It’s straightforward to neglect that Thor is a god.
I used to be reminded of this just lately watching the most recent installment within the Thor franchise—a vital piece of the bigger Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)—Thor: Love and Thunder.
The titular character is performed by Chris Hemsworth and has been because the authentic 2011 movie. That movie concerned all kinds of gods and godly powers, establishing a transparent juxtaposition between Asgard—the house of the gods—and Midgard, in any other case often called Earth.
But when Thor joined the Avengers the next 12 months in a movie of the identical title, he turned only one extra superhero. Powerful, sure, however for some motive unable to conquer evil with out the assistance of a man armed solely with a defend, one other man decked out in a robotic swimsuit, and their handful of reasonably tremendous buddies.
In the last decade because the Avengers first assembled on the massive display, Thor has been on quite a few quests—some solo, however most with a number of fellow Avengers in tow. Even as he does issues straight out of Norse mythology, he nonetheless appears like yet another super-powered superhero.
I’m no Marvel knowledgeable. I’m strictly a film and tv fan with little or no data of the lengthy and storied legacy of the comics. As such, I’m left to surprise: What is a god within the Marvel universe?
There appears to be no finish to the variety of ultra-mythic creatures on the free, supercharged baddies with doomsday-level weaponry, and mysterious antagonists nonetheless to be totally defined. (I’m you, Eternals.)
But on the finish of the day, these characters stay certain by parameters, capable of be outsmarted and defeated, regardless of how nice the multiverse. They are totally knowable—at the very least, within the fullness of time that’s the MCU’s content material calendar.
Russell Crowe’s Zeus says it properly in a post-credit scene from Love and Thunder: “It used to be that being a god meant something.” He laments that people—and, presumably, the remainder of the critters roaming the multiverse—now not pray to the gods for a superb harvest or rainfall. “Now they look to the sky…[and] just want to see one of their so-called superheroes.”
And then, undoubtedly to arrange one other few rounds of movies, he mutters, “When did we become a joke? They will fear us again.”
Our God, within the Christian custom, stands in stark distinction. God is unknowable, unconcerned with defeat, and tired of instilling concern. Yet too usually we create god in our picture and likeness—and too usually, we want our picture and likeness have been that of a superhero.
It’s simpler to image Jesus in a cape, whooshing about to defeat the baddies. St. Ignatius himself usually encourages us to image Christ as a king on a battlefield, waging everlasting battle with the forces of evil. This picture, although helpful to a level, has permeated our non secular creativeness; we too usually are tempted to think about ourselves as foot troopers for Christ, dealing out violent retribution to people who dare cross us and our holy cost.
Much just like the gods of the MCU, we wish our god to summon us to battle and to bless our want to hammer these issues and other people we deem unhealthy to oblivion. We’d reasonably a god who runs on our concern, as a result of concern is a software of violence and a mechanism that justifies almost something.
Boundless concern is simpler than boundless love.
We desire a god who’s a projection of ourselves.
But the God we now have will not be that. The God we now have is wholly different, wholly unknowable but completely intimate, current and caught up in our affairs. Ours is a God who doesn’t plot revenge however brazenly spreads fingers of hospitability and humility, the Father to our Prodigal Son.
Ours is a God who wishes not our concern however solely our love—our love for self, for neighbor, and for creation. Our God will not be certain by the supposed multiverse however transcends it, each fiber of creation pulsing with that Divine spark, calling us to like extra deeply.
Image of Thor’s hammer by Dan Previte underneath CC BY 2.0.