For the most part, I like what Marvel has done with adapting the Thunder God comic. But I am a little disappointed that these beings are more otherworldly beings (aliens, inter-dimensional people, what you wish) rather than actual gods.


Looking at it, this approach made it possible to meld together the different aspects of Marvel’s universe (corporate, military, sci-fi, offworld stuff, etc) into the Avengers film. And to be fair, the situation Marvel Films presents is that these beings influenced Norse myths, thus serious faithfulness to those myths is not really required.

And some elements from myth were actually adapted quite well: the war with the Frost Giants, the Bifrost Bridge as a rainbow-piped stargate, and the Asgardians having been on Earth before (though the time factor is a bit wibbly-wobbly since Thor and Loki were children and couldn’t have been adults on Earth then).


On the other hand, it may have been more interesting had things been more faithful to Norse mythology. There are elements from the Norse sagas that were actually incorporated into the comics, which would have been awesome in live-action:
- Loki is the father of Hela, goddess of the dead. Hela as the ruler of Hell, portrayed as a planet populated by the undead (ghosts, vampires, zombies etc), would have been awesome to see. And a daughter would give an interesting dynamic to Loki: would he treat her affectionately like his mom, or “playfully” like his bro?

- Loki had two other children: Sleipnir (Odin’s eight-legged horse, who was seen in the first film), and the Fenris Wolf. Think of Thor fighting a freaking uber-werewolf, it’d be more savage than when he fought Algrim or the Hulk.

- Balder the Brave, a legendary warrior, god of light and forgotten Prince of Asgard, whose death and resurrection causes the seasons to change. Balder is actually a pretty popular character, it’s a shame he hasn’t appeared.

- Brunhilda the Valkyrie and Siegfried, the lovers from the famous Wagner opera who eventually were adapted into the Marvel comics.

- the Midgard Serpent, a giant snake that winds itself around the Earth.

- the Norns, three sisters who manage destiny and fate (technically the same sisters from Greek/Roman legend, notably the HERCULES animated film).


As for the rest of the Nine Realms, there are the worlds of Asgard (gods), Midgard (Earth mortals), Jotunheim (Frost Giants), Svartalfheim (Dark Elves)... you get the idea. I had hoped there can be some sort of mythological accuracy, but that seems unlikely.

Regarding the Frost Giants, no trouble there. Their look, their magic and their location are really great, very mythic and faithful.

But regarding the take the Dark Elves. I’d expected a race of elegant creatures – what I saw was a squadron of darkness-worshipping masked soldiers from before the universe. I don’t really mind the alien tech, because it’s different tools from different worlds (and as Jane said, magic is a different form of science anyway), but what I mind are that space elves cannot be anything close to the classic portrayal of elves (elegant and regal and deadly, think Tolkien if he went off-world).


It’s probably too late to change it now. But does anyone feel the same way, that Thor and Odin and all the rest should have been actual gods?

 

Nope; I find it more interesting on how Asgard is not quite what Norse Mythology expects.

 

"You haven't seen his arms up close."

Honestly, I like what they have done because if you put in the fact they are fully gods, it takes out the threat of death. Where is the suspense of a movie if the characters cannot die.

However, no one has said Loki's children cannot exist.

 

You might want to do some more reading about Germanic Paganism before you say this. Loki has more than 3 children. He's the father of Hel, Fenrir the wolf, and Jörmungandr the midgard serpent with the Jotun Angrboða. With the goddess Sigyn he's the father of Narfi, Nari, and Vali. He's also the mother of Sleipnir by the stallion Svaðilfari. Also Dark Elves and Dwarves are the same thing in Norse Paganism.

 

I love what they did to the Asgardians personally.

 

I'd rather have no Horse babies.

 

This

and This

 

Considering I'm a proponent of Earth X being the future of the Marvel Universe, I love that they've taken the same approach of making the Asgardians less godly and more otherworldly.

 

Marvel super hero movies are fun super hero movies. We have things like Clash of the Titans and that other movie with arrow guy (not interested in looking it up) for mythological movies. I honestly don't miss those too much.

