Thor

Everyone loves comic book trivia, but with 75 years of superhero comics behind us right now, there’s always some new obscure fact to learn. That’s why ComicsAlliance is going deep into the minutiae of your favorite characters in our continuing video series. You think you know comics? Well, here’s a few things you might not know! This week we're taking a look at Thor, and here's a Thor fact for you: Thor rules. Whether Odinson, Donald Blake, Eric Masterson, Jake Olson, or [spoiler? Is this still a spoiler?], Thor has been at the heart of some of Marvel's most metal comics. If you don't know why Thor is the best, watch this video and find out about Thor's creation and comic precursors, the inspiration for some of the character's trustiest companions, and the secrets of his/her magic hammer, as well as several other equally interesting facts.

In honor of the caped crusaders of the convention scene, ComicsAlliance has created Best Cosplay Ever (This Week), an ongoing collection of some of the most impeccable, creative, and clever costumes that we’ve discovered and assembled into a super-showcase of pure fan-devoted talent.

Today is shaping up to be quite a wonderful day: the Season 2 premiere of Serial, a trailer announcement for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, this picture of Keanu Reeves that popped up in my Twitter feed…oh, and Cate Blanchett, Queen of Earth, is in talks to join Thor: Ragnarok. Cate Blanchett in the MCU? What a time to be alive.

With their awesome Phase Two box set hitting retailers in just a few days, Marvel has been releasing a few of the extras featured in the collection to give us a teeny tiny taste of the vast array of special features we’ll find within. In addition to showing off Chris Pratt and Dave Bautista’s Guardians of the Galaxy audition, the studio has revealed this deleted scene from Thor: The Dark World, which puts Tom Hiddleston’s Loki in a position of great power — sort of.

Of all the Marvel properties, Thor is often regarded as a lesser favorite among fans, making the high-fantasy world of Asgard a tricky one to properly adapt. But the studio made a brilliant move in hiring What We Do in the Shadows director Taika Waititi to helm the third installment in the franchise. At the time, we assumed Waititi would also be handling screenwriting duties, but that’s not the case, as Marvel has tapped a separate screenwriter for Thor: Ragnarok.

The holiday season is upon us, and with that comes gifts! It's always lovely to receive something special from someone you love, but there's also a particular pleasure that comes in giving a really well chosen gift and knowing that it's truly appreciated. Sometimes it really is better to give than to receive! So in that spirit, ComicsAlliance is here to inspire you with some great ideas for gifts to buy for your friends and family. Each gift guide is taiored to a particular personality type or special interests, starting with gifts for the Marvel movie fan in your life!

There is probably no superhero comic better known for the lettering of its sound effects than Walter Simonson's 1983-1987 run on Marvel's Thor. John Workman's lettering on that seminal, still-beloved run was so integral that it's difficult to imagine those comics without it. Workman's big, bold DOOMs, THOOMs and KRAKATHOOMs hit readers' eyes and imaginations like graphic hammer blows. Simonson's art alone could tell powerful, affecting stories, but Workman's lettering really made those Thor comics sing... and scream and thunder and crash and splinter. How fitting then that the most recent Thor comic, featuring a brand new star character wielding Mjolnir to protect Midgard, should also have such a highly distinct sound effect style, and yet have those sound effects stand out in a completely different way than those of the Simonson/Workman Thor comics of yore.

In the Norse mythological tradition, the term Ragnarök refers to a great series of cataclysmic events through which the slate of Earth may be struck completely, wiped clean, and started anew. It’s like a slightly more optimistic version of the apocalypse, wherein two survivors will begin again in a purer, kinder world. So when Marvel revealed that the third installment in Thor’s solo series of films would be titled Thor: Ragnarok, everyone knew what was up. This is not Thor: Day at the Beach or Thor: Light Picnic. In the parlance of “the streets,” it’s going down.

There are so many characters and so much going on in Avengers: Age of Ultron, making it Marvel’s biggest film to date. But there was one character who was sorely missed: Tom Hiddleston’s charismatic villain Loki, who didn’t have so much as a cameo appearance in the film — not that they had much room for him. As it turns out, Loki was in an earlier cut of Age of Ultron, but Joss Whedon removed his brief cameo in post-production.

Big news from the land of Asgard; stuff so surprising not even Heimdall could have seen it coming. TheWrap reports that Marvel has decided on a director to helm the third Thor film, Thor: Ragnarok. And it’s Taika Waititi, a writer/director/actor from New Zealand. Waititi is an accomplished filmmaker, but his work tends to be in a much smaller vein than your standard Marvel fare; character-based comedies and dramas like Eagle Vs. Shark and Boy. His most recent effort was the hilarious vampire comedy What We Do in the Shadows, which was great but also not nearly of the size or scope of a Marvel movie. TheWrap says Waititi is now “in negotiations” for the job.