The (Insert Synonym for "Official" Here) Thor Thread

[The Question]

It's Fandral, actually (provided you're talking about the third member of the Warriors Three after Hogun there).

Damn. I always get stuff like that messed up.

Your take sounds decent, but it might be a little too similar to the Eternals mini for Marvel's liking. Granted, by the time Thor's new comic launches, it looks like the Eternals mini will be long finished at this point.

Well, I had the basics of the idea (the gods being reborn on Earth to fit a sort of cosmic balance) before Gaiman's Eternals. Still, I guess it could be reworked. Maybe it could be said that the Dark Elves or the Jotun were the first to be reborn before the Aesir, and were able to track them down and capture them as they did return. Volstagg was the only one to slip under their radar. So, as the bad guys plan to invade Midgard, Volstagg has to try and free his compatriots as to save the day.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I didn't mean to imply you got the idea from Eternals or anything, just that it happened to be really similar. Of course, on the other hand, there've been numerous stories in the past where the Asgardians have forgotten who they are and someone's gotta track them down.

 

[The Question]

True. But now, I kind of like the idea of the Dark Elves tracking them down before they return to their full selves and capturing them. They could use certain Asgardian artifacts, such as Odin's all seeing eye, as super weapons or power sources. And maybe brainwashing some Asgardians into being their footsoldiers. Maybe the reason Thor comes back is because Balder has been turned into a super soldier for the Dark Elves and none of the Asgardians are strong enough to defeat Balder besides his big brother.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Dude, Hulk would so kick Thor's ass.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

totally lolz Hulk is teh bets!!!11

 

[The Question]

You know, now that I'm thinking about it, I really think Balder should get a bit more respect in the Thor books. Not that I think he's disrespected, but I think he deserves more credit than he gets. Not only is a highly skilled warrior and in excelent physical condition for an Asgardian, but he possesses unique to him amung all of the Aesir the ability to manipulate photons, thus bending light to his will. If you think about it, that actually has the potential to be much more powerful than weather control. Invisibility, shadow projections, creating illusions, generating intense heat, and cutting through even the toughest materials with laser light are all possibilities, and those are just the ones I came up with off the top of my head. Also, years worth of protection spells placed upon him by his mother make him imune to all forms of violent death (besides any directly involving mistletoe), instead of just beaing very very very highly resistant like all other Asgardians. My point is, while Thor is Asgard's number one badass, I think Balder should at least be considered to be number two.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Balder is considered Asgard's number two badass. He's been said to be second only to Thor in combat prowess and nobler, even, than Thor himself. He's also reigned as lord of all Asgard in Odin and Thor's absence and is only one of three people to ever have wielded the Odinpower (the other two should be obvious).

That said, however, I do think he deserves boatloads more credit and focus than he's gotten for years. The guy's Asgard's best warrior after Thor, basically equal to Brunnhilde, a brilliant strategist and tactician, wielder of one of the most fearsome weapons in Asgardian history (the Sword of Frey, for the uninformed), able to control light and heat, general of Asgard's armies, most trusted of both Odin and Thor's courts, etc., but there's rarely ever any stories focused on him. Whenever there are stories focused on him, they're usually focused on taking him out of his rightful place as one of Asgard's best, too--his death, rebirth, and swearing off of violence, his contending with Karnilla's affections, his being forced to steal Thor's power for a war in Asgard while he was ruler, his betraying Thor in "The Reigning," etc. Not that those stories weren't all great, but I'd really love to see Balder being Balder at his best for a mini-series or an arc. Maybe Oeming could write it. Blood Oath and Ares are testaments to his ability to draw out all of the best, most iconic elements in Marvel's myths. I'd love to see that talent focused on Balder.

 

[The Question]

True. You know, since Balder is completely imune to all forms of violent death save for any caused by mistletoe, maybe it could be revealed that he survived Ragnarok and is the key to Asgard returning.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That's how one of the versions of the Ragnarok myth goes, actually. Balder and a few others survive to usher in a new age of the gods. It'd be cool if they adapted that in the context of Marvel's Ragnarok to mean that Balder somehow restores Asgard to its former glory, though.

Anyway, I was thinking about why Balder gets shafted and it occurred to me that he was, in the myths, basically what Thor is in the comics. The mythical Thor embodied all of the warrior ideals--strength, bravery to the point of stupidity, righteous wrath, etc.--while Balder embodied the noble aspects. So when Stan Lee re-imagined Thor for the comics as a more chivalrous and intelligent character, he kind of made Balder redundant. I think part of the reason why Balder got to shine in Son of Asgard was because, when they were younger, Balder was still the more introspective, tactical, noble god he is as an adult, but Thor was more of a reckless, fight first, think later type of kid, so they were different enough to have different story possibilities unique to each of them. Focusing a story on the adult Balder would be like having a story centered on a Thor stand-in in a lot of ways.

Still, I'm sure a Balder-centric could be done just as well as when Simonson did it in Balder's mini-series, and I hope one gets done sometime before I die.

 

[The Question]

That's how one of the versions of the Ragnarok myth goes, actually. Balder and a few others survive to usher in a new age of the gods. It'd be cool if they adapted that in the context of Marvel's Ragnarok to mean that Balder somehow restores Asgard to its former glory, though.

Yeah. Could be cool. They could have Balder, having survived Ragnarok due to his protection, making his way to Earth and rallying the Aesir together as the rest of the nine worlds bleed over into Midgard.

