Thor was around long before Marvel added him to their roster of superheroes.
They've done a good job of translating Norse mythology to the page and screen, but there
have been a few big changes.
From Sif’s hair to Hela's parents, here are the things Marvel changed about Thor’s
mythology.
The most obvious difference between Marvel's Thor and the original figure, at least from
a visual standpoint, is his hair color.
The Odinson who hangs out with the Avengers is famously blond, to the point of being nicknamed
"Goldilocks" by a few of his teammates when they're feeling brave enough to throw shade
at a guy who obliterates fire giants with his magic hammer.
The original version, however, is usually depicted with a slightly different hairstyle.
"By Odin's beard you shall not cut my hair lest you feel the wrath of the mighty Thor!"
In the book Vikings: A History of the Northmen, W.B. Bartlett cites legends that refer to
Thor as being "red-haired, red-bearded, red-eyed," as shown in much of the artwork that was around
long before Jack Kirby designed Marvel's Thor for the comics page.
In fact, Kirby did stories about two other versions of Thor before he co-created the
Marvel character, with a red-haired look much more in line with the legends.
It's worth noting that this has been addressed in the comics, although the explanation might
not be as satisfying as you want: Thor just says the legends got it wrong.
As for the real-world reason why, that's never been explained, but we have a pretty good
guess.
The early Thor stories were essentially Marvel's take on Superman, which is reflected in his
blue-and-yellow costume with the long red cape.
If he had red hair, it would've blended in with the cape, confusing the look and making
it a lot less striking than the contrast of the yellow hair.
Marvel's depiction of Sif also has the distinction of having a different hair color than her
mythological counterpart.
In the comics and films, Sif has always had black hair, but in mythology, her hair is
golden as in, literally made of gold.
One of the most famous Norse myths is the story of how Loki cut off Sif's hair, because,
you know, he's the god of mischief.
To make up for it, he replaced Sif's hair with a new set of beautifully cascading locks
that were magically crafted by dwarves.
There's never been an official reason for Marvel's choice, but it's easy to assume that
the change was made to make Sif more of a visual contrast with Thor on the comics page.
There was, however, a suitably mythological in-continuity reason, in that Marvel's dwarves
crafted her hair from the darkness of the night rather than gold.
The differences don't stop there, though.
Sif in the comics is a fierce warrior, a shield-maiden of Asgard, as deadly in combat as Thor himself.
With all due respect to the original Sif, that's not quite her classic portrayal.
The original myths depict her as more of an Earth goddess, and in fact, many scholars
suggest that Sif and Thor's marriage is symbolic of rain falling on crops.
That marriage is something else that's absent from the comics.
Marvel's Thor and Sif have a more on-again, off-again relationship on the page, depending
on how the current creative team feels about Jane Foster.
"Sorry to hear that Jane dumped you."
"She didn’t dump me.
I dumped her.
It was a mutual dumping."
Jane herself is also a pretty big departure from the myths of old.
Unlike Greek mythology, there aren't a lot of dalliances between gods and humans in the
Norse stories.
In the comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, some of the most long standing and crucial
elements of the stories are the mystical enchantments on Thor's hammer, Mjolnir.
"Whosoever holds this hammer, should he be worthy to possess the power of Thor."
The hammer can only be lifted by the worthy, whether it's the Odinson or not.
It's a big deal, to the point that Marvel's Thor isn't just the god of thunder, he declared
himself the god of the unworthy, a symbol for everyone who strives to be better than
they are.
It's such an intrinsic part of Thor's story that if you're not familiar with the mythology,
it might surprise you to find out that it's entirely a creation of the comics, and was
added to the story so that Thor could have a secret identity.
The myths have no such enchantment, and the idea that it would be added in order to teach
him humility doesn't really ring true, either.
For all his quickness to anger, Thor's giant-smiting generally had Odin's stamp of approval.
It is true that, mythologically speaking, Thor was the only one who could lift Mjolnir,
but that wasn't because of an enchantment.
It was because Mjolnir was just, you know, really heavy.
So heavy, in fact, that Thor had two other special pieces of equipment.
The Jarngreipr and the Megingjord iron gloves and a belt of strength, respectively allowed
him to use the hammer.
Those actually do exist in the comics, but they're more of an in-case-of-Ragnarok contingency
than everyday wear.
The Megingjord even has another enchantment, in that it doubles Thor's strength but leaves
him severely weakened afterward, to explain why he doesn't wear it all the time.
Marvel Comics added an "a" at the end of their Goddess of Death's name, presumably to make
it easier to distinguish Hel, the goddess, from Hel, the realm in which she lives.
Of course, it also may have been an attempt to get around the censorship of the Comics
Code, which might've had a problem with that particular name.
If that was the case, they made the right choice.
It would be a lot less intimidating for Thor to be fighting an immortal foe named Heck.
"It's come to my attention that you don’t know who I am."
There are bigger differences, though.
For one thing, she's not Odin's daughter.
According to the Eddas, her father is Loki.
She's also depicted with a far more horrifying appearance than the one we saw in the MCU.
As the goddess of the dead, she's described in the Prose Edda as being "half blue-black
and half flesh-color" which is sometimes interpreted as half of her body being alive and half being
either a rotting corpse or a skeleton.
On top of that, for some reason, the original myths never once mention her big pointy hat.
Either way, it's a pretty far cry from Goth Cate Blanchett in Thor: Ragnarok.
In the comics, Thor was taught humility by being incarnated on Earth as Dr. Don Blake,
but that wasn't the first time that the God of Thunder found himself reborn as a human.
In what seems like an effort to tie their character into every piece of Norse-related
mythology, Marvel once published a story with another mortal identity.
Hundreds of years before Thor joined the Avengers, he walked the earth as Siegfried, the dragon-slaying
hero best known from Richard Wagner's operatic Ring cycle.
Siegfried was also called Sigurd, a name Thor later used in a short-lived secret identity
that was literally just wearing glasses.
Siegfried is also a completely different mythological figure.
In fact, he doesn't even have a hammer.
His weapons of choice are a giant sword called Balmung and an invisibility cloak, making
him more of the Norse mythological equivalent of Harry Potter than someone you'd mistake
for Thor.
That same story revealed that the heroine Valkyrie wasn't just named Brunhilde, she
was the Brunhilde from Siegfried's legend, having also been sent to Earth for some reason.
The weirdest part?
Thor was also incarnated as SIegmund, Siegfried's father.
That means that for a short time, Thor was actually his own dad.
Odin has some very strange ideas about how to teach his kids a lesson.
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