There are plenty of reasons to love Marvel’s Thor. Here are 20 times the God of Thunder was well and truly the best.
Image via Marvel
Sometimes, with all the talk of superheroes, it’s easy to forget just who is in the mix. It’s even harder still to pick a favorite. Should you make Spider-Man your champion? What about Wonder Woman? Teams of superheroes complicate things even further. Should you just say you like the X-Men as a group and leave it at that? Good luck trying to pick the most interesting mutant, at any rate.
Before you give up in a storm of confusion, however, there’s hope. Because you see, there is always Thor.
Honestly, with some help from your friendly local comics nerd, you can pick a Thor comic to suit nearly any taste. Want something goofy and fun? Thor’s here for you with a Renn Faire accent and a basic misunderstanding of modern technology. Want tragedy? Look no further than the complicated family dynamics of Thor, his father Odin, and adopted brother Loki. As it turns out, Odin, the All-Father and leader of the Asgardians, has a real knack for creating longstanding drama.
How about vast, cosmic epics? Any Thor series worth its salt will have that in abundance. After all, the Asgardians, along with many other peoples depicted in the Thor comics, are really just alien beings with vast powers. Of course, if you want action comics, then the God of Thunder himself is more than willing to provide some stunning fights for your entertainment. Fans of science fiction and fantasy will also find much to enjoy in Asgardian tech, including Thor’s magical hammer, Mjolnir.
So, in one issue, you can read about Thor palling around with his reincarnated teenage brother, Loki. In another, he’s battling a serpent so big that writer and artist Walt Simonson put together an entire comic full of splash panels to tell the heroic tale. Pick up one more Thor story, and you may find him traveling to planets, speaking with sentient spaceships, and befriending one of the coolest aliens of them all – the justly legendary Beta Ray Bill.
If you still need some convincing, read on to learn about twenty of Thor’s best moments and attributes. There are a few spoilers sprinkled throughout, so tread with caution.
If nothing else, I highly recommend checking out the work of Walt Simonson, considered to be one of the best comics writers ever. He started his work with Thor on Thor #337, so that’s an excellent place to start. Otherwise, read on, worthy mortals.
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20. When he was Donald Blake
Which is pretty much all the time. Sure, you can find plenty of Thor comics where he leans a little too far into the self-important tragedy side of things, but that’s not where he shines. Thor is really at his best when he’s a well-meaning gentleman, albeit one with a giant, magical hammer, and a pretty cool helmet.
All of that started very near the beginning of Thor’s Marvel storyline. Though he starts out as Asgardian royalty, young Thor is a bit of a braggadocious jock. He swaggers around the kingdom, flirting with everyone while knocking enemies on the head with Mjolnir, his magic hammer (which is definitely not some kind of metaphor for anything else).
Odin, his father and the head honcho of all the Asgardians, eventually gets fed up with his son. Though Thor is brilliant and a formidable fighter, he clearly needs a lesson in humility. So, like any responsible parent, Odin takes away Thor’s powers and memory. He then transports his son into the body of Donald Blake, a disabled human man.
As Blake, Thor makes his way through medical school and becomes a respected and, more importantly, humble doctor. Though he eventually finds his way back to Asgard, it’s clear that Thor has learned some valuable lessons from his time as a mortal human.
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19. When he fought the Midgard Serpent
Though Thor is rightfully recognized for his milder characteristics, we would be dreadfully remiss if we didn’t talk about Thor’s pure power. Sometimes, you absolutely must have a strongman character in comics who’s busy fighting villains and monsters. It’s at the very heart of the genre.
While Thor has had plenty of squabbles with his adopted brother, Loki, we’re not looking for that kind of fight. Instead, let’s take a moment to focus on Thor’s massive, terrifying encounter with the Midgard serpent.
Though the Thor comics may seem at first to take its cues from real-world Norse mythology, don’t be fooled. It’s true that historic Scandinavians told each other tales of Jörmungandr, or the Midgard serpent, a fantastically large snake that encircles all of creation with its length and held its tail in its mouth. When Jörmungandr finally releases its tail, the Old Norse said, the end of the world, Ragnarok, would begin.
