Thoughts On... Thor! The Goddess of Thunder!

Introducing Thor!  The GODDESS of Thunder!

Hey there.  Comics are filled with stories made of extreme fantasy.  We have super heroes and we have super villains.  We have parallel worlds and we have alternate universes.  Throughout comic book history, heroes have died and resurrected and died again many times over.  But you know what has never happened?  At least not that I know of?  A well known character changing gender!  That's right!  We've had alternate female heroes that mirrored their masculine counterparts (Power Girl, Bat Girl, etc.) in comics but Marvel is really changing the comic book universe by having the almighty Thor be a woman in the comics!  Here are my thoughts on... Thor the Goddess of Thunder.

First off, let's get something straight.  Thor was not infused with some gender changing ooze or something crazy like that.  Details are still scarce but the word on the street is that Thor deems himself no longer worthy of holding the powerful hammer, Mjolnir.  Who this female is or how she managed to claim Mjolnir as hers is yet to be determined.  Come to think of it, it would be fitting that the hammer be passed down.  Think about it... Didn't Odin send Thor down to Earth to learn about humility?  How can Thor possibly practice humility when he himself is a near indestructible god?  It seems to me that if you want to advance that particular story line of Thor, passing it down would be the next logical step.

Now, on to the hot topic button.  Thor is now a woman.  I love the idea of a strong female character.  In a nutshell, I think they're pretty damn awesome.  The only problem that I have with Thor being a woman is the possible motives behind it.  If Marvel decided to do it because they want to move the story line and a woman possessing Mjolnir makes for the most awesome story, then more power to them!  I love a great story and I want to see how it will play out!  But here is where my worries lie.  We know that Disney has of Marvel and it's characters and guess what... Thor included.  Because Disney is making insane amounts of money with their Disney princess line of merchandise, is it possible that the big wigs at Disney wanted to have a new princess to add to the line up?  Or maybe not so much a princess but a queen, perhaps?  Sounds farfetched but money talks and seeing that Thor now being a woman is generating quite a buzz, this could be exactly what they want.  Thor could be the first in the line of Disney Queens.  Disney Queens...  And if this move is being made with $$$ as the motive, Marvel would have squandered one hell of a chance to make one very bold statement.

Gender inequality is still present in our world.  We're trying to fix it and have moved in the right direction for several decades now.  Having a well known character switch from male to female is groundbreaking.  No longer is the female the side kick, the afterthought character with similar abilities, or merely the eye candy.  This is a woman taking over the reigns.  This is a woman front and center.  this is a woman that is NOT scantily clad.  This is a woman that is going to start kicking some ass.  If played correctly, having a woman be Thor will have a monstrous cultural impact and will continue to move society closer to gender equality.  If it comes to be that this is a marketing ploy to start a new line of merchandise to sell... shame on Disney.  It just comes to show that they are still using women as a means to make money and not as a means to strengthen their brand.  

Thor being a woman is huge, huge deal.  Women are not the weaker sex.  Some may be smaller in stature than men but that doesn't meant that they are less capable.  We're seeing more and more women in positions of power and having one as Thor, the Goddess of Thunder, is about as powerful as one can get in the comic book world.  Later!