Lord Liaden

Nope. Anyone who thinks to suplex a giant wolf gets full credit from me. One of the things I really enjoy about The Incredible Hulk is how clever Hulk is in using his strength and his environment during a fight. While he lacked any formal training, tactically he was quite imaginative when he needed to be.

I don't think you could find an actor who comes closer to "myth made reality" than Chris Hemsworth. From his first appearance on screen he fit Thor like Chris Evans fits Steve Rogers, Benedict Cumberbatch fits Stephen Strange, and Chadwick Boseman fit T'Challa. (RDJ made Tony Stark fit him, rather than the other way around.)

Definitely one of the things on my lottery list.

I would say there are other factors that influence whether these events count as displays of heroism. One is the context surrounding the fall. For example, in Superman II with Chris Reeve, Superman gives up his powers for love, only to discover he's left his world unprotected. He has to experience pain and humiliation before he could become Superman again. That paragon of never giving up, Captain America, lost faith in his country in the comics 'way back in the 1970s, and became Nomad to travel America and rediscover his idealism. In the comics Tony Stark had his first bout with alcoholism in 1979, which crept up on him subtly at first as he dealt with mounting pressures. It was resolved less dramatically than his second fall, which turned him into a derelict and which most fans felt went too far. But I think that example highlights another factor that can make a difference: repetition. Heroes can be excused losing their conviction under extraordinary circumstances, as long as those circumstances don't become the norm. What happened to Thor in the MCU was the culmination of almost unimaginable tragedy. I don't look at it as making him as flawed as any normal person. Almost anyone else would have broken under that weight long before Thor did. It speaks to his heroism and strength of will that he kept going as long as he did. Starlord in the MCU was never a hero. He's an opportunistic rogue who found people he cares enough about to fight to protect. But he's always been shown to be a cocky, undisciplined hothead. I don't know how he's depicted in comics, but his action in Endgame was predictable under the circumstances. Oh, just to respond to slikmar's point re the Hulk: I made a point of asserting that Hulk's raw power is in the same class as the other MCU big leaguers. Hulk and Thanos are close in strength (Thanos might be a shade stronger), but this Hulk always fought like a brute, relying on overwhelming force to defeat his opponents; although even when childlike he often displayed clever improvised tactics as needed. Thanos was clearly far superior in hand-to-hand training and experience, which is how he could maul Hulk. That deficiency in the Hulk's combat prowess has been exploited by Thor and Abomination, as well.

The log in McConnell's eye just caught fire...

Got another one for you:

Very common for there to be no rivers in deserts. As for grassland, as it's mostly flat there may be no rivers or lakes large enough to be shown on the map. Much of the available water may be below ground in aquifer.

Another similarity between the two societies was complex social stratification. There was sharp demarcation between commoners and nobility, with many classes devoted to specialized tasks. The kings were considered semi-divine figures.

Yeah, that meme is really making the rounds with their new movie getting closer.

I wonder how Tamarians would metaphorically describe, "lunch break"?

I'm glad that was helpful. Thematically for your fictional civilization, consider some of the architectural similarities between Khmer and Maya. Although very distinct from each other stylistically, both constructed monumental buildings without use of the keystone arch, and decorated their surfaces with many relief carvings.

I would suggest looking at the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, prevalent throughout southeastern Mexico and much of Central America. Highly urbanized during their Classical period, Maya cities with populations in the tens of thousands in the lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula were literally carved out of the jungle. Of particular note is Maya exploitation of cenotes in Yucatan as a source of fresh water. Another outstanding example is Angkor, capital city of the Khmer Empire, centered in modern Cambodia. Thanks to an extensive and sophisticated irrigation system, Angkor was the core of a connected urban region of up to a million inhabitants, one of the largest of the pre-industrial world. After its abandonment in the 15th Century Angkor was almost completely overgrown by the surrounding jungle, until restoration efforts starting in the early 20th Century uncovered the full extent of the ruins.

I'm going to love watching how any self-proclaimed American patriot using Parler rationalizes this. BTW I hear all the Americans pronouncing this social medium's name, "parlur," which sounds really cute to me, because "parler" is a French word, pronounced "par-LAY," literally the verb, "to speak."

British Columbia has Push and Be Damned Rapids, while there's a town in Quebec named St. Louis de Ha! Ha! On Champions Earth there's a couple of interesting place names in New Mexico. In the desert of White Sands, where the first atomic bomb was tested, many years later an experimental "delta bomb" was detonated which left the desert permanently irradiated with strange energy. That energy also mutated animals and humans in the desert into zombielike forms. The desert has since been renamed Burning Sands. Also in New Mexico, a recreation of a frontier town, supposedly a tourist attraction, was actually set up as a front to cover a VIPER research lab. The town is called Snake Gulch.

