Marvels original idea for Thor was a normal person and a Norse god share a body. Dr. Donald Blake, a partially disabled man in times of trouble can slam his cane into the ground and he transforms into Thor. His cane also changed into a mystical hammer. At that time it was unsure if Blake was real or Thor was real. His nurse was also a love interest to both of them named Jane Foster.
shareEver since Superman, comics decided that every hero absolutely needed a "mild mannered" secret identity like Clark Kent. It makes sense for people like Superman, Batman, and Spider-man, but less sense for characters like Thor and Spectre. I think as comics have come along they've started to play around with the idea of the ubiquitous secret identities and whether or not they're necessary. How Black Panther handles his identity, for example.
shareI believe the original pitch for 'Thor' was for Dr. Donald Blake to be played by Kevin McKidd, who would also transform into Thor. It was revised until Blake was merely name-dropped as Jane Foster's ex-boyfriend in the first film.
I really miss that aspect of Thor. Having the God of Thunder share a body with a crippled human doctor - plus, only being able to transform by stamping his cane on the ground - made the character more interesting. I guess it would be hard to include it now, since 'Shazam' and 'Black Adam' use a similar transformative concept, and 'Doctor Strange' is also about a medical professional / superhero.
Marvel was apparently considering McKidd before casting Chris Hemsworth, but it is doubtful that they had any plans to bring back Donald Blake or to have Thor magically switching between bodies. Odin rid Thor of the "worthiness" curse in Thor #340 in 1984, so it hadn't been a thing in a very long time before they made the first movie.
shareAll of the references to McKidd's potential casting refer to Donald Blake.
A lot of things hadn't been a part of the Thor comic when they made the first movie. Donald Blake was still a huge part of the character's history, though. And although Thor stopped transforming into Blake in 1984, he would magically switch places with Eric Masterson, an architect and single father, until the 90s. Thor hasn't existed as his own entity on Earth for at least half the span of his comic book history.
The movies sidestep this by not having Thor live or fight crime on Earth at all - he's just someone who visits on occasional adventures. He protects the planet because he has a love interest here. His longest stretch of time spent living on Earth was in a house playing video-games with an alien all day, between beheading Thanos and the final battle of 'Avengers Endgame'.
Did the comics flat out ditch Donald Blake?
sharePretty much, but he did come back for one storyline.
https://www.cbr.com/thor-secret-identity-donald-blake-return/
That Donald Blake story sounds like it was written by someone trying to imitate Alan Moore.
What a sad end for the character.
Thankfully Marvel had the sense to ignore that lame storyline!
share