The Strongest Ones There Are (apologies to the Hulk)

Superman — Thor

Obvious, ain’t it?

DC evidently was dismissive of Marvel in the early 1960s:, in 1995, I interviewed then Marvel executive editor Mark Gruenwald (RIP) and DC executive editor Mike Carlin regarding the Marvel vs DC crossover. Gruenwald said then that DC editorial considered Marvel’s (i.e. Jack Kirby’s) art “crude and unsophisticated.”

As much as I love Kirby and Ditko, I don’t think the quality of the art was the point. DC’s rationalistic, plot-driven editorial style couldn’t help but seem bloodless and one-dimensional when Stan Lee introduced a truly human element to super hero comics. That was Marvel’s primary innovation—and in light of the often ponderous operatics of Fourth World series, which made a point of being enacted as 100% Kirby’s vision, no one can seriously dispute that Lee’s romance comic-honed talent for dialogue and pathos wasn’t key to early Marvel’s singularity.

Which is to say that I wonder what ‘60s Superman stories would have been like if they cribbed a little from Stan and Jack’s the Mighty Thor. Mort Weisinger had by that time been the caretaker of the Superman franchise since 1948. His books could contain raw emotion: the frequent “Imaginary Stories” and “time travel back to Krypton” often contained the kind of pathos that the intended readership— kids!—would understand. But in the '60s, Superman was still above it all, trudging through stories that were heedless of any developments past Weisinger's bailiwick.

But Stan and Jack changed the game. If DC (or perhaps Weisinger) wasn’t so defensive, maybe the Superman books could have really taken off into mind-bending, high stakes space opera. They wouldn’t have to neglect the human interest of Clark, Lois, Jimmy, etc etc, either. In any case, Julius Schwartz took over the Superman franchise in 1970, and since then Superman has been modernized a number of times. He’ll always be with us.

As for Thor—Lee wrote in his Origins of Marvel Comics that he felt he could only follow up the Fantastic Four, the Hulk and Spider-Man with a “god”; the norse variety, of course. I wouldn’t be surprised if he also thought that his emerging mythos needed a Superman-type.

Commonalities:
Both are the strongest, noblest dudes that be. Heat vision = thunderbolts, super-breath= wind. Both have “died” and been resurrected.

Differences:
Mainly, there’s the sense that “Clark” is his truest aspect and that he feels that, irrespective of his origins, Earth is his home and he’s a “man.” Whereas Thor is fond of humans, but he’s an Asgardian through and through, the bloodson of Odin: the “Don Blake” aspect hasn’t been emphasized much for a long time. Plus, Clark’s a reporter and Don’s a doctor. And Thor has no ultimate weakness a la kryptonite.

Alternate histories:

SM: Jor-El, the philosopher king from the planet Krypton, wishes to instill “human” qualities found in abundance on Earth in his son Kal-El. He creates an earthling identity, that of journalist Clark Kent, for Kal-El. After a few years, Kent discovers his true nature and quickly becomes the Earth’s preeminent champion. While he travels back to Krypton often, he also founds the Justice League of America and battles menaces from across the universe. In recent years, he abandons the Kent identity, adopts others, and then comes to reside on Krypton, succeeding his father as its leader. He’s presumed dead when Krypton is destroyed, although he has recently returned to Earth, where he resumes his identity as Kent and alongside other surviving Kryptonians attempts to revive their culture in the middle of the American West.

TH: Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods, destroys the extradimensional realm Asgard. Odin, a preeminent “god,” sends his infant son to reside among mortals on Earth, where the nascent “god” is raised as Donald Blake by a childless couple. As a young adult, the crippled Blake discovers his heritage by transforming back and forth into the “God of Thunder.” He resolves to defend his adopted home across the universe as its most indomitable champion, founding the Avengers with other superhumans, while leading a dual life as a physician. He eventually marries his mortal coworker, Jane Foster.