That’s not quite the case in the Marvel Thor comics, though rest assured that Ragnarok does play an important role later on. Here, the Midgard Serpent is the result of some careless science; a researcher summons the beast he takes a mysterious, venom-like substance from a serpent statue. During one of the big showdowns between Thor and the Serpent in Thor #380, writer and illustrator Walt Simonson tells the story in a comic consisting almost entirely of big, bold flash panels.
Naturally, an Asgardian prophet tells Odin that the Midgard Serpent will eventually kill Thor. So, Odin replaces Thor with another man, Red Norvell, who eventually dies in Thor’s place.
That doesn’t stop Thor from battling the Midgard Serpent a few times, however. Remember, this is comics, and it’s rare for anything or anyone to be truly dead. That’s especially the case when it’s a gigantic snake that looks like it slithered off the cover of a metal album. Watching Thor defeat it is a delight.
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18. When he’s just a little out of touch with humans
It’s bound to happen. After all, Thor has traveled to Earth from a realm so far away that it’s hard to imagine. And it’s not as if Asgard is like any human community you’ve ever seen. It’s full of strange (to us, anyway) buildings, costumes, and mannerisms. Any prince of that society is, therefore, going to be especially entrenched in its culture and ways of living.
That’s all great when Thor is in Asgard. But, in some of the more “traditional” comics depictions of Thor, he starts to look and feel a little out of place when he arrives in Midgard. As much as he loves being a superhero and fighting evil, he still comes off a strangely courtly. His language is peppered with “thees” and “thous”. Depending on the letterer, even the font in his speech bubbles has an old-timey Renaissance fair feel to it.
Don’t get me wrong, though. As silly as this sounds, Thor is perhaps all the more admirable for it. And, in the hands of a good writer and artist, his mannerisms often serve to make him all the more majestic and alien.
That doesn’t mean humor is completely out of the question, as more recent comics storylines will illustrate. Check out Thor: The Mighty Adventure for a recent good example. Certainly, the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok movie, directed by Taika Waititi, will likely lean in that direction.
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17. That time he befriended a terrifying horse-faced alien
In the words of legendary comic book artist and writer Walt Simonson, “Perhaps the most powerful lesson I learned from those comics was that if you kept a straight face, you could do anything”.
That very concept is perhaps best illustrated in Simonson’s very first Thor storyline, in Thor #337 (November 1983). Simonson wanted to break free from what had become something of a ho-hum storyline. You know, Thor flies around, beats up a bad guy with Mjolnir, gets into a fight with his dad, Odin, etcetera, etcetera. That kind of thing, with generally small variations, had been going on for more than three hundred issues. Clearly, a shakeup was necessary.
Just take a look at the cover of Thor #337 to see what Simonson did. There’s a Thor-like figure wielding Mjolnir and wreaking havoc (to the point where the tiny Thor portrait beneath the Marvel logo is knocked out of frame). Yet… that clearly isn’t Thor.
Instead, we’re looking at the one, the only Beta Ray Bill. So, how does he figure in to the story, and why does he have Mjolnir instead of Thor?
Bill, who looks like a bodybuilder with orange skin and horse skeleton for a face, first comes off as a serious villain. He flies in on a sentient ship called Skuttlebutt, seemingly the advance guard for an alien fleet, and fights Thor. Eventually, Bill manages to get hold of Mjolnir and, with a mighty sound effect, takes on Thor’s costume and powers. Odin, understandably confused, transports Bill back to Asgard, thinking he’s the real Thor (and clearly not looking too closely at his son’s terrifying new horse skull face).
The rest of the story is a little too involved to cover here – seriously, get thee to a comics store and read this first Beta Ray Bill story – but eventually, the two become friends. It helps that Bill is actually the defender of his people, who are in a kind of cryogenic sleep while they flee, seriously, a giant cloud of demons. Bill, clearly worthy enough to wield Mjolnir, eventually gets his own hammer, named “Stormbreaker”.
Thor, Bill, and the Lady Sif go to town on the demons and save Bill’s people. They save the day, and thus a new and clearly awesome version of Thor is established in the Marvel canon.
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16. That time he was a frog
Laugh as you might, but this is actually one of the more interesting and compelling stories to involve an animal-based transformation in comics. Thank Walt Simonson again for his innovative work on the “Thunder Frog”.
