Snap Into Marvel: Surtur — Ragnarok’s Triggerman Needs Big Power To Burn Bright

First Appearance: Journey into Mystery #97 (Oct 1963) cameo, Journey into Mystery #99 (Dec 1963) full. 

First Multimedia Appearance: Thor: Ragnarok (2017) played by Taika Waititi (motion capture) and Clancy Brown (voice).

Powers & Abilities: As the ruler of the fire giants, Surtur possesses superhuman strength, speed, durability, etc., as well as the ability to create and control fire on a massive scale. He is nigh-immortal, and possession of the Twilight Sword gives him the ability to further manipulate magical energies. 

Comic Book Chronicles

Surtur is the lord of the fiery Muspelheim, one of the Nine (now Ten) Realms of Asgard. A fire giant (or “Jotuun”), Surtur is, like most Thor characters (and Thor himself), loosely based on a figure from Norse mythology — in his case, Surtr, the fire giant guardian of Muspelheim in the myths. In either case, Surtur plays a key role in Ragnarok, the apocalypse/rebirth cycle of the Asgardian gods. Older than the Asgardians and thus more powerful than them, Thor’s dad Odin nevertheless managed to imprison Surtur deep inside Earth, earning the fire giant’s unending enmity. 

A recurring antagonist within Thor comics, Surtur’s zenith is likely “The Surtur Saga” in writer/artist Walt Simonson‘s beloved run on the title. Surtur played a role in the creation of Beta Ray Bill that kicks off that run (an attack by fire demons from Muspelheim is what leads Bill to meet Thor and acquire his Stormbreaker weapon).

Later, Surtur teams up with Malekith the Dark Elf and launches an invasion of Midgard* and Asgard. As Malekith uses the Casket of Ancient Winters to spread crushing blizzards across Earth, Surtur storms into Asgard, fighting past Thor and Odin to light the Twilight Sword with the Eternal Flame. Following various twists and turns, as well as the marshaling of Earth’s heroes against the hordes of Surtur’s fire demons, Odin, Thor, and Loki unite to stave off Ragnarok and defeat Surtur, driving him back to Muspelheim and sealing him there, at the cost of the apparent loss of Odin.

Of course, no good villain is ever completely defeated, and Surtur would make return appearances. He even fulfilled his destiny as the instigator of Ragnarok when, with the help of Thor, who sought to break the unending cycle of death and rebirth which consumed the gods, he stormed into Asgard, triggering the “Final Ragnarok” which ended with all the nine realms( save for Earth) destroyed, including Surtur.

Despite the name, however, this would not be the end of Thor and the rest (comics!), and so Surtur would return again. In later stories, he would inadvertently help Loki defeat the Serpent, Odin’s evil older brother, be replaced by Surtur’s daughter Sindr after his apparent death, and be killed for good (for now…) by Beta Ray Bill. 

*Earth

Fit & Finish

Surtur is one of those characters without a ton of variation to his look. While every artist to draw the character certainly renders him in their own unique style, his general visual schtick — big red fire guy with flames for hair and demonic horns on his forehead. Even the MCU version of the character sticks to that general look. As such, thus far, all of Surtur’s cards are fittingly just riffs on the same general look in different artist styles. 

Form & Function

Given Surtur’s most notable action to the widest audience — triggering the destruction of Asgard in Thor: Ragnarok — involves the destruction of a specific location, it wouldn’t have been surprising had Surtur’s Marvel Snap ability been something like a limited form of Galactus’, destroying whatever lane Surtur’s card is played on. Instead, Surtur earns an extra 3 power for every card played on its side that has 10 power or more. Being a 3/5 that can be easily buffed to a 3/8 just by playing a big card at some point later in the game quickly makes him one of the stronger three drops in the game (he’s basically Gladiator without the risk of pulling a good card for your opponent).

Even without specifically building a deck around him, he can grow to 3/11 or 3/14. The downside is that he becomes more and more of a dead draw the later in the game he’s drawn/played, because he has to be on the board to get buffed. A 3/5 on turn 5 that becomes an eight power card when a ten drop lands on turn 6 isn’t bad, but it is going to struggle to compete in a points-heavy meta. 

Seemingly, Surtur’s ability seems to be inspired by the shared ability of Thor and Beta Ray Bill to have their power increased by the playing of a card after they’ve been played (for Surtur, it’s a 10+ power card; for Thor and Bill, it’s their respective hammer cards). Surtur also shares their limitation — all three are weaker the later in a match they’re played (thereby making it harder to trigger their buffs). Despite that apparent inspiration/connection, Surtur ironically can’t be buffed by Thor or Beta Ray Bill; Surtur’s buff is only triggered by a card with ten or more power when it’s played.

Cards that grow bigger later in the game, like the hammer boys or, say, Sunspot or Sebastian Shaw, don’t boost Surtur when they cross the ten point threshold (duplicates created by Bar Sinister don’t buff Surtur, either, presumably because the lane, and not the player, is playing them). Which, in a way, is fitting: neither Thor nor Beta Ray Bill would be too happy knowing their buffs are also buffing their longtime enemy.