The Silver Surfer's stats are too low.

Wasn't the Aegis shield given to Athena? And as my own personel rule of thumb the Olympians and the Asgardians have the same type of Immortality. But then again in my world they aren't just a race of beings from another dimension that played at being god, they are Gods. There is no race of Olympian mortals, there is only the Gods and their mortal followers from Earth that were found worthy to reside in Valhalla/Elysium or Hel/Hades. If you worshiped/believed and were good, you got rewarded. On the same token you would get punished for believing and not being true to whatever God you supposedly worshiped.

I've been a fan of Greek (not the lame Roman rip offs centuries later) Mythology since I was in 5th grade and read a book on the Greek Pantheon (my personal fav of all time is Hermes). Yet I never understood why , in Marvel, the Asgardians get the short end of the stick. Is it because the worship of the Greek/Roman Pantheon was around longer? Or is it because they are genrally more poular with the "average" man? If you could call anyone versed in mythology average. The avaerage man probably can't spell it much less know much about it.

Down with the Romans!
DG :bounce:

Well Warlock you bring up a great point about the Asgardians. I don't think that many of the writers view them as NOT being immortal. Simply because most writers have the Asgardain gods refer to themselves as being immortal so often. I THINK this was put into place by Mark Gruenwald, to explain why so many Asgardian gods seemed somewhat elderly(Odin, the Grand Vizer, Hoder etc..). But then again, look at Poseidon. He is Olympian yet he appears about as old as Odin. What's mysterious about this is that Hades is actually older than Poseidon, yet appears to be younger. In my updated stats for these gods, I stated that they present themselves as being older because, in males, its a sign of dignity and majesty etc.. However, in the female gods is the opposite. They value youth and beauty most of all. This could be why every female goddess appears to be a young women(must be, Hera, Demeter and Hestia are all older than Zeus). Just my theory.

Yes Warlock, you are right, Athena currently has the sheild in her "possession", but I was meaning that the sheild really and truly belongs to Zeus. It livens up his stats a little I think to have it as a personal weapon. As for the Asgardian/Greek pantheons. I too was an avid reader of both as far back as I can remember, and it is mentioned that at the come of Ragnarok, the gods will and shall perish. I guess when Marvel originally conceived their stats, they made the Asgardians very long-lived, and the Olympians are true immortals, very hard to kill. I like the difference, keeps it simple. If someone were to research exactly this point they'd probably agree with me, but I would say the Greek pantheon was forming after the Norse pantheon had already been around for a little while. Not real long, but a while longer. Remember, Zeus is the grandson of Gaea, while Odin was once her mate, and Thor is her son. I still would say Zeus is older than Thor, but it does sort of tie the two groups together in a unique way. Thanks, Meanstreak.

I see your point. The whole Ragnarok "your going to die someday anyway" thing does make wether they have immortality or not a moot point. That said the Greeks started worshiping their gods in 800 B.C but the Norse pantheon wouldn't come until centuries later.


DG :bounce:

I think thats the reason some at Marvel view them as just long-lived as well. Norse mythology is one of the few that had stories of their gods actually dying.

However, Odin mating with Gaea really does not reflect on the relative ages of Zeus etc.. Gaea is far older than any Asgardian, even Buri, the first Asgardian, anyway. Thor's half brother is Atum, who is billions of years older than he is. Those wacky gods. ;)

Little known fact about the Asgardians. Tyr was the first god to seek out worshipers among the Norse people. I can't remember the details here, but I believe Odin resisted this for many years for his own reason. However when the Norse(actually Germanic) people misstook Tyr for the "all-father" Odin quickly pointed out the facts to them.

I do have a issue, Thor #300, where Osiris stats that the Egyptians gods are the oldest pantheon.

I always liked the Heliopolitan gods, I just wish Marvel would have elaborated more on them. I mean, they give the writeups for Osiris, Horus, Geb, and Nut, and a few more I think, but what about Ra, Anubis, or Thoth, very prominent deities in that mythos. No writeups whatsoever. Just a point though. I'd like to see Ra's stats, he'd probably be a little more tougher than Osiris I would say, Later, Meanstreak.

Agreed. The Egyptian Pantheon is very cool, yet in something like Ragnarok and Roll they have Heliopolis conquered without even taking them into consideration in the overall adventure (other than the PCs MIGHT fight them in Ares' arena). I think the Egyptian Pantheon has much more to it in terms of history and myth to draw upon for material. Sure the Nordic peoples worshiped their gods for hundreds years, but the Egytpians worshiped theirs for thousands.

DG :bounce:

Actually, Ra might have been the most powerful skyfather. He was said to be, in the Handbook at least, Atum. Actually if he really was Atum there is no doubt he was.

That sounds cool. Where can I find Atum's stats, weren't they listed in a 1991 or 1992 update handbook or something? Really like to see them. Thanks, Meanstreak.

I think that's the one. It's the only one I have ever actually held in my hands. My cousin bought it about 2 years after we stopped playing Marvel and switched to playing D&D full time. I believe it also had Sipey's stats when he had the power of Captain Marvel (or somebody cosmicly powered). On a side note I just missed getting a binder with like 3/4 of all the handbooks cut, hole punched and put in a three ring binder. Worthless for collecting purposes but just what I wanted for playing. But at the last minute someone outbid me. Oh well.


DG :bounce: