Marvel has decided to produce shorter animated films reminiscent of classic scenarios from comics past. Amongst them a famous encounter between Thor and a wild homicidal Hulk back in What If #42. After the Hulk killed numerous heroes, Thor snapped his neck. He is a Norse God after all.
God of Thunder! Superpowerful heroes need super difficult antagonists. Here, Thor wrestles with his overly large cape.
That was before the days of the Hulk’s power being exaggerated to the point where he single-handedly takes out the entire Marvel universe. That is lame and undermines many of the Marvel heroes who are unaffected by strength or use means the Hulk cannot “smash”.
"Thor's scheming half-brother." Loki had a hard time defending himself against that accusation after this photo of him was released.
The cool Dr. Strange once opened a dimensional portal and let the Hulk walk right through. Problem solved. Also, there is more than one hero who could fly/transport the Hulk to the center of the sun. What then greenie? “Hulk smash sun!” You do that. See if it works for ya. Digression over.
Bruce Banner wakes up in bed with his love. Who knew Betty Ross was so hot, ...and that she sleeps wearing a choker.
One sentence synopsis time: Evil Loki intended to kill his half-brother Thor by transporting Bruce Banner to Asgard, separating him from the Hulk, and controlling the brute through a spell that eventually fails causing Thor and Loki into an unlikely team up in order to reunite Banner with the Hulk before the raging beast sweeps though all of Asgard’s defenses (and the women who love Thor) and kills the slumbering all-father Odin.
Most of us cannot relate to Thor's problems of multiple suitors vying for his love. Here is one of them, Amora the enchanting Enchantress. With a name like that, good thing she was not homely.
The 45 minute piece is good quality. The opening credits are pretty and the choral strains remind us of the excellent Mask of the Phantasm. The entire Asgardian cast is featured. Thor’s Norse buddies Baldar, Volstagg, Vandral and the humorless Hogun are there. His loves Sif and Amora trade barbs.
There is a welcome surprise appearance by Frost Giants. "Hulk smash blue men!"
The fights favor the Hulk. He is battling a society whose warriors use spears and swords after all. Thor did not use his whole arsenal, but at least added lightning. While he held his own, the Hulk eventually smashed him down. We think it should have been more of a draw.
It is an age old argument amongst geeks. It is our opinion that Thor’s full arsenal can defeat the Hulk. Flying, lightning, intelligence, and especially dimension spanning with his mighty hammer Mjollnir. The two are of comparable strength. Thor may be only one who is.
That is what we are talking about. Thor lives up to his "God of Thunder" moniker versus the Hulk. (Well... at least for this one scene. Other times he just lies there getting pounded like steak.)
Also we think the formidable magic of Asgard should do more than a few commonplace energy blasts. What about all that famous trickery? Why not surround the Hulk in darkness, or do something else. He is only a mortal in the land of the gods, albeit a very strong one.
The Enchantress seemed to have a lot more tricks when working for the wrong side. Does Amora need to be reminded that Loki is "the wrong crowd"?
Still, the story was paced well enough, moved along nicely and built to a decent climax. It was entertaining the whole way. The dramatic story and music fit the serious Asgardian Mythos.
Loki's daughter Hela is no friend of Thor. She is the ruler of the Asgardian underworld, and even seems at odds with her father. Kids these days.
The art direction was bold. Their take on Asgard was more city-like than I envisioned or remember, but it worked. (See top pic.) The character art varied. On Thor’s buddies it was very traditional and true to the comics. Thor’s girls, especially Sif were more hard-edged and angular. She and Thor were the most stylized.
It was good to see Sif and the Enchantress (Amora) in action. Sif lived up to the warrior reputation you would expect out of Thor’s sometimes girlfriend.
Sif: "Dost thou thinketh this sword be only for show?"
A nice touch during the battle between Thor and the Loki-controlled Hulk was when the brute tries to use Thor’s hammer. Comic fans know that ancient magics on that hammer will not allow it to be lifted by anyone “unworthy”. (Hence the surprise when Beta Ray Bill did so years ago in Simonson’s seminal Thor 337.) Only the inscription saying so appearing on the hammer would have made it better.
Worth watching.
F o r t r e s s T a k e s 
Nice pics. Thanks for the comment. Feel free to comment on other posts. love the screenshots. Enchantress is almsot as hot here ans she is in the book. can’t wait for the Thor movie next year (orwhenever it comes out)
Thanks for stopping by. I can appreciate your interweb handle!
I hope they treat Thor right in a movie. They did well with Iron Man. Thor is a little trickier. The Norse mythology, and manner of speak will be delicate issues, but have to be addressed if that want to do justice to the character.
hey i agree the animation was superb!! i like the Wolverine one better though!! it was more violent than the New Wolverine Movie!!
more animated marvel like these!!!
Cool. I like how you do your reviews.
love the visual style of the artwork. nice color palette too. i’ll have to check it out.