Very cool and spectacular moment; but even that pales beside the full godly might Thor displayed during his debut film, when he truly came across as God of Thunder. Like this: Thor's arrival in Wakanda during Endgame was the first movie moment in a long time that came close to recapturing that sense of godliness.

Absolutely agree. That was exactly my point, that Asgard was built over time, a luxury which movies don't have as much of. But keep in mind, too, that for many issues of Thor's run the character had a humanly-relatable side, Dr. Donald Blake. All of us, including Thor, believed at first that he was really the mortal Blake who had gained the power of Thor, like a few other holders of the hammer have. It was only after several years that it was revealed Blake was a false identity, the transformation of Thor by Odin to teach him humility. By that time comic Asgard was well established, yet Blake lingered as a minor element until Walt Simonson's writer/artist run on the title.

With all the talk dissecting MCU Thor, I thought a little palate-cleanser might be welcome.

MCU Hela isn't the most relevant example, as Thor wasn't even aware she existed until Odin's deathbed confession that he deliberately concealed that part of his past. And I have no doubt that Thor had experienced loss over his lifetime, but it couldn't have been deeply personal, because it's clear from his attitude in his first movie that he had never failed before, at least to his way of thinking. Every one of Tony Stark's movie appearances had involved some action of his that drove the plot, and led to character growth, whether it's accepting consequences for his past actions and trying to make amends, or embracing self-sacrifice, or facing his own mortality, or coping with PTSD, or reconciling in his heart with his late father, or learning to be part of something greater than himself. But I do agree that his whining can get annoying at times. It's mostly Stark/Downey's wit and charm that lead most of the audience to let him get away with it.

You may very well be right that sensibilities have changed. But I think there was something else at work. Comic-book Thor never really fit in the modern world, but he came from a world where he did, where things and people are grander, nobler, and more awe- and/or terror-inspiring than on Earth. And Thor's comic title built that world of Asgard and its attendant regions, and gave Thor friends and enemies to interact with who operated on the same level and shared the same style. Comic readers could accept his grandiloquence and honor and boasting of his prowess, because his whole native milieu is like that. Asgard was never developed to the same degree in the MCU. That may have been a deliberate choice, or just a function of the limited time for background that they had in a movie. But they hadn't given the movie-going audience enough to connect with it, and they were tuning out. Personally I would have preferred a movie that did for Asgard what Black Panther did for Wakanda, but it's too late for that now.

I have read all Thor's myths, and you're right. Thor wasn't a grinning frat boy, he was a rather simple-minded, rash, short-tempered, violent lummox, good for killing the enemies of the gods but not a lot besides. A good hero for Vikings, not so much for the sensibilities of the modern world. The comic character himself differs radically from mythic Thor, as he had to for his comic to sell. I'm afraid I have to strongly disagree. As a character, after his first film appearance Thor was in a rut. Every action he took was only in reaction to someone else: his brother, his father, his foes like Malekith and Ultron. Thor wasn't changing or growing. That's why Hemsworth said he was getting bored; and that's why he and Kevin Feige and Taika Waititi agreed to blow up all the constants in Thor's life. Feige and Hemsworth understand very well that a hero is defined by the challenges they face. There's no heroism in always standing tall if you're never at risk of falling short. It's a fall that makes the subsequent rise so inspiring. No one has had more reason to fall as far and hard as Thor, but when it really mattered he stood up again. That's a hero. (And all this is coming from a guy who HATES that entire story line. But I can see why they did it, and it makes both dramatic and economic sense.)

Thank you, csyphrett and Starlord. It seems people keep forgetting to look at the whole arc of the MCU, because Endgame is the culmination of a decade-long story. Thor's life since his film debut has brought a series of tragic losses and failures. As he says to Rocket in Infinity War, "What more could I lose?" Because at that point he believed he's lost everything. And then he finds out how very much more he could lose. And it's his fault.

Which would certainly be different from Halfjack, as steriaca is asking for. Also makes it more likely that the character would voluntarily choose to have this done to her. And she would only be a "sexy monster" if she was role played as sexy. If she was driven to beat the men at their own game, as female VIPER agents often have to be to succeed, using her "feminine wiles" could be the last thing she'd do.

Looks like oil rises to the surface as readily as cream.

You might find another useful example in Cyborgs Inc., a small group often employed by VIPER, from the Fourth Edition source book, VIPER (in PDF in the online store). The co-leaders of the group, the cyborgs Heinous and Despite, are siblings who hate each other, but work together for mutual profit. Parts of their powers, histories, personalities, and relationship might be adapted to flesh out Halfjill (or "Jill-Plus," great suggestion pinecone) and her dynamic with Halfjack.