So, how exactly did Thor find himself as a frog, anyway? Unsurprisingly, Loki has a lot to do with it. It’s a pretty silly setup, and Thor is justifiably embarrassed to discover that he’s transformed into an amphibian. Even living in Central Park with a surprisingly advanced frog community isn’t enough to assuage Thor’s shame.
Mission achieved, Loki might have thought, and then wandered away. Yet, Frog Thor’s story doesn’t stop there. As it so happens, the Central Park frog society is being attacked by a rival rat community. Thor cheers up when he learns that he can get in some good, old-fashioned fighting in, despite his froglike nature.
When he recovers Mjolnir, he becomes even more powerful, though still in the form of a frog. Of course, Thor’s gotta Thor, so he keeps on being a superhero despite his bizarre form.
Naturally, he eventually regains his Asgardian shape, to the shock and disappointment of Loki, who must have thought that he’d finally gotten Thor this time. And before you dismiss this whole thing as a ridiculous bit of writing, remember that Walt Simonson was at the helm. As silly as this may sound, it’s actually a ton of fun.
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15. That time he befriended a frog – while a frog
This actually gets a little confusing after a while. And, no, you don’t need to roll your eyes when you’re agreeing with me, thank you very much. Because, when we’re talking about “Frog Thor”, there are actually two different entities in play.
We already know about Thor’s time as one of the frogs living in the heart of New York City. Yet, he was not alone.
See, there’s also Throg, formerly a man named Simon Walterson (we all see what you did there, Marvel writers). Simon has had a tough life. He was a rising star of an athlete, whose future career was crushed by a serious injury. He finds happiness in another career and even finds love. Alas, though, it’s not to be – his wife and their unborn child die.
Devastated by the deaths of his wife and child, Simon visits a witch to speak to them in the afterlife. However, when the witch discovers he can’t pay, she turns Simon into a frog. Simon somehow makes it to Central Park, where he’s accepted into the frog group there and renamed Puddlegulp.
Puddlegulp eventually encounters Frog Thor and helps him defeat the rats. When some of the surviving rats follow Thor, Puddlegulp rushes to tell the superhero. He witnesses Frog Thor lifting his recovered Mjolnir, thus transforming into a superpowered frog. When one of Thor’s chariot-pulling goats (more on them later, I promise) hits Mjolnir with its hoof, a tiny sliver of the hammer breaks off.
Simon/Puddlegulp lifts the sliver of metal, which then transforms into the tiny yet mighty “Frogjolnir”. Puddlegulp thus transforms into Throg, the Frog of Thunder. He even joins a group seriously called the “Pet Avengers”, a four-issue series released in 2009, followed by another four-issue follow-up the next year.
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14. When you get a look at his glorious hair
I will fully admit that this is shallow. After all, there’s so much to admire about Thor and the various comics runs that form his story. At the very least, it recalls some of the objectification faced by female superheroes, who have historically been recognized more for their looks than for their abilities. Clearly, Thor’s long, flowing locks don’t really add to his superpowers.
Still, his hair is really, really nice.
Seriously, how many other male superheroes have hairstyles like this one? Most of the time, they’re sporting some variation on the utilitarian buzz cut. Perhaps they have a marginally different short hair cut or some vague curls. Unfortunately, they’re almost all uniformly boring.
And it’s nice to see a male superhero that’s unconcerned with some of the aspects of traditional masculinity. To be entirely fair, Thor has been often categorized as something of a man’s man, what with all of the fighting, adventuring and talking of Valhalla.
But Thor, or at least Thor at more mature stages of his life, is more complex. At his best, he’s respectful of women, kind to strangers, and unconcerned with the more toxic aspects of masculinity. So, while his hair is genuinely unique and really, really ridiculously good looking, it’s also emblematic of his better personality traits.
At the very least, it helps you remember that he can transcend some of our worst inclinations. While his new shorter hairdo in the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok movie is probably very practical and necessary, we’ll miss those long, blonde tresses.
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13. When he deals with his alternate identities
All superheroes, it seems, need an alternate identity. It makes sense, on a practical level. After all, wielding superpowers generally gets you noticed. If you’re a massive, muscular Asgardian god who flies around with a magical hammer, then you may get noticed all the more.
However satisfying all that recognition may be, it makes the nitty gritty work of saving the world a little tough. You see, sometimes seemingly boring stuff like going to meetings and getting your paperwork in order can really pay off in the long run.
