Thor

Thor fan articles

Are you worthy?

Mythology has always been a popular source of inspiration for fiction. Dante Alighieri and William Shakespeare took many characters and motifs from it. Then came Tolkien, who collected all kinds of myths and legends and created his own enormous myth from them. In modern fiction we have series like Supernatural or Ragnarok, films like Clash of the Titans, Valhalla or Gods of Egypt, books like the Percy Jackson series and other novels by Rick Riordan and game series like God of War and Assassin's Creed. Stargate and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull then took up the theories of pre-astronautics made popular by Erich von Däniken and linked the ancient gods with extraterrestrials. Erich van Däniken? What does he actually do? Nowadays, he probably watches videos by Attila Hildmann and Xavier Naidoo and thinks: "Wow, that's really too crazy for me." The Nordic god of thunder Thor also becomes an alien in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it wasn't always like this. In the Marvel comics, Asgard is, as in mythology, one of nine realms of the world tree Yggdrasil, which can be compared to other dimensions rather than planets. In general, the comics are closer to the mythological original than the films. Here, Thor is also the son of Odin and Forjgyn/Jörd and not Frigga/Frigga. In Germanic mythology, which differs from Nordic mythology practically only in its names, the god of thunder is called Donar. It is not only linguists who recognize that it is not a long way from there to thunder.

Stan Lee said about the development of the character:

"How do you make someone stronger than the strongest person? Finally, it occurred to me: don't make him human—make him a god. I decided that readers were already quite familiar with the Greek and Roman gods. It might be fun to delve into the old Norse legends. [...] I also imagined the Norse gods to be like the Vikings of old, with flowing beards, horned helmets, and battle clubs."

Thor made his debut in 1962 in Journey into Mystery #83 and just one year later was fighting alongside the superheroes Ant-Man, the Wasp, Iron Man and Hulk as the newly formed Avengers against his brother Loki. In the comics, Thor was initially banished to Earth by Odin until he proved himself worthy of Mjölnir. However, in the comics he initially has no idea who he is. He suffers from amnesia and thinks he is the disabled doctor Dr. Don Blake. Jane Foster is his assistant here, not an astrophysicist who looks like Darth Vader's wife. Speaking of which: MCU and Star Wars belong to Disney. Crossover idea: Darth Vader finds out that Thor has run off with his girlfriend. Mjölnir against lightsaber and the Force. Don't say you wouldn't want to see that. In the comics, Dr. Don Blake at least gets his hands on Mjölnir disguised as a walking stick and he remembers it.

In Kenneth Branagh's film, this origin story is alluded to, but it is essentially skipped over. Here, the God of Thunder returns home to Asgard despite his love for Jane, while his comic counterpart remains on Earth or in Midgard, for which Odin will later punish him again. In the comics, it was not his son's immaturity that was the reason why Odin banished him, but his repeated interference in Midgard, which the father of the gods had forbidden.

In the comics, Thor 's enemies and allies do not only come from the Nordic pantheon. For example, the god of thunder saves Hercules from Pluto. No, not the dwarf planet. Not even Mickey Mouse's dog. We are talking about the Roman god of the underworld, known to the Greeks as Hades. Of course, that doesn't mean that Loki, Malekith, Laufey, Hela, Surtur, Odin, Sif, Heimdall, Balder, Frigga, Tyr, Vakyrie, Enchantress or Freya are not a common sight in the Thor comics. In fact, they open up a completely new world for the Marvel universe.

Let's talk briefly about Mjolnir and those who can lift it. In Avengers: Endgame we see Captain America swinging the hammer. So Cap is worthy, but he doesn't take Thor 's place. In the comics, other superheroes did this. The best known example would probably be Beta Ray Bill. Other versions of the God of Thunder in the main Marvel continuity would be Red Norvell and Eric Masterson. The biggest excitement, however, came when Marvel announced the first female Thor in 2014 and put Mjolnir in Janes Foster's hands. This storyline is set to be picked up by Thor : Love & Thunder in Phase 4 of the MCU. And Padmé, i.e. Natalie Portman, now has muscles. What we can expect in the upcoming films, now that the multiverse has opened the door to all possible variants, we can only speculate at best.

Now the question is: Are you worthy of the cool merchandise in our online shop? Can you lift our cups and then throw them on the floor and ask for more of the delicious brew? And yes, go ahead and throw the cups down, then you'll need new ones. Planned obsolescence works for electrical appliances, but not so well for posters and clothing. We only have lamps on offer, although they are more decorative than electrical appliances. Does Mjölnir actually count as an electrical appliance? Does Nidavellir give a two-year guarantee on it? Considering how long the thing lasts, that's not a good business model either. The yvolve shop's business model is primarily to make nerds and geeks happy, money is secondary. So why don't we just give all the merch away as gifts? Then we wouldn't have any money to buy fan articles ourselves, like T-shirts, caps and bags. That's just how capitalism works. And even Karl Marx would be tempted by our cool accessories for film fans and TV junkies. How much more fun would it have been to write Das Kapital down in one of our beautiful notebooks? Perhaps then instead of "Proletarians of all countries, unite!" it would have been "Avengers assemble!" Although the other way round would also be fun and, given how Marvel is playing around with timelines now, it is absolutely conceivable.