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The Elder Eddas are rather fascinating as it concerns the poetic format/stories shared..although in reading them, it is rather interesting to see how they echo some of the things shared in Thor in its stylization of things.
And to be clear with the OP, it's not only Thor that seems to bring in elements of paganism blantantly. For some rather blantant examples of where paganism seems to be rather plain, I'm remidended of the Wonder Woman series.
The comic series of Wonder Woman showed the Amazon tribes worshipping their gods and Wonder Woman giving thanks to them. For a good resource detailing the ways Wonder Woman's religion shows up:
As they said best:
Since this influential comic book super hero character was first created by polygamist feminist psychologist William Moulton Marston in 1941, Wonder Woman's origins and continuing storylines have been tied intricately to Greco-Roman mythology. The ancient Greek and Roman pantheon consisting of Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Athena, etc. have always been rendered as explicitly real in Wonder Woman's universe. This pantheon is also known as the Olympians, or the gods of Olympus, named after Mount Olympus, the mountain in Greece which was until recently their home.
The Amazon civilization into which Wonder Woman was born (or sculpted, technically) was created by these Greek gods, and Wonder Woman's powers derive from them. The Amazons of lived on the island of Themyscira, which was, until recently in DC Comics continuity, located in the Atlantic Ocean.
Wonder Woman could be said to be a "pagan" in the word's contemporary religious sense, although this does not appear to be a word she regularly applies to herself. Religious ritual and worship of the Greek gods is explicitly a part of the Amazon culture where Princess Diana was raised. While in her native Themyscira, Diana daily went to the Olympian temple and gave thanks before statues of the Olympian gods. She has also met these gods in person, and sometimes battled the less benevolent among them (such as Ares, the god of War, and Zeus's son, the demigod Heracles). Given Diana's firsthand experience with the Olympian gods, it would make little sense for her to not believe in these Olympian gods. One could conclude that Diana has little choice but to be a Greco-Roman classical religionist. Whatever the degree to which Diana has free will in the matter, she has enthusiastically and consciously embraced her role not only as a heroine, but also as the Themysciran ambassador to the world and as the Olympian gods' representative to mortal humanity.
The Amazon civilization into which Wonder Woman was born (or sculpted, technically) was created by these Greek gods, and Wonder Woman's powers derive from them. The Amazons of lived on the island of Themyscira, which was, until recently in DC Comics continuity, located in the Atlantic Ocean.
Wonder Woman could be said to be a "pagan" in the word's contemporary religious sense, although this does not appear to be a word she regularly applies to herself. Religious ritual and worship of the Greek gods is explicitly a part of the Amazon culture where Princess Diana was raised. While in her native Themyscira, Diana daily went to the Olympian temple and gave thanks before statues of the Olympian gods. She has also met these gods in person, and sometimes battled the less benevolent among them (such as Ares, the god of War, and Zeus's son, the demigod Heracles). Given Diana's firsthand experience with the Olympian gods, it would make little sense for her to not believe in these Olympian gods. One could conclude that Diana has little choice but to be a Greco-Roman classical religionist. Whatever the degree to which Diana has free will in the matter, she has enthusiastically and consciously embraced her role not only as a heroine, but also as the Themysciran ambassador to the world and as the Olympian gods' representative to mortal humanity.
Princess Diana (Wonder Woman) was killed once by the demon Neron and the evil Dr. Doris Zeul. From: Beatty, page 31:
While the JLA [Justice Leage of America] and the rest of Diana's extended family were numb with grief, Hippolyta [Diana's mother] refused to lose faith in miracles. The woman who had once prayed toher gods to breathe life into a clay doll beseeched the godess Hera to restore Diana. And with a flash of golden fire, Wonder Woman was reborn!
For Hera, the simplest way to resurrect Diana was to turn her into a goddess. Diana became the Goddess of Truth and took her rightful place on Mount Olympus. For a time, Hippolyta assumed the mantle of Wonder Woman. Soon, however, Diana came to feel that her true place was on Earth. Without regret, she returned to the mortal plane so that the one true Wonder Woman might continue her quest for peace.
ABOVE: Hippolyta prays to Hera for the life of Diana (Wonder Woman).
..........When the Crisis on Infinite Earths cross-over event shook up the DC Universe in 1985, it was established that Wonder Woman had never previously been introduced to the world at large before that time. Yet the legend of Wonder Woman was not entirely purged from DC history. Although Princess Diana's introduction to "Man's World" was pushed forward in time to become a contemporary event, it was retroactively established that Wonder Woman had indeed fought alongside the Justice Society of America during World War II - it was simply a different Wonder Woman. Current official DC history has established that Queen Hippolyta herself ventured away from Paradise Island as the superheroine named Wonder Woman. Princess Diana later took up the mantle of Wonder Woman, basing her costume on the one worn in previous decades by her mother.
