The Mighty Thor: By Mark Gruenwald

Before being best known for his decade-long run on Captain America, his Squadron Supreme Limited Series, and his 5-year run on Quasar (Wendell Vaughn), The Late/Great Writer, Mark Gruenwald was both writer and editor on the Mighty Thor Title (thus let’s explore that):    

Teaming up with “Ralph Macchio (not the Karate Kid Actor)”, the duo would team up to write several issues of Thor (including serving as an editor (for Thor #297) and a writer (for Thor #299) during Writer Roy Thomas’s Eternals saga, Picture: Top Left Corner), then starring with Thor #300, both Gruenwald and Macchio would continue to work on Thor, within #301 (Picture: Top Right Corner), the duo introduces large pantheon of various gods from different mythologies (which would later serve as the inspiration for “Thor: Love & Thunder”, in a way).

The duo would continue to work on the Thor (but mostly wrote the “Tales of Asgard” backup features within those issues), later on, Gruenwald himself would take more of an “editor” on the Thor title (even during the earliest issues of Walt Simonson’s legendary Thor Run) before during in the mid-1990s (before his unexpected passing) to edit the Warren Ellis Thor Story arc (Worldengine). Walt Simonson’s legendary Thor Run added a lot of excited/weird elements into the Thor title (Pictures: Bottom Center), like Beta Ray Bill, Throg, and the TVA.  

  

A (little) fun fact is that TVA member, Mobuis M. Mobuis (Picture: Bottom Left Corner) is loosely based on Mark Gruenwald himself and is now portrayed by Owen Wilson (picture: Bottom Right Corner). Plus Walt Simonson had a memorable stint writing the Avengers, in which Gruenwald himself served as the editor, but a dispute over the new roster with Avengers #300 (Picture: Bottom Center) made Simsonson quit the book and both Macchino & Gruenwald (briefly) do a fill-in Avengers trilogy story arc (The Super-nova Saga). 

Though you have to admit, Simonson’s New Avengers line-up is pretty unique, featuring “The Captain (Steve Rogers), Thunder god (Thor), the Fantastic couple (Reed Richards and Sue Storm) and an Eternal (Gilgamesh)”, thus I wonder…” what sorta problems did editor Mark Gruenwald have with this quirky line-up” (it’s extremely creative, I’ll give you that).  

And thus, I’ve always wondered “What if…Mark Gruenwald did a 10-year run on Thor (instead of Captain America)”, thus, could that also mean “What if Walt Simonson wrote Captain America (instead of Mark Gruenwald)”, here’s even a drawing of Captain America: by Walt Simonson (Picture: Bottom Left Corner). According to the Captain America 75-year anniversary Magazine (Picture: Bottom Right Corner), Writer/Editor Tom DeFalco and Artist Ron Frenz were close to taking over the Captain America title (even proposing to do a Daredevil Run after Frank Miller left the title and before Ann Nocenti kicked off her Daredevil Run), but after listening to Gruenwald's many titles for the Captain America, DeFaclo encouraged Gruenwald (who was the editor on the Cap title) to take over writing duties (with DeFalco and Macchio serving as editor and editor-in-chief on the Cap title), meanwhile Ralph Macchio was the editor on Thor and encouraged DeFalco/Frenz to do Thor (Picture: Bottom Center)

http://epicmarvelpodcast.com/interview-defalco/

(Click here to listen to Tom Defalco’s podcast interview on his Thor Run)

