Giants (Marvel Comics)

Giants

The Giants of Jotunheim (Storm Giants) make their first cover appearance. From Journey into Mystery #104
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Journey into Mystery #100
Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
In-story information
Place of origin Asgard

There are different kinds of Giants in Marvel Comics. The most popular of the Giants are the Giants of Jotunheim, a fictional race of people based on the giants of actual Norse legends.

Publication history

Giants of Jotunheim

The Storm giants first appeared in Journey into Mystery #100 (January 1964), and were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby; ice giants and rime giants first appeared in Journey into Mystery #101 (February 1964); frost giants first appeared in Balder the Brave #1 (December 1985).

Ymir first appeared in Journey into Mystery #97 (October 1963); the first Executioner first appeared in Journey into Mystery #103 (April 1964); Laufey first appeared in Journey into Mystery #112 (January 1965); these characters were all created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Utgard-Loki first appeared in Thor #272 (June 1978), and was created by Roy Thomas and John Buscema. Fasolt and the second Fafnir first appeared in Thor #294 (April 1980), and were created by Roy Thomas, Keith Pollard, and Chic Stone. The second Hagen first appeared in Balder the Brave #2 (January 1986), and was created by Walt Simonson and Sal Buscema. Grundroth first appeared in Thor #378 (April 1987), and was created by Walt Simonson and Sal Buscema. Siggorth first appeared in Thor #381 (July 1987), and was created by Walt Simonson and Sal Buscema.

Brimer, King of Storm Giants, and Skagg the largest of the storm giants first appeared in Journey into Mystery #104 (May 1964). Nedra, Queen of the mountain giants, first appeared in Journey into Mystery #105 (June 1964). Arkin the Weak and Knorda the storm giant first appeared in Journey into Mystery #109 (October 1964). Ghan the storm giant first appeared in Journey into Mystery #113 (February 1965). Kaggor the storm giant first appeared in Thor #193 (November 1971).

The Giants of Jotunheim received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 #3.

Fictional biography

Giants of Jotunheim

The Giants of Jotunheim are enormous beings that reside in the other-dimensional realm of Jotunheim, one of the Nine Worlds in Asgardian cosmology. They are the traditional enemies of the Gods of Asgard, with whom they have warred off and on for millennia, trying to bring eternal night to Asgard. Each of the giants can range from 20 feet to 30 feet in height.

The first of the Giants was the Ice Giant, Ymir, who existed before any of the Asgardians. He fought Odin but was imprisoned in a ring of flame. Many different races of Giants arose in Jotunheim, including the Frost Giants, the Ice Giants, the Mountain Giants, the Rime Giants, and the Storm Giants.

Giants of Olympus

The Giants of Olympus are based on the Giants of Greek Mythology. As in the Greek myths Gaea fertilized them from the blood of Uranus. Following the defeat of the Titans, Gaea sought for a way to make the Giants immortal like the Olympians. To keep Gaea from finding a solution to this, Zeus withheld Helios, Eos, and Selene from the night sky so that Gaea wouldn't find it. The Giants were prophesied by the female Titan Themis to be indestructible and could not be killed by a god or an immortal. Zeus obtained the help of his son Hercules to help fight them. Each of the Giants were killed in the similar way as in the actual Greek mythology.[6]

In recent years, a blind Giant named Zeno and a one-armed giant named Callias encountered Hulk near the entrance to Tartarus where they held a meal to honor their brethren that are imprisoned there. They shared their meal with Hulk until it was interrupted by an attack from Ares. This attack ended up causing Hulk to attack Mount Olympus upon Hulk being convinced by Zeno and Callias that the Olympian Gods were his enemies. Callias and Zeno rallied the Giants into breaking the seal on Tartarus which ended up freeing Cronus. Cronus, Callias, and Zeno then stormed Mount Olympus only to end up fighting Hulk and Hercules. Hercules managed to slay Callias and Zeno before resealing Tartarus after throwing Cronus back into Tartarus.[7]

Some years later, Hulk was invited to Mount Olympus as a guest of the Olympians. He and Hercules later took a path where they ended up fighting some Giants.[8]

Known Giants

Frost Giants of Jotunheim

Ice Giants of Jotunheim

Mountain Giants of Jotunheim

Rime Giants of Jotunheim

Storm Giants of Jotunheim

Giants of Olympus

Other versions

Ultimate Universe

In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Frost Giants appear once again as Loki's henchmen in Ultimate Comics: Thor. One of the more prominent ones is named Mammoth, who is Loki's half-brother.[9]

In other media

Television

Film

Video games

References

  1. Journey into Mystery #112
  2. Journey Into Mystery #97
  3. Journey Into Mystery #109
  4. Journey Into Mystery #101
  5. Journey into Mystery #100
  6. Greek/Roman Myth
  7. Hulk Vs. Hercules: When Titans Collide #1
  8. Hulk: Hercules Unleashed #1
  9. Ultimate Comics Thor #2 (Jan. 2011)
  10. Drew McWeeny (July 27, 2010). "Comic-Con: 'Avengers' assemble and 'Captain America' and 'Thor' give first looks". HitFix. Retrieved September 7, 2010.
  11. Weintraub, Steve (2010-12-10). "Colm Feore On Set Interview THOR; The King of the Frost Giants Reveals All!". Collider. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
  12. http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/jpdqdo/lego-marvel-super-heroes-e3-2013--character-walkthrough--cam-

External links