Thor Girl

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caption=Thor Girl.
Art by Tom Raney
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Thor Girl
real_name=Tarene
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Thor" vol. 2, #22 "(August 2000)"
creators=Dan Jurgens (writer)
John Romita, Jr. (artist)
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
alliances=The Initiative
aliases=Thor Lass, Asgard Lass, Hammer Girl, Tara Olson, Destroyer, Designate
powers=near-ageless, Asgardian super-strength and invulnerability, mystic chalice grants destructive power|

Thor Girl (Tarene) is a superhero in the Marvel Comics' shared universe, the Marvel Universe. Created by writer Dan Jurgens and artist John Romita, Jr., she first appeared in "Thor" #22 (August 2000).

Fictional character biography

In the beginning of time, alien sorcerer X'Hoss foretells the creation of the Designate, who will help evolve sentient beings to the next level of existence. Billions of years later, Tarene is born. She is told about the fate of the evil Destroyer and together with others seeks a way to stop him. In the meantime, Thanos obtains X'Hoss' knowledge and destroys Tarene's home-world. She gains the help of Thor and Orikal in defeating the villain.

Tarene later transforms herself into an Asgardian goddess and becomes Thor's loyal ally, taking the name "Thor Girl" and the civilian identity of Jake Olson's 'cousin' Tara. She tries to assist Thor in his adventures, aiding him in his confrontations with Gladiator, Loki and Nullitor, but in a later battle against a revived Surtur she sacrifices nearly all of her cosmic powers to contribute the additional power needed to defeat him. Upon Odin's apparent death, Thor Girl loses most of her cosmic powers. She retains the powers she had as Thor Girl. She returns to Earth in an attempt to live a normal life as Tara Olson, but is also seen adventuring occasionally.

She knows that she is destined to, and one day will, regain her full power and then some, to become The Designate.

Civil War/The Initiative

Thor Girl is one of the heroes who registered with the Superhuman Registration Act which was forged during the "Civil War".

After the Superhuman Registration Act is passed, Thor Girl interferes in a jewel theft undertaken by the Grey Gargoyle, a previous foe of hers, and pummels the villain, preventing the jewel heist in the process. In return the Grey Gargoyle undertakes a law suit with the assistance of Mallory Book at the Superhuman Law Offices of Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg and Holliway.

Thor Girl is one of the first recruits for the Camp Hammond training facility. Other fellow trainees include Bengal, Cloud 9, Slapstick, Trauma, Armory, Rage and Komodo.

The Initiative recruits are sent as crowd control in Manhattan with Thor Girl aiding mass evacuation when the city was attacked by the Hulk seeking revenge upon the Illuminati. However, Rage broke ranks to try and help the Avengers in battle against the Hulk and his Warbound, and Thor Girl was among the trainees who sided with Rage. Easily defeated, Thor Girl and the others were imprisoned at Manhattan Square Gardens and controlled by obedience disks. The Initiative's black ops team, including the empathic metamorph Trauma, were sent in to free Thor Girl and her compatriots, with Trauma assuming the form and powers of Thor as he battles the Warbound, leaving Thor Girl awestruck by the encounter.

Subsequent to Trauma's assumption of Thor's form, Thor Girl has expressed a kind of hero worship of and became enamoured with Trauma. However both Tarene and Trauma are brutally attacked by the MVP clone calling himself KIA (Killed In Action). Tarene is badly burned while protecting Trauma, who is then stabbed in the chest by KIA. [Avengers the Initiative #9]

Thor Girl recovered fairly quickly and was assigned together with Ultra Girl to Georgia once her Initiative training was complete. ["Avengers: The Initiative" #12]

Powers and abilities

As her powers are based upon the Asgardians, Thor Girl possesses the conventional physical attributes of the Asgardian gods. She is immune to all Earthly diseases and is highly durable, able to withstand attacks which would destroy an ordinary human. She also will heal at incredible speeds due to her godly life force. Thor Girl also possesses superhuman strength which rivals the most powerful of the gods and her now Asgardian-level metabolism provides her with far greater than human endurance in all physical activities. Additionally, like most Asgardians, she is near-ageless with a lifetime which may stretch into several millennia.

As Thor Girl, Tarene wields a gold hammer through which she could channel her powers as a continuous beam of energy capable of knocking Thor off his feet and shattering buildings. Like Thor, she can also use her hammer to fly and control the weather, allowing her to summon storms, gusts of wind, create lightning bolts and various other effects. She can also traverse dimensional barriers such as from Earth to Asgard.

When she had her cosmic powers the full extent of what she could do was unknown, but it was stated her powers were on a level to rival Odin's.

Other versions

*In one alternate future world, Thor Girl tried to reach back in time to empower the alien Desak trying to locate a missing Thor ["Thor Annual" 2001] ["Thor" vol. 2, #48, 50] .

References