Sif (Marvel)
Sif is a female comic deity who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Sif was a female god of the race of Asgardians where she was a citizen of the realm of Asgard. (Journey into Mystery v1 #102)
Since childhood, she was shown to had been a close companion of Thor Odinson and his brother Balder. (Thor: Son of Asgard v1 #1)
When she was kidnapped by Storm Giants and made a prisoner of Hela, Thor offered his own life to ensure her release. Hela, impressed by his nobility, released both of them. (Journey into Mystery v1 #102) Later on, a jealous Loki was noted to had cut off all of Sif's golden hair while she was asleep. (Thor Annual v1 #11) Guessing that Loki had something to do with Sif's loss of hair, Thor angrily demanded that Loki restore her golden locks. The scared Loki contacted two dwarfish craftsmen, Brokk and Eitri (who would later create Thor's hammer Mjolnir), and asked them to create new hair for Sif. Loki was either unable, or unwilling, to pay the dwarfs enough gold to create golden hair. The dwarfs decided that "for the price of naught" they would make "strands of naught." The dwarfs created magical strands of hair from the blackness of the night. The strands of darkness took root the moment they were placed on Sif's head, and then began to grow out. Thor found that Sif's new black tresses made her even more attractive, disrupting Loki's plan to ruin their relationship. (Thor: Son of Asgard v1 #8)
Long ago, a mortal king named Rugga who long desired to be an immortal was approached by the goddess of death Hela. She bade him to kidnap Sif for her and he hired Storm Giants for the task where they managed to take her from Asgard. This was until a young Thor Odinson came to track them down and offered his own life to Hela in exchange for Sif. The goddess of death could not take the life of someone so young and noble that she decided to free Sif with Thor taking her back to Asgard. (Journey into Mystery v1 #102) Later, the jealous Loki cut off all of Sif's golden hair while she was asleep. (Thor Annual v1 #11)
In 1966, she met and worked alongside Peggy Carter on a mission that was actually used to assess whether Margaret would be a good agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. (Agent Carter - S.H.I.E.L.D. 50th Anniversary v1 #1)
Thor
For a time, Thor and Sif had a falling out. Many years later, Thor began his career as a super hero on Earth, and had a long-time love affair with the mortal Jane Foster. After this, however, Odin arranged for Thor to meet the now adult warrior-goddess, Sif. They became close companions and fell in love again. They promised to someday marry each other. (Thor v1 #136)
Sif discovers that Thor still has feelings for Jane Foster when she finds him at her hospital bedside after Jane has been critically injured. (Thor v1 #231)
At one point, Thor's former mortal lover, Jane Foster, was dying, and Sif merged her life force with Foster's, reviving the dying woman. Sif did this partially so that she could try to understand Thor's attraction to mortals, especially Jane Foster. (Thor v1 #236)
Soon afterward, Foster was separated from Sif, when Foster was exiled to a limbo-realm called the Runestaff of the Possessor. Sif and Thor eventually rescued Jane Foster and reunited her with her mortal love, Keith Kincaid. (Thor v1 #335)
Before returning to Asgard, Bill and Sif spent some time together on Earth. Once back in Asgard, Sif and Bill defeated the Titanium Man, the Russian villain, who was leading a group of disgruntled American war veterans wearing the Credit Card Soldier armored battle-suits. (Thor v1 #358) During this time, Thor had fallen under an enchantment that caused him to fall in love with the Asgardian Lorelei. Thor and Sif eventually grew further apart because of this, as due to Lorelei's spell, Thor had to abide by everything she asked, and she commanded him to strike Sif, who did not realise it wasn't him. (Thor v1 #359)
Sif and Bill eventually returned to Earth. Sif finally came to forgive Thor, after realizing that Lorelei was to blame for Thor's brutality. Sif was also impressed by Thor's heroism when he entered Hela's realm to rescue some mortals' souls stolen by the death goddess. This also caused Sif to accept Thor's guardianship of Earth and Asgard. (Thor v1 #362)
During Ragnarok, Sif came to stand amongst the Asgardians who fought against their prophecised doom. Sif survives the first wave of losses but loses an arm. (Thor v2 #80) She is rescued by Brunnhilde, who was later killed by Durok the Demolisher. (Thor v2 #82) Sif honors Brunnhilde's death by taking her sword and leading the Valkyrior in the final battle. (Thor v2 #83) Sif falls in battle against Surtur's forces, dying side by side with Volstagg against Thor's enemies wielded weapons forged in a manner similar to Mjolnir. Shortly afterwards, all of Asgard itself was destroyed in the cataclysmic battle. (Thor v2 #85)
