Height: 6 ft. 6 in. Weight: 640 lbs. Eyes: Blue Hair: Blonde
Human
Form: Jake Olsen Occupation: EMS
Technician
Origin
According to the current version, Thor's history follows
the traditional myth and later on, he abandoned his worshippers in disgust
when they massacred a Christian mission; although he has been
seen in flashbacks to have befriended many of his followers and personally
guaranteed their passage into Valhalla, he and his other Asgardians have
abandoned their roles as figures of worship.
Much later, his father Odin decided that Thor had
to be taught humility, and so transformed him into Donald (Don) Blake, a
human surgeon who was
lame in one leg, and erased his memory. For years, Thor played the role of
Don Blake who was a brilliant physician and lived upon Earth.
Subsequently, Don Blake became Thor's human alternate persona. Eventually,
Odin was satisfied that Thor had spent enough time as Donald Blake, and
became Thor with no mortal trappings.
However, in Thor's first appearance (as shown
left), long before the lifting of that spell, Odin planted a
subconscious desire to go hiking in a specific wilderness area. Once
there, aliens attacked and trapped Blake in a sealed cave with little hope
of escape. Desperately, Blake tried to use a walking stick he found as a
lever to remove the blocking rubble. When he struck the rocks, he
triggered the special change spell of the stick and Blake was transformed
into his true form of Thor and the stick became the uru war hammer
Mjolnir. With his rediscovered power, he escaped the cave and defeated the
aliens. With that, Thor dedicated himself to fighting evil.
As at that time, Thor had no memory of his true identity
and history for some time, the character was depicted as a Norse version
of Captain Marvel.
That situation was reinforced with a new spell on the hammer that would
change Thor back to Don Blake if he was out of physical contact of his
hammer for more than 60 seconds which suggested that Don Blake was his
true identity. Fortunately, Mjolnir was small enough to tuck in his belt
so he would not have to continually hold the hammer to keep his Thor form.
(It was later revealed that Donald Blake was a real person who had been
placed into suspended animation by Odin; the real Blake was accidentally
killed by Sigyn, who
then created a duplicate of him that would reappear years later, believing
itself to be the real Donald Blake.)
Protector of Midgard
Thor battles enemies such as his adoptive brother Loki,
who has sworn to kill him. To that end, Loki created powerful minions like
the Absorbing Man and the Wrecker
and manipulated other enemies like Ulik of
the Trolls to
challenge the thunder god; one of these manipulations resulted in the
formation of the superhero team called The Avengers, a team in
which for years Thor has served as one of the core members. At the same
time, Thor had a romance with his (Donald Blake's) nurse, Jane Foster,
which Odin disapproved of; that attitude proved a source of constant
frustation for Thor, who at one point even unsuccessfully appealed to Odin
to allow him to bring Foster to Asgard.
Beta Ray Bill
This status quo in the comics was shaken up in the 1980s under the authorship
of Walt
Simonson, beginning with Thor's encounter with the monsterous yet
noble alien called Beta Ray Bill. Thor was sent
to encounter Bill at the request of S.H.I.E.L.D., who had
observed Bill's ship destroy a star to refuel; S.H.I.E.L.D. feared that
the ship might do the same to the sun. During the subsequent fight, Thor
lost contact with his hammer for too long, causing him to revert to Blake.
Ignorant of the hammer's power, Bill picked up the cane and struck it in
frustration against a wall, enacting its mystical enchantment. Being
judged worthy to hoist Mjolnir in the process, Bill was transformed,
gaining Thor's power (and a variant of Thor's costume) for his own, before
being summoned to Asgard by Odin, who confused Bill with his son. Upon
realizing his mistake, Odin retrieved Thor as well.
Bill claimed Mjolnir as a prize of fair combat, which Thor
— being disadvataged by his reversion to Blake — naturally disputed. Odin
had the matter settled by trial by combat in the
volcanic World of Skartheim, "where even gods may perish." Bill won an
evenly matched fight due to his distinct biological make up that caused
the heat from the volcanic world to revive him. Though Bill's ability to
defend his people would have been greatly aided by Mjolnir's power, he did
not feel it was right to claim a hammer forged for Thor. On hearing this,
Odin worked out a compromise for the equally worthy warriors, with Bill
receiving a close copy of Mjolnir called Stormbreaker and transferred the
transformation spell to it so that Bill — whose altered form he despised
and made him, essentially, a pariah to the people he had taken it to
defend — could enjoy his original form when he wanted it, while Thor
finally abandoned the Don Blake identity. Sif, who had become depressed and
estranged from Thor, left with Bill.
