Donald Blake?

[HaloWithStyle]

I actually had no idea that Thor had this alter ego in the comics until I saw it in Wikipedia. Are you glad they skipped this part of the comic lore?

 

[David H.]

They used the name as a throwaway gag in Thor 1.

 

[metaphysician]

Its a thing even the comics largely abandoned decades ago, give or take intermittent returns. I think its for the best, all the interesting aspects of Thor involve *Thor*, not the mortal who theoretically is his human counterpart.

 

[Yowza]

I remember this human alter-ego from the comics that kind of tapped into the whole Shazam trope that surrounded this character for a while. Whosoever, lifts Thor's hammer turns into Thor so to speak kind of like the Arthurian legend of lifting Excaliber and so on...

It's a part of comics lore that may sort of be touched on with Jane picking up the hammer being transformed by it as we haven't seen anyone actually pick up the hammer undergo a transformation yet.

Captain America just wielded it essentially becoming more powerful but hardly transformed into Thor so it'll be interesting movie logic wise how this becomes rationalized in Love and Thunder. If anything, Natalie Portman will still look the same just with some powers and not necessarily a transformation taking place I'm guessing as otherwise there really is no way to segue in this whole transformation aspect pertaining to the hammer when picked up by a mortal.

 

[MahvelBaby!]

Thor is able to summon his costume, Cap probably just didn't bother doing that part. Simple enough.

 

[Silvermoth]

Yeah I prefer keeping him as a throwaway line

 

[HaloWithStyle]

Its a thing even the comics largely abandoned decades ago, give or take intermittent returns. I think its for the best, all the interesting aspects of Thor involve *Thor*, not the mortal who theoretically is his human counterpart.

Oh ok so when did the Donald thing stop? Is he not even part of modern Thor comics now?

 

[HammerDown]

They could take bits and pieces from the Donal Blake angle and give it to Jane Foster Thor.
Like how she needs Mjolnir in order to transform. Maybe have a time limit without the hammer before reverting to her true self like Thor once did, hence give the whole thing much more stakes...

Imagine a scene where mjolnir is gone for a while and she's facing an unstoppable being like Mangog and then she turns back to her fragile human self. Standing there, face to face with a giant beast, alone but steadfast against an unstoppable mystical force... That would give people chills and a true source of inspiration.

 

[Mike Murdock]

If I had grown up reading Thor of that era, I think I would have thought Donald Blake was indispensable. But Simonson's run not only showed how unimportant it was, I think he showed that it was better without it. Thor feels more interesting as Thor. It was only on Earth* where Donald Blake was a factor. On Asgard, he was just Thor. In space, for the most part, this was still true. Blake ended up feeling like just a distraction.

* Midgard

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Oh ok so when did the Donald thing stop? Is he not even part of modern Thor comics now?

Simonson's 80's run mostly put the kibosh on it though since the early 2000's they have brought him back for periods.

I myself think it's just a thing that was very of the time when Stan and Jack conceptulized the character but it has always been rather superfluous to my mind.

 

[metaphysician]

Simonson's 80's run mostly put the kibosh on it though since the early 2000's they have brought him back for periods.

I myself think it's just a thing that was very of the time when Stan and Jack conceptulized the character but it has always been rather superfluous to my mind.

Yep. Its one of those cargo cult aspects, like how so many characters have secret identities that don't *really* matter. Marvel in the 60s was innovative, but not so innovative that it didn't end up with a lot of stuff "Because Superman". Or, in this case, "Because Captain Marvel".

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Yep. Its one of those cargo cult aspects, like how so many characters have secret identities that don't *really* matter. Marvel in the 60s was innovative, but not so innovative that it didn't end up with a lot of stuff "Because Superman". Or, in this case, "Because Captain Marvel".

Pretty much.