Does Thor feel out of place in the Marvel movies?

This weekend I watched Captain America: Civil War like many other Americans. Afterwards, my friends and I had a discussion about what was good and bad, and my friend Brad pointed out that he enjoyed it much more than he did the Avengers films primarily because Thor wasn't around. Wanting to know more, he basically said that his brain has a hard time reconciling Thor as a character with the other Avengers because they have such different backgrounds.

Practically everyone else in the Avengers comes from some kind of scientific background. Captain America comes from a super soldier serum. Iron Man gets his powers from a suit. Black Widow is a trained agent and the Hulk comes from a gamma ray experiment gone bad. And then you've got these "gods" which are basically mythologicals inserted into all of this, and he doesn't like it. It's kind of like guns and laser cannons being inserted into a Dungeons & Dragons game...one of these things is not like the other.

So it made me wonder: does Thor feel out of place in the Marvel movies? I'd be curious to know your opinion on this? 

If the Odin Force determines who is worthy to receive the power of Thor then Loki may have a thing or two to say about that

What makes a person worthy to wield the hammer of Thor? Screen cap
from the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron. The clip aired last night
during the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. scheduled broadcast. 

Last night, during Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s broadcast, they ran a cut scene from the upcoming Avengers movie, Age of Ultron. Gathered around the coffee table in Stark's tower were the Avengers, all taking turns at lifting Thor's hammer Mjolnir. The only one that even came close was Steven Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America. Thor's hammer budged, which made Thor just about spit his beer, but the scene resolved itself in that this is all that happened, leaving Thor self-assured that he alone remains the possessor of the "power of Thor."

But it does make me wonder what makes a person worthy to lift Mjolnir in the first place? Do you have to be a warrior? Do you have to be pure of heart? Do you have to be willing to kill? Do you have to be honorable? Do you have to be humble? Or is it all of the above? The comics have given us over a dozen characters through the years that share all or some of these traits (and yes, Captain America was one of them).

So here's what I think: the enchantment placed on Thor's hammer that reads: "Whosoever holds this hammer, be he worthy, shall posses the power of Thor" has to do with Odin's will (or perhaps his bias). And since Odin wields the "Odin Force," which is the most powerful magic in existence possessed by the king of all Asgard, I am drawing a strange but inevitable conclusion: if my theory is correct about the Odin Force being ultimately responsible for judging the wielder of the hammer "worthy" then at some point Thor's going to be in big trouble.

Thor without Mjolnir from a screen capture of the Avenger's Age of Ultron
trailer. Is Loki responsible because he now wields the Odin Force?

Recall please last year's movie Thor: The Dark World. At the end of The Dark World (weak spoiler warning but you've had a year) Loki deposes Odin to sit on the throne of Asgard. If Loki now wields the "Odin Force" then the magic that serves as the enchantment on Mjolnir will have to start reflecting upon the new ruler's biases. Loki has no honor, so it's quite possible that Mjolnir at some point will find its way into a villain's hands. I think we may have gotten a small hint of this in the Avenger's: Age of Ultron trailer with what looks like a very upset Thor turning his eyes to the heavens and screaming (and he doesn't appear to be holding Mjolnir at all). Now keep in mind that this is purely my speculation. But don't you think it would be interesting if Thor no longer being able to lift Mjolnir was the first clue that all is not right with the Asgardian throne?

Absorbing Man, Agent Carter, and Lucy Lawless all battle it out for screen time in the season two premiere of Agents of SHIELD

Agents of Shield's second season took off with a blast last night. It was fun to see Lucy Lawless; the last time I saw her she was playing a human-looking cylon in the very good reboot of Battlestar Galactica (that was many years ago). Now she's got a role on Agents, although from what I can tell by the end of the episode, she must have only landed a one-time gig. That's too bad. However, Marvel has a history of retconning and resurrecting so much that one can say this of the following movies:

X-Men 2: Jean dies, but not really

X-Men: TLS: Charles dies, but not really

Thor: Loki dies, but not really

Captain America: Bucky dies, but not really

Avengers: Phil dies, but not really

Iron Man 3: Pepper dies, but not really

Thor 2: Loki dies (again), but not really

Captain America 2: Nick dies, but not really

X-Men: DOFP: Everyone dies, but not really

So I'm hopeful that Lucy isn't dead, but it may be too late to start a "Save Lucy" campaign. Additionally, we got treated to a taste of Agent Carter. Set to star in her own series soon, if you don't recall who Agent Carter is, she's the broad that Captain America fell in love with in the 1930's. We got a little more of her history in Captain America 2, and apparently she was quite influential in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s early days. Alas, a Captain America / Agent Carter hookup was just not meant to be /sniffle.