 

Same

 

"Loki turns into a girl horse to 'distract' a male horse so a troll can't finish building a wall (which he's building because Loki bet the troll he couldn't), winds up pregnant." That's a little too weird for a serious, actually threatening Loki, don't you think?

I don't mind how the Thor Universe is portrayed. They're all WAY beyond any of us, and (from what I've seen) they haven't yet sucked the fun out of the whimsical elements. How come no one but (a redeemed) Thor can pick up Mjolnir? Because no one is worthy. No magnets or DNA scanners or some other explanation, Hulk nor Loki nor Stan Lee nor anyone else can ever hope to wield Mjolnir because they simply aren't worthy to.

 

how is Loki the father of an 8 legged horse?
so he is technically father and mother of the horse

 

I like how they are presenting the characters. Who says they should follow any of the previous material at all? I mean other than the names they could do thing in an entirely different way, and it would be for the most part fine. If all they did for the Movies was follow what has already happened there are lots of people that would stay away just because they already know whats going to happen...

I enjoy the little swerves from established Stories (Movie Thor Not being able to lift the Hammer at first), since it adds an element of the unknown to the story. You might think you know what's gonna happen, but there is some doubt there.......

 

agreed. I like the fact that they are kind'a gods. but not really. but more so, they are just really powerful. but can still be killed. seemingly the same ways a human can.

having a character who is a god. or immortal, like for example, wolverine, from wolverine origins, can make the movie really boring.

even if you know the character is never going to die, you just can not feel for the character, if and when he is in danger, if nothing can kill him.

which is what makes movies like superman returns, really boring. superman is this all powerful being. all the way up until you add kryptonite to the mix, and then he's rolling over like a dead man.

but marvel characters are not supposed to be super powerful. they are supposed to be relatable. and just how do you relate to a god?

unless you know. you've been one.

i like it more that thor's world, is just a world like ours. that he's vulnerable just like we are.

besides, i have had no problem with either of the thor movies. i wasn't disappointed in either. both of them are much better then the last 2 iron man movies at least. *which i liked both of them, just not that much.*

over all i really do not like super power, heroes. who can not die. and or, can only be hurt with the edition of green rocks.

which is why i like superman best, when he is fighting a super powered alien, who can take his beatings from superman, and dish out his own. and, actually, make superman bleed.

 

I love how the Asgardians weren't really gods. I felt like they were much more relatable. It turns out that our ancestors thought they were gods.

 

While I would have liked to see more elements of the old mythes be in the movies I'm happy about how they were handled all the same. It gives them an alien feel while still retaining that same fantasy feel that I'd expect from Thor. Besides the original comics from what I've heard had some things that were different from the original mythes to begin with so this isn't exactly breaking away from tradition that much.

 

Yeah well, MLPFIM Discord could have been Loki’s son and that would have been awesome...


Anyway, I wasn’t really referring to them being immortal beings. Where that is concerned, that’s as elastic as with the Transformers: sometimes some come back and some don’t and in fact some gods have died and come back before in the comics.

What I was actually hoping for was for more characters from Norse myth, who were adapted into Marvel Comics, to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, specifically Hela and Balder and Valkyrie.

As I said previously, Hela would be awesome to see, not only as Loki’s daughter or the ruler of the dead but as an antagonist in her own right. And don’t forget, forthcoming MCU villain Thanos is obsessed with the female avatar of death, so using a Norse death goddess for that would fit very well.


And making the Asgardians gods would open the gate for other gods within Marvel to appear too, in particular deities like Hercules and Snowbird, demons like Surtur and Dormammu, and a pantheon of others within Marvel.


Who knows? Maybe Thor will deal with actual gods/godhood in the upcoming threequel or something.

 

Just got back from TDW and I got to say I really liked how they combined "Ancient Aliens" and "Myth/High Fantasy" high fantasy tropes

 

To be fair, we're at two movies, with the success of this one, I would expect them to introduce those characters in future films.

 

With Loki's whole schtick being "nobody loves me, and I don't love them back!" it'd be a bit odd to reveal he has a wife and kids.