Thor Is Getting Gender-Flipped. Officially.

[Gigano]

Well, I suppose an attractive fit lady bringing the pain, dressed in fantasy viking armour and wielding a power tool, will have some degree of audience appeal. Maybe even to a woman or two.

Was it not for the fictitious affirmative action idea this seem to strongly push (there's a new Thor in Asgaard, and her main qualification is that she's a woman!), it's hardly noteworthy compared to the bizarre occurrences, characters, and plot twists so often seen in comic books.

 

[Auberon]

First I thought, Loki pulled a prank on witless Thor. Then I hoped it would be redhead with goats like Season of Mists and Edda. Then I actually read it, we just change the character.

So much lost potential.

 

[ExDeath730]

As much as they say this is not temporary, I don't think it will stick. Just like new Spiderman didn't

This. It's Marvel we're talking about, they always try to pull those. If it was DC, i would at least expect it to last, a lot of people grew up with Wally West as the Flash, and with John Stewart or Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern, because DC usually tries to make the change last. With Marvel? Give 2-3 years, it's like Wolverine dying, it will not last.

 

[spartan231490]

This may not be "Thorita" but this is a male superhero that they have slapped breasts on. Again, they really need to promote their legitimate female heroes more rather than aping long-established characters.

Precisely my thought. This is not a step forward, they need to promote their current female characters and produce more, not just slap boobs on old characters, as you said.

 

[Matt_LRR]

Before people go nuts, I would like to remind everyone that the last time Marvel changed something significant about a character (making Miles Morales the new Spider-Man) it turned out to be one of the best things in comics.

I'm actually interested to see where this goes. Hopefully new Thor turns out to be good at her job.

That only happened in the ultimate universe not the mainstream universe that people actually care about.

and it still led to one of the best takes on the character ever put to page.

-m

 

[BrotherRool]

Considering the runaway success that Ms. Marvel has been so far... if this move gets a lot of support and we all go out and buy Thor comics, there'll be a real chance that we might be on the verge of triggering a major industry shift. I hope this comic is good because it would be so cool. If that is a picture of her, she seems to look fantastic at least.

Is that true It is successful? as in boucoup's of money wed be stupid to cancel this successful? because People can blog and write articles about how great a lady rep is that ms marvel is a great whatever but if thats all people do is go."awe bout time" and then dont buy it well....

But yeah Money successful or just popular?

Money successful! That's the crazy thing this time round. A company has done something good that people have liked and it's actually paid off. Ms Marvel went straight to #1 on the digital sales chart and even regionally it was pretty successful, just behind New Avengers (also Ms Marvel #1 was above Thor, X-Men and Amazing X-Men).

And the success continued for example Ms. Marvel #3 sold 37,000, just below Wolverine and above Fantastic Four and Captain America, Iron Man, Punisher.

It's not quite top tier for them yet. Marvel have about 15 comic books that manage to break 50,000. But it's already hitting harder than some pretty established franchises and is comfortably towards the upper end of the middle pack.

 

[Halla Burrica]

Okay, I'm really confused about this Thor name thing, because Thor is not a girls name. Thor is a boys name and was from the Norse word for thunder,Thórr. Thora is the female variation of that name, why couldn't they just use that? I know this because I have a friend who is really interested in Norse mythology, I mean really interested plus I'm Scandinavian.

 

[Megalodon]

Also there is a female Judge Dredd... there's actually a bunch of them since they're basically cops in a future where life or death sentences are passed on immediately.

Have to go on a tangent here, but apart from (as has already been pointed out) the fact there are female Judges, not female Dredds, death sentences do not occur as a matter of course in Dredd. The 'judge jury and executioner' line was dropped after the first prog or two in the 70s. Perps are sent to the cubes, not executed on the street.

On topic: publicity stunt, won't last a year. Not that I actually care about Marve's; comic series

 

[Mangod]

Also there is a female Judge Dredd... there's actually a bunch of them since they're basically cops in a future where life or death sentences are passed on immediately.

You mean female Judges that are themselves also called 'Dredd', with Dredd himself inhabiting the same world? Because again, maybe this may make perfect sense to hardcore fans, but that sounds kind of stupid.

I mean, what's left of a character's identity when you just have all these interchangeable versions walking around?

Judge Joseph Dredd. Main character of the story. Has a dirty cop twin brother named Judge Rico Dredd, whom he's arrested, fought and eventually killed.

Both would be refered to as simply Judge Dredd on patrol, like Officer Scott or Officer Hodges. But just because they have similar names doesn't mean they're the same person, nor are they interchangeable. If Joe ever has children (unlikely, but you never know), and they join the Justice Deparment, they would be refered to as Judge Dredd as well.

 

[Malbourne]

Since my only criterion for whether or not this character will be awesome is that chicks with big hammers are cool, I'm pleased as punch to see this. I'm sure my feelings would be very different if I actually had any stake in the history of the Marvel universe, but my stake in the Norse mythos is pretty high, for what that's worth. And a female Thor is worth.

