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Why Thor is an Avenger

The one really major plotline that Thor has EVER had in the Avengers comic that doesn't involve an Asgardian enemy or the Thunder God getting ticked off and slamming somebody took place way back in Englehart's original run. Moondragon, a self-proclaimed goddess of the mind, raised doubts in Thor's mind about the suitability of him hanging around the Avengers. She argued that he was so powerful as to render the rest of the team useless; that he should have greater concerns than mere mortal heroes, reserving his might for situations only he could deal with and letting others cope with the rest; and that he was generally uncomfortable hanging around mere humans (when, by implication, he could be hanging around with Moondragon). This eventually left to Thor resigning from the team for a time, and his absence as a really regular member until #300 (and then he lasted ten issues if that).

But I believe Moondragon was wrong, and here's why.

Thor is unlike any other Asgardian. He is, after all, a half-breed. His mother is Jord, one of the aspects of the Earth Mother Gaia. This gives Thor a bond with Earth which is unique amongst the denizens of the mythological pantheons. Thor has also spent time as a human, living a quite independent life as Dr Don Blake for years before rediscovering his hammer. In that time Blake developed a rich understanding of and love for humanity.

When he is written properly, the Thunder God is a complicated mixture of passion, honour, simplicity, duty, loyalty, fury, and raw courage, with a twist of wry humour and a hidden shrewdness that others sometimes fail to see. All of these things contribute to why he is an Avenger.

Thor has had great difficulty communicating this to his Asgardian family and friends. Odin has been largely portrayed as antagonistic to Thor's stubborn championship of Earth, even going so far as to exile his son when Thor has favoured his role as Earth's protector over his filial duties. Sif has found it difficult to understand her lover's attraction to the planet. This was superbly illustrated in Jim Shooter's excellent Thor Graphic Novel. The Asgardians have proved willing enough to act as Earth's protectors when Surtur or whoever is threatening it, but altogether less supportive of Thor's ongoing attempts to take part in any part of modern society that doesn't involve battle.

Yet as a god, Thor is also quite uncomfortable amongst humans. Not only is his sheer demeanour - his "godly presence" - a deterrent to easily interacting with mortals, but Thor is something of a man out of time. He is almost as displaced as Conan the Barbarian would be in modern, technological, New York City in the twentieth century.

But amongst the Avengers, Thor is straddled between his two worlds. He is part of a noble band in which he takes great pride. He has status as part of that band and within it. He can live the life of an honourable warrior, striving against evil. Yet on the other hand he can express his duty of care for the planet beside like-minded peers, he can revel in his love for humans amongst humans he calls friends, and he can be shielded from the more mystifying bits of the modern world by comrades who can operate a visi-scanner.

Sometimes Thor used to get a bit uppity about his godhood. He would rush off, proclaiming that this duty was a matter for the gods alone. That was the part of the Odinson that Moondragon played upon way back when. The turning point for this was during the War with Olympus storyline, when the Avengers take on Zeus and Thor proudly proclaims his belief that the Olympians are going to get their heads handed to them by Earth's Mightiest Heroes - and they do. If not before, at that moment Thor fully embraced his team as equals in all things.

So Moondragon was wrong because Thor is the people's Thunder God. He is happiest and at his best when he is fighting for what is right, when he is risking all in defending the weak and helpless. And he is never happier than when he does all of this at the side of "boon companions" whom he can trust and rely upon, and for whom he need not needlessly worry in combat - his brothers in arms, the mighty Avengers.