Who Is Surtur, Thor: Ragnarok's Fiery Foe?

In the final moment of the latest trailer for Thor: Ragnarok, we learn that classic Thor villain Surtur will play a role in MArvel's anticipated sequel. It was later revealed that he will be voiced by classic superhero voiceover actor, Clancy Brown, a revelation that just got fans even more excited about his impending face-off with the Odinson and Incredible Hulk.

Surtur is, hands down, one of the top Thor villains of all-time, so his inclusion in the upcoming film is huge. Read on, and we'll explain to you just why the fiery foe has been such an awesome presence in the comics for over 50 years now.

After launching the Thor feature in Journey Into Mystery, Jack Kirby took a bit of a break after eight issues. When the series began, Stan Lee was only plotting the series, while other writers like Lee's brother, Larry Lieber and Robert Bernstein were scripting the comic. With Journey Into Mystery #97, though, Lee took over scripting duties full-time. Lee's new commitment to the book likely inspired Kirby to be willing to re-commit to the series, as well, especially as Lee let him launch a new back-up feature in that issue called "Tales of Asgard." Lee knew Kirby loved Norse mythology and this new feature allowed Kirby to cut loose and examine various pieces of the Norse mythos. One of the major ways that the "Tales of Asgard" backups were used in the early issues were for Kirby and Lee to introduce bold and inventive ideas and then perhaps later work them into the main stories in the title. In other words, a back-up might introduce a character and/or a concept and then a few issues later, that character and/or concept would show up in the main Thor feature.

A perfect example of this was the introduction of Surtur in the "Tales of Asgard" feature in Journey Into Mystery #99. The story (by Kirby, Lee and inker George Roussos) introduced the fire demon known as Surtur, who tried to invade Asgard in the past along with an army of trolls..

At the end of the story, Odin trapped Surtur, where he is ostensibly being held for all eternity...

Sure enough, just five issues later, in Journey Into Mystery #104 (by Kirby, Lee and inker Chic Stone), Loki managed to free both Surtur and a giant named Skagg and they try to destroy the Earth because they know it means a lot to Odin. Odin first sends all of humanity to another dimension briefly, while Surtur tries to melt the polar ice caps and flood the Earth.

Odin ultimately finds a series of asteroids and uses their magnetic properties to suck Surtur to them and trap him there (again, ostensibly for eternity). Odin then reverses time to fix the damage Surtur did to Earth and then retrieves humanity from the other dimension and everything was back to normal.

The "Tales of Asgard" backup in Thor #128 (by Kirby, Lee and inker Vince Colletta - Journey Into Mystery was re-titled Thor with issue #126) is very important because it is the first one to detail the then just theoretical concept of Ragnarok and the destruction of the Norse gods, which is prophesied to be instigated by Loki and destined to involve Surtur...

NEXT: Surtur's Biggest Marvel Role, Ever... Until Thor: Ragnarok

Sure enough, Loki does, in fact, free Surtur to send him to destroy Asgard during a time when Odin was in his Odinsleep (and a treacherous traitor had actually tried to send Odin's sleep capsule to the dimension of death so that when Odin awoke, he'd be screwed). So Thor and the warriors of Asgard basically have to do a suicide mission against Surtur in Thor #177, the second-to-last issue of Thor that Jack Kirby ever drew (inked by Vince Colletta with scripting by Stan Lee).

Balder ended up rescuing Odin and then waking him up. Odin quickly trapped Surtur once again (the amount of Thor stories that are just Odin waking up and solving everyone's problems in two pages are staggering). Surtur actually also briefly appeared in an issue of Avengers before this storyline, where he fought the frost giant Ymir and they basically canceled each other out.

Surtur appeared in a few other Ragnarok-related stories, but that was it for him as a main villain for many years. That all changed when he took part in perhaps his most famous storyline yet. In Thor #337, Walter Simonson took over as the writer/artist on Thor and he intentionally decided to revisit the old Kirby/Lee stories and mine them for new ideas. Surtur became his pick for the big bad in the early part of his run, but how Simonson revealed the villain is the stuff of comic book legend.

In his first issue, we just see a mysterious being creating a giant sword, with the pounding of the metal making the sound "Doom" (letterer John Workman is a national treasure).

This continued in future issues. The main story would continue on its own, but there would be a page or two where this mysterious being would slowly come more into focus.

Finally, the sword was revealed as Twilight, a giant sword and an evil counterpart to the Odinsword. After nearly a year, Surtur and his invading army are finally shown in Thor #346...

Even there, it is a number of issues before they finally land on Asgard. Simonson really knew how to wring every last bit of dramatic tension out of this march by Surtur, making the eventual battle one of the most anticipated events of the year.

The battle against Surtur led to one of the most iconic moments of Simonson's run, where Odin and his two sons, Thor and Loki, team up to put Surtur down. They each exclaim why they fight - "For Asgard!" "For Midgard!" "For myself!" Classic.

In the end, Odin sacrificed himself to trap Surtur. Thus, for the rest of Simonson's run, Odin was out of the picture, which obviously opened things up a lot (which is why many writers try to get Odin out of the way during their runs). After Simonson's run finished, the incoming creative team of Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz brought Odin and Surtur back. Odin tried to solve the Surtur problem once and for all by absorbing Surtur's essence into himself, but that naturally eventually backfired and Surtur was freed.

At the end of the second volume of Thor, Ragnarok finally happens and Surtur, sure enough, plays a major role and in the end, everyone on Asgard dies...

This is just a cycle of course (and specifically, this is comics) so everyone was eventually reborn, including Surtur. However, at first Odin volunteered (once he was reborn, as well) to be trapped in everlasting battle with Surtur to prevent the fire demon from bothering the rest of the universe.

In a crossover between The Mighty Thor and Journey Into Mystery (back when that series returned to its original name to star the adventures of a resurrected young version of Loki), Surtur was freed once more and Thor managed to stop him with the help of Hela releasing all of the dead warriors from Valhalla...

and also using his exiled father, Odin, to absorb the energies from Surtur when Thor managed to kill Surtur with his own sword.

That's where we are with Surtur now, but as we have shown, these things are cycles, and with Thor: Ragnarok about to come out, it will only be a matter of time until Surtur shows his flaming head again in the comics.

CBR

To Surtur, With Love: Who the Hell Is Thor's Fiery Foe?

NEXT: Surtur's Biggest Marvel Role, Ever... Until Thor: Ragnarok