Marvel has had its fair share of controversies. With so many superheroes and so many storyline sunder their name they are bound to run into trouble sometimes. We have watched it unfold real time with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where there have been rampart cases of whitewashing of POC characters. Marvel has had a history of trying to hurt religious and cultural sentiments, and these incidents had subsided as of late with careful and meticulous planning by the writers. Looks like Marvel has slipped up again. In their upcoming Empyre storyline, Thor the Norse God of Thunder and Marvel’s flagship superhero will be fighting what Marvel calls “An Alien God” that looks very similar to the Hindu God – Lord Shiva. Presenting – Marvel’s Empyre Event makes Thor fight Lord Shiva!!!
Thor has had a lot on his plates lately. After losing his hand and becoming the new King of Asgard after Odin’s demise, he had an encounter with Galactus who crash landed on Asgard and brought along with him the terrible news of the coming storm – the Black Winter aka the Star Plague. Thor agreed to become a herald of Galactus and help him find five unique planets that could give Galactus the power to defeat Black Winter. But the situation is about to worsen. The Empyre Event has set the stage for the Kree-Skrull Empire’s invasion of Earth.
And if that was not enough to jump your whiskers, this will – an alien god worshipped by an alien civilization is going to battle Thor in this new arc. This God in question looks eerily similar to Lord Shiva, the God of Chaos, Destruction, and Rebirth in Hindu Mythology.
Thor’s decision to serve Galactus as his Herald to help him find planets to devour has already pissed off a lot of his allies. Beta Ray Bill and Lady Sif were not happy with Thor’s actions. Beta Ray Bill even fought Thor while the latter was searching for a planet that the Devourer of World needs to power up. As the fight with this new enigmatic God is about to hit the panels, will Thor’s allies come to his aid? More importantly is it the right choice for Marvel to go this route??
This is not the first time Marvel has fanned this fire. In an earlier comic book arc several years ago, Thor asked the Skyfather Council – Consisting of Odin, Zeus, and Lord Vishnu, to lend some of their godly energy for the resurrection of the Asgardian race. While Zeus agreed, Lord Vishnu decreed that there is no need to do so because another Asgardian Pantheon will spring up in a while without even the need of the Godly Energy Thor is asking for. This angers Thor and he tries to fight it out. Lord Shiva answers his clarion call and engages in a fight with him. The battle ends with Lord Shiva’s defeat. Lord Shiva being a God who is currently worshipped by millions of Hindus worldwide, it angers a lot of fans and Marvel is later forced to ret-con that arc, claiming that it was Lord Indra in disguise that Thor defeated, not Lord Shiva.
Now Thor is again about to fight a God who looks pretty similar to Lord Shiva. We hope they know what they are doing. Otherwise, the storm they are inviting to their humble aboard in the era of the 21st Century will leave them no room to look for cover. Let us see how this turns out to be.
The Last Solo Marvel movie to be released under the Disney banner is Spider-Man: Far From Home. The movie was released on the 2nd of November, 2018. The official film synopsis for the movie reads:
Peter Parker’s relaxing European vacation takes an unexpected turn when Nick Fury shows up in his hotel room to recruit him for a mission. The world is in danger as four massive elemental creatures — each representing Earth, air, water and fire — emerge from a hole torn in the universe. Parker soon finds himself donning the Spider-Man suit to help Fury and fellow superhero Mysterio stop the evil entities from wreaking havoc across the continent.