I remember Thor being sort of sexy.
http://starrings.wordpress.com
why can’t Thor defeat the Hulk?! Thor is a freakin god!
Yeah, we agree. However strong the Hulk may be, you would think that a Norse diety could do the deed. There was that “What If” where he did. Of course, Thor’s god powers only seem to manifest themselves in strength and lightning, and that seems to play into the Hulk’s strength.
This was something I really wanted to like, but due to the abysmal showing couldn’t. The animation was excellent and the story would have been fine except the fight was way too one-sided. Thor has always fought the Hulk head on, but in the first eight-minute fight Thor only fights for about two minutes. The rest he just stands there and lets the Hulk hit him. Other powers Thor has include various energy attacks, control over all types of weather, a belt of strength to double his strength, and the ability to drain the gamma energy out of the Hulk.
The one-way battle itself is the most common complaint on this. Compared to Hulk vs. Wolverine where the writers admit they deliberately wrote it so the two come across as even. They even have a shorter fight and fight only once to prevent one from winning.
Loki doing nothing more than force bolts and Hel just standing around were embarrassments as well since both are at least as powerful as Thor.
The writers try to excuse this by saying this Hulk was the form known as the Mindless Hulk (Hulk without Banner) and not as weak as the Savage Hulk (Hulk with Banner), but it still does not excuse the Thor just standing there and letting the Hulk hit him. Thor even fought this version of the Hulk once and was holding his own till Dr. Strange sent it to another dimension.
If you listen to the commentary it sounds like everything was focused on the animation and not on the story. The writers cracked jokes throughout it and based on their comments in interviews and on this have a bias strongly in favor of the Hulk.
As you stated, Marvel has exaggerated the Hulk to a point where he an easily defeat anyone no matter their powers. The writers of Marvel Animation have the idea in their head that Hulk is unbeatable and Thor is the whupping boy to show just how tough the Hulk is.
Thank you Bill. Great intelligent comment. We agree. Hulk has been hyped. Thor was underplayed. We agree most all the Asgardians were. Where was Thor’s dimension spanning? While we did not listen to the commentary, what you relate sounds about right when you watch Hulk Vs Thor. Those guys are toying with franchises that are far greater than their puny efforts. Where is the respect Marvel?
Great run down on the Hulk types. We remember that ancient comic showdown with the mindless Hulk. How Thor was about to REALLY cut loose when Dr. Strange stepped in and let the brute walk through a dimensional gate. That was Thor treated like he should be -and Dr Strange too. The “World War Hulk” nonsense is just that, biased fanboy nonsense. The combined powers in the Marvel universe are varied enough that someone can take down the brawn of the Hulk.
This animation was tragically flawed, but we still got some enjoyment out of it if for nothing but sheer entertainment value of seeing fun characters animated and some nice shots. That is about it actually.
In the DC universe, it seems every new hero trying to make his mark is somehow forced into a misunderstanding and fight with Superman. After the new guy shows what he is made of, the two conveniently realize they are both good guys. Why do those lame encounters actually sound 10 times better than how Marvel handled this round of Hulk Vs Thor?
I listened to the commentary to gain a better understanding. The Hulk vs. Wolverine they stated outright they made it even. This one…well you saw the results.
The dimension spanning they at least tried to cover by stating that without Banner the Hulk could not be sent back to Earth. I can understand the writers not wanting an easy way out.
It is not so much Thor loosing, but just standing there and letting the Hulk hit him. The first time Loki-Hulk punches Thor about ten times with long pauses between and Thor just lays there. Then, after Loki looses control Thor just letting the Hulk hit him for two minutes straight even though his wrist is broken is pathetic. Thor has had injuries before and kept fighting.
Generally, I find DC to be better animation wise at least than Marvel. The stories have more depth and the fights are better choreographed and more even.
That movie sucked!
1. The one-sided battle with the Hulk. Thor’s not that weak. Hulk #300 was one of my first comics I ever bought; I still remember the awestruck feeling I had when reading it. This was a truly terrifying Hulk (Mindless Hulk) kicking everyone’s arse who got in his way. Then he met the Avengers who also couldn’t stop him – he smashed the high density Vision 50 feet into the ground.
Then it happened. This funny speaking guy is pissed that Hulk has hurt Avengers and starts twirling a hammer and then WTF!!!! he’s nailing the Hulk with a lightening/hammer hit combo! I’m like WTF?!? who’s this guy knocking the Hulk around?!?! Next this terrifying Hulk nails him with the full swing, gut smashing, bone pulverizing, body crumpling shot to the gut. Guess what! This “Thor” guy does him one better! A one-handed over the head Hammer hit sends the Mindless Hulk flying like straw before a strong wind because the Hulk was “unable to withstand the might of Mjolnir, Thor’s fabled Hammer”.
That was my unforgettable first meeting with Thor. I pity anyone who has to meet that movie’s “Poetry Thor”.
