Marvel has made Thor female.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/theater-arts/thor-woman-comics-marvel-announces-article-1.1867428

How do you feel about Marvel just changing the gender of their characters rather than making and/or developing actual female characters? I think this is just trying way too hard and pandering.

It's easy for a brief announcement to come off that way, I'm sure it will make a lot more sense in the context of the story they're looking to tell. Thor actually seems like a perfect choice to do this with, the whole holding the hammer thing makes the transition to a new character easy. I haven't been keeping close track but I'm not aware of them doing anything particularly interesting with Thor lately so it'll be nice to see them shake things up a bit.

It would be fine if it was just the passing of the hammer, but they seem to be stressing that this is the only Thor. Male Thor doesn't exist, he was replaced completely with a female version.

It's interesting, but maybe a little weird given that the Thor that most people will think of, Chris Hemsworth in the movies, is going to continue to be a man.

Comics. They go buck wild. Man-Thor will be back.

This is just a new character taking up the mantle. It's similar to what they did to Hawkeye and that worked out really well. Even with two Hawkeyes in the same book they made it work, so I don't see the problem here.

Hey folks, come'er.... [whispers] they want you to react. [Low voice] Yeah, that's the deal in comics. You know - they kill people, they break people's spines, and they blind, burn, and maime motherf**ckers, etc.

It is all going to be fine. Because, guess what, Marvel can't keep things one way for more than three month before going back in some sort of 'popcorn popping' of the whole damn multiverse.

Oh, for a moment I thought you meant they were recasting Chris Hemsworth's role as Thor with a female. Which would have been weird. As for the comics, I don't mind. They've messed with that sorta thing for a while now.

Don't care. More wondering what the story justification is let alone why not change the name.

The Thor we know is going back to his old axe and is no longer worthy of the hammer. That Thor will be in the avengers comics still. They aren't literally turning him into a girl, that's what Loki is for.

I don't mind them updating characters like this. They have been this way for decades so changes like this are cool to keep them fresh. It'll allow writers to create different stories for these characters easier.

This is a new character, they didn't just turn Thor, son of Odin, into a woman. Great quote from Jason Aaron: “This is not She-Thor. This is not Lady Thor. This is not Thorita. This is THOR. This is the THOR of the Marvel Universe. But it’s unlike any Thor we’ve ever seen before.”

More details at The Mary Sue

And she looks badass:

Comics are always changing crap to pander to the masses.

Wonder why they didn't just make a female Thor equivalent ala Spider-Woman, Super Girl or She Hulk. Then again for all I know there already is. I don't read any comics so I have no strong opinions one way or the other, although I have ingested a lot of the lore via games, most importantly the X-Men Legends and MUA series. Comics always seemed so bloody confusing to follow anyway; so many alternate dimensions and reboots and all that. I imagine they'll revert to male Thor again and then also the have male and female versions connect via some magical dimension-hopping whatever.

The only thing that would strike me as weird about this is if she's actually called, "Thor", and the quotes from that article certainly make it seem that way. She could have the exact same powers of Thor, being able to wield Mjolnir, and that could be cool. But that shouldn't magically change her name to his. Thor isn't some super-moniker like The Hulk or Spider-Man, it's just the dude's name, like Steve.

Anyway, whatever they can do to try and pointlessly keep these dried up husks of 50 year old characters relevant.

it be hilarious if she's named Thor as well. since thats pretty much only a dudes name.

I'll probably pick up a few issues and see how it goes. I'm surprised they made a big announcement about it though, figured something like this would be a bit more Loki.

@joshwent: Yeah, that's literally the only issue I have with this. Thor is his birth name. It seems weird just to pass that off to a different character, especially a woman.

But meh, I'm cool with this. I'm just happy they didn't put her in a battle bikini. Ya did good, Marvel. Ya did good.

@krullban: I've read different articles, and that's not what's happening. Apparently Thor is deemed unworthy to wield Mjolnir and is stripped of it. So a female character is being developed to replace him, and it's not simply removing male Thor.

I don't completely buy the "this isn't a temporary female substitute" claim. Some superheros have been replaced before only to reclaim their moniker, while others are completely replaced. I feel there will eventually be an arc where male Thor will once again be worthy.

I'm a big fan of women in comics! But I'm also a huge Thor fan... I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this yet.

All I know is they better have a badass writer lined up! And I hope they treat her like the God of Thunder appropriately. I don't want to suddenly see the men swooning over her or anything...

I'm diggin' the look. Maybe she'll be top-tier in the next Marvel crossover game.

That never comes out.

What did they do to her fucking beard!?

It's a little weird, but hey, I'm all for better portrayals of female comic characters. We all know that comics have had a seriously spotty track record with their women characters.

At least this will create attention around the character than if she had her own book. Which unfortunately would probably be ignored otherwise.

There are a lot of great female characters in the Marvel universe.

As others have said, treating Thor's name like it's just an alias is kinda weird. To my knowledge She-Hulk isn't called Bruce.

Feels like "just another day at the office" for comics.