Reborn
When Thor was revived and began awakening the Asgardians, Sif's absence was notable. Hoping to find her, Donald Blake, briefly separated from Thor, sought out Jane Foster in New York City to see if she was again housing Sif's spirit. Finding Jane to be lacking Sif's spirit, Donald left the hospital where she worked, little realizing that one of the patients there was actually Sif, being held hostage in the body of an old woman named Mrs. Chambers who was suffering from what was thought to be terminal cancer in that hospital. Loki was reborn in the female body that was originally meant to be for Sif. When Loki discovered where she was, Loki gave her a mirror that showed Sif her true form, but she was unable to let anyone know her true identity. Sif remained in the hospital inside her host, fighting to stay alive. When he could not find Sif, Thor began to wonder what would happen to the spirit of an Asgardian if their host died. (Thor v3 #8) Loki later revealed to Thor Sif's spirit was too weak to answer Thor's original summons to the Asgardians and when Loki was in the process of transferring his soul from her current female form to his true male form, the process would kill Sif's host, and he should say goodbye to her. (Thor v1 #601) Upon learning the truth from Mrs. Chambers, Jane Foster called Donald Blake and informed him that she had found Sif, with Thor successfully being able to restore Sif mere moments before Mrs. Chamber dies. With Sif resurrected, Mrs. Chambers passed away. (Thor v1 #602) Sif later joined Thor in exile in Oklahoma and checked into the same hotel as Donald Blake under the name Sylvan. (Thor v1 #603)
Later on, Odin came to sense that the Serpent had returned leading to him hastily ordering all Asgardians to return to Asgard. Thor came to fought back against the All-Father with Sif only able watch in shock as the Thunderer was defeated and taken to the realm in chains. (Fear Itself v1 #1)
Loki though came to free Thor as he believed Odin was going too far to destroy the Serpent leading to Sif along with the Warriors Three, Balder and Hermod offering to take him back to Midgard to aid the Avengers. However, Odin noticed what the group were doing and looked to stop them though Thor managed to convince his father to save Earth. This led to the All-Father promptly sending them there but Odin gave Thor a warning; his time limit was up to the point where Dark Asgard would rise. With that, Odin promptly sent him to Midgard, even tossing him Mjolnir. (Fear Itself v1 #3)
She travelled to Niffelheim to Nastrond in order to speak to the corpse-eater dragon Nidhogg where she offered him a tribute in exchange for knowledge about a famous group of warriors. He came to direct her to Aerndis the teacher who was located beyond Fimbulthul and past the Hvergelmir. Once there, she summoned Aernderis and asked her to teach Sif the Berserker Incantation with her agreeing to impart this knowledge to her. Sif then in the grips of a rage then killed the teacher and struggled to come to terms with her desire to fight. (Journey into Mystery v1 #646)
When Malekith and his Dark Council attacked Midgard, Sif and the other Asgardians tried to fight off the invasion. (War of the Realms v1 #1) She along with Captain Marvel formed the War Avengers set out to battle various horde of enemies around Midgard. (War of the Realms Strikeforce: The War Avengers v1 #1)
Guardian of the Bifrost
After Heimdall had died and pass beyond existence, Sif came to inherit her brother's position as Guardian of the Bifrost. (King Thor v1 #4) When Thor joined Galactus in his battle against the Black Winter by helping the cosmic being consuming a number of planets, Sif assisted Thor in his mission. (Thor v6 #2) However, when Beta Ray Bill tried to stop Thor, thinking that the God of Thunder and Galactus were destroying planets for no reason, Thor destroyed Bill's Stormbreaker and was about to kill Bill, until Sif intervened. (Thor v6 #3) Thor tried to order Sif to step aside, but she refused prompting the Herald of Thunder to attack her with Mjolnir, but Sif used the Bifrost to transport the hammer to Jotunheim. She told Thor that he was forgetting who he was and that he was afraid. After that she and Bill went to Asgard. (Thor v6 #4)
Overview
Personality and attributes
She was referred to some as being the Fairest of the Fair. (Thor v1 #156) Sif came to be known as the dark-haired Daughter of Asgard. (Thor v1 #154) After inheriting her brothers position, she came to be known as Sif the All-Seeing. (King Thor v1 #4)
Thor had remarked that she was the fairest of the fair, bravest of the brave and gentlest of the gentle. (Thor v1 #157)
It was said that she held the heart of Thor. (Thor v1 #157) Balder had believed her to be the goddess most fit for the mighty son of Odin. (Thor v1 #143) She had stated that she would never leave Thor's side. (Thor v1 #139)
