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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
It's more like some random mortal girl's name turning to Jesus, Mohammed, Zeus, or Vishnu because she did something only they could without actually becoming them or a reincarnation of them.
It's not the same situation as Linkle, where theoretically girls have as much right to the name as boys and they're technically unrelated people who turn out to be connected through the power of reincarnation.
edited 7th Dec '15 1:39:29 AM by AlleyOop
That's an odd law.
Anyway, its not that difficult to understand. Marvel wanted to give someone else a spin with the hammer. The book has to be called Thor to capitalize on name recognition. To reduce confusion, the wielder of Mjolnir (which grants the power of Thor) has to be called Thor.
Hence, we have a woman going by the name Thor when she's wielding the hammer.
In-universe, Odinson gave her his blessing because he was in the grumps and at least the hammer was talking to someone.
Calling her Lady Thor or Thora or Thordis or Ms Thorvel or Thorette or Thorita or anything like that completely misses the point.
Its a business decision as much as its a creative decision. Because Marvel is a big entertainment company and likes money.
They like money a lot.
edited 7th Dec '15 1:38:03 AM by Bocaj
Forever liveblogging the AvengersI don't think any of us have difficulty understanding that the reason for it is money/recognition.
Given that she was going to end up called Thor no matter what, because money, the way it was handled in book was decent.
People started calling her Thor because she had Mjolnir which her position was none of your business who I am, that's why I'm wearing a mask.
But Thor ends up salty about her using the hammer and possibly the name and they get into a fight because superheroes but in the end he tells her to just go ahead and use the name, he has some beer to cry into.
And later after he has cried into some beer and eaten some waffles, they're best friends and are teaming up to fight things.
So basically, lending someone your first name can help you cope with your hammer no longer functioning.
Forever liveblogging the Avengers![]()
Then what there is to not understand, from Watsonian point of view?
Thor being a title is how things have always been in the comics. You have the hammer, you get to be Thor. It have always been like that ever since the first appearance (when Donald Blake wasn't actually Thor) but it was confirmed by Eric Maestrom who got to be called Thor(his helmet back then is even similar to Jane's). Jane being called Thor is just keeping up with the tradition. And they even got Odinson to give his blessing to the idea.
People get too hang up with the "personal name thing". True, that is the case, Odinson name is Thor. His name is still Thor Odinson even after Jane took over. But his name is also a title for the wielder of Mjonir.
edited 7th Dec '15 1:55:18 AM by Heatth
The idea that Thor's name is somehow dependant on having the hammer strikes me as a pretty dumb concept in and of itself. How can they reconcile the idea of it as a transferrable title with the notion that it's also Thor's personal name? I know that was the initial concept behind the character, but wasn't the notion of him as simply a mortal wielding Thor's power discarded ages ago?
Regarding unisex names, I think they generally sound less weird in English because English doesn't have grammatically gendered nouns. To me, calling a woman "Thor" instead of "Thora" just sounds wrong. And I kinda resent the idea that calling her "Thora" would be any dumber — isn't the idea that a woman has to retain the masculine form of the name when taking the thunder god's power kind of a slap in the face of actual women who are named by the feminine version?
edited 7th Dec '15 2:27:14 AM by DrDougsh
We have at least one judge called Judge, it's both his name and his title. Thor Odinson is just that, he's like judge Judge, his name is Thor and his title is Thor, the person who took over from judge Judge is still titled judge, likewise judge Judge is still called Judg even though he's no longer a judge, because Judge happens to also be his given name.
The same word being used as both a job title and a name happens in real life, that's also what's happening here.
edited 7th Dec '15 2:37:45 AM by Silasw
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranWhat I'm gathering is that the name/title "Thor" is a bit like "Caesar". Originally, "Caesar" was just part of Julius Caesar's name, but the Roman Emperors who came after him wanted to establish themselves as being part of a legacy of leadership, so they took to assuming the name "Caesar" when they ascended to power, until eventually the word "Caesar" became almost synonymous with "Emperor". Heck, the German word for "king" ("kaisar") is directly derived from "Caesar".
So there is a precedant for the same thing happening with Thor.
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Well, yes, but that happened because Caesar's relatives became the imperial line, establishing a tradition for every emperor having the surname Caesar. It's not like Mark Antony would have suddenly decided to call himself that if he'd won out against Augustus.
edited 7th Dec '15 2:59:40 AM by DrDougsh
Odin's title is King of Asgard. Loki and Thor's title is Prince of Asgard. I refuse to acknowledge any other titles, especially ones that also happen to be the character's name.
No. In story the name came first. But those who hold Mjolnir hold the power of Thor and are called such as a result. Jane, Eric (and orinally Donald) are named after the God of Thunder.
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Exactly.
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No. See, Odinson decision to renounce his name was personal. Also, his name is still technically 'Thor Odinson', even if he isn't using his forename.
edited 7th Dec '15 3:08:04 AM by Heatth
Personally, I used to hate romance in superhero movies because they were usually shallow and unneeded. I am a bit more moderate nowaday: I do enjoy them, but I think they should serve as a tool to develop the characters rather than just be there for the sake of it. In that regard, Tony/Pepper and Cap/Carter were both good examples of romance, in that they both help flesh out the characters involved (bonus point for the latter, since Carter gets developped in her own series as well rather than just Cap). Natasha/Bruce was in theory potentially good, but in practice... I am not sure how to put it, it just didn't work. Scott and Hope was funny as a small gag, but in the end didn't bring much to the plot that they couldn't have done with them being just friends. And Thor/Jane... Well, it was just a bit too cliché to me.

But Thor isn't a unisex name. And even if this caused people to start using it as one, the weirdness isn't that Jane is a woman going by the name Thor anyway. It's that Thor is suddenly a title rather than just the name of one of the people to wield Mjolnir.
This is more like if Bob got fired from a job, and the company then hired Alice - who by having that job abruptly became Bob in everyone's mind, as being Bob and having his job are now synonymous.
I think they just painted by numbers a bit too much on the whole "look at the new version of X classic hero" bit. "Sam Wilson is the new Captain America" makes a good headline, and works because Captain America is a moniker. "Jane Foster is the new Thor" also makes a good headline, but feels weird because Thor isn't.
edited 7th Dec '15 1:23:41 AM by KnownUnknown