Stop. Hammer Time!

[Jenx]

I'll probably go see this when it comes out, although I suppose it would be wise to do like a norseman and drink myself silly, in the hopes of forgetting all Norse mythology, so I won't scream and yell at the movie about fucking it up so much.

How many times am I going to have to re-iterate this on various threads?
It's a fantastical sci-fi influenced re-imagining of our interpretation of something that is imaginary.

And...that is supposed to excuse it how, exactly? It is in fact the very reason why it's based on something "imaginary" as you say, that really pisses me off. I can bet you this could work without it needing all the pseudo-technological bullshit, making Thor and Loki brothers and other stuff like that. (If anything, Loki is more like Thor's uncle, since he's a blood brother of Odin.) See, if this was based on history, not mythology then I can get twisting things around - just telling things as they were might not suit your story. But mythology, and norse one specifically, can be so vague that...why do you even NEED to re-imagine everything about it?

I don't know, I probably am making no sense at all, but it just ticks me off.

 

[Vorocano]

I'll probably go see this when it comes out, although I suppose it would be wise to do like a norseman and drink myself silly, in the hopes of forgetting all Norse mythology, so I won't scream and yell at the movie about fucking it up so much.

The point was made already, but allow me to drive it home a bit more too. Are you going to ***** during Captain America, because the US never had super soldiers in WWII? Do you reject Battlestar Galactica because they miss a few of the finer points of Mormon cosmology? Will you boycott the next Superman movie because the Christ-analogy doesn't contain a suitable metaphor for the Eucharist?

Good Lord, it's a comic book movie! Inspired by a faith that has been dead for nearly a thousand years! Get over it. If they were billing it as "a modern retelling of ancient Norse myth" well then I could see it, but Thor willingly sacrifices mythological accuracy on the altar of "Making it Awesome."

 

[Vorocano]

Thor breaks the Marvel universe. Just look at the lineup that we have going into it: Fantastic Four, The Hulk, X-Men, Spider-man, Daredevil, Iron Man, Dr. Pym (Ant Man/Wasp), Hawkeye, Captain America, and many many more.

Every single hero on that list is either one of two things: A scientist who got caught up in an experiment gone wrong, or a regular (or irregular) guy who came across a strange set of circumstances and now chooses to deal with it by being a hero.

And then there is Thor. While he does technically fall into the second of the categories that I listed, the powers that he attains make him LITERALLY a god. It changes the entire mythology of the Marvel universe(s), in a way that, in my opinion, is not for the better.

But magic and myth exist in the Marvel universe outside of the Thor mythos. Dr Strange, for example, or Ghost Rider. You think they should ignore some of their iconic characters because they're not "science-y" enough for you?

 

[Jenx]

The point was made already, but allow me to drive it home a bit more too. Are you going to ***** during Captain America, because the US never had super soldiers in WWII? Do you reject Battlestar Galactica because they miss a few of the finer points of Mormon cosmology? Will you boycott the next Superman movie because the Christ-analogy doesn't contain a suitable metaphor for the Eucharist?

Good Lord, it's a comic book movie! Inspired by a faith that has been dead for nearly a thousand years! Get over it. If they were billing it as "a modern retelling of ancient Norse myth" well then I could see it, but Thor willingly sacrifices mythological accuracy on the altar of "Making it Awesome."

Don't give a crap about Captain America, Nor Battlestar Galactica for that matter. And thank you for not having a point so instead just over blowing something I wrote instead.

Ok, to try and summarize my opinion a bit clearly - "Does the story really gain much by changing around the mythology?" Oh and "Making it awesome" is as bullshit of an excuse as any. Some people insist that Transformers 1 and 2 are "awesome" and I don't think I need to point out how much those movies sucked.

Also I really think you are mistaking minor irritation (which is what I feel in such cases) with actual anger. Like I said, I WILL go watch the Thor movie because it seems interesting enough.

 

[The Deadpool]

Nice to see Bob taking a sane stance on this whole Idris Elba thing, looks like most of the civilized world is falling in step behind sanity and declaring "unusual, but probably a good choice" and expressing sadness at how ludicrous the reactions to this guy will be from the purists

Agreed, but it IS an odd choice. He's such a minor supporting role that one must wonder why not cast someone who LOOKS the part?

 

[Sepiida]

Norse god with magic hammer smashes giants and shoots lightning. Yeah, I think I can dig that.

