Talk:Thor (Marvel Comics)/GA1

GA Review

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Nominator: Thebiguglyalien (talk · contribs) 05:10, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

Reviewer: Cambalachero (talk · contribs) 17:06, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

Lead

• Although Thor is the central and main one, the image has too many distracting people in the background. It may be better to use one where he's the only one.
  • I completely agree, and I changed it at one point for this reason, but someone changed it back because it didn't show his face well enough. Maybe I'll take some more time to look for other options. I've replaced it with an image that features Thor more clearly in a full-body portrait. There are other options if this one doesn't work for whatever reason, but this one is the least cluttered that still gives the full image. Never mind, for some reason David A decided that the cluttered image has to stay.
    • For years we used the image File:Thor-272.jpg which you can see here: [1] if that one is acceptable, it could always be restored and added back to the article. BOZ (talk) 00:48, 7 July 2024 (UTC)
• "Team affiliations" should be the main ones, not just any group he happened to be a member of. Have the "Thor Corps", for example, even been mentioned out of their brief miniseries?
  • Removed everything except Avengers, which as far as the body is concerned is the only one he's a serious member of.
• Same for "Notable aliases". How many of them have been frequent and ongoing.
  • The "Donald Blake" link is not strictly a circular link, but almost as if it is. It links to a section of a list that talks about characters, and there are just Thor plots in there.
  • Removed the link and reduced to the ones supported by the body.
• Also "Abilities", it needs to be trimmed. In particular, "Skilled hand-to-hand combatant" is usually for Batman types, who rely on martial arts and similar. Thor may be dangerous in hand-to-hand because he has super strength, already listed.
  • Trimmed down to the main ones that are supported by the body.
• More of a question, but is "Odinson" an actual name? Isn't it just "son of Odin" written in a style closer to the faux-Shakespearean English that Thor uses?
  • It's a patronymic, which would be considered part of his full name.
• "Thor is an adaptation of the deity of the same name from Norse mythology, and many aspects of Thor's character are based on Norse mythology." You said "Norse mythology" twice in a sentence.
  • Reworded to "based on his mythological counterpart".
• "...played a significant role in Marvel crossover events, including Avengers Disassembled (2004)". Actually, no. There is a storyline titled "Avengers Disassembled", but it has zero relation with the attack of the Scarlet Witch. If you want to mention another crossover event strongly based on Thor's lore, it may be better to list Fear Itself (comics).
  • I'm not sure what you mean by Thor not being relevant to Avengers Disassembled. And I would think that there would be coverage for Thor's role in Fear Itself, but surprisingly the sources don't really consider it significant.

Creation and premiere

• "first appeared" is just a common phrase, it should not be linked
  • I disagree, it's an important concept in comics. I started linking it because a reviewer for a different article suggested I do so.
• "Like other superheroes created at the time, Thor usurped a comic book that had previously been dedicated to monster fiction.". It would be more precise to describe JIM as a comic book anthology than just as a comic book.
  • Changed.
• You should clarify that Adventure Comics, Boy Commandos, and Tales of the Unexpected are from DC Comics, as so far the article has only been talking about Marvel.
  • Definitely. Added clarification.

1960s

• "...prompted Lee to write the original cast out of The Avengers, including Thor." It may be worth mention that the Enchantress, a Thor villain used in the Avengers comics because of Thor, would stick around despite Thor's departure.
  • This isn't something I saw brought up in the sources.
• "...and greatly expanded his roster of supporting characters" It may be a good idea to mention some characters created in this series, such as Hela.
  • Added the characters that were listed in the source.
• "...it was revealed that Thor was the actual mythological Thor rather than a mortal who obtained Thor's power and that his secret identity of Donald Blake was a fabrication created by Odin". That's sounds really awkward, why would Odin do such a thing? Just add "to teach him humility", and it would be far more clear.
  • Yeah, that's way better. Added.

