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What a FEMALE THOR Means for the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Odin’s Beard, have we got a great episode of Nerdist News for you today, true believers!

To start, Marvel Comics dropped a big ol’ bomb on The View(?) this morning, announcing that a woman will be wielding Mjolnir and taking on the mantle of Thor! While plenty of other characters have become Thor in the past, this is the first time a female has been dubbed “worthy.” But what could a big, progressive move like this mean for the Marvel U at large, and, of course, the gargantuan Marvel Cinematic Universe? Well, you’ll have to watch to find out! PLUS get a little peek-a-boo at Malik Forte‘s rad new show about everything gaming: Nerdist: Play!

Enjoy today’s show, come on back for another tomorrow, and let us know in the comments below how you feel about the all-new Thor!

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Comments

  1. ScS_BuRsT_II says:

    SJWs ruin everything. And they are the exact reason why no one can have nice things.

  2. If all it is is a PR stunt (like Beta Ray Bill/alien Thor) or Frog-Thor, then fine… run your little story and let it finish. But instead of changing decades old icons, if you want to raise equal rights, instead of plopping new genders or ethnicities into iconic and well-established heroes, why not instead create NEW strong powerful characters and then throw the full marketing power of the company behind it? Animated shorts, posters and toys, feature the characters in current games (Marvel Heroes, MAA, Lego heroes, Super Squad, etc.) and build a new legacy? … you know, instead of f**king up an old one?

  3. My fiance and I have both been thinking that Marvel U needs a female-led group, or perhaps so far as an all-female group of heroines. 

    • Agreed! But instead of dramatically altering existing icons, why not take some understated current female heroes and make them fore-runners? I can think of a number of strong candidates with heroic potential who just don’t get enough love in the Marvel Universe… Storm, Spectrum/Photon, Spider-Woman, Diamondback, Valkyrie, Tigra, She-Hulk (green one please), Misty Knight, Mockingbird, just to name a very few. I’d love to see some of these heroines take center stage for a while! There’s no need to feminize Thor, or ethnicitize Spider-Man. Create NEW characters and make them stars!!

  4. Josh says:

    Love the idea of a woman as the new Norse thunder god. Hate the idea of a new character with the same name. Thor is not an alias or a job description, it’s a proper name. When Loki took over for Odin in the movie, he didn’t suddenly start being Odin.

  5. sam says:

    what i don’t like about this is .. Storm is already like the female Thor … controls lighting and weather and she’s a Goddess in some versions … so why do we need another one :\ I would have preferred if they kept Thor as is and Storm herself replaced him somehow instead of making him a woman and having him become a duplicate of storm  :\

    • Plus Storm already took the role of the God of Thunder during an X-Men/Asgard crossover in the late 80’s… so there’s just no need for feminizing Thor. If we needed that kind of gender role for a while, either have Storm reassume the mantle, or else promote Sif or Valkyrie to wield the hammer for a while so Thor can go to the Bahamas for a much needed break. Revamping such an established character is just a bad bad idea.  Unless it’s temporary… then it’s just a bad device.

  6. Michael Thompson says:

    Jessica, you are slightly wrong.  Ororo Munroe wielded Mjolnir at one point.  Art Adams did the artwork and I believe it was in an X-Men Annual.  Wonder Woman also was able to lift Mjolnir during one of the DC/Marvel crossovers.

  7. Rob S. says:

    I don’t see the big deal Loki has been female for a while now.

  8. Rdawg says:

    This is going to be temporary, without a doubt. After all, this isn’t the first time that Marvel has given a character that wasn’t Thor his powers.

    If this is anything like Beta Ray Bill or Thunderstrike, they’re probably going to bring Thor back after a short amount of time and give this new character their own form of Mjolnir.

    As such, I highly doubt that this will make any sort of impact on the cinematic universe.

  9. I will be banning everything Marvel until this changes back to the way it should be.

    • Illusion-XIII says:

      Wow, you govern a sovereign state?  Such power.  Well, with all of their properties banned from your, um, nation, I’m sure Marvel will quickly see the error of their ways.  The loss of all of your citizens will certainly hit Marvel right where it hurts.

