Tolkien References Project: Marvel

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

Community (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Chicago Fire (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Firefly Lane (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Scrubs (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Gilmore Girls (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Minions & More, volumes 1 + 2 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Brooklyn 99 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [publicly available] | Loudermilk (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Lucifer (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) does include a few fun facts.

“For instance, when Karl Lykos (Si apre in una nuova finestra) became a humanoid Pterodon, he took the name "Sauron (Si apre in una nuova finestra)" after the villain of the books…”

or…

“Tony Stark (Si apre in una nuova finestra) hates Tolkien¹.”

The best thing, though?

We do have an excellent piece on Early Tolkien References in Marvel and DC Comic Books (Si apre in una nuova finestra) published with the Tolkien Guide, written by Dale Nelson, and originally published with Beyond Bree (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Let’s not forget Numenor (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (the emperor of Bensaylum), and Aragorn (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra)!

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

1. Iron Man (Vol 5) #4 (Si apre in una nuova finestra). ↩

2. Thanks to Tolkien Gateway and its ‘Tolkien’s works in popular media/ comics (Si apre in una nuova finestra)’ page. ↩