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| The Avengers! |
For my
first post I kind of wanted to focus more on the Avengers just because I think
a lot of people have seen the movie recently and all the characters are fresh
in everyone's mind. I know working at a movie theater there is already a lot of
excitement for the next installment of the second Avengers with the start of
each characters movie being made again.
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| Thor |
To Begin I want to break up each of
these characters and kind of compare them to actual Mythological characters and
how they resemble each other. First let’s just get Thor out of the way because
he comes straight from Norse Mythology so there's no need to compare him to
himself he's the real deal. =)
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| Captain America |
1. Captain America was a Hero that was created during
the period of World War 2. Steve Rogers (Captain America) was just a regular
guy but was chosen by a scientist to test a new drug that made him into Captain
America, a superhero dedicated to defending the USA ideals. In the movie
Captain America's whole mission/ambition was to destroy "Red Skull"
who was a depiction of Hitler. Captain America is basically like the Greek Hero Perseus.
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| Perseus |
Perseus sets out as a
young man to go and chop off the head of Medusa for a wedding gift to the King.
Perseus is the son of Zeus which gives him some super powers to make it
possible for him to get Medusa's head. This is similar to Captain America.
Because of the drug he was given he has super human powers which made it also
possible for him to take down the "Red Skull".
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| Hawkeye |
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| Apollo |
2. Hawkeye "When he was a wee lad, Clint Barton ran away from the orphanage to join
the circus and became the protégé of the carnival’s resident trick-shot archer.
He took naturally to the weapon and developed into an ace marksman. Inspired by
Iron Man, Clint became a costumed crime-fighter, but he was initially mistaken
for a bad guy while foiling a robbery. Hawkeye joined the Avengers after the
founding members decided to take a leave of absence. He proved his mettle in unusual
fashion: By successfully breaking into the team’s well-defended
mansion."(Jensen) Hawkeye can be compared to Apollo. Apollo was known as
being "the most Greek of gods" he was known as being the lord of the
silver bow. "Python, which once lived in the caves of Parnassus. It was a
frightful monster and the contest was severe, but in the end the god's unerring
arrows won the victory." (Hamilton) Both Hawkeye and Apollo are similar
simply because they are both known for their awesome skill at a bow. Hawkeye
has his designed arrow tips that can do different things, and Apollo has his
godly super powers that make him good at shooting his bow.
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| Ironman making suit |
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| Hephaestus |
3. Ironman was a brilliant engineer who owned
his own company Stark enterprises. While overseas introducing a new weapon
design he is overthrown by terrorists and is saved by having an arch reactor
heart transplant put inside him to keep the metal fragments inside his body
getting to his heart. Eventually he fashions his own suit powered by his
"heart" and escapes the terrorist group. Ironman is like the Greek
god Hephaestus. Hephaestus
is also well known for having his own workshop in Olympus "fashioning self
pumping bellows or perhaps automatons which worked the bellows in obedience to
his orders."(Funk) Both Ironman and Hephaestus is smart engineer that make their own
equipment that answer to them. Like how Ironman's suit and everything else
talks to him and does what he asks.
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| Black Widow |
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| Artemis |
4. Black Widow "Born circa 1928, Natalia
Romanova was apparently orphaned as a child when she was trapped in a burning
building during an early attack on Stalingrad by enemy forces. Ivan Petrovitch
Bexukhov, a soviet solider, found Natasha in the inferno and rescued her.
Although Ivan kept a close eye on Natasha as she grew, by the late 1930s she
had attracted the attention of soviet intelligence, which began her training.
In 1941, she was almost brainwashed into serving the ninja clan the hand, but
was saved by Ivan, Logan (wolverine) and Captain America. Following World War
2, Natasha was recruited to become part of the Avengers." (Black Widow) In my opinion I think
Natasha or "black widow" is like the Greek god Artemis. Artemis was one of the
three main goddess of Olympus. She was the twin sister of Apollo. "She was
the Lady of Wild Things, Huntsman'-in-chief to the gods, an odd office for a
woman. In many stories she is fierce and revengeful." It was also known
that if someone was a killer of woman they would have to deal with her wrath. I
think Black widow and Artemis are similar because they are both extraordinary
women who aren't your regular woman who sits back behind the man.
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| Hulk |
5. Hulk became the super hero he is
because of his research of gamma radiation. He ended up testing it on himself
making him into the green giant. But he became the super hero in the Avengers
by his ability to control the transformation from human to Hulk and not always
go out of control and destroy everything in sight. I think the Hulk is like the
Greek god Gilgamesh's friend Enkidu.
“Enkidu is a central figure in the Ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh.
Enkidu was formed from clay and saliva by Aruru, the goddess of creation, to
rid Gilgamesh of his arrogance. In the story he is a wild man, raised by animals
and ignorant of human society until he is bedded by Shamhat. Thereafter a
series of interactions with humans and human ways bring him closer to
civilization, culminating in a wrestling match with Gilgamesh, king of Uruk.
Enkidu embodies the wild or natural world, and though equal to Gilgamesh in
strength and bearing, acts in some ways as an antithesis to the cultured,
urban-bred warrior-king.” (Wikipedia) These two characters are both of great
strength and are considered “wild men”
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| Enkidu is on the left |
Overall
the similarity between all of these stories Comic and Mythology is the Hero’s
Journey discovered by Joseph Campbell. The Hero’s journey is where “a hero
ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural
wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won:
the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow
boons on his fellow man.” (Walters) “Joseph Campbell recognized that
understanding the mythic pattern of the hero’s adventure can help each person
see the hero in themselves- and that life/awareness is a journey to be taken
with purpose and followed to the rewards of its conclusion.” (Callis) Each one of the Avenger characters goes through that journey to become
the hero they are today. As does the Greek gods. In my opinion Comic’s are our
modern day Mythology. It’s the supernatural world we wish existed with super
hero’s to come and save the day.
Works Cited
1. Hamilton,
Edith. Mythology. New York, Boston.
Little brown. 1999
2. Funk
& Wagnall’s. Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend. New
York. Harper & Row Publishers. 1972,1920,1949.
3. Callis,
Kristin. Notes. The Hero.
4. Walters,
Dave. “The Spiritual Lessons of the Avengers.” Examiner.com. May 9, 2012.
5. Jensen,
Jeff. “Avengers Files: Getting a bead on Hawkeye.” EW.com. April 29, 2012.
6. Author
Unknown. Ironman Biography/History. http://www.superherostuff.com/biographies/ironmanbiography.html
7. “Black
Widow.” Marvel Wiki. Marvel.com. November 18,2012
8. “Enkidu.”
Wikipedia. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. The Epic of Gilgamesh, Foster, Benjamin R. trans. & edit. New York: W.W.
Norton & Company, 2001. ISBN 0-393-97516-9a
