Thor

[FoxWander]

You do realize there was a reason why he wasn't heroic. It was because:

"HE WAS UNWORTHY OF THE POWERS OF THOR"

Up until the final half hour of the film he was just a super powered badass fratboy who loved to party and pick fights. To make maters worse, when he had his powers during the first half of the movie he acted like an anti-hero/villian not a "hero" since he was into going on preemptive offensive missions rather then waiting for the enemies to attack. So in a way, his switch only happened because as a mortal he had to decide to switch from offensive to defensive against overwhelming odds.

Unfortunately, immediately afterwords Destroyer Jobbed to him rather then show that Thor needed the Warrior's Three and Sif to add to his power level in order to take out Asgard's ultimate weapon.... so that kind of killed what could have been an awesome fight.

Yes, I'm well aware that the point of the movie was to give him some wisdom and humility so he would be...
WORTHY OF THE POWERS OF THOR

But even after he got the hammer back, he still seemed like just a super-powered badass, just not so much a fratboy anymore. What I'm "complaining" (I put that in quotes because it's only a small complaint- I really did like the movie!) about is not that Thor isn't a hero- by the end of the movie he unquestionably is the noble, hero character he's suppose to be- I'm saying the movie didn't have many dramatic, hero-moments that make you want to stand up and cheer.

Mostly that's the fault of the people who made/wrote the movie, but it's also a problem of the character Thor himself. He's too powerful to make us think that he might fail, or even get hurt! So how can he really have a moment when he overcomes incredible odds, or staggers to his feet after getting his @$$ kick because he refuses to quit(!), or defeats the big bad in a crowning moment of awesome* because he's a big damn hero!!!




*Note that almost all the CMOA examples for Thor at tvtropes are NOT from Thor himself.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Strictly a comment for Thor comic book fans, Thor is NOT Marvel's Superman, that would be Captain Marvel. Okay, back to your debates, I'm enjoying them immensely.

Why do you say that? Captain Mar-vel the kree warrior didn't seem anything like supermans capabilities (or were you thinking of Shazam captain marvel? I don't think he belonged to Marvel comics?)

Cheers

 

[Bullgrit]

Sure he can kick butt, take names and do all sorts of awesome stuff but he's a GOD for fraks sake! Awesome is expected! It's pretty much the definition of GODness.

But in the movie, Thor is a freakin' space alien!? WTF?

Asgard and Jutonheim are planets?

Bifrost is a ray gun/catapult?

They made Thor a space alien! Space. Alien.

* * *

Did anyone else get the strong feeling that this movie came from 1982? Technically, the special effects were very clean and slick. But they had the style and feel of early 80s sci-fi movies.

Bullgrit

 

[Diamond Cross]

No they didn't. They didn't make him a space alien, it was just how Jane saw things. Many human beings, especially scientists, have a lot of trouble seeing things as paranormal, magic, and mysticism so the only way they can wrap their mind around concepts such as alternate dimensions based heavily on magic is if to equate them in some sort of accepted pseudo scientific terms such as Extraterrestrial Biological Entity.

But, in a way, technically, any being that is not born on earth is an alien. It doesn't matter if they come from an alternate dimension or from outer space.

And no, the bridge was not just a Ray Gun. Thor smashed it with his hammer if you recall during the final fight with Loki.

 

[Bullgrit]

No they didn't. They didn't make him a space alien, it was just how Jane saw things.

Did we see the same movie? Didn't Odin pretty much explicitly describe the Asgardians as space aliens? Didn't we see Jutonheim as a planet? Didn't the Bifrost act as a ray gun -- even to the point of being capable of destroying the entire planet. (Now that I think of it, it is basically a Death Star.) Didn't Thor draw a picture of Yggdrasil using planets for the realms?

But, in a way, technically, any being that is not born on earth is an alien. It doesn't matter if they come from an alternate dimension or from outer space.

Technically, a "space alien," (which is exactly what I said), comes from outer space, not from an alternate dimension. My complaint was not that he was an "alien," (which he would have been in New Mexico if he were even just a Norwegian. My complaint was the came-from-space alien.

* * *

By the way, what was up with the SHIELD sniper picking a bow and arrows over a rifle? Is that guy going to end up being Hawkeye in the Avengers movie?

Bullgrit

 

[Janx]

so what is Marvel's origin of the Thor character. How did Stan Lee come to the decision to tell stories about a Norse God?

A lot of DC and Marvel characters get their origin from comic lines that seemed to be "random character and story of the month". Detective Comics incubated Batman, for instance.

Even the Watchmen got their initial genesis by virtue of DC buying another comic company, and it was going to re-launch characters from that chain. DC nixed it because it was going kill or damage too many characters, so it was decided to make all new characters.

 

[Bullgrit]

Thor started as a story in Journey into Mystery. So, yeah, I think his story was not originally intended to be a long running superhero comic.

Bullgrit

 

[Welverin]

By the way, what was up with the SHIELD sniper picking a bow and arrows over a rifle? Is that guy going to end up being Hawkeye in the Avengers movie?

Unless I'm grossly misremembering, he was actually called Hawkeye.

 

[Bold or Stupid]

Unless I'm grossly misremembering, he was actually called Hawkeye.

Yes that was Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) getting a cameo, and a cool one at that.

 

[Relique du Madde]

Unless I'm grossly misremembering, he was actually called Hawkeye.

He was called "Agent (Clint) Barton" they never called him by his codename (Hawkeye).