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| Must. Fight. Unlimited. Power. Joke. But it's so hard... |
If you want a warrior at your back,
the best out there would be Thor the Thunderer. The Norse God turned superhero
was one of Stan Lee’s more interesting concepts. It was also one of his most
fun heroes, in my opinion. Immensely powerful, but stubborn and prideful, Thor
is one of the major powerhouses of the Avengers. Probably will still be true
when his powers are transferred to as of yet named Lady. Here’s a bit of his
story.
Thor is the son of the immensely
powerful Odin, the All-father of the Norse Gods. He was trained from the cradle
to be the future King of Asgard. As a young man he proved himself worthy of wielding
the Hammer Mjolnir. A teenager with Lightning power, what could possibly go
wrong? He made his first major appearance on Earth in the 9th
century, leading the Vikings that worshiped him into battle and glory. That's what could go wrong giving a fight loving teenager a Lightning summoning hammer. It
would seem that the Viking’s worship really boosted Thor’s ego, something that
seemed to follow him for the next thousand years or so. This relationship ended
when a group of his followers slaughtered a Christian monastery. Guess Religion
was always a touchy subject.
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| He puts the Hammer down, on your HEAD |
Closer to the modern day, Odin
decided that his son needed to learn a little humility before Thor took his
throne. Why he didn’t think of this in the, oh, 1000+ years of his son’s
lifespan I’ll never know. Thor assumed the identity of Donald Blake, a doctor
with a bum leg. He walked with the aid of a walking stick, which was really
Mjolnir in disguise. When he struck the cane on the ground he’d transform back
into the Thunder God with all of his powers. A pain in the butt side effect of
this transformation is that if Thor was separated from the Hammer for over a
minute he’d return to his mortal form. When one of his main form of attack is
throwing the dang thing, you can imagine the problems he ran into. His brother
Loki attempted to use the Hulk to destroy Thor, but instead only succeeding in
uniting the two, Ironman, Ant-man and Wasp into the first incarnation of the
Avengers. Best laid plans of Mice and Men…and Gods.
Thor is an Asgardian, a race of
quasi-alien/inter-dimensional beings. While he looks very much human, he is
immensely stronger, faster, and more durable then a normal man. Even without his hammer he could take a blow that would normally break bone, and not even slow down. He’s also
extremely long lived, he was a young man during the age of the Vikings, and
looks to only be about 35 during the modern day. One can only imagine how old
Odin must be, to be a gray haired old Asgardian. Mjolnir grants Thor the
majority of his immense power, including the ability to absorb and discharge
lightning, open inter-dimensional portals, and shoot bolts of energy.
Thor’s method of flight is a little
different from most. Where the majority of superhuman’s that can fly either A.)
have wings or B.) just can, Thor needs a bit of prep. He needs to swing his
hammer around by its leather strap before flinging it, and himself along with
it. He stays in the air by swinging it like a helicopter blade.
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| Wish fights with my brothers looked this cool. |
Also, Mjolnir was forged in the
heart of a dying star, not FROM a dying star. I’ll include a link at the end of
this post about how insanely dangerous such a weapon would be, even to a God.
Thor has been portrayed in the last
few years on the big screen by Chris Hemsworth in the Thor movies and the
Avengers. Chris does an excellent job portraying the Thunderer’s larger than
life attitude, and also showing Thor’s journey from pompous man-child to actual
leader and king. I recommend all three movies to anybody. They’re awesome.
Thor is also a major character in
any Avenger’s related material. He was one of my favorite playable characters
in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. Combined with Spider-man, Capt, and Wolverine led
to lots of unconscious bad guys. If you have a PS2, find a copy and play it, it
is awesome.
He’s a major character in Avenger’s
Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. In this he’s portrayed as perhaps the most powerful
member of the Avengers. He has a friendly rivalry with the Hulk which is pretty
funny to watch at times. His best moments were in the Season finales, flying in
with a thunderstorm to beat the heck out of whoever threatened his beloved
Midgard. (Earth as the Asgardians known it.) He drops the hammer on Galactus
during the series finale and knocks the titanic planet eater back. It’s good to
be the Thunder God.
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| Without the Hammer, Thor takes Lightning only slightly better than a normal man. |
He has a different voice actor in Avenger's Assemble, but he's still basically the same dude.And while I think the show pales in comparison to its predecessor, there is a very good Thor centered episode. While in Asgard, Doctor Doom uses a time machine to re-write history, making heroes like Iron-man, Hulk, and Black Widow his minions, keeping Captain America under ice, and making him supreme ruler of the Earth. Thor gets an excellent lesson in humility when the supped up Doctor Doom kicks him up one side of the street and down the other, and also an insight into his comrades psyches in a world where Doom rules. It's a good episode, rare as it is.
Thor is an interesting concept for
a character. A god that needs to learn humility? And one of the strongest Gods
at that. It’d be about as difficult to get Hercules to go to an AA meeting. (He’s
also a Marvel Hero, and has a similar relationship to Thor as Thor does to
Hulk.) He has a strong desire to protect the humans that he’s put into harm’s
way, and also who put themselves into harm’s way. He puts his all into saving
others and I hope he stays popular for a long time to come. Next time, Aquaman,
a hero made 100% more awesome by Jason Mamoa.
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| He's about to remake the map, probably should move to a safe distance. |
http://marvel.wikia.com/Thor_%28Thor_Odinson%29
http://www.8cn.tv/content/movie-review-thor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_%28film%29
http://www.tvrage.com/Avengers_Assemble/episodes/1065432007
http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles-7/hercules-atlas-vs-hulk-thor-1509486/
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