Skip to main content

marvel - When was Thor first portrayed as an advanced alien, not a god?


As so many fans are so fond of pointing out, the Asgardians in the MCU are not actually gods, but rather a super-advanced alien race. Their "magic" is merely technology, their lives are limited. Any worship of them as divine beings is either a mistake (e.g. Odin) or a deception (e.g. Loki). I have discussed how I feel about this, but sadly, the matter has been settled.



And yet, that's not always how it is. The comic book Thor seems to be a genuine god, at least he was during the God Butcher arc, which revolves entirely around gods and their godly nature. No mention is made of technology or advanced aliens, and numerous mentions are made of "godly" factors such as reliance on worship, etc, not to mention godly feats, like being tossed straight through a moon and coming out the other side. There are also numerous physical distinctions, such as "godblood" being a material discernible from mortal blood.


enter image description here


And anyone who has read that arc knows that if the gods were merely highly advanced mortals, Gorr would have brought that up.


enter image description here


So I'm wondering, when did this van-Daniken-esque take on Thor begin? Was it an invention of the MCU, or is there precedent in the comics? Is this an Ultimate/616 split, or do different writers interpret it differently within the same universe?



Answer



It was hinted as far back as Thor #300 (October 1980) that the Asgardians might not be gods but god-like aliens who resided in nearby dimensions, attempting to protect the Earth from extra-terrestrial threats such as the cosmic space-gods, the unknowable Celestials.


enter image description here



  • The first gathering of the Council of Godheads, to combat the imminent threat of the alien Celestials, in Thor #300, October, 1980.



enter image description here




  • This image denotes Marvel's official position on the Asgardians as aliens. From Thor #493 (December, 1995, written by Warren Ellis and Mike Deodato)




  • The writers of Thor have managed to figure out how to have their cake and eat it too. The Asgardians and all of the other deities of the Marvel Universe while being depicted as gods, could also be defined as "Clarkian" with their technology being so advanced it is indistinguishable from magic.





  • The benefit of this idea is we get to see Asgard having the benefits of advanced technology, cities, flying machines and the like, without losing the mystique since many members of their species can use "magic" to do work.




  • Depending on the artist/writer team, they can be shown as an advanced spacefaring civilization known and respected throughout the galaxy. When the All-Mother told alien civilizations to leave Earth alone, most alien species complied.




enter image description here


See Also: What was the ultimate origin of Asgardians?


See Also: How long do Asgardians live for?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

languages - Do we ever see written English in the Star Wars films?

In Empire Strikes Back , we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs): I'd assume it's what Basic looks like when written, but is there some point in the the Star Wars films we see written English instead? (This sort of spun off from a discussion in How do people understand astromech droids? .) Answer At one point there was English but it has been phased out in subsequent versions of the films. Chris Gould at DVD Active did a comparison of all versions of each of the Star Wars films, and in his comparison of Episode 4 , there are a couple of screenshots showing how the power gauge for the Death Star tractor beam was changed. I imagine there are probably more to be found in his other comparisons but I haven't got around to reading those yet.
Post a Comment
Read more

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...
Post a Comment
Read more