Lack of Dr. Blake in Thor Film

[Myasishchev]

^ These guys have an iconic mythos. They can be messed with for a while - even a long while - but ultimately those are mere temporary deviations. Nobody really thought Steve Rogers would stay dead - and he'll be carrying that shield again momentarily.

Supes should be unmarried any day now. I can't wait.
Oh, and for those keeping track, I also predicted the returns of Barry, Hal, and Spidey's single status.

Predicting any of those was not exactly a Karnakian feat of prestidigitation. Quesada was on a mission, and it wasn't a secret one. Hal's eventual rebirth was obvious once they made him the Spectre, as Hal Jordan is an even worse Spectre than he is a Green Lantern, and the Spectre provides an obvious avenue to a physical return. Barry would've been surprising if DiDio, Johns, and company's track records as regurgitators and hacks hadn't been well-established by that point.

Speaking of the Spectre, at least they haven't brought back Corrigan. But for how long? They brought back Alec Holland and called him Swamp Thing. At least Hal had a fanbase; no one cared about Alec Holland until we got told he wasn't the Swamp Thing.

And Superman losing Lois? With the brain trust that's been put in charge of DC, you may even be right--but it doesn't matter. What does Hal Jordan sell, something around 100,000 books in a good month?

No one cares about superhero comics, and rightly so, because all it has is its mouth attached to its own ass. The fancy word for that is ouroboros. Most people just call it gross.

 

[Corwwyn]

Thor has to have some connection to humanity, some experience of life as a relatively frail being with no special powers.

Donald Blake is the original incarnation of that aspect of the character, but it's been handled in a lot of different ways over the years, to the point that, imo, Blake himself is not that crucial, as long as the mortal connection is included in some way.

JMS went back to Blake when he relaunched the title, which was, I think, a big part of what made that series work so well. Thor gets a lot less interesting when the human side of the character is neglected entirely in favor of the mythological/cosmic side. That can be tempting, and it can produce some cool stuff, but the character can end up getting shortchanged as a result.

Simonson got rid of the Blake persona in the eighties, which had indeed become a sort of useless appendage by that time. His Thor was in certain ways closer to the mythological Thor, and less like a conventional superhero, but even Simonson kept the human element involved. It was just handled differently, without the alter-ego.

Yup, Thor doesn't need the Blake persona. Sigurd Jarlson works for my money. ; )