| NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Surtur from the Marvel Cinematic film series. The mainstream version can be found here: Surtur (Marvel). |
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| “ | My time has come! When my crown is reunited with the Eternal Flame, I shall be restored to my full might! I will tower over the mountains and bury my sword deep in Asgard… | „ |
| ~ Surtur |
| “ | I AM ASGARD'S DOOM! | „ |
| ~ Surtur's last words before destroying Asgard. |
Surtur is the overarching antagonist of the 2017 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Thor: Ragnarok. He is an immensely powerful fire demon and the Lord of Muspelheim who is prophesied to bring forth the cataclysmic event known as Ragnarök - where he will destroy Asgard.
He was portrayed by the film's director Taika Waititi through motion-capture, who also played Viago Heimburg in What We do in the Shadows, Adolf Hitler in JoJo Rabbit, IG-11 in The Mandalorian, Ratcatcher in The Suicide Squad, Antwan Hovachelik in Free Guy, and himself in The Simpsons.
Also, Surtur was voiced by Clancy Brown, who also played The Kurgan in Highlander, Byron Hadley in The Shawshank Redemption, Viking Lofgren in Bad Boys, Lex Luthor in the DC Animated Universe, The Evil Entity in the Scooby-Doo franchise, Gunmar in Tales of Arcadia, Mr. Krabs in SpongeBob Squarepants, Undertow in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, Hades in God of War III, Mr. Freeze in The Batman, Savage Opress in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Chris Bradford in the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, General Wade Eiling in The Flash, Bloodwolf in The Adventures of Puss in Boots and Blackhand in Warcraft.
Personality
| “ | I cannot die… not until I fulfill my destiny, and lay waste to your home. | „ |
| ~ Surtur showing his obsession of bringing Ragnarök, even if it means killing himself. |
Surtur was a sinister, cold, emotionless, remorseless and devilish individual who would not hesitate to imprison and kill anyone who stood in his way. He was the ultimate personification of destruction, the prophecy explicitly designating him as his fulfiller; he had used his powers against his enemies and had no fear to destroy everything in his path, indicating the fact that Ragnarök had to arrive and that only he could make sure that this happened.
He seems to be solely and completely committed to his destiny to give birth to Ragnarök by destroying Asgard. In fact, he didn't even take time to notice that there were almost no people left on Asgard and that Thor had Loki revive him to destroy the now near-invincible Hela; he didn't even bother to escape from the incoming destruction and instead decides to accept his fate being incinerated, implying that he's willing to forsake his life to achieve his goal or that he only wants to destroy Asgard's physical world.
He also seems to have a very serious and unadorned frame of mind, being visibly annoyed when Thor refused to take him seriously when they first met. However, he is remarkably patient with Thor's speeches and well-behaved at the start of the film.
Biography
Early life
Surtur's origins aren unknown, but it's implied that he was born in Musphelheim and ruled it for many millenias. He was loyal to his destiny, Ragnarok and was one of Odin's enemies. It's implied that Surtur was planning his destiny from the beginning of time.
There was an ancient Asgardian prophecy describing the ultimate destruction of Asgard in a cataclysmic event known as Ragnarök. According to the prophecy, the end of Asgard was to begin with the Fire Demon Surtur, empowered by his Eternal Flame, raining destruction down on the Asgardian home world, consuming it in flames.
Seeking to subvert this fate, Odin battled Surtur, incapacitating him and taking the Eternal Flame, which he brought back to Asgard, sealing it in a vault beneath the palace. Surtur was left severely weakened, hobbled by a damaged leg and arm, in Muspelheim, where he spent thousands of years plotting vengeance.
Confronted by Thor
Two years after the devastating battle of Sokovia, in his search for answers regarding the Infinity Stones, Thor was captured in Muspelheim and brought before Surtur. The Fire Lord taunts Thor and revealed to his captive that his father, Odin, no longer rules Asgard. Furthermore, with Thor's absence, he has left the realm open for attacks. Surtur claims that he will soon destroy Asgard when he unites his crown with the Eternal Flame that Odin, after taking it from Surtur millennia ago, locked in the vaults of Asgard.
However, Thor escapes his imprisonment and was able to defeat Surtur and his demon horde in battle. In order to prevent Surtur's prophecy from coming true, Thor takes Surtur's crown with him and locks it up in the vaults of Asgard after Skurge kills Surtur's pet fire dragon.
Fulfilling his destiny
When Hela invades Asgard and reanimates its fallen soldiers (known as the Berserkers) as her army, Thor realizes that Ragnarök is the only way to stop Hela and that Asgard is not defined by its location but by its people. He then orders his brother Loki to place Surtur's crown in the Eternal Flame to revive him, which Loki does so.