  10. Teresa says:

    Well, with regards to the cinematic superhero versions, I see no way that the audience would allow a female Thor; first, none of the (ASD-ish) male fans would allow a change to the accepted norm of Thor, son of Odin, and second, none of the female fans would allow a change from Chris Hemsworth….I suppose the print version can do what it wants.

  11. I don’t think they would have teased this so early if they didn’t have a story to back it up.  I don’t think it’s just some woman picking up the hammer.  It’s Thor.  I don’t know the details, but damned if I’m not reserving a copy and waiting for October.  

  12. Derek says:

    Well Loki was a woman once in the comics so it makes sense that Thor would follow suit. I see no controversy in this decision.

    • David says:

      I think what you mean to say is you personally don’t see an issue with the decision. The very fact that we’re commenting on a news article about it proves that its a controversial decision. You’d have to be blind not to see the controversy.

  13. Nino says:

    Elektra had her own movie right?

  14. :( says:

    Thor 🙁

  15. Jonathan says:

    Uhm… Wonder Woman took up the Hammer of Thor in a crossover… so SHE is the first woman to have the power of Thor.

  16. Stormhand75 says:

    Personally I wish Marvel just made new material, I mean for example say, bring back Valkyrie, at this point I am unsure if they are re-writing Thor and making him into a woman, or they are going to say Thor is the hammer, by empowering a new host. But with the current story line, I have 3 theories how this is going to start out, in a way I cannot wait to see how it pans out. But I give it 1 or 2 volumes, all I can say is they better not kill Thor off!

  17. Kevin says:

    No it isn’t. Earth X, Wonder Woman, Rogue, and Storm have all held the hammer and been given the powers of Thor. 

  18. Ian Candish says:

    I’m not against it, in fact it looks interesting and I’m glad that her body is relatively covered up.  It’s nice to see that a lot of comics are moving in a direction toward more realistic/non-slutty portrayal of females (New 52 Wonder Woman, the new Batgirl redesign, Captain Marvel, etc) and not just half naked boner fuel *cough*ANGELA*cough*.

    That said, this is a total Marvel stunt, which is what irritates me.  I love having really great female lead comics (like the aforementioned Wonder Woman and ESPECIALLY Captain Marvel), but I’m not that crazy for when a preexisting character is redesigned just to make them a minority or female.  It’s a totally exploitative PR stunt.  Does Marvel get on the news when they create a random new minority or female character?  No, it’s just when they redo a preexisting one like this.  That said, Miles Morales did turn out fantastic. 

    The really sad thing is that it’s probably not going to last.  If comic history has taught us anything, it’s that nothing resets status quo like a movie coming out featuring the character.  Just ask Bucky-Captain America or Doc Ock-Spidey.  So, unless the character REALLY takes off and they end up giving her her own hammer in the spirit of Beta Ray Bill (heeeyyyyy, I may be onto something), she’s probably going to go away by next summer when Avengers 2 comes out.  

    Personally, I’m all for more minority and female characters in comics.  Just come up with new ones.  Also, if the MCU doesn’t get Captain Marvel into a movie soon, I’m gonna poop myself…in protest.  A protest poop. 

  19. Well the cosplay sounds promising. 🙂

  20. evilnerd says:

    It’s more about what a female would define. So will it be just another “tougher than any guy” Heroine who actually is a guy with tits? Or will she have female Qualities, that are Character and Gender based?

  21. Axelsanx says:

    Since it is a Norse thing, shouldn’t she then be Thora, the female form of Thor?  You know like Frey/Freya.  And we all know the fan base will not be happy, so yeah, six months.

  22. This isn’t the first time a woman’s been deemed worthy, this is just the first time a woman has been able to wield it for a period of time and it not (yet) be written away as it being a weird crossover, one-shot or fake Mjolnir.

    Other female wielders in the past have been Wonder Woman, during the DC vs Marvel crossover in the 90s; Rogue in a what-if one-shot; and Storm, who was given a fake hammer but has always widely been considered to have had the real power regardless. That said, all of these (and the rest of comics history) prove that until it isn’t, this is probably going to be a fleeting thing.

