Where is Thor in American Gods?

American Gods has brought up many questions. One of the biggest is where Thor is in American Gods.

Everyone knows who Thor is. The MCU made sure of that. The Norse God, associated with thunder and lightning, is probably one of the most well-known gods because of it, which is probably why a lot of fans are wondering where Thor is in American Gods.

Now, before we go any further if you don’t want any spoilers, you shouldn’t read any further. While this is purely speculation and I could turn out to be wrong, there’s a chance that it is a major spoiler. Plus, there are some major spoilers from the Neil Gaiman novel “American Gods.”

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In terms of the book, Thor is dead. Wednesday briefly mentions how Thor killed himself in the year 1932 in Philadelphia. However, this doesn’t mean he is gone for good. If it did, this would be an incredibly short post. Also, TV shows rarely stick to the books they are based on.

So, looking more specifically at the TV show, is Thor going to be introduced in American Gods? Well, depending on your view point, Thor may have already been introduced.

Some fans believe Shadow Moon is in fact Thor reborn. There is some evidence to support this, such as when Shadow Moon was lynched. When this happened a storm broke out around him, with thunder and lighting exploding everywhere.

There is also the scene where it appears as though Shadow Moon made it snow. While Thor is more commonly associated with thunder and lightning, his power is also associated with being able to harness the weather and create a storm, in this case, a snow storm.

However, in saying all that, it is highly unlikely our main character is Thor, as Neil Gaiman has explained the importance of him. I won’t go spoiling that for you but if you do want to know, click here. The simple point to take away is that Shadow Moon is not Thor reborn.

Moving on to another popular theory now and the idea is Thor will not be introduced as Mr. Wednesday already has his very own version of Thor in the form of Czernobog, portrayed by Peter Stormare.

If you need a quick reminder of who that is, he is one of the Old Gods introduced in the first season who was really looking forward to smashing Shadow Moons head in with his hammer. Anyway, with Czernobog on the side of the Old Gods, there is the suggestion he is Thor’s replacement because, you know, he has a big hammer.

Now, that theory might have stuck if it wasn’t for the American Gods Season 2 trailer that pretty much reveals Thor is going to be introduced at some point during the season. This moment happens at 1:25 in the trailer below.

Did you spot it? It only appears for a brief second. It’s Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer.

Now, unless this is a massive red herring of some kind, I would take this as a reveal. Thor is about to show up in American Gods Season 2.

So does this mean Thor didn’t kill himself back in 1932 Philadelphia? Maybe, or he did, but that was a different Thor. If you remember the episode when Shadow Moon and Mr. Wednesday visited Easter, there was a number of Jesuses walking around. Each one of them was Jesus, just a different version. You had, in the words of Mr. Wednesday:

"“You’ve got your White, Jesuit-style Jesus, your Black African Jesus, your Mexican Jesus, and your swarthy Greek Jesus.”"

This same logic can be implied with Thor. This is a different Thor we are seeing in the trailer from the one who killed himself in 1932. A version who has appeared because of a difference in belief. The Gods are around because people believe in them.

No doubt we will get a more straightforward answer at the point the character is introduced in American Gods Season 2. Assuming I am right, it will be interesting to see what route of explanation they take when it happens.

So what do you think? Is Thor going to show up at all? Or do you think he is gone, destined to never return? Drop a comment just below sharing your thoughts.

American Gods airs Sundays on STARZ and Mondays on Prime Video internationally.