Anyway, I was thinking about why Balder gets shafted and it occurred to me that he was, in the myths, basically what Thor is in the comics. The mythical Thor embodied all of the warrior ideals--strength, bravery to the point of stupidity, righteous wrath, etc.--while Balder embodied the noble aspects. So when Stan Lee re-imagined Thor for the comics as a more chivalrous and intelligent character, he kind of made Balder redundant. I think part of the reason why Balder got to shine in Son of Asgard was because, when they were younger, Balder was still the more introspective, tactical, noble god he is as an adult, but Thor was more of a reckless, fight first, think later type of kid, so they were different enough to have different story possibilities unique to each of them. Focusing a story on the adult Balder would be like having a story centered on a Thor stand-in in a lot of ways.

Still, I'm sure a Balder-centric could be done just as well as when Simonson did it in Balder's mini-series, and I hope one gets done sometime before I die.

Well, they did push Balder's nobility much farther, to the point of pacifism. After being killed by Loki and going to Hella's domain, he was deeply disturbed to see what happened to the people who he had killed in the name of Asgard. Once Odin resurected him, he gave up the way of the sword for a while. They could make Balder more interested in diplomacy than combat, thus making him a foil to Thor who, while much more noble and in control of his anger thanks to his time spent as a doctor on Earth, is still very much an old school warrior and will often fight instead of reason. I guess if you want to use a Star Trek analogy, Balder would be like Picard, wheras Thor would be like Worf.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Except Thor wouldn't get his ass kicked every episode like Worf did.

I wouldn't mind seeing Balder turn more to diplomacy, but I don't think I'd really enjoy seeing him give up war altogether again. When Simonson did it, it worked because it was a running subplot. If Balder's meant to take a more prominent role, he'll have to be able to fight at Thor's side from time to time.

 

[The Question]

Except Thor wouldn't get his ass kicked every episode like Worf did.

Of course. t:

I wouldn't mind seeing Balder turn more to diplomacy, but I don't think I'd really enjoy seeing him give up war altogether again. When Simonson did it, it worked because it was a running subplot. If Balder's meant to take a more prominent role, he'll have to be able to fight at Thor's side from time to time.

Whixh is why I used the Picard example. Picard uses diplomacy and non violent problem solving skills as much as possible, but when the time comes where he needs to throw down, he throws down with the best of them.

 

[Red]

I don't pretend to have a vast knowledge of Thor, but can we assume when he returns he will still have the odin power?

 

[Ahura Mazda]

Just one point, did not Heimdall have use of the Odinpower as well at one point?

And I would hope Thor would still be Rune Thor unless they create some story line where rune thor wanted to start over as a human and....you get the point

 

[bkhedr]

Balder is considered Asgard's number two badass. He's been said to be second only to Thor in combat prowess and nobler, even, than Thor himself. He's also reigned as lord of all Asgard in Odin and Thor's absence and is only one of three people to ever have wielded the Odinpower (the other two should be obvious).

That said, however, I do think he deserves boatloads more credit and focus than he's gotten for years. The guy's Asgard's best warrior after Thor, basically equal to Brunnhilde, a brilliant strategist and tactician, wielder of one of the most fearsome weapons in Asgardian history (the Sword of Frey, for the uninformed), able to control light and heat, general of Asgard's armies, most trusted of both Odin and Thor's courts, etc., but there's rarely ever any stories focused on him. Whenever there are stories focused on him, they're usually focused on taking him out of his rightful place as one of Asgard's best, too--his death, rebirth, and swearing off of violence, his contending with Karnilla's affections, his being forced to steal Thor's power for a war in Asgard while he was ruler, his betraying Thor in "The Reigning," etc. Not that those stories weren't all great, but I'd really love to see Balder being Balder at his best for a mini-series or an arc. Maybe Oeming could write it. Blood Oath and Ares are testaments to his ability to draw out all of the best, most iconic elements in Marvel's myths. I'd love to see that talent focused on Balder.

Didnt Heimdall wield the Odinpower at one point while Eric Masterson was Thor?

 

[Ahura Mazda]

Hmmm I guess we are 2who have the same question.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Didn't Hulk kick Thor's ass?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yes. On several occasions. Thor may arguably have won one or two fights with the Hulk, but I'm pretty sure the Hulk has at least a couple of uncontested victories over Thor. The majority of their fights are draws, though.

Just one point, did not Heimdall have use of the Odinpower as well at one point?

Didnt Heimdall wield the Odinpower at one point while Eric Masterson was Thor?

I don't know, maybe. I know Heimdall ruled Asgard for a while, but I don't know if he had the Odinpower for it. He probably did. I vaguely remember something about that, but I'm too lazy to look it up.

 

[Darthphere]

I like cheese.


Oh and Thor.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Cheese likes cereal.

 

[Darthphere]

Corp, hook it up with some info on heimdall, I need to whoop Ahura Mazda's ass with Nova.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

What do you mean by "some info" on him? He's Sif's brother, he has super-senses that he stands on Bifrost and uses to monitor people entering and exiting Asgard, his clothes tend to have a lot of fur on them in the comics... oh, he's got a wicked-sweet beard. Um, that's about it.

 

[Darthphere]

What do you mean by "some info" on him? He's Sif's brother, he has super-senses that he stands on Bifrost and uses to monitor people entering and exiting Asgard, his clothes tend to have a lot of fur on them in the comics... oh, he's got a wicked-sweet beard. Um, that's about it.

So Nova pwns him easily, kthanx.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The current Nova, sure.

 

[Darthphere]

The current Nova, sure.

My Nova doesnt have the Worldmind, so its pre-Annihilation Nova.