The problem with mythical “gods” in the current Marvel Comics universe is that they were nerfed over the past two decades to promote characters like Thor into being “omega level” characters for lack of a better term. Ragnorok is supposed to be a reset for the Norse gods. They die and everything goes back to the starting point, with new gods starting over. Marvel killing off Odin and giving Thor the “Odinpower” isn’t what happens in Norse mythology. The whole reason that Thor exists in the Marvel Universe is because the true GOD of the Marvel Universe, Joe Kirby, found a book about mythology and decided to make Thor a comic book character. Kirby never expected that 60 years later that people would be still be using Thor and that he would be the main character in movies that made over a BILLION dollars. While MCU Thor is a great character, it doesn’t follow the true story of Norse mythology. Thor is never supposed to succeed Odin and become “King Thor”. But Marvel can’t do that to what has become a “legacy” character.

Don’t get me wrong, I have been a full-blooded Marvel Zombie for over 45 years and appreciate the fact that Marvel has never done a “crisis” event and tried to reset everything like the “distinguished competition.” But in reality they have written themselves into many corners and are now paying the price.

12 hours ago, Blkjak74 said:

The problem with mythical “gods” in the current Marvel Comics universe is that they were nerfed over the past two decades to promote characters like Thor into being “omega level” characters for lack of a better term. Ragnorok is supposed to be a reset for the Norse gods. They die and everything goes back to the starting point, with new gods starting over. Marvel killing off Odin and giving Thor the “Odinpower” isn’t what happens in Norse mythology. The whole reason that Thor exists in the Marvel Universe is because the true GOD of the Marvel Universe, Joe Kirby, found a book about mythology and decided to make Thor a comic book character. Kirby never expected that 60 years later that people would be still be using Thor and that he would be the main character in movies that made over a BILLION dollars. While MCU Thor is a great character, it doesn’t follow the true story of Norse mythology. Thor is never supposed to succeed Odin and become “King Thor”. But Marvel can’t do that to what has become a “legacy” character.

Don’t get me wrong, I have been a full-blooded Marvel Zombie for over 45 years and appreciate the fact that Marvel has never done a “crisis” event and tried to reset everything like the “distinguished competition.” But in reality they have written themselves into many corners and are now paying the price.

I can definitely see what you mean here. they’ve taken a lot of crazy liberties (especially as those legacy characters needed new arcs).

I like the idea of gods just being meta humans that normal people worshipped - but it’s all been wildly inconsistent.

I actually agree with a lot of this. Over time, Marvel’s gods have definitely shifted from feeling mythic and unknowable to feeling more like extremely powerful superhumans, and that change really accelerated once Thor became one of Marvel’s biggest characters.

I don’t think Marvel was ever aiming for mythological accuracy, but early on the gods still felt larger than life in a way that’s harder to capture now. Odin especially used to feel like a force of nature, not just another character who could be written off or sidelined.

At this point it feels like Marvel is kind of stuck. Thor can’t really step aside or reset the way mythology would suggest, because he’s become too important as a legacy character. The result is a version of the gods that works for long-running superhero stories, but loses some of the weight and mystery that made them compelling in the first place.

I still enjoy a lot of the stories, but I get the frustration. Once gods start feeling fully manageable, something important gets lost.

On 12/24/2025 at 6:35 AM, Blkjak74 said:

The problem with mythical “gods” in the current Marvel Comics universe is that they were nerfed over the past two decades to promote characters like Thor into being “omega level” characters for lack of a better term. Ragnorok is supposed to be a reset for the Norse gods. They die and everything goes back to the starting point, with new gods starting over. Marvel killing off Odin and giving Thor the “Odinpower” isn’t what happens in Norse mythology. The whole reason that Thor exists in the Marvel Universe is because the true GOD of the Marvel Universe, Joe Kirby, found a book about mythology and decided to make Thor a comic book character. Kirby never expected that 60 years later that people would be still be using Thor and that he would be the main character in movies that made over a BILLION dollars. While MCU Thor is a great character, it doesn’t follow the true story of Norse mythology. Thor is never supposed to succeed Odin and become “King Thor”. But Marvel can’t do that to what has become a “legacy” character.

Don’t get me wrong, I have been a full-blooded Marvel Zombie for over 45 years and appreciate the fact that Marvel has never done a “crisis” event and tried to reset everything like the “distinguished competition.” But in reality they have written themselves into many corners and are now paying the price.

Plus when you start bringing in all the other gods from other belief systems, it REALLY gets watered down, but this is a great example of how time has really changed these characters

I got so excited because I thought somebody was finally talking about Hickman's G.O.D.S.