Superhero Fact #4

The movie shows you relatively little of Thor, God of Thunder, given his extensive history in the comics. Thor was originally published in the 1960s, and had a very different origin. Originally, he was a human named Donald Blake who was partially disabled. On a trip to Norway, he experienced the arrival of an alien scouting party and fled to a cave. Inside he found Mjolnir (his hammer) disguised as a walking stick. When he picked it up he transformed in Thor. The 60s had weird origins for heroes. It was later revealed that he had always been Thor, but his father Odin had intentionally sent him to Earth with no memory of his past to teach him humility.

                Thor is often compared to Superman (though they come from different comic book universes) because they have similar strength, invulnerability, and speed. Both heroes can lift objects many times larger than themselves, and cannot be hurt by conventional or even alien weapons. Thor flies by swinging his hammer and letting it carry him, though he can also hover and fly himself. When he throws his hammer, it approaches the speed of light, and is probably the second most indestructible object in the universe (after Captain America’s shield).  His major weakness or character flaw is his pride (which is very similar to Superman), and often times this is how he is fooled by his brother Loki. Thor could likely complete most missions that other heroes undertake if he wasn’t always away in Asgard where he does frequent battle with a race of frost giants. It is likely the only Avenger stronger than Thor is Hulk.

                A lot of people get confused by Thor being called a “god”. Thor is not a “god” in the usual sense of the word, and is not even like the gods of mythology. Thor has no power to reshape reality, alter time, transport himself anywhere he wants, or have infinite knowledge. In Marvel, the gods of Asgard are more like superhuman beings that represent certain features of reality (such as thunder and lightning), but can be captured, incapacitated, and even killed.