Module 5: Supergods - Environmental Manipulation

 

Storm, The Mighty Thor, and the Mythogenic Zone

Something that stuck with me in Chalquist's "Comic Books as Contemporary Myths" felt incredibly pertinent to Ororo Monroe's Storm and Jane Foster's journey and transformation into The Mighty Thor: "...we develop gnosis not to separate from others, but to join with self, others, world, and cosmos." 

Chalquist, of course, is talking literally about gnosis as it exists as an array of different topics of internal knowledge, especially that which is spiritual. I think Chalquist's description of gnosis lends itself directly to the unique relationship between Storm and the earth, and the Mighty Thor and any land she graces below the heavens. Storm and the Mighty Thor's powers, being directly linked to the environment (specifically the weather, thunder, lightning, etc.), tether them as individuals to the world and everyone within it. The consequences of their actions, both bad and good, don't just affect them, but everyone in the surrounding physical environment—and knowing that information dictates how they choose to wield their power:

The abilities given to them by their respective myth systems—Storm having genetically inherited the powers of an "African goddess" of fictional origin and Thor, of course, being based in Norse mythology—aren't like other powers we've seen because they can't really be used in secret. The weather and the skies are known to all, and manipulation of them makes for a very public power, as demonstrated on pg. 18 of Storm #1 (2014):

On this page, Storm returns to her community to assist it in the wake of a narrowly avoided tsunami; she was initially discouraged from doing so by armed local entities working for Suncorp, but claims of her being a sellout by an alienated student forced her to reconsider her priorities. Storm comes to the conclusion that it's more important to help her people than it is to bow to anti-mutant violence and corporate greed. Corporate greed and harmful human intervention is a cause for a lot of negative environmental manipulation, and Storm is a barrier against this.

The Mighty Thor, to the detriment of Jane Foster's health, uses her power to attempt to bring about peace and justice throughout the cosmos. Similarly to the way that Storm does on earth, Thor uses her manipulation of the environment—her command of thunder and lightning—to help the various and sundry denizens of the nine realms by killing Mangog and throwing him into the sun:




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