In a shocking move, Marvel announced on July 15th that Thor is going to become a woman. Thor is not getting a sex change but he won’t be worthy of his hammer. Instead a woman in his life will take his place as the only one worthy of the hammer. As a female, I think this concept is great because it’s a fresh idea that has so many possibilities. It gives female comic book fans another Marvel character to relate and look up to. It is also a great way for Marvel to market their company as groundbreaking and it gets everyone talking about them, whether it is negative or positive. It’s a good marketing ploy as well as a great way to interest female readers.
As Common Sense Media found in a study published in May of this year, girls read more than boys, especially as teenagers. It would be a bold move to go after a wider readership to get girls more involved in comic books and a great new market that Marvel could potentially capture. I think this is a great move for society as a whole because the debate on feminism is ongoing in the U.S. and this can add to that debate. This whole concept doesn’t sit well with a lot of people who have been complaining online.
I’ve personally heard a man complaining that if Marvel wanted a new female superhero, instead of making Thor female, they should create a new superhero that could cook and clean for her family, get her children off to school, and pay all of the bills. The last time I checked it was 2014, not the 1950s. I have faith in writer Jason Aaron who said, “This really is a Thor story unlike any we’ve ever seen before, and it’s not meant to be fleeting. It’s not a one-time thing or an alternate reality. This is the new version of Thor in the Marvel Universe.”
It’s exciting to see a writer willing to go where no one has gone before along with an artist, Russell Dauterman, who is just as eager. Aaron first impressed me with Scalped and I’ve met him a couple of times at different cons. He is a great storyteller and the potential that this story-line will have in influencing girls to read comic books could bring him a whole new readership.
Sources:
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/children-teens-and-reading
http://marvel.com/news/comics/2014/7/16/22883/a_new_god_of_thunder_debuts_in_thor_this_october