As fun as it might be to imagine the fully bedecked Thor, God of Thunder, attending to administrative work (which, given all of the board meetings that the Avengers and the like seem to have, you may have already), it doesn’t work out in everyday life. Sometimes, it’s just easier to pretend to be someone else.
I’ve already discussed Thor’s first alternate identity as Donald Blake, the doctor personality designed to teach Thor a lesson in humility. However, when Thor finally learns to get off his high horse every once in awhile, the Blake personality is no longer necessary. Still, Thor needs to get work done.
This means that, with the help of S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, Thor must develop a new persona. This time around, he must masquerade as Sigurd Jarlson, a Nordic construction worker with a ponytail and gigantic 80s-era glasses.
If the “glasses-as-disguise” gambit sounds a little familiar, then you might be satisfied to learn that “Sigurd” once accidentally knocked over a hapless reporter at a conference. Said reporter, a bit of a dweeb named Clark, also had a pair of glasses which seemed fairly important to his identity. Wonder if the two will ever meet up again?
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12. When you remember that he’s an alien god
It’s easy to forget that Thor is a for-real extraterrestrial being. First of all, he appears to us as a standard bipedal human who seems to really enjoy bodybuilding. Yeah, he speaks like he just came out of a Shakespeare workshop, but unless you see him in full gear and with Mjolnir, you could be forgiven for thinking he’s some sort of intellectual gym rat.
But, to slide in here with a real understatement, Asgard is definitely not earth. While it’s often referred to as a “realm”, the truth is that Asgard is another planet far, far away from our own Earth. To get around the galaxy, Thor often uses faster-than-light and interdimensional travel to reach his destination.
While the Asgardians themselves look distinctly humanoid, there’s no mistaking them for us boring old hominids. They are far stronger than we are, as well as faster and more durable. Their bodies are also incredibly dense, contributing to their durability and giving them some serious weight. Plus, Asgardians are incredibly long-lived, though they aren’t immortal.
If that wasn’t enough, then remember that their world is pretty strange. Take, for a somewhat shallow example, their manner of dress. If you think Thor’s winged helmet was kind of funny, then you may want to consider the strange and often elaborate headgear sported by his associates. Bet you won’t see something like that on the streets of your town (apart from a comics convention, obviously). Even on the level of something as basic as how they clothe themselves, it’s clear that the Asgardians – Thor included – are very, very alien.
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11. When Thor isn’t perfect
Maybe this is my human-based inferiority complex speaking, but it’s satisfying to see that Thor isn’t entirely a golden child. That’s maybe not reassuring if, say, Thor was real and we had to deal with his god-sized foibles on a regular basis. Fortunately, however, Thor is solidly in the realm of fiction, meaning that his various mistakes and temper tantrums can make for compelling story fodder, rather than the complete destruction of a few buildings and local landmarks.
In the right hands, though, this can be a powerful lesson. It can also make for some really good stories.
On the surface, Thor may at first seem to be perfect. From our limited perspective, a fair swathe of the Asgardians may seem that way. After all, even within the world of Marvel comics, they were all so impressive that they inspired the Norse myths.
But if they really were all perfect, all the time, it would be hard to enjoy reading comics about Thor and the Asgardians. Oftentimes, that’s the same complaint leveled against DC Comics’ Superman, who has had to undergo some serious story and character work to make his tale interesting to more than the most die-hard fans.
It’s far more compelling to see a godlike being fail and then learn to redeem himself, as Thor does multiple times through his long comics history. Even Asgardians need to learn humility, you know.
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10. When Thor is surprisingly light-hearted
Now, there’s no shame if you’re a fan of the dark and tragic side of comics. For a long time, it was almost impossible to get anything else out of your superhero stories (thanks and blame both largely go to Frank Miller and his run with DC Comics for the “grimdark” comics trend). But, people love to read a well-done tragedy. It can be beautiful and compelling. Look at the long-lived acclaim of some of Shakespeare’s darkest works, like Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear.
However, a constant stream of serious tales does not make for a well-rounded comics diet. Neither will it really satisfy you as a reader, or at least not once you find a good, humorous story you didn’t know you’d enjoy. After that, you’re likely to realize that it’s perfectly fine to step into some light-hearted stuff as well.