More was said besides that in the link discussing Wonder Woman's religion...as there were other superheros who were also followers of the Greek gods in both Marvel and D.C--and for more one can go here to Famous Greco-Roman classical religionists in Comics
With the pumping fists/saying "go Hera", I have seen her frequently in the comic book world reference Hera in terms of prayer for others...or exclamation of certain things when she invokes the name of her gods by saying "Hera help him" or "Great Hera" or seeks to praise them actively:
Additionally, in a recent version of the comic book series called "Amazons Attack" (as seen here , here , and here), the Amazons went to war with mankind--in the name of their gods. When a missile was coming to one area/endangering others, WonderWoman unhooked her lasso and prayed to Athena to guide the missile somewhere safe, away from the island, but she has guided it towards the island. Wonder Woman was using all her might to stop it, but was unsuccessful. She reached behind the missile to break its cords but they regenerated like curling snakes.
She then cried out and questions why Athena was doing such a thing to her. Wonder Woman found that she had no other choice but to put herself between the island and the missile. An explosion happened, but Wonder Woman finds that she is still alive, and the island is still there. It was Athena in her physical form that stopped the missile. Wonder Woman apologised for being angry towards her and thanks Athena for stopping the missile. Athena asked why Wonder Woman was so angry towards the Gods. Wonder Woman replied that she was angry because she wondered why the Gods didn't stop the Amazons from attack Washington DC. She added that Athena could have easily stopped it all from happening with her hand, just like she stopped the missile with her hand.
But Athena replied, "... but you seem to have forgotten, or perhaps chosen to ignore... that I am also the Goddess of War... and the Goddess of Strategy..."
She wraps her hand around Wonder Woman, who is so small compared to Athena and says, "... and it is for me and me alone to say how and when and why I wave my 'mighty hand'!"
Seeing the religion of Wonder Woman and the ways her "gods" frequently interact with her/give the impression that they're to be worshipped is hard to get past, IMHO...although they've not go so far as to say Christians don't have the freedom to do as they please.
And as said best elsewhere:
But as it concerns the issue of paganism not necessarily being an issue within comics when showing it alongside Christ, some of it, is similar to what occurred when Christianity became legal in the Roman Empire and other empires had similar dynamics, with it being the case that others were not trying to take away the right of others to practice/believe/declare their religious views as they wish....but more so about letting others do as they do so long as belief in God/Jesus was dominant while the believers had freedom to do as they wished. By default, anyone practicing a religion other than one devoted to Christ "pushes" their view, be it in passive ways or aggressive, since their choosing not to follow Christ places them in the category of saying that he's somehow wrong/not worth following....but there's a way to go about it thankfully when it comes to living alongside others worshipping other gods just as we live alongside people in our neighborhoods down the street---all of whom have differing beliefs, interesting perspectives and stories to tell of how they see the world. Hearing of it should not always be a threat to believers...
In other instances, people weren't concerned with having the dominant platform for Christ. One can see this when examining Christianity in the east. In most places, unlike in Europe, it established itself as a minority faith alongside more dominant religions. Many believers who were eventually exiled from the Eastern side of the Roman Empire (later Constantinople ) had differing experiences that parallel this...for when many of the councils were set up to determine what was "Orthodox" Christianity, those deemed to be herectics were kicked out. Others such as Nestorious were exiled to a monastery in the desert of his enemies. Consequently, the Syriac church has been called Nestorian to this day. The Christian historical scholar known as Philip Jenkins gave a more in-depth review on the issue of Christianity within the world of those who were within the "unorthodox" camps and showed how they spread the Gospel.....seeking instead to live alongside people of differing beliefs systems rather than try to make them second-class/not allowed to promote what they believe. Whereas in the West power was sought via the State/government, those who were Eastern Christians amongst the Monguls didn't try to do such. ..they were able to go about their mission of the Gospel, even reaching as far as Japan CENTURIES before anything of Catholicism/Protestanism happened there and preseting the Gospel while greatly contributing to the development of Japanese society (as discussed here, here). I was very thankful for how Jenkins noted that whereas the conversion of Europe always had the inertia and legacy of the conversion of the Roman Empire behind it, Nestorian and Jacobite Christianity never quite managed to convert a powerful political elite and reap the evangelical rewards of doing so, though Nestorianism came close with the Mongols.
Those Christians in the East never sought to abolish the rights of others to pronounce expression to other gods...and for more on what Philip Jenkins noted in his book "The Lost History of Christianity", one can go either here to Armarium Magnum: The Lost History of Christianity by Philip Jenkins. .
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