The Surtur War
Soon afterward, the fire-demon Surtur would forge his sword,
Twilight, and march on Asgard to light it with the Eternal Flame, with the
intention of bringing an End to Everything. Odin summoned all of Asgard's
warriors to the battle, including Bill and Sif. Loki was the only one not
to respond. The armies of Asgard then left for Earth, to prevent Surtur
and his armies from crossing Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge. Having set light
to New York though, Surtur tricked Thor into drenching the city in a
rainstorm to extinguish the flame, creating a rainbow for a brief moment
as he cleared it, allowing Surtur passage to Asgard, who then shattered
Bifrost behind him. Thor teleported himself to Asgard, leaving Bill in
charge of Asgard's armies in the fight that still raged on Earth, but Sif
was stopped by Bill from following. Enraged, she lept further into the
battle, vanishing as she fought a rearguard action. The rest of the army,
aided by the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and the
Norn Queen's army, destroyed the portal Surtur's army came through,
returning them to Muspelheim.
Meanwhile, Thor engaged Surtur at Asgard's gates, and was
overwhelmed by the fire-demon. Upon his defeat, only Odin seemingly stood
between Surtur and Armageddon. Soon, even Odin fell, and Surtur lowered
his sword into the flame...
...to find nothing happened. He turned to find Loki
taunting him over falling for such an illusion. Loki bought enough time
for Odin and Thor to recover, then the three attacked Surtur in concert.
Thor, realising just how much of Surtur's strength came from Twilight,
managed to knock it from his hand, and Odin knocked the demon into
Muspelheim, pledging to prevent Surtur's return as he fell with him.
In the aftermath on Earth, Sif was found badly injured,
but recovered quickly with the help of the Asgardians' healing techniques
and teleported to Asgard to find Odin gone and Thor as emotionally
shattered as the remains of the Rainbow Bridge. He bade her to return to
Earth and co-lead Asgard's warriors with Bill, until a way could be found
to return them to Asgard. (Due to Bifrost's shattering, only Thor, Sif,
Bill and the Enchantress were able to move directly from Earth to Asgard),
while Thor left for the mountains to grieve. After his rescue from a
Hela-engineeered avalanche by Tiwaz (unbeknowst to Thor, his
great-grandfather Buri), he remained with Tiwaz at his insistence until he
was recovered.
After, by the combined powers of Thor & Bill's
hammers, the Asgardians were returned to Asgard to find Odin gone, Thor
declined to take the throne that was his birthright, instead passing the
regency to Balder the Brave.
Eventually, Odin was found, imprisoned by Seth, the Egyptian god of death
and, with a few hiccups, remained the Lord of Asgard until his recent true
death. Thor inherited the Odinforce. With his human side separated into
another vessel, took the throne and began to rule Earth with an iron fist.
His rule lasted for 200 years, until his son, Magni,
finally convinced him of the wrongness of his actions. Thor returned to
the past and gave his 200 years of memories to his younger self as a
warning, before rejoining him with his human side, who then returned the
Asgardians to the true Asgard.
Ragnarok
This situation would not last long, however. The Odinforce
had become sentient and, appalled by what he saw in Thor's memories, left
him. In addition, Loki recovered the Mould of Mjolinr and raised Surtur,
who agreed to make new hammers using it as repayment for his return to
life. Loki and his followers then proceeded to devastate Asgard, killing
several and shattering Mjolnir in their first attack. Ragnarok was upon Asgard.
Gradually, more and more fell until a desperate retaliation, aided by the
return of Bill, stemmed the tide. Thor placed Bill in the leadership of
Asgard, while he, followed by the Odinforce in the form of a child,
underwent the trials Odin undertook as a young man, only more so: Thor
sacrificed both his eyes for knowledge (Odin had lost only one eye) and
spent a week dead hanging from Yggdrasil to gain the wisdom of
the runes. At the end, he saw that the Ragnarok cycle was caused by the
leeching of a group of self-styled "Gods to the Gods," known as Those Who
Sit Above in Shadow, who depended on the Ragnarok cycle for their
survival. Appalled at the thought that the Asgardians' sacrifices meant
nothing, bolstered by the human side that was his birthright from his
mother, and strengthed by Odin placing him in the Don Blake identity for
years, Thor resolved to end the cycle at ANY cost.
