Let me start by saying that Planet Earth is round. Some people out
there believe that the Earth is flat. I choose to trust science on this one,
but one world that we can confirm is indeed flat is Asgard, home of Thor. This
is not a spherical home, representing a construct of a flat Earth. Thor does
refer to it as a "planet", a fact that Cinema Sins debated. Below is
a photo of Asgard from space.
The first thing you'll notice when looking at a view of Asgard
from space is that all the water is pouring off the side. We would observe a
similar phenomenon if our own planet were flat. If we are surrounded by oceans
miles deep on a flat surface, there would be a giant waterfall along the edge.
People and ships would be regularly falling off the side. Modern flat Earthers
have an explanation for this, claiming that a giant ice wall surrounds all the
worlds oceans. Instead of a roundish continent at the south pole, they think
it's actually a wall of ice that borders the outside of the plate.
There is no evidence to support
the ice wall theory, which is most easily debunked with satellite imagery. Of
course, flat Earthers have a rebuttal for this too, claiming all pictures from
space are fake and that nobody has been to Antarctica because the UN doesn't
allow it. There is no evidence to support an ice wall theory, fake or
otherwise. The creators of Asgard decided against an ice wall around the
outside, considering that too ridiculous even for comic books. The biggest problem
with the waterfall, is how Asgard would replenish the water lost into space.
From the picture above, Asgard
does not appear to have much of an atmosphere to trap oxygen or ozone layer to
protect against UV radiation. The ozone layer on earth is essential for life to
survive, so perhaps all life on Asgard evolved to flourish in a low oxygen,
high radiation environment. We can speculate that a planet being round is
necessary for there to be an atmosphere, but since we have never observed a
flat planet in the cosmos, there is no real evidence to prove or disprove the
theory that flat planets can't have atmospheres.
Do Asgardians even need oxygen
to survive? There is evidence to suggest that they don't. It should be
impossible to get breathable air inside the Bifrost, and we've seen clips of
Thor surviving in the vacuum of space without breathing. Even if Asgardians can
survive without oxygen, there is plant life on the planet that could not
survive a zero-oxygen environment. When Jane Foster visits Asgard in the second
movie, she is able to breathe with no difficulty at all, proving that their air
has a similar molecular composition as Earth. This would not be possible if
Asgard did not have an atmosphere.
Throughout the Thor films,
Asgard is invaded multiple times. It's worth pointing out that invading a flat
planet would be far easier than a round one. As we see in Independence Day,
there are obstacles to overcome invading a round Earth, like coordinating with
your ships on the other side. A flat planet would be easier for aliens to
invade, like when the dark elves were able to concentrate all their firepower
on a single target. They may not even have attacked had Asgard been round. It's
entirely possible that our round planet has discouraged alien invasions, and
that if the Earth really were flat, we would have been conquered long ago.
We don't know the distance
between Asgard and its sun, or what type of star it is. Flat Earthers claim
that our sun is a few miles above our planet and spins around us. From what we
know about Asgard, they don't appear to be very close to their star, otherwise
it would be visible in the photo above. Based on the picture, it looks
like the sun's rays are hitting one side of the flat disc. So, for Asgard to
have days and nights, the sun would need to full rotations around the disc
(which would defy the laws of physics), or Asgard would need to spin on its
horizontal axis. Earth spins on its vertical axis, taking 24 hours to
complete one full rotation. This is only possible on a spherical object.
Knowing the distance from Asgard to the nearest star would be helpful.
We can confirm that there is
gravity on Asgard, with the pull presumably coming from that blue core. The
problem is, if the core was generating that much gravity, it would also be
pulling in the water that's falling off the sides. The aerial photo above shows
the water falling straight down. Did the Asgardian space agency photoshop the
picture above? Having a gravitational pull on the water would solve their water
loss problem, allowing it to get sucked into the core and recycled. Otherwise
it would need to rain constantly. We have never seen it rain on Asgard, but we
have seen overcast skies. In order for clouds to form, water needs to evaporate
from the surface and condense in the atmosphere.
I'm an economist, not an
astrophysicist, so most of this is speculation on my behalf based on
Introductory Astronomy in University and high school Physics. I got an A in
both. That's the extent of my knowledge, but trying to explain Flat Asgard does
lead to some fundamental physics violations. I would need to disregard some
simple math to believe that these photographic renderings represent a real
function stable stellar equilibrium. I'm forced to believe that the photos of
Asgard from space are real and that it's surface is actually flat.
One question that needs to be
asked, are there Asgardians who believe that their home is actually round? Do
some of them look at the photos from space and say "well that defies the
laws of physics, it can't possibly be real, those photos were faked by the
Asgard Space Agency!" The existence of a "Round Asgard Society"
if plausible, though has yet to be witnessed in the MCU. At least 99% of
Asgardians are likely to believe their planet is flat, and only the mentally
ill minority believes in the alternative.
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