Kill this one, resurrect that one, swap gender, switch race, change origin, alternate dimension, etc, etc.

@wrecks I hope when he does come back they rename him "Man-Thor".

From Marvel.com

This October, Marvel Comics evolves once again in one of the most shocking and exciting changes ever to shake one of the “big three” of Captain American, Iron Man and Thor. No longer is the classic Thunder God able to hold the mighty hammer, Mjölnir, and a brand new female hero will emerge worthy of the name THOR.

“The inscription on Thor's hammer reads ‘Whosoever holds this hammer, if HE be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.’ Well it's time to update that inscription,” says Marvel editor Wil Moss. “The new Thor continues Marvel's proud tradition of strong female characters like Captain Marvel, Storm, Black Widow and more. And this new Thor isn't a temporary female substitute - she's now the one and only Thor, and she is worthy!”

Whatever, last year Tony Stark became an alien or something. Comic books are dumb. (But also awesome)

This is pretty amusing. I don't really care at all but okay. Hopefully Odin becomes a woman and Frigga stays a woman and Loki becomes a woman, hell I won't be content until everyone in Asgard is simultaneously female.

Worked for Loki. Runs in the family I guess...

I don't care that they updated the character, but it just wreaks of desperation to appeal to a female audience. I mean, c'mon, revealing it on "The View"?!

What if zelda was a girl?

She looks fucking rad, but this is pretty dumb.

I mean, they've got the whole "whosoever holds this hammer" crap already in there, just make a new character that's worthy of the power of Thor. Would be way cooler than "oh that character who was always male is now female because balance."

I guess the problem with that would be people always expecting the "real" Thor to come back at some point. Of course it's within their power to say fuck that, Nightcrawler his ass, and commit to the new character.

Though, thinking about it now I still might kinda feel bad for old Thor being offed just so they could roll in lady Thor. But that sort of shit is par for the course with these sorts of comics. Maybe it's just that article that makes it all feel hollow. Hopefully the writing makes it all work out nicely.

Also I don't read Thor anyways, but I might now because she looks really cool, so weeeeeee comic books.

--oh it's a new character. Great!

What if Link was a girl?

So like Tiresias.

EDIT: Oh a brand new person/god/whatever... nevermind. I wonder how this will affect sales in the long-term, and I wonder if they would back down on it if it affected them negatively.

She does look badass, and it could be a very interesting shake-up within a creative universe that's often frustratingly afraid of change. Let's see how they weave this character.

Cultural appropriation and obfuscation! You can't take some other culture's icons and rewrite them for your wicked evil preferences! /lawl

If I were them, I would've done it to Captain America. A female Super-Soldier makes more sense to me than trying to call someone else by Thor's name. Captain America is a gender neutral title. And I'd rather see a human girl kicking ass than a supernatural god girl but I guess that's my human bias talking.

Has there never been an Iron Woman? It's just a robot suit.

@video_game_king: Even male Thor rarely has a beard. He only ever seems to grow one when he's the new King of the gods and is all old and shit. When he's still "young" he's almost always clean shaven.

The art looks brilliant, not sure if it's still Esad doing the covers but it looks very like his work.

RULE 63 IN FULL EFFECT.

RULE 63 IN FULL EFFECT.

You mean goddess?

I say, why not?

Yeah, Tony has been a teenager about once every 15 years or so since his inception. Which makes sense given his pulp fiction and literary ancestors, but turning into a woman (which doesn't appear to be what is happening here, Marvel's just looking to stir up controversy) is hardly crazy given the reality of comic book worlds.

There's at least two female Thor equivalents running around. I'm not sure what track Marvel is taking here with this, but one of them might be tapped for this role. Or any female Worthy of the Power of Thor which was how Thor's power worked initially, being locked in the hammer and trapping Thor in the body of a crippled doctor to teach him humility and meaning anyone worthy could take that power as well.

"The inscription on Thor's hammer reads 'Whosoever holds this hammer, if HE be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.' Well it's time to update that inscription," Marvel editor Wil Moss said in a statement.

Eugh...Just...Eugh...Idiots.

Sooo.... how many years will this last before they give Man-Thor his hammer back?

Captain Marvel (the Marvel one, it's confusing) has been a woman for a couple years now, so maybe yet another female "Cap" wouldn't have been seen as progressive enough. ;)

There was Spider Woman, Bat Woman, Bat Girl, Super Woman, She Hulk.. heck even Wolverine got a sort-of female version in the form of a daughter.

It's more surprising that it took this long.

Well, as long as she was the best qualified Thor of all the Thors that applied to be Thor.

I think Marvel just wants to stir the hornets nest for internet buzz around a comic that probably doesn't sell well. The rather provocative language like this is the REAL Thor is probably literally true insofar as the main character takes up the mantle, might be called Thor, and will feature in the comic titled Thor, is not actually descriptive of the event, where Thor isn't turning into a woman, but is being replaced by a woman. That said, while not canonical, at least Wonder Woman has been found worthy and inscription or not, I'd imagine plenty of females would be found worthy of Thor's hammer.

Comics will do anything for 6 issues.