Enyalios

@thorson:

In the first movie, when he, Sif and the Warriors Three are battling the frost giants he calls down a massive bolt of lightning that effectively ends the immediate fight, wiping out the giants around him. He later summons a tornado capable of lifting cars. In the Avengers he hurls lightning at Iron Man, calls lightning down to kill a bunch of chitauri when he rejoins the Avengers and calls down a massive bolt of lightning only a building and then channels the energy against the chitauri, destroying two of the giant monsters in less than a second and making him the most effective combatant in that battle. In Thor 2, he projects lightning at Malekith's face, summons a massive bolt of lightning to try to destroy the ether, and damn near every hammer strike was laced with lightning along the face of Mjolnir. These are just the instances I can remember off the top of my head. They are doing a decent job of showcasing these abilities and balancing them with his more preferred combat abilities and displaying his versatility. Using them to a greater extent does not suit him. I've read entire Thor comics where he doesn't use these powers once. He said it himself to Loki "Some do battle, others merely do tricks".

Nor does he need it. In the first Thor movie he singlehandedly devastates the Frost Giants and defeats the Destroyer inside of ten seconds. As I said above in the Avengers last battle he was the single most effective character shown in that fight, taking out enemies physically at the same pace as the hulk and his energy attacks far more effective than Iron Man's. In Thor 2 he takes everything Maliketh, powered by what was later revealed to be an Infinity Gem, could through at him and is ultimately capable of defeating him. I have my qualms about the movies, like his fights with Iron Man and Kurse but overall I understand why it was done. Complaining about every perceived slight is not going to make people see your side to things. As a Thor fan myself I have my issues with the way Marvel has chosen to use him in recent years, but overall the Movies are a pretty solid representation considering it is a movie and is not going to be able to show everything.

@thorson:

Ok so show me a comic where all of Thor's combat revolved around the projection of lightning. It doesn't, he hurls his hammer and then moves in and smashes things with said hammer upon its return, punches it with his fist, etc. When the situation warrants, he calls down lightning or projects it from his hammer or any number of esoteric options available to him, but he does not rely on this things to any great degree. And that has been showcased in the movies to a similar degree as what's shown in the comics, perhaps even more so. Just because someone showcases a certain power to a greater extant than someone else does not necessarily mean they are downplaying anything. If the movies concentrated on Thor's use of all his powers, there would not be much time for anything else.

Not really because in Electro's case, that's all he has so they need to showcase that and in Thor's case, he has never, even in the comics, heavily relied on lightning. If he needs it, its there, but generally speaking, he doesn't need it.

The problem with this question is that the whole "Thor can call the hammer to him" is a relatively new concept. The hammer has always returned to him when thrown, but if he dropped it or set it someplace, he still had to retrieve it. At least two instances of someone else picking up the hammer (Captain America and Eric Masterson) were the direct result of them trying to get the hammer back to Thor, who had either dropped it or had it knocked away from him.

When Beta Ray Bill had Mjolnir Thor could not take it back, its one of the reasons why the fought and why Stormbreaker was created. When Dargo first appeared, Mjolnir tried to get away from him but still could not journey on its own. Dargo had to create a vortex and send the hammer back to Thor. Did not work since he got the hammer again, but he tried. Since the concept of Thor being able to call it to him, to my knowledge no one worthy has tried to deprive it from him.

Odin so far is the only one I can immediately recall being able to stop the hammer from returning to Thor when thrown. Zeus tried and failed and he is considered Odin's equal in power. Odin I assume is capable of doing so because he was the one that enchanted it in the first place. And as stated above Odin has taken the hammer from Thor quite a few times.

@bigcimmerian:

You forgot Northstar and Wolverine (alternate universe)

@maninthemountain: Ok everything about your post was off. Hercules has bled on numerous occasions, Ares is currently dead (and he certainly bled a lot and it was always pretty red), Zeus and Hera have been dead and returned (like a number of Asgardians) so your definitions lack substance.

Second, using anything said in the Marvel cinematic universe to justify any argument in the Marvel Comic universe pretty well negates your argument. The two are mutually exclusive. Just because one occurs in one does not make it so in the other. And Tony Stark is hardly an authority on the nature of divinity in the Marvel universe (don't recall him being handed a handbook to the gods that he could read overnight). And how do you know what is and is not mortal blood? Its Thor's blood.

