Hey kids (of all ages), it’s Saturday Morning Cartoon time again!
A couple weeks ago we covered the not-so-jolly green giant’s animated debut. But he wasn’t alone. Marvel’s other popular superguys were part of the wheel show. Including fellow Avenger, Thor.
I suppose you can only have just so many comic book heroes get their powers by alien origin, Mystical Eastern training, science accidents, or super-tech before it dawns on writers to say “Screw it! Let’s just recruit mythical gods!”
The Norse god of thunder was well suited for the gig, and had already been used in DC comics back in the ’50s. Marvel’s version traded in the traditional red beard for a clean-shaven fellow with blonde locks, but kept the mythical backstory for the most part.
Still, superheroes of the era had to have a wimpy alter ego and some sort of weakness. In this case, the awesome immortal’s other self was a lame (literally) Dr. Donald Blake. Not only did Thor have to live as Blake when not saving the day, but he would involuntarily revert into that mortal form whenever Thor was separated from his signature war hammer for over sixty seconds!
Of course, he also got an ersatz Lois Lame (figuratively). We’ll not go into what has happened with her in our current, godforsaken, woke era!
Several attempts at live-action TV series starring Marvel characters were made in the 1970s. But Thor didn’t get a shot then. The only one of the bunch who really made it was the HULK. TV movie follow-ups to his series beginning in the late 1980s were used as tryouts for other Marvel characters, starting with Thor. Like the Hulk, he was considerably different from his four-color print incarnation. Unlike Ol’ Greenskin, his TV version didn’t succeed and was never heard from again.
He has, however, been a smashing success in the current MCU live-action blockbuster movies. But his on-screen career started with these humble, barely animated adventures. Lifted pretty much directly from JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY comics, and produced by what was left of the old Paramount unit that did the theatrical POPEYE shorts, as well as some of the King Features TV output.
From 1966. More from The OldHorseman.
