Thor is Not a Superhero

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I adore The Avengers as much as the next person, but one member of the Avenger team who has been bothering me for a while is Thor. Like, don't get me wrong, I have full appreciation of Chris Hemsworth and all his beauty, but, and I hate to break it to the world, Thor is not a superhero.

In case you weren't aware, Thor is actually a mythical deity in ancient, Norse culture. Following in the tradition of Indo-European religions, Thor is a storm god (like Zeus), associated with thunder, lightning, and his famous hammer, Mjollnir. So, understandably, he makes a good superhero. I'm all for the appreciation of world mythology, of course, and I've been trying to read more mythology myself, but I'm sort of annoyed with Marvel for co-opting Thor.

 Like, it's the same thing as when Disney came out with Hercules and everyone was complaining that they the original, Greek mythology didn't match up. It's the same thing with Norse mythology, everyone's like 'oh, I saw Thor and now I know everything there is to know about Viking religion'. And I'm like 'no, no you don't'.

While I appreciate that the producers of Thor took the time to read the Wikipedia entry on Norse mythology, may I remind everyone that Loki does not side with the frost giants like, ever. In fact, if you've read any stories about Norse deities, you know that the giants are constantly being tricked by Loki. Loki and the giants just don't get along.

Secondly, the main conflict in the Thor movie (just as a disclaimer, I haven't read the Thor comics) is that Loki seizes Odin's throne and Thor gets upset because he's supposed to get Odin's throne. This never happens anywhere in actual mythology. Mostly because Odin doesn't give up on being Odin. Odin is immortal, so he's the king for pretty much forever. Secondly, in Norse mythology it is nowhere clearly stated that Thor is Odin's son, and everyone knows that Loki isn't Odin's son, so this whole idea of Loki not knowing that he was adopted and Thor having the right to inherit is just nonsense. Also, I'm pretty sure Odin would never have the inclination or reason to banish Thor to earth. That just wouldn't happen.

To me, truth and accuracy are paramount over entertainment value in this instance. I just think it needs to be out on the internet that Thor is not a superhero, he is an ancient, cultural icon. In fact, I'm not sure why Marvel had to make Thor a superhero anyway. You figure if Stan Lee can think up Spider-Man and Iron Man, he doesn't need to go raiding mythology for ideas.

Though I have to give Marvel props for making the Thor statuete that is currently gracing my fish tank.

Just sayin' 

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