There are certain characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Marvel comic verse that come from legend. They are all powerful beings not because the mythology says so. No sir, in the comics these beings or characters are overpowered and omnipotent because the writers need them to be so for the sake of the story. Such characters, like for example Thor, are not meant to be taken too seriously. They exist for the purpose of the story and their power levels also vary as the requirements of the story change.
It is all rather grim when I put it like that but that is the reality of the industry in which these characters exist. One can choose to look at it like that or one can, in the true believer spirit, choose to theorize and scrutinize the backstories of these characters.
Thor, for example, was introduced as a part of an inter-dimensional advanced civilization in the Marvel Cinematic Universe whose technology was so unfathomable for us that it might as well be magic to the uninitiated. Marvel has always chosen to explain the backstory of Thor and the other Asgardian Gods in a certain way.
The company has stuck to the same explanation for decades and they are not about to change now. But if Thor and the other Asgardians are just an advanced species of men and woman then how are they so powerful. Why are technologically advanced species now capable of harnessing lightning out of thin air? Why do they call themselves Gods? And most importantly what is their history?
For a long time, it has been theorized that there is something fishy about the realm we fans call as Asgard. Fans have long theorized that this ‘Godhood’ of the Asgardians is nothing but a complicated scam, a skillful illusion that has been perpetrated by Bor and Odin.
After all, Ragnarok already showed us that Odin was nothing but a pathological liar who waged a war of conquest on the nine realms and then imprisoned the daughter that helped him win this war. The entire premise seems to contradict the ‘All powerful and all good all-father’ persona that Odin had in the previous two movies.
Although, we have nothing against the old ‘God’ but we can’t help but think that there is something fishy about the Asgardian ‘Godhood’. Well, today we have a theory to explain how the Asgardians are so powerful and why they get more powerful the older they get.
The theory starts with, surprise surprise, Odin and the secrets he has hidden away in Asgard itself. It is said that Odin is an all-powerful deity who has many secrets hidden away in the depths of Asgard. The old God was a warmonger in his youth and he built his kingdom on many that fell. He was accompanied by his daughter Hela, the Goddess of death (Presumably named that because of her proficiency in killing people) who was subsequently persecuted by Odin for courting war after he was done.
The entire premise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Asgardians is shaky at best. And the biggest inconsistency comes from the fact that there is no clear source of power for these advanced inter-dimensional beings.
They are simply called ‘Gods’ for they have so much power that is difficult to call them something else. But maybe that term exists not because of our limited understanding of their technology and biology but because the Asgardians always wanted to maintain that illusion. But why would an all-powerful and presumably all good race of superbeings want to take up the façade of Godhood? What would it get them that simple supremacy does not? The answer is secrecy.
No one betrays a God, and even If people do, no one dares to break in the vault of a God, because only ‘God’ knows what horrors await in there imprisoned and quarantined from the world. It is here that the plot thickens and the theory takes hold. You see, the actual theory is that Odin’s vault in the Marvel Cinematic Universe houses the heart of the universe and it is from this ancient artifact that the Asgardians draw their power.
This would explain why Odin and Bor chose to disguise themselves as Gods in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only will this ensure their autonomy in all the nine realms but it will also allow them to secure the most powerful artifact in the Marvel Cinematic Universe while it continuously powers their civilization.
“Your sister. Her power comes from Asgard, same as yours. When it grew beyond Odin’s control, she massacred everyone in the palace and tried to seize the throne. When she tried to escape her banishment, he sent the Valkyrie in to fight her back. I only survived because…Look, I already faced her once back when I believed in the throne, and it cost me everything. That’s what’s wrong with Asgard. The throne, the secrets, the whole golden sham.”
-Valkyrie, Thor: Ragnarok