1970s–1990s

• It should be mentioned that Simonson introduced the character of Beta Ray Bill. I'm not sure if this is significant, but he also started the plot point of someone else other than Thor being "worthy" to grab Mjolnir, a plot that would be frequently used from then on.
  • The article mentions that he wrote "The Ballad of Beta Ray Bill", but I added another sentence to emphasize the story's significance.
• "During the Heroes Reborn event, most of Marvel's major superheroes were given new volumes, restarted at issue #1, but Thor's series was not renewed." Not the best way to phrase it. Marvel's major superheroes at the time were the X-Men and Spider-Man. The MCU can easily mislead the retrospective view, but the Avengers were far from "major superheroes" at the time, they had minimal sales in comparison. The Heroes Reborn project was attempted precisely to try to fix that. And, although Thor did not get a solo comic within the project, he was part of it, within the Avengers.
  • I replaced "major" with "most".
• "...revisited the idea of Thor being bound to a mortal in an effort to humanize him" Perhaps it should be clarified that this was not a return to Don Blake's status quo, but rather another person. Also, "mortal" seems kinda out of place when used in wikivoice to describe a character that is not an Asgardian.
  • I reworded this a little to mention the name. Isn't mortal the term for someone who isn't Asgardian? "Human" is the other option that I'd consider, but reads awkwardly to me.

21st century

• "An alternate version of the Avengers, the Ultimates, debuted in 2002 within the Ultimate Universe." The link is correct, but nowadays "Ultimate Universe" is the name of the line launched in 2023 and may lead to confusion. Just "Ultimate Marvel" should work.
  • Fixed, and I did some rewording to make the alternative universe aspect clear.
• "...it is hinted that he is mentally unstable." Actually, it was a bit more complex than that. Both things were hinted (that he was an actual deity, and that he was just a madman with superweapons), and none were openly confirmed until the end of Ultimates 2. Up to that point, the comic was written in a way that both options were plausible.
  • Reworded.
• ...and yes, there is a new Ultimate Thor as a lead character of the 2024 Ultimates. It may be too soon to mention (we've seen him in just 2 comics so far), but remember to update it at some point.
  • Yeah, I'm planning to keep these Marvel articles I'm working on updated. I'll keep this one in mind.

Fictional character biography

• "...giving him the identity of Dr. Don Blake" Use the full name, Donald Blake
• "When Thor is defeated by Beta Ray Bill, he loses his ability to turn into Blake." That makes it sound as if it was Ray Bill's fault. Actually, the ability of changing was gifted to him.
• What happened to Thor's bonding with Masterson? Was it severed by the Onslaught thing?
• "Though a prophecy warns that Thor will die by Serpent's hand, he fights and defeats Serpent, sacrificing his own life" That sounds as if the prophecy actually came to pass, didn't it?
• Link Jane Foster
• "When Malekith the Accursed wages The War of the Realms..." "the" should be in lowercase in that sentence.
• Is the Galactus bit really necessary? It does not seem to add much to Thor's lore. And I wouldn't link "Black Winter", that was just a one-time villain with doubtful notability.

Powers, abilities, and equipment

• "Though not fully immortal, Asgardians have immense lifespans and are immune to disease." But the section before said that Asgardians go through a cycle of death and resurrection, and that Thor broke that cycle. How do both things make sense?
• "Thor is also educated in medicine from his experience as Blake, who was a surgeon" Shouldn't it be "human medicine"? I doubt his experience would be relevant among Asgardians, because of being immune to disease (and also aliens, even if not actively using the term).

Personality and themes

• Seems fine

Supporting characters

• "When Thor was imprisoned on Earth as Dr. Blake..." Is that a good way to word it? Was Thor a prisoner?
• "Beta Ray Bill also served as a rival to Thor before receiving a hammer of his own from Odin, Stormbreaker, and becoming an ally" Beta Ray Bill has always been an ally to Thor. They fought when they met, but just for the usual cliché " let's fight over a misunderstanding, and work together once we realize we're on the same page and have a common enemy". The source makes a recap of that first arc, but does not count him as a Thor villain, not even as a temporary one.
• "Thor also protects Earth from human threats, which over the years has included Nazis and communists" I remember the communist ones: he was created during the Cold War era, and Soviet villains were frequent in Marvel comics back then. But Nazis? When did Thor fight Nazis in a frequent and established way?
• You may add Wonder Woman to the list of characters who got the power of Thor, despite the disadvantage of being from DC Comics. It happened in the crossover DC vs. Marvel. I found a reference here (it talks about fanart by John Byrne, but it mentions later when it happened in an official comic), but perhaps there's a better one elsewhere.

Reception and legacy

• Seems fine

In other media

• "This version of Thor is portrayed as a member of a technologically advanced alien race, placing less emphasis on the character's fantasy origins." This was only the case in the beginning, since Ragnarok they were far less shy about treating Thor as a god. However, I have read so some years ago but can't find the references right now, if you don't have them we can left it as it is.

I think that's everything for now. Cambalachero (talk) 18:11, 5 July 2024 (UTC)

@Thebiguglyalien: This seems to be of interest for you. David A (talk) 18:52, 5 July 2024 (UTC)