For all that Thor delves into the realm of epic and myth, many of the Thor comics are actually a lot of fun. After all, he’s often a fish out of water when he’s here on Earth, which proves to be rich territory for levity. In recent story arcs, where a long series of events leads to his stepbrother, Loki, being reborn as a tech-savvy teenager, Thor’s good-natured confusion is actually fun to read.
Walt Simonson, whose run on Thor has been hailed as the best in the character’s series and one of the best comics runs of all time, understood this balance. There’s plenty of grand exclamations and noble, lonely heroes in his work, to be sure. Then again, Simonson is also responsible for turning Thor into a frog. Clearly, he’s not afraid to have fun.
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9. Whenever he goes out in his goat chariot
Believe it or not, this aspect of Thor’s life is actually drawn straight out of Norse mythology. Rather, they’re drawn from the best source we have for Old Norse myths, the 13th-century Poetic Edda and Prose Edda, compiled by Snorri Sturluson. Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr, the two goats in questions, pull Thor’s chariot. In the actual myths, this is how he gets around, rather than on a flying Mjolnir.
In the Prose Edda, Sturluson relates how Thor can actually eat his goats each night and, if he keeps the skins and bones, is able to resurrect them by the next morning. At one point, while visiting a peasant family, one of the bones is broken. The next morning, one of Thor’s goats is lame in a rear leg. Thor flies into a rage, but eventually calms down and takes two of the family’s children as servants in exchange.
Luckily, comics Thor isn’t quite so extreme. Still, he does occasionally use Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr (also called Toothgrinder and Toothgnasher) to get around. The goats themselves are also pretty useful. They helped Throg, the previously mentioned Frog of Thunder, gain his powers by breaking off a sliver of Mjolnir. They’ve also alerted Asgardians to danger and guarded children during battle.
Plus, they help Thor look cool in the strangest way whenever he rolls out in his goat chariot.
Image via Marvel
8. When he delves into magic
By now, it should be pretty clear that Norse mythology generally has only a tenuous connection to Thor you see in Marvel comics. However, that relationship can change from writer to writer. Some, like Walt Simonson, are more than happy to take the world of Thor and Asgard to strange, new heights. Writers such as Matt Fraction, on the other hand, are interested in diving more deeply into Thor’s mythological origins.
Fraction’s time writing for Thor has been somewhat divisive. He often likes to pare down scripts to its bare essentials, which can work beautifully but is devilishly tricky for such a grand, verbose kind of world like Asgard.
As much as fans love Simonson’s run, though, it’s important to shake things up. Sometimes, that means that we get awkward experiments like those of the 1990s – though, if we’re being honest, weird reboots and clunky writing isn’t unique to that decade.
At any rate, it’s exciting to see Thor do new and different things. Sometimes, that means he takes part in some truly strange magical escapades, as when he fought ancient zombies in Thor: Vikings. Or, the weird mythical strangeness might take shape in stories that arose after Ragnarok, in which Thor must reassemble the Asgardians on a floating piece of land just above Broxton, Oklahoma. It’s as strange and mythically delightful as it sounds.
Thor (Image via Marvel)
7. When he succumbed to 1990s costuming
Even Thor couldn’t escape the strangeness of 1990s comic books. Besides all of the over the top stories that came to resemble a histrionic, muscular soap opera, he also found himself wearing some unfortunate costumes.
Now, a reboot or redesign done well is perfectly fine. There’s no reason to read the same character going through the same stories over and over, you know. Yet, it often seemed as if the creative decisions made during the 1990s comics era were there only for surface value.
Need an example? Then let’s turn to Thor during the period when he was dealing with the “Godpack”, yet another superhero team. This particular group appeared during 1994, when both Marvel and DC, along with other comics companies, were experiencing dramatically reduced sales.
In response to poor numbers, both companies resorted to some truly awful gimmicks. New and insensible characters were introduced, heroes became entangled in romantic intrigue after intrigue, and everyone seemed to be dealing with cosmic threats, time travel, and the end of the world every week. Of course, everyone changed their costume.
Putting Thor in a mini shirt and giving him a metal codpiece was just part of this series of flashy changes. However, the new look, with its odd cuts and inexplicable chain, didn’t do much to advance the story or deepen Thor’s character. In fact, during his Godpack days, Thor was more often wandering around shirtless than he was seen wearing this odd assemblage of leftover costuming material. Can you blame him?