His sight (though not his eyes) restored by the return of
the Odinforce to him and the runic magic, Thor single-handedly devastated
Valhalla, where the victorious Loki now resided. Thor separated Loki's
head from its body, attaching the still-living head to his belt. Thor then
did the unthinkable, making a deal with Surtur: in return for the
reforging of Mjolnir (he felt it appropriate for Surtur to be the one to
remake it), he would blast a clear path for him to Asgard. The final
battle unfolded, with Thor's only part the return of Beta Ray Bill to the
Earth dimension. (Feeling that a non-Asgardian had no place dying in his
race's final battle, Thor bade Bill to remember them.) When all lay dead,
and Fenris had
consumed the remains, Thor shattered the Fates' weave to prevent the
cycle's continuation. Finally, uncertain of his future, he decided to
"sleep the sleep of the gods."
"For awhile, at least..."
Powers and abilities
Thor is the Norse god of Thunder, Lightning and
Agriculture. As such, he controls storms, particularly rain and
accompanying wind and thunder, as well as base elements. Thor also
possesses enormous strength, stamina, and endurance. Thor is immune to all
terrestrial diseases due to his god-like physical constitution. He is a
superb hand-to-hand combatant, even against other Asgardians. In fact,
Thor is known to be one of the strongest of all Asgardians, possessing
"Class 100" strength (The ability to lift/press well over 100 tons over
his/her head.). This strength level makes him physically in the same
strength-class as The Hulk, Juggernaut, Gladiator, Hercules and a few
others. He is very cunning and intuitive in battle, and what he lacks in
genius he makes up with experience.
Thor's uru hammer, Mjolnir, amplifies Thor's innate
control over the elements and can be used as a missile weapon by throwing
it (which in return allows the hammer to return in mere moments, unless
seized by others. This normally fails as few are worthy to weild it). Thor
can also generate mystical blasts of unknown origin from Mjolnir, as well
as magnetic and gravitional fields. Through concentration, Mjolnir can be
utilized as a siphon to drain nearby sources of energy and magic, allowing
Thor to rechannel these energies into energy blasts to either supplement
or increase the energy blasts of Mjolnir. The hammer also allows him to
travel between dimensions and points in space by creating gateways and can
also allow Thor to fly by grasping the handle of Mjolnir after throwing it
(extremely long distances are covered through a teleportational gateway).
Thor can also use the hammer to drain energy from both humanoids and
machines. He has used the hammer to channel such energy into an attack in
the form of a mystical blast. Thor can also use the hammer to channel his
own "godly essence" resulting in a massive and devastating attack called
Unfettered Might and the God-Blast. The hammer is mystically enchanted so
that only those of worthy character can wield it.
Deviations from Norse mythology
Throughout the last 40 years, Thor has been a somewhat
important Marvel character, although writers have varied in the degree of
actual Norse mythology they implemented into the character's series.
- Marvel Comics' Thor is blond and usually clean-shaven.
The Classical Norse version has red hair and a red beard.
- Thor wields Mjolnir without
aid. The Classical version needs his belt and gloves to wield Mjolnir.
- Marvel's Mjolnir looks like a mallet. In the Norse stories,
it's a war
hammer (the metal top is curved)
- In the classical Norse stories, only Thor and his son Magni can lift Mjolnir. In Marvel,
only those worthy can lift it, which is a small list of people
that includes Captain America (at the
time simply called "The Captain"), Beta Ray Bill, Thunderstrike, Odin
and his grandfather Tiwaz.
In crossovers with DC Comics,
Superman and
Wonder
Woman were worthy to lift Mjolnir in Avengers/JLA #4 (2003)
and Marvel vs DC #3 (1996),
respectively.
- In the Marvel Comics Universe, Thor was a bachelor without children.
In the classical Norse myths, his wife was called Sif and they have two children, Thrud and Modi, and a stepson
called Ullr. With Jarnsaxa, Thor
had the son Magni. In the Marvel version Sif became a lover of Thor's.
- In the classical Norse myths, Thor will kill and be killed by Jormungand
at Ragnarok.
In Marvel, Thor kills Jormungand and survives, as he was then cursed by
Hela to be denied the gift
of death.
- Other inconsistencies
- Undoing the death of Balder
- Giving Thor's lover, Sif, black hair. In myth, it was
spun out of gold as
a gift by Loki. In
Marvel Sif originally had golden hair but it fell out due to a trick
by Loki.
- Ragnarok is the end for mythical Thor. In Marvel, Thor initiates
and survives Ragnarok.
- In the Classical Norse myth, a few gods survive Ragnarok. In the
Marvel universe, it appears that Ragnarok has claimed them all.
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