TV - Movies
Quiz: The
Untold Truth
of Thor
By CHRIS SIMS
Since his debut in 1962, the Mighty Thor has been one of the Marvel Universe's most powerful heroes, and he is able to combine fairy tale fantasy with superheroics in a way that few others can. If you're caught up on his adventures and think you know everything about him, we’ve got some questions for you about Odin’s favorite son.
In an “Adventure Comics #75” story by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, the Golden Age Sandman goes up against a crook named “Fairy Tale” Fenton, who masquerades as the hammer-swinging thunder god in order to pull off daring robberies. A more familiar Thor would appear in “Tales of the Unexpected #16,” again created by Kirby, but both of these comics were published by DC.
Thor's human form was merely that: a human form that was created by Odin in order to teach his son the folly of his arrogance. By imprisoning him in the body of a human (and erasing his memories of ever having been a god in the first place), Odin hoped that Thor would stop being a cosmically powerful braggart and learn to put the needs of others before his own.
Simonson (and John Workman, whose lettering would give the book a distinctly epic feel) would redefine Thor in virtually every way, blending high fantasy, mythology, and superhero action. He also did an issue where Thor hit a dragon so hard that he broke every single bone in his own body, so there’s a reason this run is remembered for its four-syllable sound effects.
In the 1978 TV movie “The Incredible Hulk Returns,” Don Blake is a regular human who finds Mjolnir in a cave in Norway, which leads to Thor being compelled to do his bidding. This leads to a pretty weird scene where Blake and Thor hang out in a bar trying to decide whether Thor should take up a career as a crimefighter.
Sigurd Jarlson was from Walt Simonson’s series, Eric Masterson comes from the Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz run, and Eric Masterson is from the “Heroes Reborn” saga. Smørrebrød Skagerrak is the name of the Swedish Chef on the German dub of “The Muppet Show.”