The Asgardians are really aliens.

[flint_marko]

This is from Thor #493, by Warren Ellis and Mike Deodato.

title: thor, creator: warren ellis, creator: mike deodato,char: thor, char: odin, char: loki

Comments

[james.huff.myopenid.com]

I wish the Earth X origin would be made canon somehow. In the Earth X universe, specifically during Universe X, the Asgardians are revealed to be the final stage of the Celestial's manipulation of the evolution of life in the universe. They are basically formless aliens who can adopt the look and abilities of whatever they desire. In this case, they were so inspired by Norse mythology, that they chose to become the Norse gods themselves, forever adopting their looks, powers, and even responsibilities.

[silverzeo]

That's the reason Loki and Thor team up?

[james.huff.myopenid.com]

Yeah. Essentially, they had been the Norse gods for so long, that they forgot who and what they were. Loki realizes that he no longer has to be Loki the Trickster and decides to be Loki the Hero instead and works with Thor.

[shatners_bassoon]

Yeah, I guess you'd have to strip out the part about Celestial manipulation (because that unseats the whole Marvel line), but I always enjoyed that explanation for the Asgardians, as it sort of explains their actions, as well as their limitations, and allows the pantheon (and other Marvel pantheons, such as the Greco-Roman one in Incredible Herc) to exist comfortably alongside a monotheistic culture.

[cricharddavies]

... that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

[james.huff.myopenid.com]

Well, I prefer the "They are the Norse gods" theory myself, but if they want to complicate it, I think the Earth X origin provides a bit more weight and tie-ins to the rest of the Marvel universe than just the basic aliens with magic theory.

[icon_uk]

Can't say I think that says much for them as the final stage of anything, if they get THAT easily distracted, especially when we already have the Greco-Roman Eternals being Celestial creations.

[lamashtar]

Yeah, Asgardians never came across as 'evolved' to me.

[jlroberson]

I've always liked this idea. And Deodato has SO improved.

[arbre_rieur]

Hmm, interesting. I'm generally not a fan of the whole "the gods are actually aliens/evolved humans/something other than gods" approach, but I don't mind it much the way it's portrayed here because it avoids my biggest problem with that approach, which is that it means the "gods" are either lying or delusional.

[crinos]

I just love that picture of Thor in the last panel, holding his cape as he flies and screaming. I can just imagine he's going "WHEEEEEE!"

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Neat idea, though it's less 'secret revealed' than a researcher making an educated guess.

[jlroberson]

Well, that's Ellis being clever. Anyone is free to pick up or ignore the hypothesis this way.

[seriousfic]

Oh, be quiet, Warren Ellis.

[jlroberson]

Make him.

[stolisomancer.insanejournal.com]

It's a reasonable supposition for an alien-obsessed man on the street in the 1990s to make concerning Asgard. Thor's never been reluctant to discuss it, and if you start from the conceit that they calling themselves "gods" couldn't possibly be true, then this is a workable hypothesis.

Note that Ellis isn't saying that this is the case. It's an excerpt from somebody's book on the subject.

In short: nuh-uh. You.

[seriousfic]

But it's such a silly, cliched idea on the face of it. Even if you make the universe more "realistic" by turning the gods into aliens, does that mean the Greek gods are aliens too? What about the gods who empowered Moon Knight?

[stolisomancer.insanejournal.com]

You aren't listening. This isn't Ellis retconning Asgard; I've read his work on Thor and he never tried to advance the notion. This is a man on the street in the Marvel Universe writing a book on the notion. As readers, we absolutely know the book is wrong.

[seriousfic]

*looks at post title* Huh.

[stolisomancer.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, reading the actual scan disproves the post title.

[icon_uk]

I dunno, why don't we ask Zuras, Thena, Makkari, Sersi, and the other Eternals! :)

[nagaoka]

Duh. Everyone knows the Asgardians are aliens. Just like everyone knows the Egyptian gods were really just alien symbiotes in human hosts. It's common knowledge really.

[mullon]

And Roman gods were just aliens with mind control orbs.

[mullon]

I don't think that explains very well all the other magic stuff that happens around them.

[valtyr]

David Brin wrote a weird novella on this idea: Thor Meets Captain America. It is weird, though. But good.

[foxhack]

You know, it's funny.

I was thinking of ElfQuest today since I found a book (couldn't buy it) and I remembered reading how the origin of the elves ended up being retconned into something similar to this and being pissed off at it.

Somehow, it just took out all the magic and coolness of the story.