#Thor norse mythology free

#Thor norse mythology free

The film, however, is as much about ideas of theodicy, free will, and the relationships between fathers and sons. The genesis of the Thor legend, however, dates a bit further back - about 1,961 years further back, to be precise.īefore he became a comic superhero and joined Iron Man, the Hulk and Captain America as a member of Marvel's Avengers, Thor was immortalized by the Vikings as one of the mightiest and most venerated Norse gods the first recorded mention of the hammer-wielding deity was actually by the Roman historian Tacitus in 1 A.D.īranagh's Thor depicts the eponymous character as a sort of alien-god-superhero hybrid, following neither the Marvel story line nor the ancient myth with any obvious devotion.įor audience members whose memory of the comic book or ancient Thor legends may be a tad hazy, the line between myth and moviemaking is difficult to discern. The Norse god was first introduced to pop culture by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the pages of Marvel comic books back in 1962. One early story that created one of Thor's deadliest foes involved a distant past where Odin wiped out an entire planet because of its evil, causing the hatred of 'a billion billion souls' to coalesce into a monster called the Mangog.Thor, a thoroughly entertaining and surprisingly funny thrill ride of a movie, is the kind of cinematic legend where the only word that truly seems to fit is 'epic.'ĭirector Kenneth Branagh, best known for bringing Shakespearean classics such as Henry V and Hamlet to the big screen, is pitch perfect with his celluloid reimagining of the superheroic story of Thor, God of Thunder. Rather than the wise, world-weary Anthony Hopkins of the MCU, the Odin on the page is extremely quick-tempered and has some epically violent actions in his past. The comics actually go in the opposite direction. Odin himself does have some pretty raw tendencies, though, like the time he stabbed the witch Gulveig three times with his magic spear, burned her body, and then gave her heart to Loki, who ate it.

Odin is, after all, the god of battle and death (and poetry and wisdom, a combination you don't usually see in other pantheons), and most of Thor's more famous myths involve going on quests because Odin tells him to. It's not that Odin himself is particularly violent - by messed up Viking standards, anyway - but that Thor is almost always acting exactly in accordance with his father's wishes. The Megingjord even has another enchantment, in that it doubles Thor's strength but leaves him severely weakened, to explain why he doesn't wear it all the time. Those actually do exist in the comics, but they're more of an in-case-of-Ragnarok contingency than everyday wear. So heavy, in fact, that Thor had two other special pieces of equipment, the Jarngreipr and the Megingjord - iron gloves and a belt of strength, respectively - to handle it. It was because Mjolnir was just, you know, really heavy. It is true that, mythologically speaking, Thor was the only one who could lift Mjolnir, but that wasn't because of an enchantment. For all his quickness to anger, the Norse Thor was pretty popular, and all of his smiting generally had Odin's stamp of approval.

The myths have no such enchantment, and the idea that it would be added in order to teach him humility doesn't really ring true, either. It's such an intrinsic part of Thor's story that if you're not familiar with the mythology, it might surprise you to find out that it's entirely a creation of the comics - specifically Lee, Lieber, and Kirby - and was added to the story so that Thor could have a secret identity. If he had red hair, it would've blended in with the cape, confusing the visual and making it a lot less striking than the contrast of the yellow hair.

The early Thor stories were essentially Marvel's take on Superman, which is reflected in his blue-and-yellow costume with the long red cape. As for the real-world reason why, that's never been explained, but it's easy to assume that it has to do with the costume design and the printing process of the time. It's worth noting that this has even been addressed in the comics themselves, although the explanation might not be as satisfying as you want. Earlier in his career, he'd done two other versions, and the one that appeared in color had a red-haired look much more in line with the original character. Also, if you need a more direct comparison, Marvel's version wasn't the first time that Kirby had drawn a story about Thor.

German painter Max Koch's Donar-Thor, circa 1905, for instance, gives the thunder god flaming red hair. Bartlett cites legends that refer to Thor as being 'red-haired, red-bearded, red-eyed,' and much of the artwork that was around long before Jack Kirby put his pencil on the page bears that out. In Vikings: A History of the Northmen, W.B.