Why is Thor an Avenger?

Question

In the movie The Avengers/Avengers Assemble, Loki says:

......what have I to fear?

Tony tells Loki:

The Avengers. That's what we call ourselves. Earth's mightiest heroes.....

Then why does Thor form a part of the Avengers?

He is not from the Earth. He is from Asgard.

You could rephrase that to mean "The mightiest heroes on Earth". — Valorum, Feb 10 '15 at 11:04
The better question would be: Why would S.H.I.E.L.D. trust an Asgardian? — user931, Feb 10 '15 at 11:08
I meant to quote Tony Stark @Richard. I have edited my question — EdmDroid, Feb 10 '15 at 11:14
Jane Goodall is the Chimpanzees' Greatest Hero - even though she is not one of them.... — CGCampbell, Feb 10 '15 at 13:20
@SS S.H.I.E.L.D. has very little reason to trust any of the superhuman Avengers, but they are the only superhumans around so they take what they can get. — IllusiveBrian, Feb 10 '15 at 15:33
@SS SHIELD know that Thor (if not neccesarily all Asgardians) is trustworthy thanks to the events of Thor. — Dr R Dizzle, Feb 10 '15 at 16:04
@DrRDizzle Due to one event (which could be framed one, because the enemy was from his planet), he shouldn't be trusted. — user931, Feb 10 '15 at 16:07
You can be a hero to/of a place without being a citizen of that place. Jayne Cobb is the Hero of Canton, but definitely not from Canton. — , Feb 10 '15 at 16:28
@SS Remember, they didn't invite Thor, and when he showed up, they attacked him. It was only when he willingly "put that hammer down" and joined them on the helicarrier, demonstrating his willingness to work with them to stop Loki, that they started including him in discussions. — Nerrolken, Feb 10 '15 at 17:35
Before the Ironman/Thor battle in the movie, on the mountain top, Thor said something like "The earth is under my protection" to Loki. If a being similar to a god, definately our understanding of a "superhero", protects the earth without wanting anything back, it would be kind of stupid to exclude him. — Dagon313, Feb 11 '15 at 08:45
@CGCampbell: you are forgetting about the mighty Ape-Vengers! As we are all trying to. — Paul D. Waite, Feb 12 '15 at 16:45

score 93 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 09 '15 at 13:54

Thor is an Avenger for a multitude of reasons.

It's worth noting that the entire plot of The Avengers/Avengers Assemble is set into motion by Thor's actions in Thor. If Thor hadn't waged a war upon the Ice Giants out of pride and anger, then he never would have been banished to Earth, and Loki would have never sent the Destroyer there to kill him. Despite the fact that Thor saved the people of the small New Mexico town, they never would have been in danger if he hadn't been there, and he holds himself responsible for that.

Fast forward a year or so, and Loki is attacking the Earth with an army of Chitauri, and Thor heads to Earth in order to stop it. While confronting Loki in The Avengers/Avengers Assemble, he specifically claims that Loki is

Attacking the world I love for recompense for your imagined slights

believing that Loki's attack on Earth is a result of a personal vendetta Loki holds for Thor, and at the same time claims that

This planet is under my protection.

On top of that, he later learns that SHIELD are creating weapons of mass destruction after learning that there are other worlds out there. Nick Fury personally points his finger at Thor as the reason they are doing so, and Thor realises that, again, his interference with another planet has put its inhabitants at risk.

After saving New York, Nick Fury knows that his plan to create a response team, known as The Avengers Initiative, has been a success. Maria Hill queries how they can protect the Earth when they have all gone their separate ways (some of them pretty far), to which Nick Fury replies;

Because we'll need them to.

Nick Fury clearly believes that the next time the Earth is in danger, the team will reform to keep it safe.

At the end of the day, Thor's initial adventures on Earth, his love for Jane Foster, his responsibility in the Destroyer's attack on the New Mexico town, and the Chitauri Invasion of Earth have all meant that Thor has an interest in (or, as he may see it, a responsibility for) protecting the Earth. By the end of Thor: The Dark World, it would seem that Thor plans on spending more time on Earth with Jane Foster — which means that Thor truly is one of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

It's also worth noting that the initial comic book line up of The Avengers included Thor, who lived on Earth at the time under the alias of Donald Blake. The tagline for The Avengers comics was "Earth's Mightiest Heroes", and Tony's line is a reference to this.