But most surprising (for me at least) was seeing Absorbing Man. This guy's a supervillain that's battled both Hulk and Thor (he was also one of my favorite HeroClix when I used to play HeroClix). This isn't the first time you've seen Absorbing Man either (if you call yourself a Marvel fan). Ang Lee treated us to his take on absorbing man in the very bad "Hulk" film with Eric Bana. But in case you didn't see that movie then you might be asking: who is Absorbing Man? That's a good question.

I just want to say that I think his history is pretty creative. Absorbing Man's real name is Carl Creel. He was a boxer and jailed criminal who becomes Absorbing Man when he drinks a liquid he got from Loki. It allows him to absorb the properties of anything he touches, so usually he carries around a ball and chain or a diamond. Most of the time, he's defeated by being tricked into changing his atomic structure to other things. At one point he helped Loki take over Asgard and they both ended up getting banished to outer space. Absorbing Man returned to Earth on a comet and ended up battling the Hulk (who was sent to divert the comet).

So in last night's episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. we met up with Carl Creel who was on Shield's termination list because he's part of Hydra. And now he's got a "0-8-4" which is essentially S.H.I.E.L.D. speak for something incredibly badass.

The dreaded Infinity Gauntlet Easter Egg planted in Thor: the Dark World explained

Art by George Perez (yes he's my favorite comic book artist).
The Infinity Gauntlet has already appeared very briefly in the
movie, Thor (the original).

Warning: Nerd Alert Ahead.

So if you (like much of the rest of the movie going world) went and saw Thor: The Dark World in all its fabulousness, then you probably stayed for the scenes Marvel always embeds at the end of the credits. One of these had Thor's Asgardian friends Sif and Volstagg step cautiously through a room filled with all kinds of interesting artifacts from around the galaxy. They are delivering a box emitting a faint red glow to a being known as "The Collector," who was first introduced in the comics in "Avengers #28" back in 1966.

"The Collector" is one of the Elders of the Universe. These are aptly named because to be an "Elder" you must be one of the oldest living creatures in existence. "The Collector" is also aptly named as he spends his time hoarding archives of various treasures. He has filled up ten entire planets that have been converted into museums just to house all of his belongings.

So what's in the box? Well it's the aether (which you see in full force in Thor: The Dark World).  Since Asgard is already watching over "The Tesseract" (the blue cosmic cube in The Avengers movie) they Asgardians have chosen to separate these two things because its dangerous keeping them so close together.

The aether is one of six infinity stones. Sometimes these "stones" are referred to as "gems," so I'm letting you know that to avoid confusion. Anyway, in the Marvel universe there are six of these stones, and they are pictured mounted on the gauntlet above, which is being warn by Thanos (a super bad-ass villain that wants to destroy half the life in the universe because he wants to gain the affections of Death). Each of the Infinity stones are able to control a different element of the universe: mind, soul, time, power, space, and reality. If you have all of them, you could rule over or destroy all life in existence. Oh the power rush!

In the above series, Thanos defeats many of the universe's most powerful entities. They include Galactus, the Stranger, Kronus, and Eternity. Thanos only really gets defeated because he starts being stupid.

Here is what each of the stones can do in the comics:

1) Soul. Green in color, this one allows the user to steal, control, manipulate and alter souls. It is sentient and has a hunger for souls. It is the gateway to an idyllic pocket universe. This one is owned by Dr. Strange so we can expect it to appear in a Dr. Strange movie!

2) Time. Orange in color, this one allows the user total control over the past, present and future. The one wielding it can time travel, can age and youthen beings, and it can trap enemies or entire universes in a permanent loop of time (think Groundhog Day for everyone). It also grants omniscience.

3) Space. Purple in color, this stone allows the user to exist in any or all locations, move any object anywhere throughout reality and warp or rearrange space. It grants omnipresence.

4) Mind. Blue in color, this stone allows the user to greatly strengthen and enhance mental and psionic power and access the thoughts and dreams of other beings. Backed by the "power gem," the mind stone can access all minds in existence simultaneously.

5) Reality. Yellow in color, this stone allows the user to fulfill wishes, even if the wish is in direct contradiction to scientific laws.

6) Power. Red in color, the power jewel accesses all power and energy that ever has or ever will exist. It can boost the other gems' effects, and allows the user to duplicate almost any physical superhuman ability and grants omnipotence.

So there you have it: the dreaded Infinity Gauntlet Easter Egg planted in Thor: the Dark World explained. I know I just made your day now, didn't I?