 

[Kameburger]

I love this because I get to repost almost verbatim the reply I used for Archie jumping in front of character, who thanks to the news is only defined as being Gay and named Kevin.

[reply quote omitted]

Since when did ballsy mean self aggrandizing pandering? I don't really get the message they are trying to send here other then we need to really really need to win the pro-women (but also not women themselves) crowd, but how can we accomplish that without really trying hard.

Oh by the way I'm just giving you a heads up on the news, but word on the street is that Batman is going to die next week by being shot in the arctic by poachers while trying to save an openly gay emperor penguin from sliding off of a melting glacier into water that's been polluted by an oil spill. Oh and Batman in this case is gender swapped being played by a strong independent and self assured feminist woman of color who grew up in a neighborhood torn apart by conservative austerity measures and limited access to affordable health care. It is set to be a pretty heart wrenching issue, but it will most likely be clouded by controversy because this new version of Batman is a chain smoker.

Also now I feel like if I had replaced Batman with Thor I could have been pretty damn close to prophetic levels considering Thor's more recent environmentalist story lines. Oh well, next time.

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

Gender-flipping male superheroes is NOT how you appeal to female comic readers. I thought that lesson was learned decades ago. Especially one so lazy that they literally give the gender-flipped version the SAME NAME.
It's an slap in the face to both Thor fans and legitimate/original female superheroes.

What a stupid way to go about things

 

[Kyber]

Does this mean it's possible to retcon Jesus as a female? That could be interesting, she bleeds for your sins, every month.

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

Does this mean it's possible to retcon Jesus as a female? That could be interesting, she bleeds for your sins, every month.

O_O

Good lord man, you looking to offend half the planet or something

 

[ExDeath730]

Does this mean it's possible to retcon Jesus as a female? That could be interesting, she bleeds for your sins, every month.

O_O

Good lord man, you looking to offend half the planet or something

A friend of mine is pagan, and she is actually pretty offended by this change. I imagine what would happen if they did this to Jesus now...The possibilities!

 

[norashepard]

Hey, straight women have been lusting after the male Thor for years now. It's only fair lesbians get a go!

Seriously though, I am eager to see what they actually do with this. If it is in fact just Thor again with hips, then it'll really only be good for the aforementioned lesbians (and straight men too I guess). But if they actually do interesting things with the stories, like oh I don't know, comment on how there hasn't ever really been a "Queen of Asgard" before or something like that, then maybe. However, I'm skeptical, because they're probably just going to do all the usual girl tropes now. Some guy will disrespect Thor and she'll smack him, someone will say she fights like a girl, etc. Ugh.

It's like other famous characters who have had their races changed or whatever. It usually stands only to improve the character's complexity and relatability. Especially when you consider that most of these 'classic characters' were created during a time period where sexism in the industry was the norm. Maybe this is a form of correcting the errors of the past?

Now that I think about it, maybe it would actually be infinitely more interesting if she IS exactly the same as male Thor. That would be a twist. And now I'm rambling!

To all the people asking why they don't just create new heroines: how often do you READ comics about new heroines? Rarely I bet. The only popular one in recent memory was the new Ms. Marvel, and even she was a rebranding.

Bottom line though: Awesome. One step closer to a bona fide babe squad.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

I am sure this decision will lead to many civilised exchanges of views on the internet.

Now I must satisfy my hunger for heated maize kernels.

 

[votemarvel]

Both would be refered to as simply Judge Dredd on patrol, like Officer Scott or Officer Hodges. But just because they have similar names doesn't mean they're the same person, nor are they interchangeable. If Joe ever has children (unlikely, but you never know), and they join the Justice Deparment, they would be refered to as Judge Dredd as well.

Joe Dredd does have 'children' of a sort.

Dolman was cloned from Dredd's DNA, not that of Fargo (though technically its the same thing I suppose.)

Also Cadet Jessica Paris is another 'clone' from Dredd's DNA.

Neither of them used the name of Dredd.

Also must mention Judge Rico. He is a clone of Fargo and was originally called 'Judge Dredd' while at the academy. He changed it to Rico instead on getting his full Eagle.

 

[Madame_Lawliet]

Eh, why not.
I mean I don't care about american comic books or superheroes even in the slightest bit, but it's always cool to have more female characters in stuff.
I like the new character design too, she pretty much looks like the old Thor but a girl, not overly sexualized, not made to be more feminine, her physique and body type are about the same, exactly how rule 63 SHOULD be done.

 

[Grimh]

The name thing confuses me but otherwise I don't really have any strong feelings one way or the other.
Probably because I don't read his/soon to be her comics.

Well okay I don't like the helm and the lipstick kind of bugs me.
I do like the rest of her outfit and that she looks somewhat buff though.