Marvels Thor Has Lived Through ALL of Human History

Marvel’s Thor Has Lived Through ALL of Human History

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A superhero as well a figure from mythology, Marvel’s Thor has seen, experienced, and interacted with nearly all of humanity’s history.

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Marvels Thor Has Lived Through ALL of Human History

Marvel Comics has often pushed to make their characters interact with “the world outside your window,” but one has been doing that for far, far longer than any of the others. The Fantastic Four may be thought of as Marvel’s First Family because they were the first characters co-created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1961 when they began their intense period of publication that caused a revolution in the world of superhero comics. Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner and the original Human Torch may be the first characters seen in the first issue of Marvel Comics #1 back in 1939 and fought Nazi Germany during World War II. Yet, they are just the oldest Marvel superheroes that are wholly original. Thor was an old character before Stan and Jack were even born and has been involved with real-world history all along the way.

Lee, Kirby, and Larry Lieber created the Mighty Thor in the pages of Journey Into Mystery #83, which landed on newsstands and in the hands of the children of America in July of 1962 – putting his release behind those other heroes. But in a very real sense, Thor was, for a very, very, very long time, the oldest Marvel Comics superhero. Thor may have appeared in this specific form in a comic book after many others but even in the Marvel Universe? He was there far before the rest of them. Truly, just as it was in the real world. He is nearly immortal, a God of Thunder looming over everything that has ever happened, living in a heightened way beyond human imagination.

Thor, after all, isn’t originally a superhero. He was believed to be an actual deity and was worshipped and prayed to in Northern Europe during time dating so far back even scholars can’t be sure. Keeping this in mind will always make you reconsider how much Thor appears to be a full-of-himself jerk. The earliest clear recorded mention of Thor is in an inscription dated to the 6th or 7th Century and the poems that really tell his stories would be recorded in the 13th Century. But we don’t really know how far back Thor’s lifeline goes because none of them reveal Thor’s origins (nor have the comics). These poems described a world of power and majesty. This is the world Thor comes from, the world before humanity first arrived.

In the Beginning: Asgard Established

Marvels Thor Has Lived Through ALL of Human History

The remarkable creative team of Lee and Kirby did not intend to leave these ancient stones unturned and the year after Thor debuted. They began a secondary five-page back-up feature called “Tales of Asgard.” This was now late 1963. But there fans learned the pre-history of pre-history as the classic stories were re-told about Thor’s father, Odin, and many of the other gods of the Norse pantheon. Eventually, these shorts even unfolded some tales of Thor before he was banished to Earth (or Midgard as the ancient Germans called it) by Odin, to live as a frail mortal named Dr. Donald Blake and learn humility. These stories cemented the concept that had only been implied before: this superhero is the god of antiquity, Thor Odinson, born before the start of humanity itself.

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And there’s really no way to know how long before human history. Regarding the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we have a more solid understanding of the issue because in Avengers: Infinity War the character, expertly played by actor Chris Hemsworth, specifically says, “You know, I’m 1,500 years old. I’ve killed twice as many enemies as that.” But in the comics, it’s much harder to pin down. The earliest sense of the depth of this time comes from Journey Into Mystery #85, Loki’s first appearance. Loki says he has been trapped on Asgard for… Well, it’s not clear how long. “Ages” was Lieber’s answer in the script to most situations in which time has passed in these early issues of Thor. So Loki says: “Ages ago, the gods condemned me to be trapped within this tree!” and “Thor has not been in Asgard for ages! No one knows where he is!” and “It has been ages since I was last on Earth!” all in two pages.

Over A Long Lifetime: A God Evolves

Marvels Thor Has Lived Through ALL of Human History

Many Thor writers over the years have given us tantalizing hints amid vague histories of the intersection of Asgard and Earth but very little in clear milestones of time. Lee took over all writing duties from his brother Larry Lieber with Journey Into Mystery #97 and in issue 98 the unnamed narrator declares “For time as we know it means nothing to the gods of Asgard” when Thor is whisked off to Asgard for the umpteenth time. J. Michael Straczynski’s Thor #3, from 2007 depicts Thor visiting New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and reminisces about the founding of Orléans, France by Emperor of Rome, Aurelian in 275 A.D. and the battles fought there over 1,000 years later by Jeanne d’Arc, cementing the idea that Thor interacted with humans on their level. The flashbacks in Jason Aaron’s 2012 series, newly rechristened Thor: God of Thunder, take place in 893 A.D. according to the caption that opens most of those issues. These depict a teenage Thor who’s not yet worthy of lifting his mystical hammer, Mjölnir. Just recently, in Donny Cates’ third issue on Thor, issue #729, Cates made the largest, clearest, and most poetic statement on Thor’s near-immortality yet. He and artist Nic Klein opened the issue with a panoramic display of an intense ancient battle against some race of monsters on some foreign world and explained that the readers don’t recognize it because neither would Thor, it was too long ago. The memory is “Lost, in the ocean of his immortal mind.”

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We have to remember that the Thunder God lived through not just the times of the Romans and the Vikings, but also the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, the Paleolithic cave-dwellers, possibly even the birth of our species itself. Humans only appeared 315,000 years ago. Thor could presumably tell us about all of human pre-history and the time before humans appeared on Earth! Thor, is not only the God of Thunder but also, very possibly, a witness to nearly everything that has ever happened. Among the only living things with more experience would be Thor’s father Odin! Combined, their memory stretches over more than a billion years. They don’t live in a Marvel Universe as it exists “outside your window” but they could tell you about the huge span of the world before the world outside your window!

The Mighty Avenger has always held a somewhat unique position. One of the first few superheroes derived from mythology, he sits at the crossroads between myth and popular culture. He fits into the Avengers and the larger Marvel Universe only because we have gotten used to him there. Earth and Asgard and all the Nine Realms make his story seem epic and above human concerns. Fighting in historical wars and his 20th Century banishment by Odin can serve to humanize him, but only partially.

When one considers how old Thor is and how much he’s experienced and accomplished — just what he’s seen passively with time — it’s easier to understand why he can be a little haughty. It also brings home how intense the difficulty in adjusting and living on Midgard was during his banishment. Thor seems to have learned the lesson from his time living as Blake. Don’t overlook the immeasurable respect Thor must have for Steve Rogers to agree to take orders from the good Captain. Most humans would certainly seem like less than ants to a nearly immortal god. Whenever Thor defers to a mortal on anything we can conclude he has learned the lesson of humility Odin sent him to Earth to learn in those original Stan Lee Silver Age stories. The character has learned to bring himself low, consider that which seems smaller than him, and respect it. As the opening line of the first “Tales of Asgard” short story Stan Lee and Jack Kirby made said, “Before man could read or write, he had his legends!”

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/thor-lived-throughout-history-marvel-comics/

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