MCU Thor:
The God of Thunder is one of the strongest superheroes to ever exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He is the son of one of the most powerful Gods ever – Odin and is the ruler of Asgard. He has defeated countless foes and ended an infinite number of enemies in combat. He is a living legend and no force on Earth is mighty enough to stand in his way. Thor has come a long way ever since he first debuted in the comic books of Marvel.
He has become one of the most significant members of the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and was also a founding member of the team in the movies as well as in the comic books. But the Thor you know and love is not how the Original Thor was portrayed in Norse mythology, where his story takes a completely different take. Presenting – 10 Ways MCU Thor is different from the original Thor of Norse Mythology!!
10. His Hammer short handle design flaw was not a fluke but Loki’s doing
In Norse Mythology, Loki was a troublemaker who liked to meddle in other people’s affairs whenever he got a chance. The Trickster God was the one present on the scene when Odin ordered the Dwarven Weapon-smiths to forge the Mjolnir hammer, the legendary weapon of the God of Thunder. Loki was jealous of Thor’s already extreme strength and thought that with Mjolnir, Thor would become too powerful for him to handle. So he used some illusionary tactics to trick the dwarf elves into shortening the handle of the Mjolnir hammer to hamper Thor’s powers, a design flaw that Thor had to live with for the rest of his life as the God of Thunder.
9. His Real name is Donar
Thor is not even on Original God as opposed to his Marvel Comics origins. In ancient traditions, Thor was known by a different name. The Norse mythology has its roots buried deep in Germanic mythology. In the latter’s pantheon, the true God of Thunder is Donar, an entity that has no form but likes to take the form of a handsome and well-built young adult in his prime. Donar controls just the Thunder and lightning. But Thor, who was inspired as a concept by Donar’s myths, is not just the Norse God of Thunder but also of Storms, Fertility, Oak Trees, Strength and the Guardian of Mankind.
8. Thor had red hair, a beard, and a beer belly
In ancient times, abs and chiseled bodies were not yet the fad. What women considered as attractive when it comes to visual features of a man was the health of that man, which signified his status in society and how well he can take care of his family. Thor had a pot belly, unlike MCU’s Thor who has abs of steel. Moreover, the blonde and blue-eyed Thor was not the one that was shown in Norse Mythology. In the folklore of the old, Thor’s actual hair color is red and he has a big, grumpy looking beard. It was Stan Lee and Jack Kirby that changed that design.
7. Hela is Loki’s Daughter, not Odin’s
When Cate Blanchett played Hela, the firstborn of Odin and the Goddess of the Underworld in Thor: Ragnarok, the fans were taken to the edge of their seats. She was powerful and literally defeated the entire army of Asgard singlehandedly. But Hela’s origin story in the movies is slightly different than the one in the mythological lore. In Norse mythology, Loki has fathered many children, including the Fenrir Wolf, the World Serpent and the infamous Three borne to the Frist Giantess Angrboda. Hela is also one of Loki’s many children and rules Hel, the dark and cold underworld where Vikings that do not breathe their last in the heat of battle go to.
6. Loki helps in destroying Asgard in Ragnarok, not save it
In Thor: Ragnarok, it is shown that Loki has finally joined the good guys after he sides with Thor and helps the God of Thunder fight Hela and her forces. But in Norse Mythology, the story is quite different. In reality, Loki backstabbed his own brethren and sided with the Old Gods to spearhead an attack on Asgard. He personally commanded an army of the dead to raze Asgard to the ashes. In the movie though, it was Hela who commanded that army.
5. Loki is Thor’s uncle
It might sound odd but in reality, Loki and Thor are not even brothers, to begin with. In Norse lore, Loki is the jealous step-brother of Odin who had always resented the one-eyed All-Father for usurping the throne. Loki and Thor later become enemies, after the God of mischief is caught red-handed by Thor while the former is trying to bring down Odin. But the movies show a sibling rivalry because the rivalry between a nephew and his step-uncle is not that much of good story material for Hollywood.
4. His hammer is not what allows him to fly
In the comics, one swing from his hammer Mjolnir allows Thor to travel the skies in unimaginable speeds in any direction while the truth is actually very different! In the mythology of the Norse people, Thor flies around not by virtue of his hammer but with the help of an enchanted chariot pulled by two magical goats called Tooth-gnasher and Tooth-grinder. Thor and the two goats have a tumultuous relationship. Every night, Thor kills Tooth-gnasher and Tooth-grinder to feed himself to a nice supper but resurrects them the next morning and repeats the cycle again.
3. Thor actually marries Lady Sif in the legends
We know Lady Sif as the feisty warrior woman form Asgard played by none other than the super-hot Jaime Alexander. Lady Sif is known to be a warrior by nature, both in the comics and in the myths. But in the latter, she is much more than just an Asgardian Brute. She is the wife of Thor, the God of Thunder. Jane Foster was just a fictional character developed for the comic books. It is Lady Sif who has golden hair, not Thor that is envied by Loki. He cuts his hair and makes Sif fall into depression. Thor then forces Loki to convince the Dwarves to make Sif a replacement set of hair.
2. He needs gloves to use Mjolnir
In the movies and comic books, the person who is worthy enough to wield the power of Thor that is a good soul who puts his life at stake to save those of the others, that gets to wield the power of Thor. In Norse mythology, the story is different. The God of Thunder, Thor, needs a special set of gloves to wield Mjolnir, without which he could no longer control the storms. Thor’s Mjolnir gloves are one of the three objects of power that makes Thor so powerful – the Mjolnir, the Megingjoro and the magic gloves (whose name is too hard to be pronounced so we did not even try).
1. Thor and Loki die when Ragnarok happens
When the fire demon Surtur is set free and he is allowed to wield the Eternal Flame to destroy each and everything in the universe, you better run. Thor, Loki, Heimdall, Odin, Freya – no one survives the ordeal. The very concept of Ragnarok is a re-creation, an event of second chances. Ragnarok is not just the end of civilization but sowing seeds for the start of a new one. When you see the Thor: Ragnarok movie, you see Loki and Thor surviving the fight against Surtur, who destroys Asgard in the Ragnarok event. But if it were Norse Folklore, Thor and Loki would have died an abrupt, untimely and uncalled for death just like the rest of the Asgardian Gods.
The Last Marvel movie to be released under the Disney banner is Captain Marvel. The movie is currently in theatres. The official film synopsis for the movie reads:
Captain Marvel is an extraterrestrial Kree warrior who finds herself caught in the middle of an intergalactic battle between her people and the Skrulls. Living on Earth in 1995, she keeps having recurring memories of another life as U.S. Air Force pilot Carol Danvers. With help from Nick Fury, Captain Marvel tries to uncover the secrets of her past while harnessing her special superpowers to end the war with the evil Skrulls.
