Is Thor Bulletproof?

A couple days ago, images surfaced from the upcoming Thor #4, which feature Thor standing all badass-like while a group of militants proceed to unload several clips of ammo into our favourite Norse God. Typically, Thor's been portrayed as the most powerful being in the Marvel Universe and JMS's version has been shown to be no slouch in that regard. After seeing said images I thought to myself, "Self, Thor sure did show those bullets who's boss." and proceeded to go about my daily business.

Little did I know that the many fans of Thor were in bitter turmoil as they divided into various camps. On one side are the Thor diehards claiming that JMS deserves to be fired for making Thor bulletproof. On the other are the Thor faithful that believe it is foolish for Thor, a nigh invulnerable God, to not be bulletproof. He's a God that's taken attacks and energy blasts from Celestials for crying out loud. How could he be felled by a single bullet? Read on to find out.

Seeing the battle lines drawn in the sand, I thought to myself again, "Self, WTF are they talking about?" and decided to look into the matter myself only to find out, much to my own surprise, that Thor is actually deathly allergic to bullets!

Apparently, Thor has almost always been portrayed as lacking in the anti-bullet invulnerability department. Don't believe me? Here's what former Avengers scribe and fountain of knowledge, Kurt Busiek, had to say about the matter.

By the way, I've now read through the run of THOR, THUNDERSTRIKE, JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY and AVENGERS, and feel I'm able to make a judgment on whether Thor's bulletproof. I haven't reread two of the THOR Annuals, since they seem to have been misfiled, and I haven't reread either EMPEROR DOOM or I WHOM THE GODS WOULD DESTROY, since I'll be getting to the GNs at the end of this whole mess. But I've read the vast bulk of Thor appearances, so it's unlikely that there are any surprises awaiting.

And to absolutely nobody's surprise, the conclusion I reach from the data is that he's not bulletproof. He doesn't act as if he's bulletproof, he doesn't talk as if he's bulletproof, and we've seen his skin cut by blades. He says guns can kill him, and I'll take him at his word.

THOR #480, the one time we see bullets bounce off him, turns out not to be part of any recent accumulation of evidence -- it's the one and only time that this happens, and much of the scene violates earlier-established stuff. He claims that bullets don't puncture Asgardian skin, though Hogun was shot.

He apparently survives a point-blank hit by an air-to-air missile, when he's been knocked for a loop by less in the past. This scene simply contradicts the vast bulk of the other evidence.

So here's how I handle contradictions:

When a contradiction arises, it should be resolved in the way that disturbs the overall pattern the least; the way that requires the least amount of retconning. To decide that the scene is correct requires us to take large chunks of plot out of earlier stories (Hogun doesn't get wounded, the Asgardians have no reason to be impressed by automatic weapons and use them to invade Hel, etc.). But to decide that the scene is slightly incorrect requires only two minor fixes:

1. When the plane fires at him, the scene is slightly misdrawn; what actually happens is the bullets all hit his armor, and the welts he's referring to are the welts caused by the impact of the bullets through the armor. Even such powerful gunfire can't do more than raise welts on Asgardian flesh through armor.
2. When the missile hits him, he's intending to dodge at the last moment, but appears not to make it. However, that scene, too is slightly misdrawn; he actually did make it and was far enough away from the explosion to escape unaffected.

Those two changes preserve the sweep of Thor history with the most minimal of adjustments; everything else can then stay the same.

Hope that satisfies everyone -- I know there are people out there who'd like him to be bulletproof, but I hope they'll at least see that I gave it a fair shot, weighing all the evidence and coming to a conclusion based on what's in the actual books.

And I never did find that panel of him being shot in the shoulder. Maybe I'll run across it in MARVEL TEAM-UP, or TWO-IN-ONE, or a guest-shot somewhere...

kurt

Clearly, JMS's resurrected Thor would be different from the typical portrayal of our favourite Norse God, but is making him bulletproof going too far? He's already removed the ye olde speech impediment, forever denying us any future "I would have words with thee!"'s.

Personally, I just found this way too random a story not to talk about. I just assumed Thor was bulletproof. He takes hits from the Hulk and blasts from Gods and Celestials and what have you. How could Random Thug #20383 kill the God of Thunder with a simple bullet?

I'm curious to see how everyone else weighs in on this. Did you know Thor wasn't bulletproof? Do you care if he is or isn't? Is JMS committing sacrilege or is this finally the proof of concept you needed in your quest to prove Thor was, indeed, bulletproof?

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