What is Thor and the other Asgardians? In Marvel comics and the movie?

[foolsguinea]

Marvel’s Thor, and the Asgardians around him, have been retconned a couple of times, so depends on when you ask.

[Lobohan]

@Christopher_Robin_Davies

It’s a comic book. Trees can impregnate human women.

If we’re going by DC rules, the Swamp Thing needed John Constantine’s body to do that.

[/nerd]

[Lochdale]

@CandidGamera

This is not correct, according to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

Can you cite that? The handbooks are either outdated or incomplete so they are simply not reliable sources. The comics themsleves directly contradict this so I’ll stick to the comics.

I see that you did. My point above remains accurate.

[Lochdale]

@CandidGamera

Your opinion notwithstanding, they fit the paradigm of aliens more than that of divine beings. They’re not even particularly godlike aliens.

That’s actually your interpretation. They call themselves gods and behave as if they are gods. They were worshipped by humanity and have been refered to as gods by other non-human alien species in the MU such as the Kree.

So they’re gods based on the comics that I have read. You may see it differenly but that does not mean you are right.

And just as an FYI, on most of the major websites devoted to discussing comic books, hand book entries are generally ignored in favour of the source material.

[CandidGamera]

@Lochdale

That’s actually your interpretation. They call themselves gods and behave as if they are gods. They were worshipped by humanity and have been refered to as gods by other non-human alien species in the MU such as the Kree.

So they’re gods based on the comics that I have read. You may see it differenly but that does not mean you are right.

And just as an FYI, on most of the major websites devoted to discussing comic books, hand book entries are generally ignored in favour of the source material.

I guess you’re not aware - the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is the source material. They were comics, published just like anything else. And they weren’t just invented whole cloth, they were painstakingly compiled by one of the greatest collection of anal-retentive fanboys to ever work in the comic book industry - led by Mark Gruenwald, a master of minutia.

The handbooks were certainly not incomplete in any significant way at the time of their publication. The oldest ones are certainly out of date, but offer the best view of those characters over the largest period of Marvel history, johnny-come-lately retcons notwithstanding. I’ll stack a twenty-year-old copy of the OHotMU against your interpretation of a couple issues of Thor anytime.

So, they’re aliens based on the comics I read, in short.

[Chronos]

What’s the history of the Asgardians, anyway? Did Odin have parents and grandparents that were like unto him? Was he just the first, of mysterious origin? Did he originally come from some lesser race, and then somehow became elevated to the status of Aesir? It seems like that would have some bearing on the god question.