feat as plain Jane Foster!). Maybe that'll happen this time next year, in time for the 2019 summer event: War of the Realms.

I agree. This all seems highly likely given the dialogue in At the Gates of Valhalla. Indeed that is quite likely to mark the end of Aaron's Thor run, and it would seem appropriate to dust off Jane as Thor for the finale. I imagine we will then see her available for other writers in either Thor or other comics.

[kilderkin]

She gets her powers back at some point, that's blatantly obvious (one of Thor's granddaughters mentioned something she hadn't done yet, and I can't imagine she does such a feat as plain Jane Foster!). Maybe that'll happen this time next year, in time for the 2019 summer event: War of the Realms.

I'd missed that point, that's good

If jane gets her powers back by next year, that's quicker than thor got his lighting back under control

I would hope they give it a bit longer to let the dust settle on the run a bit, her return from near death reduced it's impact fir me, though I did like how it was done

I would very much like to see her in a superhero mode again but I'd like a bit of a gap on it to build the impact

[JKtheMac]

I'd missed that point, that's good

If jane gets her powers back by next year, that's quicker than thor got his lighting back under control

I would hope they give it a bit longer to let the dust settle on the run a bit, her return from near death reduced it's impact fir me, though I did like how it was done

I would very much like to see her in a superhero mode again but I'd like a bit of a gap on it to build the impact

Judging by the vauge mention of Next Year for War of the Realms I imagine this will be a summer event, which usually means we begin to see the story develop sometime around May (which is why Marvel and DC both utilise FCBD to push summer initiatives). So we probably have a whole year to let the dust settle.

I defiantly agree this is probably a good thing for now. Especially as Jane as Thor is still cropping up in stories at the moment and may do so for a few more weeks here and there.

[Jarnsaxa]

Judging by the vauge mention of Next Year for War of the Realms I imagine this will be a summer event, which usually means we begin to see the story develop sometime around May (which is why Marvel and DC both utilise FCBD to push summer initiatives). So we probably have a whole year to let the dust settle.

I defiantly agree this is probably a good thing for now. Especially as Jane as Thor is still cropping up in stories at the moment and may do so for a few more weeks here and there.

And it's not like Jane isn't going to be making appearances in Thor every month or even getting an occasional issue to herself. Basically, her role in Thor is going to be similar to the one Lois Lane fills in Superman or Catwoman fills in Batman. The next year will be about her battling her cancer, defining her relationship with Thor, and developing mysterious powers. And then we go into next Summer's "War of the Realms" event. She sells too many comic books for Marvel to just let her disappear from print.