I will credit Stan the Man for being the first one to use a god as a superhero and pulling it off really well. His vision and creativity that made Marvel Thor what he is today. He actually portrayed Thor as a tangible character(In Mythology, Thor was a little more abstract) Now, even in other pulp mediums; Marvel or otherwise - Thor characters in other comics are almost always based on Marvel Thor. (strong tough dude with a powerful hammer)
I agree that Stan Lee would make Thor the leading hero in the Marvel universe if he returned to write Thor. The argument of who is the most powerful hero between Surfer, Hulk and Thor would be over.
FIRST POINT
Being the strongest superhero in the Marvel universe has it's own drawbacks. Chiefly It doesn't always make for better stories. In all seriousness it's usually quite the opposite. The more powerful and invulnerable the hero the harder it is to find threats or plots that could endanger him. It tends to get real boring real quick. How many times can Thor fight a cosmic bad guy before the readers will go "not this again"
Cosmic villains are almost always super strong, can fly, super tough and usually has a beam weapon or some energy projection power. Sure they have different names and look different but as far the basics are concerned they are much of a muchness.
Thor is my favorite Marvel hero bar none. However I would actually prefer to see Thor in an interesting story than have him be the number 1 Marvel hero (if by being #1 his stories will suffer). I would also like to see him use his other powers more liberally and intelligently than straight up brawling like he's being portrayed now. If he uses his powers intelligently I don't really care if the Hulk or surfer is the best hero, Thor did his best and thats good enough for me.
In fact, if Thor actually used his powers intelligently, Hulk or Surfer would have a really tough time competing with Thor for #1 spot.
SECOND POINT
The other thing is Stan Lee. I would be hesitant for Stan to come back and write Thor again.
Have any of you read Ravage 2099? It was written by Stan the Man himself, I bought the first issue with great anticipation (foil cover and all) but I found the writing to be really dated and cliche. After the 2nd or 3rd Issue I just couldn't bring myself to go on. It was just too cliche. The characters, speech bubbles and plots had all be done to death before. In short it was boring to read. I realized on that day that I had grown out of the old school silver age writing style than Stan was so famous for.
Comics have evolved and us readers with it. I craved for something more immersive and exciting than silver age writing.
While Stan would almost certainly do Thor proud from a hero prestige perspective, I can't say that I want Stan Lee back to write Thor. He created Marvel Thor sure.. (and i credit him for that) but he wasn't the best Thor writer.
(I personally think Simonson was the best)
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