The History of Thor in The Marvel Universe:
Thor Odinson, often called The Mighty Thor, is a Marvel hero based on the Thunder god in Norse Mythology.
He was created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Larry Lieber.
He first appeared in Journey Into Mystery #83 in August of 1962.
Facts About Thor:
He originally debuted with an alter ego and secret identity. His cover was Dr. Donald Blake, an American physician with a partially disabled leg.
To become Thor, he would tap his walking stick to the ground. The cane would become his mystical hammer Mjolnir and he would become The God of Thunder.
Thor was a founding member of The Avengers.
He is mostly seen battling his adopted brother Loki.
He is known as one of the strongest in the history of Marvel.
Most of his fellow characters are also characters of Norse mythology
The mantle of Thor has been carried by others before, most notably Jane Foster, who we will get to see soon in Thor: Love and Thunder.
Kirby's early years of Thor…
A fun little story that many people don't talk about with Thor, or maybe we have just forgotten, is that Kirby's debut of Thor ACTUALLY happened in 1957 for DC Comics. This Thor was created to be more Norse accurate. He first showed up in Tales of the Unexpected #16. This story sees a cowboy come across Thor's hammer in an American desert. The cowboy uses it for his own gain until it is reclaimed by Thor.
Thor went on to show up in other stories by Kirby for DC. This Thor was closer based on Norse Mythology like him having red hair, a big beard, and more brute like of a personality. Along with Thor came some of his other Norse gods and goddesses known as The New Gods after the Old Gods died from Ragnarok.
Later on Neil Gailman's Sandman run in DC saw Odin and Loki trying to get the key to Hel, but fail. In another Sandman story, we see Thor help Odin with capturing Loki. One story even has Wonder Woman and Superman helping Thor in a massive war that lasts a thousand years.
Some artists have said that this trial run of Thor would have been a bigger success in DC had Kirby stayed. However, we all know he went to Marvel. It seems he made the necessary changes to the character to bring it to Marvel. It makes you think though, had he stayed and evolved Thor for DC, what a difference that world would be….and what a gap that Marvel would have.
The Voices of The Odinson:
Though EVERYONE knows Thor as Chris Hemsworth, there were many voices that brought The Thunderer to life in voice acting. Here are some of the more popular voices behing Thor:
Nolan North
Vic Perrin
John Rhys Davies
David Boat
Cam Clark
Matthew Wolf
Jim Cummings
Rick D. Wasserman
Travis Willingham (most voice appearances as Thor)
The Worthy:
"Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor."
Many people have tried to possess the power of Thor, but few have succeeded. Here are just a few of the names that have been deemed worthy to wield the power:
Eric Masterson
Red Norvell
Beta Ray Bill
Captain America
WonderMan
Superman
Wonder Woman
Vision