As you read in our take, we agree. The Hulk is being too hyped up these days, and this animation seems designed only to feed that mania. Thor is of the very few who can go toe-to-toe with the Hulk. Even if the Hulk has greater raw strength, Thor has a host of other abilities – lightning, flying, dimension spanning, intelligence – that tip the scales in his favor.
We are Thor fans here in the Fortress. We enjoyed your description of Hulk #300. It recalled to mind fun memories. We remember that upswing crack with the hammer that Thor gave the Hulk. It was an awesome spectacle of the heavy hitters.
We appreciate your passion. Give yourself a name and keep commenting. We want to hear it.
I’m with you guys. The Hulk is just a muscle head. Strength does matter in some fights but it’s not a big plus in boxing or wrestling. Keep in mind, the comic writers are boneheads. The Hulk should not be able to withstand Thor or Hercules. Thor is in the Heavyweight divison with or without the ODINPOWER. H
Very true. Strength alone does not make for the unstoppable opponent. How powerful are Mr. Fantastic, The Leader, Doctor Doom, Lex Luthor, etc. Intelligence and careful planning can go a long way to countering straight brawn.
Some comic writers may need to more carefully treat the legacies in which they have been entrusted.
I don’t agree with your “WWH” statement, I think thats how Hulk should be represented, at least the “Worldbreaker” version of the character, it was a good event and I like Hulk being rather “dbz” in his portrayal, but I do agree that Thor should be just as “DBZ” which is currently being shown in Siege with him doing just fine against Sentry. The one sided battle in this vid is, like most people on here agree, unfair and is rather irksome, Thor just gets no respect
Thanks for the comment Daniel. We may have been slightly harsh in saying the the entirety of WWH was “biased fanboy nonsense”. We just were not keen on so many of Marvel’s top notch heroes like Thor, Iron Man, Reed Richards and even less used powerhouses like Blackbolt being overpowered by Hulk brawn. It was as if they each fought the Hulk at HIS one strength and avoided their own.
Reed Richards has “defeated” Galactus more than once. One might think he could think of something regarding the Hulk. Iron Man has so much tech and smarts at his disposal, yet he goes out there with a big suit to punch it out? We agree about Thor. Even the Blackbolt encounter seemed to give the most powerful Inhuman short shrift.
So should Hulk just try to smash everything? We guess so. We just do not think it should be so effective. Strength and invulnerability are all there is to Hulk. Conversely, those less strong and tough have had to rely on wits and intelligence to beat the likes of Doctor Doom, Loki, the Mandarin, etc.
funniest thing is… thor is physicaly stronger than hulk, he could move the nine realms all by himself whyle hulk cant even lift a continent, i liked the story but the fights were poor, thor can beat the hulk very easy if he wants to, as he beat hulk in world war hulk, and he killed hulk twice in other ocasions, also beated him teamed up with the thing in fear itself, and that thor was even nerfed if compared to chaos war or other versions of thor, i do like the hulk but seeing him beating thor… is even disgusting, this fight should be one-sided yes, but to the other side, since banner was not on hulk and thor was defending his father and his home, he should not hold back and while not holding back he can fight as equal to zeus, who is a sky father, far above thor’s diety level, he even fought the celestials and enemies far beyond hulk, stan lee made thor to be his strongest character, as in his first appearence his hammer was not enchanted, just far too heavy to be lifted by anyone but himself, and he did it with ease, he could crush a uru chain, and sometimes used attacks so powerfull that destroyed mjolnir itself, hulk cant even dream about that, well actually he can, he dstroyed mjolnir on his imagination, but never in reality, o think hulk is much more on dr. strange or sentry’s level than on thor’s… i’m not a hulk-hater or anything, on the contrary i even prefer him to thor, but for his struggle and personality, not for powers.
We agree with you regarding who would win in Hulk versus Thor. We also appreciate your rather expansive Marvel universe knowledge and thoughtful examples. We are not Hulk fans, reinforced by the overdone World War Hulk. There are a lot of Marvel heroes whose powers could easily circumvent the Hulk’s raw strength. Sheesh, Reed Richard’s brain thwarted Galactus, twice. Doctor Strange once banished him into another dimension.
The Hulk is a good character on the piteous side. Bruce Banner unable to totally tame the beast, who is really a gentle giant and just wants to set things right. However the Hulk as a bully is distasteful.
Big props to you for a Celestials reference. We always thought the Jack Kirby creations were cool and rare. Overlooked from the fun era of late 1970s-early 1980s comics. Perhaps they were so powerful that it was hard to incorporate them into a story. Spiderman cannot web them. They are even a step above Galactus. So any dealings with them says something for the heavy hitting class one must be in to do so.
Interesting thoughts about Thor’s hammer originally just being heavy rather than enchanted. That must have changed pretty early on.
Great comment and thanks for stopping by.
Just Jack created the celestials during his solo run on eternals.
Thank you quarterstone for the accurate information. We have amended the above comment to reflect this. The Celestials were classic Kirby. All those signature lines and circles.