Thor: The God of Thunder

With the popularity of the recent Avengers movie and anticipation of his upcoming sequel, "The Dark World", it is undeniable that the majority of popularity regarding Norse mythology in modern times is due largely in part to Thor, the god of thunder. As known to many of us by now, the first Thor movie as well as the Avengers movie are based on stories written in the Marvel Universe, which in turn is loosely based on Thor's mythology within the Norse Pantheon.

Marvel's take on Thor was the most widely publicized out of all of his iterations, and because of this, in present day, it is hard to think of the god without recalling an image of the Marvel character as an afterthought. Marvel's incarnation of Thor was first published in 1962 by comic book legend Stan Lee, along with fellow legends Larry Leiber and artist Jack Kirby. He would first appear in Journey into Mystery #83 with multiple stories to follow, until the book would be eventually re-titled The Mighty Thor beginning with issue #126 in 1966.

Marvel's Thor, while heavily characterized, retained many aspects from his mythological origins. Thor's hammer Mjolnir, for instance, stays mostly true to mythology. When Thor throws his hammer it never misses, and always returns to his hand when called. Odin is also true to mythology, being Thor's father and the ruler of Asgard. Loki, on the other hand, differs somewhat regarding his original lore. In myth, Loki is the offspring of two Ice Giants, and used trickery upon Odin to gain his place as the God of Mischief. In the movies, Loki is instead introduced as Thor's half-brother.

In the years to follow, Marvel would have Thor join the Avengers and participate in many spin-off and cross-over publications. Thor would also star in television, animated films, and video games. It was not until almost 50 years later however, that a full-featured film would be created with Marvel's vision of the character. In 2010, Thor the movie was released, received mostly positive reviews, and would become the third highest grossing film in the Marvel cinematic universe.

Thor is portrayed by actor Chris Hemsworth in both Thor and the Avengers. Thor 2: The Dark World, a sequel to the original Thor, is due to release in 2013. You can view the official trailer for the film below: