On the pressure of expectation in Thor #3
by Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman, and Matt
Wilson; Marvel Comics
At the end of Issue 2, Thor found herself
separated from Mjlonir and facing down a pair of Frost Giants laying siege to
Roxxon Island, wondering who she was without the hammer in her hand. The
question of her former identity remains, but in the moment, her only concern is
how to continue to be worthy of Mjlonir without actually being able
to wield the hammer.
As always, *SPOILERS* are contained within. Read on at your own risk if you
want to get the plot of the comic yourself before I talk all over it.
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At the start of this issue, we see a
flashback of Malekith and Skrymir discussing the invasion of Midgard. Skrymir
is hesitant to go to war with Thor, but when Malekith informs him that Thor
Odinson has lost his hammer, the plans for invasion begin.
What is Thor without his hammer? “Nothing
but a God,” if you ask the Frost Giant.
Coming face to face with Malekith back in
the present on Roxxon Island, We see the emerging personality of Thor again.
Faced with an enemy, she boasts and postures, taunting the elf as she thinks former-Thor would. But the question remains…can she face the giants without the hammer?
For now, Thor is drawing inspiration from
her predecessor for behavior, behaving in a way she believes Thor would behave.
She is trusting that Mjlonir knew what it was doing when it chose her, and that
she can—and must—handle the situation at hand. If Mjlonir says she is worthy,
she must be worthy—and she seems to gain some confidence from that.
We learn something else from this issue as well,
while Thor is trying to get Mjlonir back in her hands: when Thor isn’t holding
Mjlonir for an extended period of time, she feels her power slipping away and begins
to revert back to her prior identity. Malekith notes at one point in the fight
that she is masked, wondering aloud who she might be hiding her identity from.
Malekith, of course, also takes the time to accuse her of stealing the hammer, doing
what he can to sew seeds of doubt in her mind. It seems that her new identity is somewhat tenuous, that being Worthy alone might not be enough to remain Thor.
The mystery of who our Thor is under the mask is starting to interest more than just the reader—even the frost giants she’s fighting wonder who she is.
For the first time I can remember, we have
a Thor with a secret identity.
For all the uncertainty about our Thor, she
seems certain of a few things—she was chosen to take this role, and so, she is
going to do everything in her power to fulfill it. Thor is the protector of
Midgard, and she is Thor. All it takes to convince her to step into the role is
the validation that she is worthy of the job.
How much of Thor’s identity is banked on
the concept of worthiness? Just as much as the previous Thor was destroyed by
the idea he was no longer worthy, Thor is drawing strength from gaining the
same designation.
In reviewing Thor #2, I referenced
Marcia’s theory of identity development, which centers around the idea that in
order to develop our identity, we explore multiple roles and ultimately commit
to a set of elements, resolving the necessary identity crisis of adolescence.
In Marcia’s identity theory, there are four
identity statuses a person may experience.
Ideally, a person wants to have explored roles and made a commitment,
resulting in identity achievement. In
identity diffusion, an adolescent
isn’t exploring because they don’t have a sense of having choices available. A
person in moratorium is in crisis and
exploring commitments, but hasn’t made commitments yet. I had thought in the
previous issue that Thor was somewhere in this stage, exploring what roles she
might commit to and defining her ethical and moral values, I’m starting to
think she is also experiencing identity
foreclosure.
In the identity foreclosure status, a
person seems willing to commit to some roles, but hasn’t explored a range of
options. It’s in this stage that a person is most likely to conform to the
expectations of someone else. For adolescents, this often means conforming to
the expectations of parents or other influential adults in areas like career or
college exploration, or even religious affiliation.
We are absolutely seeing Thor take on
characteristics she believes Thor *should* have.
At one point in the fight, she thinks to herself about what Thor would
do. “The hammer chose me,” she thinks a moment later, “That means I’ll do
nothing less.”
So the question becomes, are Thor’s actions
motivated by her internal sense of self, or by the expectation that these are
the actions she has to take now that she wields Mjlonir? How much is the
assignation of worthiness a self-fulfilling prophecy?
While I expect, eventually, Thor will reach
identity achievement, I’m curious if her achievement will be for one identity,
or for two. I’m very interested to see how she either integrates these two
identities or develops them along side each other.
And with the appearance of a familiar face
on the final page, it seems like the questions of worthiness, identity, and
what influences the two have on each other are soon to come to light.
Regardless, I’m with Malekith on one point:
Post by Jennifer DePrey
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