Thor Questions AKA "I Was Wondering" #2

[Philip Portelli]

Thinking about the latest twists in the Thor saga, I thought about the Silver Age Thor so I was wondering--

• when Odin deposited the newly created Don Blake in front of that medical college, did he think up a complete backstory for the guy, with paperwork and creditials? I know it was the 60s but you still had to have a college diploma to be a doctor!
• Was it ever confirmed exactly what kind of doctor Blake was? He appeared to be a general practioner (gp) until he had to do complicated surgery.
• Did Odin ever worry about Don Blake getting, well, killed somehow?
• How long did it take for Thor's persona/memories to come back? In his first appearance, it was Blake transformed into Thor but soon, Thor's personality took over. It really was very similar to Bruce Banner and the Hulk.
• Mjolnir was charmed that none but Thor could hold it but it wasn't super-heavy or else Thor would be crashing through the floor, among other things. But if he placed it inside a car, say, could you drive away with it, theoritically?
• Did Thor truly love Jane Foster or was it Don Blake's emotions?
• Did Thor have access to Don Blake's knowledge because sometimes the Thunder God seemed confused by technology/modern times?
• And was Odin Thor's greatest foe or was there meaning to the All-Father's seeming madness?

 

 

[Philip Portelli]

Not that I can recall but I'm sure that he would be loathe to try because if he could, it would only be due to his artificial nature. And he had so many issues to deal with, I doubt that he could if he was eligible.

[Ron M.]

How long can we expect Thor to have lost his hammer? Marvel's said the change is permanent, but then they also announced Silver Surfer had really died in Fantastic Four, had a very nice tribute to him, and he came back a couple of issues later.

[Fred W. Hill]

An early Thor story established that machines could lift Thor's hammer but would the spell, if it recognized Vizh as a living thing, determine that he was worthy enough to lift the hammer, but not, say, Ultron?  Or what about Thor's old Regillian robot buddy, the Recorder?  Hey, it's all make believe -- what one writer said 20 years ago another writer may reverse today and a third change back 20 years from now.
 
Philip Portelli said:

Not that I can recall but I'm sure that he would be loathe to try because if he could, it would only be due to his artificial nature. And he had so many issues to deal with, I doubt that he could if he was eligible.

[Mr. Silver Age]

Marvel's said the change is permanent,

LOL! That's the funniest line I've heard in years. Because "permanent" and "Marvel" go together so well.

-- MSA

[Ron M.]

How exactly does Thor become "unworthy?" Did he rob a bank? Get mad and punch somebody? Point out plot flaws in Original Sin?

And how many people now have replaced Steve Rogers as Captain America? I think they could fill a football team with his replacements by now.

Are the only two storylines available today somebody dies or somebody gives up their costumed identity and somebody else takes it over?

[Randy Jackson]

You're forgetting "Character A, previously of stellar character, turns bad" and "Let's revisit something in Character A's past and make it icky".

Ron M. said:

How exactly does Thor become "unworthy?" Did he rob a bank? Get mad and punch somebody? Point out plot flaws in Original Sin?

And how many people now have replaced Steve Rogers as Captain America? I think they could fill a football team with his replacements by now.

Are the only two storylines available today somebody dies or somebody gives up their costumed identity and somebody else takes it over?

[Ron M.]

And Character B turns good but either dies (Swordsman) or has such a lousy life after reforming that he turns evil again. (Sandman) I expect the original Beetle to go bad again any time. Unless he gets killed first. In which case it'll take a bit longer.

 

[Philip Portelli]

Since this is trending again (much to my surprise), let's see

• Could Thor have defeated the Fantastic Four singlehandedly? The X-Men? The Avengers both pre- and post #16?
• Was Thor too powerful on Earth? Every menace that gave him a challenge came from Asgard or he had his powers reduced.
• Was Thor bullet-proof? How invulnerable was he?
• When did the Avengers accept that Thor was a "god"?
• Was the Hulk allowed to exist as an "anti-Thor " measure just in case?

[Ron M.]

I think unless Thor lost his hammer and changed back into Donald Blake, the only way any of those teams would be able to beat him would be if the Hulk or Hercules were on their side. The Thing seemed about the Hulk's equal in FF#12 but by #25 there'd been an obvious power jump that Ben somehow missed out on.

It's interesting how few non-Asgardian menaces showed up in the Silver Age that were a match for Thor or the Hulk. Once in awhile Namor would face some ancient undersea being that was a match for him, but those were few and far between. It was like Stan didn't want anybody on Earth that could give these guys a real fight in case he decided to have them face Spider-Man or Daredevil and wanted the good guys to have a chance against them. If Daredevil could beat the Cobra and Mr. Hyde (and he did) what were they thinking even considering attacking Thor?

Never saw Thor hit by bullets but I've seen him deflect them by spinning his hammer. What would happen if he was too busy to block them I couldn't say.

Iron Man still hasn't.

I think Thor and Hulk worked best as balances for each other. The idea in recent years that Hulk is much stronger than Thor is a mistake in my opinion. You don't suddenly say Jonn Jon'z can beat up Superman.

[Randy Jackson]

The X-Men easily.  The FF? I think Reed would have come up with a solution.  Or maybe Sue traps the hammer in a force field.

Post #16 Avengers has a lot of really powerful teams out there, unless you specifically mean Cap's Kooky Quartet.  Pre-#16, who's going to stop him?  Post, if we're limiting it to Cap, Quicksilver, Wanda and Hawkeye, no chance.

Thor was much more powerful than most Earth menaces, so yeah.

During the Silver Age, we never found out if Thor was bulletproof.  However, during Christopher Priest's Black Panther run, he was shot in the head, directly between the eyes.  It knocked him out, but not for long.

I don't know that the Avengers have ever accepted the Asgardians as gods. However, there's no question there's something beyond human about them.

The Hulk was allowed to exist because the Avengers were not killers. Also, really, really hard to kill.

Philip Portelli said:

Since this is trending again (much to my surprise), let's see

• Could Thor have defeated the Fantastic Four singlehandedly? The X-Men? The Avengers both pre- and post #16?
• Was Thor too powerful on Earth? Every menace that gave him a challenge came from Asgard or he had his powers reduced.
• Was Thor bullet-proof? How invulnerable was he?
• When did the Avengers accept that Thor was a "god"?
• Was the Hulk allowed to exist as an "anti-Thor " measure just in case?