“There Must Always be a Thor”: Disruption of Super Heroic Masculinities in Marvel’s Thor: The Goddess of Thunder (2014)

As the popularity of the superhero film genre continues to grow, more attention is being drawn towards the genre as a way to enter cultural conversations regarding representations in popular culture of gender, sexuality, race, and class, among other things. This popularity of the genre among differing age ranges and demographics calls for an investigation and analysis of the comic book genre, superheroes, and representation. Given the popularity of this genre, I plan to argue that Thor: The Goddess of Thunder (2014) offers a unique reading of gender constructs and masculinity. Whereas characters come and go within their respective universes as they are needed in plotlines, certain characters within the comic book universe have a continued presence. One of these characters is Marvel’s Thor, god of thunder, whose narrative took a sudden turn in December 2014 when, much to his frustration, Thor is unable to lift Mjolnir from the surface of the moon. However, an unlikely character lifts and wields the hammer in ways Asgardians and the Marvel universe have never seen before; Suffering from cancer and living on Asgard in order to represent Midgard (Earth) in the Congress of Worlds, Jane Foster picks up the hammer in a time of need and assumes the role of Thor. This presentation will deconstruct the boundaries of masculinity by examining Odinson, one of Marvel’s most masculine comic book heroes, and Jane, the woman who inherited his birthright in her debut series Thor: The Goddess of Thunder (2014) through gender and masculinity theories