I’ve tried to be understanding in this situation. After all, we’ve all made some odd decisions when it comes to our wardrobes, at some time or another. And it’s not as if Thor was the only superhero affected by the need for unjustified reboots and strange costume designs.
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6. When he goes up against Mangog
For most of this list, I’ve been concentrating on the Thor comics from Walt Simonson onward. That’s all well and good, but it’s only fair to turn at least once to the original creators of the Thor character – Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby. Stan Lee and company are considered to be practically comics royalty, and for good reason.
So, let’s go back in time to July 1968, when Thor #154 first came out. In a series of issues, we encounter the terrifying Mangog. It all starts when Ulik, an antagonistic rock troll, releases a mysterious being imprisoned beneath Asgard. Out bursts forth Mangog, a giant monster with a face straight from your nightmares. He is revealed to be the embodied hatred of billions of members of a mysterious alien race. Said aliens once tried to defeat Asgard and have been seemingly destroyed for their attempt.
Mangog, however, has remained. Naturally, he’s pretty angry about the destruction of this alien civilization and seeks revenge against Odin. While Odin himself isn’t interested in fighting Mangog, he does send his son, Thor.
As strong as Thor is, though, he isn’t able to beat Mangog, who’s powered by a seemingly limitless supply of anger. Odin finally has to step in and break the “Odinspell” that created Mangog. He reveals that Mangog was actually a kind of living prison for the enemy aliens. When the aliens are released, Mangog himself seems to fade away.
Of course, a terrifying and almost indestructible villain like Mangog returns later on. He even teams up with the Titan Thanos, who’s been making the rounds in seemingly all the after-credits sequences of every Marvel movie since 2012.
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5. When he put his own face onto Mount Rushmore
Well, okay, it’s not quite that simple. There’s a lot more going on in Thor: Gods and Men rather than a relatively simple act of vandalism (well, for an Asgardian, anyway). Besides, the head of Thor that’s carved into the side of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota’s Black Hills isn’t that big. At least, not compared to the absolutely humongous head of Odin that towers over it all.
Released in 1998, Thor: Gods and Men hails from a difficult time in comics history. Marvel, along with other comics companies, were looking for nearly anything that could boost sales and gain new readers. One such effort involved a sort of quasi-reboot, in which the founders of Image comics, Jim Lee and the infamous Rob Liefeld, helped reinvent various Marvel characters.
This basically meant that the Thor comics were thrown into something of an upheaval, where Thor became little more than a supporting character for a while. Eventually, he came back with his own title, written by Dan Jurgens. A lot happens in that series, but the important thing here is that Odin eventually dies, Thor becomes the All-Father, and relocates Asgard to the skies above New York City. Thor then begins to become a kind of worldwide dictator.
Gods and Men starts about a decade into Thor’s reign. Though this future seems utopian, with advanced Asgardian healthcare and lots of Ye Olde Norse-style housing, all is not well. The humans still feel threatened and work against their Asgardian overlords. Loki somehow has Doctor Strange’s signature red cloak and a ruined Captain America shield. Thor, meanwhile, soon begins to doubt the wisdom of his time ruling Earth. Overall, it’s a surprisingly compelling and thoughtful story.
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4. When he teamed up with Skurge
Skurge the Executioner, it seems, was never the popular kid. At the very least, he never seemed to make it even as a villain. The violent, dim-witted Skurge appeared to be doomed to a fate as a cut-rate bad guy, never quite making his own in the world of the high-powered Asgardians.
Yet, in the hands of Walt Simonson, Skurge rose above his checkered comics past and became someone truly transcendent. And if you’re rolling your eyes at yet another mention of Simonson, don’t. There are many, many good reasons for his inclusion on this list, only a few of which are mentioned here. Seriously, I can’t urge you to check out his Thor run enough.
Skurge redeemed himself in Thor #365, tellingly called “Skurge’s Last Stand”. In the story, Thor and some of his fellow Asgardians must brave the realm of Hela, goddess of death. Along with Skurge, the group works to rescue some souls from the underworld.