Powers and abilities
When she as young, she claimed to be capable of holding her own against the likes of Thor and Balder. (Thor: Son of Asgard v1 #1) She was often said to be the best female fighter in Asgard, on par with Valkyrie. (Thor: Son of Asgard v1 #8)
As a goddess, she had the inherent power to reach Asgard by bypassing time and space thus allowing her to teleport herself as well as others. (Thor v1 #139) To bring along another person, she needed to be in physical contact with them. (Thor v1 #143) Sif was able to channel her power through her sword where by cutting a mystical arc she could create portals to other dimensions. (Thor v1 #231) In this manner, she was shown to be capable of travelling to other realms beyond that of Asgard. (Thor v1 #234) A variation of this power allowed her to witness events from the distant past. (Thor: The Worthy v1 #1)
For a time, she was taught the original Berserker Incantation that was a ferocity born from devotion with it being remarked as being something of a terrible beauty and vicious grace. (Journey into Mystery v1 #646) This was a spell that was once used on the Asgardian warriors that made up the Berzerkers. (Journey into Mystery v1 #648)
Sif came to inherit her brother's position by becoming the Guardian of the Bifrost. This allowed her to control the Rainbow Bridge and gave her the sight to witness all of the cosmos from her vantage point. This role meant that she also inherited her brother's sword Hofund as she took his position. (King Thor v1 #4)
Notes
- Sif was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby where she made her first appearance in Journey into Mystery v1 #102 (March, 1964).
- In her initial appearance, the character was depicted as a blonde-haired maiden and that she was the sister of Balder.
- The character was based on Sif from Norse mythology.
In other media
Television
- In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Sif made a number of appearances in the animated television series where he was voiced by actress Nika Futterman.
- In Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the character made an appearance as part of the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe where she was portrayed by actress Jaimie Alexander. She appeared in the episode "Yes Men" where he came to Earth to pursue the rogue Asgardian Lorelei who had enchanted Grant Ward into serving her and she was aided by Phil Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. team. In "Who You Really Are", she returned to Earth after learning that a Kree warrior travelled to the planet and intended to intercept him. During their battle, she was knocked into the water and suffered from amnesia when she was retrieved by Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. team. Afterwards, she regained her memories and learnt that the Kree's mission was to destroy the Inhumans that his people had created on Earth long ago as living weapons. Lady Sif warned Coulson as to the dangers of the Inhumans and initially intended to capture Skye who was an Inhuman but Phil convinced her to stand down.
- In Loki, Sif made a brief appearance in a flashback sequence in the setting of the live-action television series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the episode "The Nexus Event" where she was once again portrayed by actress Jaimie Alexander.
Films
- In Thor: Tales of Asgard, Sif appeared in the setting of the animated film where she was voiced by actress Tara Strong.
- In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sif made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting.
- In Thor, Sif made her first appearance in the live-action film set where she was portrayed by actress Jaimie Alexander.
- In Thor: The Dark World, Sif appeared in the live-action sequel where she was portrayed again by actress Jaimie Alexander.
- In Thor: Love & Thunder, Sif returned in the live-action sequel where she was portrayed once more by actress Jaimie Alexander. She was shown to had battled Gorr the God-Butcher, only to lose an arm and send a distress signal to Thor. After Thor defeated Gorr, Sif settled in New Asgard to train its young warriors.
Video games
- In Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Sif appeared as a non-playable character in the video game where she was voiced by actress Adrienne Barbeau.
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Sif appeared as a character with a Dossier in the Facebook video game.
- In Marvel: War of Heroes, Sif appeared as multiple playable cards in the video game.
- In Marvel: Future Fight, Sif appeared as a playable character in the setting of the mobile video game.
Appearances
- Journey into Mystery v1: (1964)
- Thor v1:
- Thor: Son of Asgard v1:
- Thor v3:
- Fear Itself v1:
- King Thor v1:
- Thor v6:
External Links
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