Originally, Marvel’s Thor took the Norse mythology and gave it a superhero spin by tying the God of Thunder to frail human doctor Donald Blake. When the trickster Loki or the evil duo of Enchantress and Executioner threatened Asgard or Midgard, Donald Blake would tape his cane on the ground, transforming it into Mjolnir and summoning Thor.
Kirby used Thor as a place to indulge not just his love of high fantasy, but also to explore some of the scientific concepts he was also putting into Fantastic Four with Stan Lee. Kirby took those concepts even further when he went to DC, where he brought with him a rejected Thor pitch about Ragnarok brining an ending to Asgard and their rebirth as New Gods. The Fourth World saga introduced the warlike Orion and his father Darkseid, the former raised on the peaceful world of New Genesis while the latter holds tyrannical rule on Apokolips.
The mixture of high fantasy and science in Kirby’s work has continued to influence pop culture. Walt Simonson built on it for his acclaimed run on Thor, which released simultaneously with the first Masters of the Universe toys, and was the chief inspiration of Taika Waititi’s films. When Cannon Films produced a Masters of the Universe movie in 1987, director Gary Goddard looked not to the toys but to Kirby’s Fourth World as a source.
Kirby’s work forever links Masters of the Universe to Thor (and, by extension, The Fourth World). Now that Thor needs direction, Marvel may find it in the imitation.
Who Has the Power?
In its best moments, Masters of the Universe is unapologetically goofy. It features a mostly-naked super strong guy doing objectively awesome things, sometimes set to Queen’s theme from The Highlander. He punches monsters, lifts heavy stuff, and shouts catchphrases. He visits places called Snake Mountain and rides in spaceships, flying across a colorful sky.
Those scenes show exactly what the big screen Thor movie could be. While the original Thor film and its first sequel, The Dark World, have their charms, they never entirely captured the mix of sci-fi and fantasy the property required. They made that combination a little too grounded, a little Shakespearean; a decision that minimized the silliness. Thor: Ragnarok and Love and Thunder maximized the silliness, but only to make fun of it. The films constantly seemed to be apologizing for the fact that it was about Thor.