Hela, of course, wasn’t very into the idea. She sent her forces against the group, who were only just able to keep ahead of the goddess’ hordes. They finally reach a narrow bridge out of Hel’s realm but realize that someone must stay behind to fight Hela’s minions and make time for the others.
Thor, of course, offers to take on the task, which will surely kill him. And yet, it’s Skurge who steps forward. Thanks to some awe-inspiring work from Simonson, Skurge’s last stand is enough to make you sit down and cry. It’s incredible.
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3. That time Thor started the apocalypse
So, for this to make even a bit of sense, we have to take a moment here to discuss the concept of Ragnarok. You see, this apocalypse isn’t like many others you’re likely to encounter in mythology or modern religious practice. Whereas other gods may bring about the end of the world from a distant perch, Ragnarok requires the end of the gods themselves.
Norse mythology says that Ragnarok will spell doom for major figures such as Odin, Thor, Loki, and Heimdall. It’s discussed at length in both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, as well as numerous stones and crosses found in the archaeological record.
As dramatic as that may be, the first stories of Ragnarok aren’t quite ready-made for the world of comics. Anyone even the slightest bit familiar with comics knows that major characters simply can’t die, not really. No matter what writers and artists want you to think, someone, somewhere, will not be able to resist bringing back a supposedly dead superhero.
So, how does Ragnarok tie into the Marvel universe? It all starts with Thor vol. 2, #80-85, also known as “Thor Disassembled”. While this 2006 comic was nowhere near the first time the Asgardians faced the end of their world, it was one of the most self-aware occasions. Thor is especially aware of the unending, cyclical nature of prophecy and disaster that encircle Asgard and its people. Armed with this knowledge, he considers the possibility of finally ending the cycle and taking a well-deserved and serious rest.
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2. When he faces off against the goddess of death
Once again, Thor takes a cue from Norse mythology. In the Norse world, Hel (called Hela in the comics) was a goddess of the dead who ruled over a realm also called Hel. She’s also occasionally referred to as the daughter of Loki, the trickster god. The mythological Loki, by the way, is also said to have fathered the world serpent, Jörmungandr, and Fenrir, a massive wolf who will help to bring about the end of the world. Family reunions for them must be fun.
Marvel’s Hela is a bit different, however. While she is still the ruler of an underworld realm named Hel, she’s much more of an active villain their her Norse counterpart. Though she’s in charge of an entire realm, it is still a realm of the dead, after all. I can’t imagine that it’s very exciting for any intelligent, superpowered individual to hang out in such a gloomy, dismal place.
Whenever she oversteps her bounds, however, Thor is there to oppose her. That doesn’t mean she’s defenseless, though. Remember Thor’s earlier battle against the Midgard Serpent? Hela made it far more interesting when she cursed Thor for effectively invading her realm.
What exactly did she do? Hela cursed Thor with a real doozy: he would be immortal, yet his bones would be especially brittle and slow to heal. That’s a pretty serious handicap when you’re going up against a gigantic, angry snake. Thor eventually forced Hela to undo the curse, but it’s clear that she’s more than a match for Thor himself.
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1. When he fought Surtur the fire demon
Thor #340-353, or “The Surtur Saga”, is really more of a joint effort than anything else. It would have to be so when you’re facing such a powerful foe as the demonic Surtur.
Once again, much of the trouble begins with Odin. He imprisons Surtur inside the Earth after the demon tries to make an alliance with the Trolls and destroy the world. Can somebody had a sit-down with Odin and explain some of the flaws with his prison system? If he absolutely must throw somebody into whatever weird mythical jail cell he has at hand, can it at least not be at the center of important realms like Asgard and Earth?
Eventually, Loki comes along and frees Surtur in an attempt to overthrow the All-Father. This clearly does not turn out well, as the Asgardians and their allies are soon facing yet another potential Ragnarok. Even Loki, recognizing that he’s released an enemy far worse than Odin or Thor, joins in the fight against Surtur.
Several things make this particular world-ending event especially noteworthy. First of all, this is yet another grand example of Walt Simonson’s epic, intelligent, and vastly moving work. It also debuts another effective villain and one who would return time and again.
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Readers at the time may have even thought that Odin was truly done for – at the end of the saga, he falls into a dimensional abyss while battling Surtur. He was gone for a good, long while, leading some to believe that he had managed to become honestly dead, even in the Marvel universe.