Portrayals of Thor in Movies and Television

I’m sure many of you have seen the second installment in the Thor movies series by now. Jax wrote a review of the first movie when we saw a few years ago. I thought the second movie was neat, but it wasn’t awesome. But it did get me thinking about other images of Thor I’ve seen in movies and on television. This isn’t like my earlier post about Odin-inspired images. This is a list of actual Thor images – mostly in chronological order of me seeing them. Warning: This post contains may contain spoilers!

Vincent D’Onofrio as Dawson (Thor) in AiB

Adventures in Babysitting (1987)

I think the first time I *saw* Thor, it wasn’t really Thor. It was a mechanic with a striking resemblance to Thor. If you know the movie, you know the story includes a little girl who is very much a tomboy, much obsessed with Thor comic books, and very smitten with Thor.  Who can blame her, though? Thor is pretty dreamy in almost all of his media incarnations. Anyway, the characters in this movie end up in all sorts of comedic trouble, one of which is their car breaking down in a sketch area of town. They end up in a garage with a mechanic who is muscular and blonde and sporting a Mjölnir-like tool. There is swooning and swearing (allegiance), and ultimately mechanic Thor saves the day…er, the car.

Thor in SG1

Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007)

I really liked the original Stargate movie, and not just because I am a fan of the two lead actors, Kurt Russell and James Spader. I really liked the characters, too. So I was happy when the series came out. I didn’t become an avid fan until a few years before the series ended, though. In the first season, the series introduced a highly advanced alien race that was benevolent towards humans – the Asgard, the “gods” of the Norse. Thor was one of the Asgard characters. But these Asgard were not the tall, shiny, easy-on-the-eyes, Chris Hemsworth sort of gods. These were more like ET. Not hideous, but not shaggable. The Asgard were first introduced to SG1 fans in “Thor’s Hammer” (S1), but we didn’t *see* them until “Thor’s Chariot (S2).”

Val Hallen on TJF

The Justice Friends (1996-1998)

I didn’t become a fan of The Justice Friends until they were off the air. TJF were characters in the Dexter’s Laboratory universe. Why was I watching the Cartoon Network as an adult with no children in my house? Two words. Graduate school. Anyway, TJF characters were parodies of other fantasy characters. Major Glory (Captain America/Superman), Krunk (Incredible Hulk/The Thing), and Val Hallen (Thor/Eddie Van Halen). Okay, Eddie Van Halen is obviously not a fantasy character, but I’m sure he was the focus of many a female fantasies back in the day. [Sidebar: Egads. I hope no one talks about me like that. “She was awesome back in the day.” Gah! I suppose we all share that fate.] This Thor was a cutie, but he was dumb as a bag of hammers.

Thor has a much longer history on television, but I don’t remember seeing him until “Adventures in Babysitting.” According to IMDB, there are a lot of movie and shows with characters named Thor, but it looks like only a few of them are the Asgardian Thor. Am I missing any of your media encounters with Thor from my list? When did you first see Thor on television or in a movie?

Featured image, characters Dawson (Thor) and Sara from “Adventures in Babysitting.”