This conversation is getting old and unfortunately, the latest Thor movie and SHIELD series do little to help this (probably to avoid anyone complaining at them using the term gods or perhaps because Joss Whedon is an atheist, who knows). The Olympians, Asgardians and all the other true gods of the Marvel universe owe the right to call themselves gods from their decent. All of the gods can singularly trace their lineage back to Demiurge, the same force that, in the Marvel universe at lease, spawned all life on Earth. They inhabit pocket dimensions, sure, but these pocket dimensions have always been considered part of the Earth plane, simply inaccessible to normal humans. Most of the gods trace their decent also back to Gaea, the last remaining Elder Goddess, though some stories talk of a second generation of gods that Gaea then mated with, it varies from pantheon. For example, Thor is usually considered her only child among the Norse pantheon, while ever Olympian is descended from her.

@warewolf577:

Also, why would everyone's religion change? There are some who acknowledge that Thor is a god and worship him, just as there are those that worship some of the other gods, but that's just it, multiple gods exist in the realm of comics, not just Thor, and even Thor acknowledges the Judeo-Christian god as being real. Just like the real world, in the realm of comics, much of mankind has moved beyond their perceived need of divine guidance, with most apathetic towards gods, not really caring if they exist or not. And with multiple beings of mortal origin (Sentry, Hulk, Genis Vell, etc) acknowledged as being on par with some gods in various aspects, why would a couple running around really change your mind, especially when in the realm of comics we have been seeing beings do crazy crap for centuries and is stated fact at least as far back as pre-WWII?

: @thorson:

Thor is NEVER shown to be on par with, much less beyond the powers of Zeus in mythology in any way. Zeus is more powerful than the combined might of his entire pantheon, which includes all five of his elder siblings. This is stated as fact in the myths and demonstrated multiple times when they try to overthrow him. Thor may be the single most powerful member of his pantheon (and that's a big 'may be' since the myths never compare him to Odin), but the combined might of the rest of the Aesir will bring him down. Thor's biggest threat was the Midgard Serpent, which he was never able to beat until the end, which cost him his own life. Zeus's by contrast was Typhon, the largest and most powerful of monsters, fathered by Gaia, and bigger than the Midgard Serpent even by description. When confronted with Typhon all the other gods ran except for Zeus (and Athena in some versions once she realized that Zeus was not running). Zeus slammed him with a hundred lightning bolts and dropped a mountain on him and went back home. Find any feat of Thor in the myths and I guarantee Zeus has one to beat it.

@darthnowell

Demigod is not a lesser god, it is either a half-god half human or a human who has risen to the rank of god through various means. Lesser gods have other terms, such as daemons, semideus, etc.

As to the topic, no Thor is not better off as a demigod. His origin does not support it and while he sometimes fights mortal foes, this is in keeping with the mythological roots of the character, who fought all manner for foes that were a threat to mankind. If they were mortal, oh well, they were just good enough to get his attention. Hercules, by the way is also not a demigod, not anymore at least. His mortal half was stripped from him and became its own separate being (in the myths as well as in the comics) upon his death. Marvel could play around with demigod characters (I always thought a modern child of Zeus would be an interesting concept) but DC beat them to it with Wonder Girl and now Wonder Woman after the reboot.

@seekquaze:

1 - See I got the idea that Sentry was held back by Osborn, not Ares, since he was basically his guard dog by this point. And I presume he was aware of Osborn's forces (less Loki), to include the Hood. Ares had little qualms of who he was teamed with, hence why he accepted the Dark Avengers in the first place, despite their obvious problems. His goal was not to destroy Asgard, he made that clear, it was to remove Loki, who Osborn had convinced him had taken over. He did not plan for Loki at all, since in his mind he was the enemy. Regardless walking into Asgard with a bunch of D list villains and still doing damage is notable in terms of strategy.

2 - Yes the fight with Balder was brief, but the fact that he was able to get to the King of Asgard is notable. I'm confident Ares would have beaten Balder but Balder had a psychological edge in that fight so it would have been good.

3 - Skrull Pym may have been thinking along those lines but he did not broadcast his plan prior to Ares telling him he was going to do. The credit went to him.

4 - You still proved my point in that one.

5 - We are in synch.

6 - By that rationale wins against the Hulk are unimpressive and the fact that Hercules and Thor have fits with him make them weak. Any strength advantage the Hulk has on them is marginal at best and they have been around a lot longer and are definitely more skilled.

7 - Thor was the first one to lay a hand on Sentry in that fight, he just couldn't wound him (he did knock the hell out of him though).

Oh I concur wholeheartedly with your statements here, if writers want to display someone as a good fight it has to be written that way. However most characters have their own books where they can shine somewhat. Thor, Hercules, even Wolverine shine the most in their own books. Wolverine has the advantage of being insanely popular therefore other books with him tend to revolve around him, but he is the exception other than the norm. Ares has limited series and in those books he shines but those are all he has.