The way I would describe the “DeFalco/Frenz Thor Run” is that it’s like a “love letter to the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby Thor Run from the 1960s” while mixing some of the high-flying adventures from Walt Simonson’s (recent) Thor Run, thus my guess is that (had they did either their Captain America/Daredevil Run), a DeFalco/Frenz Captain America Run would’ve been loosely based around the Lee/Kirby’s Cap run from Tales of Suspense (mixed with elements from Steve Englehart’s 1970s Cap Run) and a DeFalco/Frenz Daredevil Run would’ve been loosely based around the Stan Lee/Gene Colan Daredevil Run (mixed with elements from Gerry Conway’s Daredevil Run), that’s just my guess. As for “What if…Mark Gruenwald did a 10-year run on Thor (instead of Captain America)”, my guess is that Gruenwald's Thor run would’ve been similar to the DeFalco/Frenz Thor Run (where it was a balance between Thor going on various mythology/cosmic adventures and making his adventures on Midgard more interesting/fun) and then later have someone take on the mantle of Thor (where in the “DeFalco/Frenz Thor Run”, it was Eric Masterson who took over the title of Thor before becoming a hero in his own right, Thunderstrike, whom both DeFalco/Frenz did a series based on him), where in Mark Gruenwald's Cap run, John Walker became Captain America for a time and is now the US Agent (though had Gruenwald did a Thor Run, could he had done what DeFalco/Frenz did)?  

A little interesting fact is that after doing his (brief) stint on Thor and before taking over the Captain America Title, Mark Gruenwald wrote his 4-issue mini Hawkeye Series (Picture: Top Right Corner) and then did his 10-year run on Captain America (Picture: Top Left Corner), makes me wonder on what he saw in the “Archer Avenger and the Star-Spangled Man” that made him want to write those types of characters more so than compared to the like of the God of Thunder himself, Thor?

Another fun fact is that before Ann Nocenti kicked off her Daredevil Run (which is like “Frank Miller’s Daredevil Run 2.0) is that Grunewald did a fill-in issue of Daredevil (Daredevil #234, Picture: Top Center), drawn by Steve Ditko and featuring Gruenwalds own villain creation from his Captain America Run (Madcap), thus (again) has me pondering the question, “What if…Mark Gruenwald wrote Daredevil (instead of Captain America)” and “What if…Ann Nocenti wrote Captain America (instead of Daredevil)”, A Mark Gruenwald Daredevil Run would’ve been based around the “Dennis O’Neil/Neal Adams Batman Run” (especaily since his Quasar Run was a bit inspired by the “John Broome/Gil Kane Green Lantern Run, but that’s another story) & An Ann Nocenti Captain America Run would’ve predated several elements we would’ve seen later within Ed Brubaker's 8 year run on Captain America (which had a “Mission Impossible-styled theme and influenced much of 2014s Captain America: The Winter Solider), yet Brubaker could’ve almost beaten Gruenwalds Cap Run.   

To be fair, The God of Thunder/Crowd Prince of Asgard, The Mighty Thor Himself, is a challenging character to write about, as many writers have added their own spin to him (even in the MCU, where they tried to make him both humorous and serious at the same time), plus Sam Raimi was close to doing a Thor film in the 1990s with Stan Lee (Picture: Top Center), shame Raimi’s version of Thor didn't have a came in his Multiverse of Madness film, perhaps with both “Avengers: Kang Dystany and Avengers: Secret Wars” on the horizon, perhaps Raimi’s version of Thor could appear (or it could serve as a possible “Thor 5”)

https://screenrant.com/sam-raimi-90s-thor-movie-unmade-fox-not-mcu/

(Click here to read more about Sam Raimi’s 1990s (unmade) Thor Film) 

Plus I’d also like to know more about Gruenwald's reaction when during DeFalco/Frenz’s Thor Run (Thor #390, Picture: Bottom Center) Steve Rogers (simply known as “The Captain” at the time) lifted Thor’s Hammer (Mjolnir), which would later come to life in 2019s Avengers: Endgame (as there’s plenty one man can do..if he’s the right man)! 

So if somebody else wants to explain more about Mark Gruenwald’s (Brief) Run on Thor (and ponder more on “What if…Mark Gruenwald did a 10-year run on Thor, instead of Captain America”) and (fingers cross) if Sam Raimi pitches his Thor Film for the MCU or if a Raimi-version of Thor appears in the Future Avengers Films… 

Ethan Stranger signs off