How does Marvel 'own' Thor?
It doesn’t. That’s why DC comics has their own Thor.
That’s why a movie studio I have never heard of could make a movie entitled Thor: End of Days that is as blatant a rip-off as I have ever seen.
It’s why the New Zealand TV show, The Almighty Johnsons, about incarnations of the Norse gods could have Thor as a character.
Marvel only owns the very, very specific version of Thor that appears in its comics. Marvel’s copyright covers works it published featuring Thor. And it’s trademark applies in the most narrow possible of ways to specifically their version of Thor.
Anyone can use Thor or any element of Norse mythology in any work. And as long as they can plausibly claim that it is based on the myths themselves and not the very specific version of Thor appearing in Marvel comics, then there’s nothing Disney can do about it.
Now a character like the Enchantress who is original to the comics… well she’s much more well protected from infringement.
If anyone gets tripped up and successfully sued by Disney it would far more likely be because they used something unique to the comics, like the Enchantress or the Warriors Three, than because they used Thor himself (no matter how similar to the comic book version he is).
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