This calls forth Surtur, who immediately starts annihilating Asgard by impaling his own blade into the land, killing Hela and the remaining Berserkers in the process. While Thor, Loki, Valkyrie and Hulk safely evacuate the Asgardian citizens in one of the Grandmaster's ships, they are forced to watch Ragnarök unfold as Surtur fully thrusts his blade to destroy Asgard, killing himself in the process and leaving only asteroids in its stead. A total of 9,719 Asgardians were killed by Surtur who were unable to reach the Grandmaster's ship in time.
Legacy
While Surtur failed to exterminate all the Asgardians, his actions still rendered them an endangered species. Additionally Hela's own decimation of the Asgardian military prior to Surtur's return reduced Asgard's numbers significantly. Even worse the Grandmaster's ship was attacked by Thanos and the Black Order immediately after Asgard's destruction resulting in half of the Asgardian survivors being killed (including Heimdall and Loki) in their quest to steal the Tesseract. Another half of the Asgardian population were killed by Thanos using the Infinity Gauntlet in his plan to wipe out half the universe though these Asgardians were revived 5 years later by Hulk using the Nano Gauntlet to undo Thanos' actions, though some were then killed during the subsequent battle for Earth. Between himself, Hela and Thanos' actions Surtur's plan to see the Asgardians exterminated was largely successful.
However the handful of Asgardians who survived the actions of Hela, Surtur and Thanos were able to reach Earth and establish the city of New Asgard in Tønsberg, Norway and began rebuilding their species and culture with Valkyrie eventually becoming Queen of the city.
Powers and Abilities
- Fire Demon Physiology: Surtur was one of the most powerful beings in the Nine Realms and the cosmos, powerful enough to challenge and almost overpower Thor even in a weakened and battered form; however in his limping, weakened state he eventually proved to be weak enough for the Asgardian Prince to defeat him using superior skill. Upon being resurrected by the Eternal Flame, Surtur's powers were immeasurably increased, with him single-handedly bringing Ragnarök to Asgard and destroying the incredibly powerful Hela herself fairly easily. He was even deemed capable of destroying the Space Stone alongside Asgard, had Loki not retrieved it. This makes him one of the most powerful beings in the Nine Realms and the cosmos, with Odin being the only confirmed being to surpass his might.
- Fire Manipulation: Surtur is capable of generating massive waves of fiery energy from his Twilight Sword. This fire was strong enough that, in his weakened state, he was able to hold his own against Thor. Upon reaching full power, Surtur's flames were strong enough to consume all of Asgard.
- Superhuman Strength: Surtur has tremendous amounts of superhuman strength, enough to fight against Thor in his weakened state. Upon reaching full power, Surtur's strength is able to effortlessly swat away Hulk and quickly take out Hela, who had herself been able to fight Thor and Valkyrie to a stalemate. Odin is the only being known to have been able to defeat Surtur at full power, having depowered, wounded, and banished him thousands of years ago.
- Superhuman Durability: Due to his large size, Surtur is able to withstand blows from Mjølnir, only dying after sustaining a full-power electrically charged blow from the hammer to the head. However, Surtur's durability, with all his other abilities, increased massively following his resurrection by the Eternal Flame. In this state, Surtur was practically invulnerable, being only slightly phased by a leaping blow from Hulk and being only barely affected by Hela piercing him with an onslaught of her blades. However, he, despite his true form, is still vulnerable to beings of superior power like Odin, who defeated him so grievously that Surtur remained in a battered and limping state for approximately five thousand years.
- Immortality: Surtur is capable of living as long as he needs in order to initiate Ragnarök.
- Sword Mastery: Surtur possesses skills in the use of his Twilight Sword, a massive flaming sword capable of slicing through whole palaces and also used to kill Hela.
Quotes
| “ | Tremble before me, Asgard! I am your reckoning! | „ |
| ~ Surtur upon being revived |
| “ | It's a crown! | „ |
| ~ Surtur about his crown. |
| “ | But Ragnarök has already begun! You cannot stop it! I am Asgard's doom, and so are you! All will suffer, all will burn! | „ |
| ~ Surtur |
| “ | You cannot stop Ragnarök. Why fight it? | „ |
| ~ Surtur about the Ragnarök. |
| “ | You have made a grave mistake, Odinson. | „ |
| ~ Surtur to Thor Odinson. |
Trivia
- This is the first live-action adaptation of the comic book villain Surtur.
- Prior to his cinematic debut, Surtur made his appearance as a boss in the non-canon video game Thor: God of Thunder.
- Surtur was also mentioned by Fandral in the novelization of Thor: The Dark World.
