Thor: Thunder’s Worth

There new issue 1 of Thor just came out, featuring the highly anticipated female Thor and taking both the character and the story in a new direction from what we’ve seen before.

Jason Aaron’s run of Thor: God of Thunder has been highly praised for its storytelling since the comic’s release. Aaron tried to look at Thor not merely as a superhero, but as a god. As such, he took a note from Trinitarian theology and focused on three aspects of Thor—his past, his present, and his future. With a young warlike Thor faring forth to battle in the Viking Age, the modern superheroics of Thor as the hero of the Avengers, and an elderly one-armed Thor sitting on the throne of Asgard in the distant future, the comic explored different aspects of the character. Fans loved the results. Many a drinking horn was raised in the meadhalls of Marvel Comics to praise Aaron’s glorious success of poetics and quarterly profit gains.

Recently, Marvel announced that the new “Thor” would be a woman, while the new Captain America would be a black man and Iron Man would get a spiffy new mech suit. The internet went to war and forums became bloody battlefields arguing over the validity of the change of Thor’s identity. Some people praised these decisions as nuanced and Marvel’s acknowledgement that unlike most of its heroes, not all of its readers are white males. Others called this pandering to trends in political correctness. And an even otherlier group proclaimed that they frankly didn’t care either way, since any changes would be temporary.

See, as comics fans know, the world of comics is in an ever-changing state of flux, affected by time travel, magic, alien invasions, crossover events, editing, and retcons. Even death cannot keep characters from their daily lives, as Spider-Man demonstrated earlier this year when he returned from the dead just in time for his new movie to be released.

The new issue 1 of Thor by Jason Aaron reboots the title in the wake of the recent Original Sin crossover event, during whose storyline Thor became “unworthy” to wield the Hammer Mjolnir. The issue opens with a submarine beneath the ocean depths piloted by two men working for Roxxon, the evil corporation that other evil corporations tell horror stories about. The sub is venturing down into an undersea trench, where it loses radio contact with the Roxxon sea base when it encounters something. That something then crawls out of the trench and attacks the undersea base, and as readers turn the page they are treated to a magnificent splash panel of a horde angry frost giants charging out of the trench.

The scene changes and goes to the moon, where Thor is kneeling before his hammer Mjolnir. Gathered about him are Odin, Freyja, the Warriors Three, and other Asgardians. Dialogue explains that during a battle on the moon, Thor dropped his hammer when Nick Fury whispered something to him, and he became unworthy. We also learn that Odin has returned to the throne of Asgard after time away, in which Freyja ruled as All-Mother. This is a turning point, for we see Thor in a state of deep depression, surrounded by friends and family yet inconsolable without his hammer. It’s also showing not only what’s led up to this point, but what will come later.

The scene returns to the undersea base of Roxxon, and Thor’s old enemy Malekith the Accursed shows himself as the leader of the frist giant attack. Thor, having learned of the attack from the ravens Huginn and Munnin, rushed forth to battle, armed with an axe and looking a lot more like 90’s drawings of Aquaman (from DC comics) as he swims through the deep sea with his thick blonde beard and hair whipped by ocean currents. Whether because Thor is now unworthy or because of his weakened physical and mental state, Malekith defeats him and disarms him—literally.

The last image of Thor is of him falling through the watery depths of the trench with blood rising from his stump, as Malekith gloats over his success and demonstrates that he knows how to make being evil a fun time.

Finally the book ends with the new “female Thor” we’ve all heard about, as panel by panel, we see this new character take up Thor’s hammer Mjolnir.

Thus we see a new female Thor briefly at the end of the issue, teasing out suspense to keep reading.

And frankly, this is the best part of the issue, piquing my interests so I want to know more.

We don’t know it this is some new character taking up the mantle, or if this is the god Thor reborn as a woman after his potential death at the hands of Malekith.

But unlike Captain America, Thor is not a title, but a person. Captain America is a title and a symbol, used by the person Steve Rogers. However, when Rogers’ partner Sam Wilson (known to most as the hero Falcon) takes the role of Captain America, Sam needs merely to change his costume.

Sam Wilson has been Cap’s partner since 1969, and recently appeared in the movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But Captain America is a title, and can be taken up by any man. Indeed, the role of Captain America has been taken up by others, such as his former sidekick Bucky, Roscoe Simons, and the African American World War II hero Isaiah Bradley (who, along with several other American black soldiers, was subjected to tests recreate the Super Soldier serum, tests reminiscent of those performed in real life on the Tuskegee Airmen).

Thor is not the superhero nickname of someone wearing a mask. He (or now, she) is the God of Thunder. So Marvel’s decision to make the character a woman is a bit controversial, to say the least. Furthermore, many people forget that a number of people actively worship Thor and the other Norse gods. The Heathen writer, mystic, and runosopher Freya Aswynn expressed her sentiments on the topic. After saying the word “fuck” numerous times and calling the move insane, she said, “There is a story about Thor cross-dressing to get his hammer back, and that obviously is a psychological teaching for men to connect with the feminine side of themselves….If we accept for the sake of argument that the gods, in addition to what they are, are also archetypes, one could say that the way they behave as archetypes is there handle, is how they can make themselves known to us.”

Comics, like myths, play on archetypes. Noble and tragic heroes battle villains for the fate of things greater than themselves. It’s part of what inspires comic book writers to draw from mythology for their stories.

But the Norse god of legend and the Marvel franchise character are not the same anymore than Jesus of Nazereth is the same as the character in the Green Day song “Jesus of Suburbia.”

It’ll be interesting to see how Aaron handles the symbolism and myth of the comic character with this new attempt at writing Thor as a woman. The character of myth is arguably the most masculine of all the Norse gods, and through the years, Marvel has written the comic character to correspond to perceptions about idealized masculinity.

Thor’s worth has played an important part in the comics, and is what allows him to wield the hammer Mjolnir. Notably, others have also proven worthy to wield Mjolnir, such as the alien Beta Ray Bill. Worth comes not from one’s gender, sex, race, or species. If the comic explores the concept of worth and handles the gendershift skillfully, it might be worth reading.

Jason Aaron has demonstrated he understands who the character was, is, and has the potential to become.

The comic is off to a good start, but Aaron’s last run of the character, Thor: God of Thunder, was great. There are lots of good and great comics being produced right now, as there are lots of good and great heroes in the Marvel Universe. But of all of those heroes, only a few are worthy of wielding Mjolnir.

Perhaps most revealing about the direction the comic can move in is the scene on the moon in which the characters Odin and Freyja look at Thor as he kneels before his hammer, and Odin condemns Freyja for “coddling” Thor while she ruled Asgard as All-Mother, but Freyja’s wisdom proves truer than Odin’s determination when he tries to lift the hammer.

The comic offers us a new character, as it shows the new direction Asgard—and Thor—can look to as the understanding of worth comes not from tradition, but from wisdom.