Tolkien References Project: Marvel

I would love to extend my thanks to both Mercury Natis (Opens in a new window) and Tim Bolton (Opens in a new window) for their chat (Opens in a new window) over on Bluesky (Opens in a new window), referencing Tolkien mentions with Marvel comics, and for reminding me I needed to put this together! 😇

Community (Opens in a new window) | Chicago Fire (Opens in a new window) | Firefly Lane (Opens in a new window) | Scrubs (Opens in a new window) | Gilmore Girls (Opens in a new window) | Minions & More, volumes 1 + 2 (Opens in a new window) | Brooklyn 99 (Opens in a new window) [publicly available] | Loudermilk (Opens in a new window) | Lucifer (Opens in a new window).

A couple of years ago (2021) a short scene made for a laugh and a few appreciatively raised eyebrows when Bucky Barnes exclaimed in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier:

"I read the Hobbit in 1937 when it first came out"

Obviously with an underlying tone of arrogance because he knows his Tolkien from before the time people turned it into a hype… 🤪

And that definition: “A sorcerer is a wizard without a hat!” 😂

So, with the Marvel Database (a Fandom wiki) you’ll find this page:

The main page (Opens in a new window) does include a few fun facts.

“For instance, when Karl Lykos (Opens in a new window) became a humanoid Pterodon, he took the name "Sauron (Opens in a new window)" after the villain of the books…”

or…

“Tony Stark (Opens in a new window) hates Tolkien¹.”

The best thing, though?

We do have an excellent piece on Early Tolkien References in Marvel and DC Comic Books (Opens in a new window) published with the Tolkien Guide, written by Dale Nelson, and originally published with Beyond Bree (Opens in a new window).

Let’s not forget Numenor (Opens in a new window) (the emperor of Bensaylum), and Aragorn (Opens in a new window) (a winged horse), and the fact that Captain America actually once (presumably) read The Lord of the Rings in a comic, stating²:

I always was a sucker for far-out fantasy (Opens in a new window)!

So, yeah, Tolkien & Marvel, it’s a thing. 🤩

1. Iron Man (Vol 5) #4 (Opens in a new window). ↩

2. Thanks to Tolkien Gateway and its ‘Tolkien’s works in popular media/ comics (Opens in a new window)’ page. ↩