    Also, the MCU doesn’t have to “catch up.” They never have to consider it in that universe at all. So many things have been passed up, looked over or flat out changed now that I can’t imagine why anyone paying attention would say this. They’re different universes for a reason; It makes it easier for the movie/tv section to handpick what they want from the other, without being obligated to do EVERYTHING from that one (or any of the other, since most of this universe has been created from the charred marrow of the now defunct Ultimate U). The two are still very much their own thing, as I’m sure that the comics have seen a spike in sales since the movies have become big but we’re not seeing millions and millions more comics flying off the shelves now, are we? The market is still very split and highly different. One of these things is not like the other and is exactly like barking up the same tree as saying the game industry is just like the movie industry. There are similarities, sure, but there are so many differences that, realistically, never the twain shall meet. 

    Personally, I don’t think –movie-wise– Black Widow has legs in a standalone feature. A Netflix miniseries maybe, if they can get Johansson to do that sort of thing, but I don’t think she’s flashy enough for the Movie going crowd who will likely call out the fact that she’s a female Captain America without powers or a catchy (no pun) symbolic weapon. Then they’d probably ask when Cap 3 is. The way things have been going, the market seems to know that big and flashy is for the silver screen, the more mundane is for the small one.

    Frankly, they better produce with a Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel/whoever-she-is-this-month movie at some point, because her absence would be a sore spot since they’re ripping the band-aid off the universe they’re creating with Guardians, and would be leaving a Kree sized hole. The cosmic universe is there, we know it simply from the commercials and slight tidbits from Agent’s of SHIELD, the excuses won’t keep up any more.

     
    And even then, maybe except for the huge love everyone has for Hiddleston as Loki, we’d probably be more likely to see female Loki (or the Enchantress) before we’d see female Thor. That’s just a really itchy feeling I’ve got right now, as I’m hoping they’ll at least do right by The Scarlet Witch.

  23. Kaio18 says:

    But…what about the times Storm and Wonder Woman wielded Mjolnir? Do they not count as women?

  24. mikedudez says:

    i love it just like i loved xena and the siph or sif however you spell her name. i think things workout are we going to see a thor movie with beta-ray thor and female thor?

  25. Boss1000 says:

    Don’t forget Ms. Marvel in the line of progressive changes in comics lately. Learned about both her and the new Spider-man through Idea Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VALaI9HpmUw

  26. Why go to all the trouble to get the character Neil Gaiman created just to morph her into another character? 
    Doesn’t seem all that empowering for women to refer to this unlikely-to-last-in-the-long-run storyline as “the female Thor.”

    Not saying it’s wrong, or bad, just saying meh.

  27. GrymThor says:

    They want to turn a Religions God into a woman? well it did happen in the Eddas when Thor had to dress as a woman to get his Mjolnir back but i’d like to see them make Jesus or Mohammad into a girl. Ohhoho the backlash on that would rip the world apart.

    • Clueless Neophyte says:

      No, they want to turn a comic book character into a woman, which isn’t the same thing.

      That said, I’m not sure about this, either, since Thor isn’t merely a hero identity, a la Batman, but is just, you know, who he IS.  You can have a lady wield the hammer & basically give her Thor’s powers, but that wouldn’t make her Thor.

      • He is a Marvel comic book character stolen from a Norse religion. It may not be widely practiced anymore, but he is still a religious figure, same as Jesus is.

    • Dawn says:

      Thank you for knowing enough of the actual mythology to reference Thor’s crossdressing adventure.  That makes this Norsky’s day.  ❤

  28. Kasper V.H. Smidt says:

    am i the only one who thinks this is wierd?
    (as a dane) i thougt making thor a comic book hero was strange, but now making a female version?
    I am all for gender equallity but, thor is by old norse, portrayed as a god of thunder, and i think it should relate to the source material.
    I think it is an unesccery “gender-bend” IMHO.

  29. this is the dumbest shit ever..full stop.

  30. DillenDanger says:

    Well,
     Storm has wielded the Hammer before..

    • Who cares. What does that have to do with Thor, the Norse God of Thunder and Battle, Son of Odin the All Father, slayer of the Midgard Serpent and preeminent War God and One of the most well known pagan Gods on the Entire Planet? 

  31. A Female Thor means nothing for the movie universe because it’s only happening in the comics