As for the whole Idris Elba thing while I'm personally not familiar with the man by all accounts he's a great actor and will do a fine job. That being said I will be interested to see if the same people who went apeshit over Last Airbender will now accuse others of bigotry for asking essentially the same question.

 

[Optimystic]

Bob, can I just say I really enjoy your breakdowns? As someone who was never that into comics growing up, it's great to get clued in on all the little references and other things that I missed.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

I fully concur, must... see... moreeeee!

 

[MintyNinja]

As someone who never had access to comics as a kid (nor interest, I must admit) these breakdowns are very helpful. This movie looks good enough to see in theaters and come May I shall.

 

[Kristoffer Mattila]

Oh man, our mythos just got raped with razor wire... in the urethra... twice

 

[GamerLuck]

Will be seeing this movie day one if possible. cannot wait.

 

[mykalwane]

So the fact that Thor refers to Earth as Earth rather then Midgar didn't bother anyone else? That is a real surprise to me.

 

[WolfThomas]

Actually Movie Bob, I think both companies consider JLA/Avengers canon, as a sort a cross company sign of cooperation and the fact it was a huge finiancial success. So yes Superman has wielded Mjolner and Cap's shield at the same time and Hawkeye is the only hero to have served in the Avengers and JLA.

Just love how insignificant Mjolnir looks. Epic for a hammer of godly power to be well understated XD

That's actually true to norse saga, when the hammer was forged the smith got distracted (long story) and the handle was much shorter than he intended.

So,
in the Thor canon, Norse gods are actually aliens/interdimensional beings?
Man, that's heavy.

Yes and no, it fluctuates over the years, more recently they've been heavily playing them as gods along with greek gods like Ares and Hercules. But at times they've been pretty much just aliens.

Actually it's pretty hillarious, marvel had these beings called Eternals, who the idea was they were super powered aliens that inspired all of earth's early gods. They then had to retcon that, to say that they were only mistaken for earth's gods.

So the fact that Thor refers to Earth as Earth rather then Midgard didn't bother anyone else? That is a real surprise to me.

It bothers me but we don't have the context, so maybe there's a reason.

 

[Rocketboy13]

You know Kirby's love of the Ancient Astronauts theory was the center of other comics by him, like Darkseid and the New Gods, or the Eternals.

And when they rebooted the Eternals with Neil Gaiman and John Romita jr (my personal favorite comic artist) at the helm in 2007(?) one of the main characters points out how odd the whole concept is, "If Spider-man had told me he had gotten his powers by reading 'Chariots of the Gods' I would probably think he was crazy too".

 

[alloneword]

Thor breaks the Marvel universe. Just look at the lineup that we have going into it: Fantastic Four, The Hulk, X-Men, Spider-man, Daredevil, Iron Man, Dr. Pym (Ant Man/Wasp), Hawkeye, Captain America, and many many more.

Every single hero on that list is either one of two things: A scientist who got caught up in an experiment gone wrong, or a regular (or irregular) guy who came across a strange set of circumstances and now chooses to deal with it by being a hero.

And then there is Thor. While he does technically fall into the second of the categories that I listed, the powers that he attains make him LITERALLY a god. It changes the entire mythology of the Marvel universe(s), in a way that, in my opinion, is not for the better.

But magic and myth exist in the Marvel universe outside of the Thor mythos. Dr Strange, for example, or Ghost Rider. You think they should ignore some of their iconic characters because they're not "science-y" enough for you?

I don't take objection to magic within the Marvel universe. I actually enjoy the most recent sub-storyline with Dr.Strange and the Sorcerer Supreme (re: The New Avenger). What I take objection with is the fact that, running around with all these (relatively) regular heroes is the literal incarnation of a Norse God. Two of them actually.

 

[kouriichi]

Im going to see this just to watch stuff get smacked with a hammer.

 

[mykalwane]

So the fact that Thor refers to Earth as Earth rather then Midgard didn't bother anyone else? That is a real surprise to me.

It bothers me but we don't have the context, so maybe there's a reason.

Yea, since Thor tends to ask that whenever someone tells him this isn't Midgar but Earth. Still hearing Thor say Earth just stood out for being so odd.

 

[Acidwell]

-snip-

This is speaking as someone who hasn't read that many marvel comics, and no thor or avengers at all but from what i've seen,might the way it breaks the theme throughout the universe not be a way to stop people looking at all their characters and saying: "How come everyone has a similar backstory?"