@CGCampbell I'm a stickler for the MCU, particularly the way the characters develop, so I just HAD to do this. — Dr R Dizzle, Feb 10 '15 at 13:35
Donald Blakeson? I always assumed it was Donald Blake. Is there a reference / comic you can cite where the other alias was used? — shivsky, Feb 10 '15 at 20:18
The only reference to Blakeson I could find on Google was a deleted IMDB comment. Everything else just says Blake. — Matthew Read, Feb 11 '15 at 00:09
Should be "to" rather than "too" – normally minor and pedantic, but here it actually caused me some confusion, because I started trying to figure out who would also need them... — KRyan, Feb 11 '15 at 21:19
I thought Thor (and other Asgardians as well) are protectors of all realms, not just Midgard. That's why he was waging the war at the beginning of Thor 2. — Zikato, Jul 09 '15 at 14:39
@Zikato He is, but this question specifically dealt with why he was classed as part of The Avengers team, unlike Nick Fury, for example, who helps out because he is SHIELD but is specifically not an Avenger. — Dr R Dizzle, Jul 09 '15 at 14:45

score 23 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 10 '15 at 10:57

23

The question is not where Thor is from, but for whom he is fighting. The Avengers fight to protect Earth. Thor may have a special interest in protecting the world because of his girlfriend, but he already tried to protect humans in his own movie, when Loki sent the Destroyer.

Also, i think Tony Stark tried to sound cool, and "Earths mightiest heroes" sounds better than "a bunch of people, and your brother is with us too, even though nobody knows why"

answered Feb 10 '15 at 10:57

Alexander Mills

1,977
2
17
23

31

I'd pay to see A bunch of people, and your brother is with us too, even though nobody knows why: Age of Ultron – Daft Feb 10 '15 at 11:12
20

Sub-title: also Spider-Man now I guess, sure why not [Spider-Man is a registered trademark of Sony Pictures Ltd]. – Paul D. Waite Feb 10 '15 at 11:15
5

@PaulD.Waite Maybe it's for the best that we didn't get to name any of the Marvel movies... – Daft Feb 11 '15 at 11:21
1

@Daft or the DC for that matter Water Spandex Guy: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1477834/ – tox123 Mar 20 '16 at 19:15

score 17 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 10 '15 at 17:44

The above answers hit all the main points, but one more thing to remember:

They didn't plan on inviting him

The Avengers Initiative, as conceived by Nick Fury, seemed to include Iron Man and Captain America, along with some SHIELD personnel like Black Widow and Hawkeye. Bruce Banner was only invited for his familiarity with Gamma rays, and Thor was neither invited nor welcome.

But when Loki showed up, Thor wasn't far behind. Even then, when he first appeared, they straight-up attacked him. Iron Man had been briefed on him (we see Thor's file among the rest during Coulson's visit to Stark Tower), but he clearly considered him untrustworthy at best, outright hostile at worst. Without any attempt at discussion, Iron Man went into attack mode and Captain America wasn't far behind, hesitating only out of a general desire to avoid extra conflict. Cap even insists that Thor "prove it" when Thor claims to be there to stop his brother.

It was only when Thor willingly stood down and joined them on the Helicarrier that they began to trust him. No doubt Jane Foster (who they were in contact with, as Coulson mentions they moved her to keep her safe) vouched that Thor would never work with Loki against Earth, and Dr Selvig probably had some good things to say about Thor before Loki turned him. So they had some reason to trust him, and once he started playing nice, they let him in because they could use his help.

But let's not pretend that as soon as Earth was in danger, they called Thor. They didn't want him there, no doubt because they couldn't get in touch with him, but also probably for the very reasons you mentioned.

Also worth mentioning: the World Security Council seemed to have even more of a problem with Thor than the rest of the team. — phantom42, Feb 10 '15 at 18:03
This is the only one of the answers that is truly based on the events of the movie. +1 — CodeMed, Aug 04 '15 at 08:28

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 28 '17 at 16:55

One thing I didn't see in the above answers...

Although Thor is from Asgard, he is obviously well known on Earth. In fact, he has been known on Earth for centuries!

In the Avenger's movie universe as in our own, the Norse religion holds Thor to be one of their central figures. (As mentioned in the movie, Thor) In fact, for all we know, he might've spent more time on Earth cumulatively than Tony Stark or the other humans, given he's effectively immortal. Scifi SE: How old is Thor

As major figure in Earth's history, it would seem to be perfectly reasonable to include him in its defense.

Long time reader, first time poster! – Jul 28 '17 at 16:57 — , Jul 28 '17 at 16:57

Why is Thor an Avenger?

4 Answers4

They didn't plan on inviting him

Linked