Annotated Bibliography 7: Mathe, N. (2018) “Are you Thor, God of Hammers?” – Mixing the Posthuman and Old Norse Mythology in Thor: Ragnarok, Caietele Echinox, Vol 34, p200-p206, Echinox Cultural Foundation.

Mathe, N. (2018) “Are you Thor, God of Hammers?” – Mixing the Posthuman and Old Norse Mythology in Thor: Ragnarok, Caietele Echinox, Vol 34, p200-p206, Echinox Cultural Foundation.

This article examines Thor from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and ignores his other depictions across the Marvel comic franchises etc. The points raised in this article are those of culture, and definition of what Thor is. Thor is an entity all his own in the Marvel universe with his origins in that of Scandinavian mythology and then brought into the Marvel universe as something more than human and less than divine, with the explanation that science looks like magic to those less advanced in the original movie. As such the author posits the idea that Asgardians may in fact be a type of posthuman evolution as specifically in Ragnarok we see Thor evolve not only as a character with the loss of his father but as a ‘God’. Having lost his Hammer he is forced to come to terms with the fact that he has been using it as a crutch and that in typical Disney fashion, his powers were in him the whole time. But not only this he is forced to find victory in defeat, and gain the knowledge fitting of the King of Asgard as he effectively replaces Odin. In this respect, if Thor and his origins in Scandinavian mythology are recognised then there is no such thing as a present state of being and all people and characters are in a constant state of ‘becoming’.