MCU & DCEU: Mythology Vs Fiction

August 14, 2021

MCU & DCEU: Mythology Vs Fiction

In my last blog I talked about how mythology influences fiction. But this blog about how mythology is adapted directly into fiction. The best examples of myth to fiction exist in the superhero cinematic universes of DC and Marvel. While Marvel borrows a lot from the Norse mythology, DC adapts mostly from the Greek mythology.

NORSE MYTH VS MCU

As you all know how Norse mythical characters like Thor, Odin, Hela, Loki and others are adapted as characters for the Marvel Universe. However, the basic divergence between them are the history of characters, their genealogies, and terminologies. For example: In the mythology, Odin and Thor belong to a class of gods called Aesir, and their realm is called Asgard. Here, the place is named after the tribe. But in Marvel universe the gods are called Asgardians. The tribe is named after the place.

In the fiction, Thor is son of Odin and his wife Frigga. But in the mythology, Frigga is called Frigg, and their son is Baldur. Thor is actually son of Odin and Jord, who is an earth goddess. In Marvel, Laufey is the biological father of Loki, and adopted father being Odin. In the myth, Laufey is actually the name of Loki’s mother, and his father is Fárbauti. He was never adopted by Odin. The adoption seems to be an influence of the historical norms of then Europe, where sons of enemies are taken into custody by the victors so that the enemy doesn’t attack again. In the myth, Hela is named as Hel. This goddess of death isn’t daughter of Odin, but of Loki. Unlike the MCU’s Ragnarök, the actual Ragnarök of Norse mythology is end of the world and also most of its gods. One more thing worth noticing, the only MCU character inspired from Greek mythology is Thanos. He is named after Thanatos, the Greek personification of death.

The Mythology of Marvel Cinematic Universe

MCU: Odin, Thor and Loki

GREEK MYTH & DCEU

The two races of beings depicted in the DC universe are Amazonians and Atantians. Both are inspirations from the Greek mythology. The characteristics are more of less the same, but the main difference is the backstory and genealogy. In the myth, the Queen of Amazons, Hippolyta and her sister Antilope are daughters of Ares. Hippolyta gets killed in multiple stories and hence do not live long enough to be in the modern times. In the DC universe, their origin is not explained but Hippolyta remains their queen till the modern times, and has a daughter Diana with Zeus. This makes Ares, Diana’s half-brother. The name Diana is actually Roman, and her Greek counterpart is Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Artemis is also Zeus’s daughter, which matches with Wonder Woman’s character.

The story of Atlantis is same, an advanced civilisation collapsed inside the ocean. But as in the mythology it belongs to Atlas, the son of Poseidon. Being the god of oceans, Poseidon gifted his son an ocean which we know as the Atlantic Ocean. To make sure, Atlas is the same god who is shown holding a globe. That is actually the sky and not the earth as most people think. In the DC universe, the first king of Atlantis is King Atlan. King Atlan also possesses the trident of Poseidon. You can see, that the demi-god Atlas from the myth is changed to the king Atlan in fiction. A shift from the mythology towards fiction.

Historically, Norse gods are forces of nature, Amazons were probably a class of women warriors from the Anatolia, while Atlantis is understood to be an allegory and not a real race of people. But like myths and mythologies, fiction can have its way for the sake of storytelling.