In Hindu myth, Shiva rides a bull named Nandi, who is also a god in animal form.

Discussions on Shiva:

• Pranshu B. Saxena's discussion on "Hinduism"
• Shubh Karan discusses Shiva as the most powerful being in existence
• Will U defends his position on it being Indra in Thor#301.

According to Pranshu B. Saxena, who "is a believer of sanatan dharma or what the foreigners refer to as Hinduism. Hindu originally means simply a person living in India (more accurately east of river Sindhu (Indus)).
The concept of religion as you say in the west is very, very different from that in India."

• Shiva had no mother, Daksha was father-in-law; Vishnu and Brahma are brothers in the sense of equality of powers or role. Kâli is wife of Shiva, Himavat is also father-in-law.
• Maruts the storm gods, are not sons of Rudra and are half-brothers to Indra actually. There are 13 Rudras, all affiliated to storms and to Shiva.
• Varuna and Mitra are the older brothers to Indra and Vishnu who are real brothers.
• Vishnu was also born as Yamana , younger brother to them.
• Mitra is the same as Surya.
• The ancient Vedic storm god Rudra fused with Sarasvati-Indus valley god Pashupati Anddravidan god to form the modern Shiva.

Pranshu continues with the further discussion:

• "There are at least 900 million Hindus, so according to an actual amorphous definition of Hinduism, it implies there can be 900 million different pantheons (that would explain why we don't have fatwa) so in a way even Marvel 's versions can be accepted as a new pantheon (note: Yogavasistha did talk about infinite universes :-)). But of course, we are not truly free of prejudices and fears and hence Marvel 's representation of Hindu gods (or even in Xena) would seem an attack or even unintended attempt to create offense.
• I believe Marvel Comics makes a mockery of Indian belief system by using Hindu gods like Shiva, Vishnu. The concept that there is a realm of Hindu gods is laughable. According to Yoga Vasishta written around 400 BC, there are countless universes, each atom has in itself another universe. Each action initiates a choice and each choice creates a new universe. But Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu transcend all.
• Why western story-tellers always go for the big guys is not understood. There are levels of power structure and if Marvel comic writers had taken pains, they should have used gods like Indra, who will still be too powerful for say Thor or Superman.
• In recent Wonder Woman about couple of years ago, DC handled it differently when they used Rama as a war god and possible love interest for Wonder Woman!! Rama is worshiped by millions of women in India as the ideal man and husband whose sole interest is his wife Sita, who was formed from earth just like Wonder Woman. As Rama is also born human and possibly died and shown having some human frailties like bowing to popular pressures of ruling etc., that depiction was much better."
• The first lines of Rigveda mentions a deity who is unnamed and was probably existent before existence and is probably represented by symbol OM. He is the God? though a question mark always is put next to the prayer.
• Their strength is said to be derived from the faith of the followers. Indra all too often loses his throne to a Rakshasa warlord (Rakshasa wrongfully translated as "demon") or other due to faith of the followers in that warlord. All too often the conqueror loses out to either Vishnu or Shiva or Brahma or their incarnations or forms after crossing the boundary line, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Thus no one has absolute power and Indra is in power as he can resist the corruption of power. He himself has been overthrown due to his own corruptions. One soul is said to have been Indra 19 times and still could not discover the eternal truth. Also, the wisdom is more respected than strength.
• There is a whole set of lower gods, god tribes, races like Yakshas, Innars, Vanars, Garudas, 8 main snake races, semi-immortal humans or human offspring of gods or whole cornucopia of literature from Panchatantra, Katha Sarita Sagara, Puranas, Gathas, Hitopdesha, Smritis, Upapuranas, Sangama, Mahabharata, et al. India has been producing heroic literature for only 3500 years.
• Also a very important point to understand is that there is no concept of evil but there are hells, 21, I think--nobody is fully bad or fully good. Eve Dharma raja (Yama)'s son Yudhisthara spent time in hell for telling a lie.
• Anyway, the source <for this information> can be Skanda Purana and Bhagvata Purana which I have here in the USA.

Another opinion courtesy of Shubh Karan:

• You should refer to the Indian comics based on Indian Gods and Hindu Mythology....Shiva is all powerful, with immeasurable strength and power....you can't classify his strength as class 100, etc....he is the 'Destroyer', and (fortunately for everyone), generally stays out of the affairs of the world. If he opens his third eye, or gets agitated and dances the Tandav, that's it, man, end of the world - Brahma'll have to start rebuilding again....gods such as Indra could be classified as say class 100 strength, etc - they are defeatable. Shiva and Vishnu are approached by other gods when things get out of hand for them. In other words, you approach them when nothing else works, and they always fix things no matter what. In his human incarnations, Vishnu is considerably less powerful, but powerful enough to handle the crisis at hand (he usually doesn't call on his full power, unless required)....Marvel should make gods like Thor, Hercules and Zeus battle Hindu gods of the level of Indra (King of the Daevas, hence probably equivalent of Zeus' power and strength level). If Thor approached Shiva, and angered him, Shiva'd just open his third eye and incinerate Thor into nothingness....Thor'd end up being reborn somewhere, and finally, Shiva'd grant him forgiveness (if Thor behaved really well, and various other gods appealed to Shiva on Thor's behalf), and he would take his original form....ain't no defeating Shiva man!! All gods fear him!
• Also, the Marvel comics artists should check out the depiction of Shiva in Indian Amar Chitra Katha comics - it's far superior to the drawings done by Marvel - ok, maybe the coloring, shading etc of Marvel artists are usually better than Amar Chitra Katha (AMC), but the AMC artists capture the essence of Shiva much better - he's lean and muscular, the body of an Ascetic who practices intolerably hard penance and self denial, and stays away from the world atop Mount Kailasa....also lithe and supple, an expert practitioner of Yoga, and the greatest dancer in the world.....he's not a pumped up heavy muscled freak (looking as though he's been blown up with steroids) who couldn't shake a leg....he also has very long hair that is always tied up in a bun - he once caught and entrapped the River Ganges (also a goddess) in that bun...and always has a snake around his neck - a king cobra.
• yeah, that's probably why Marvel decided to reveal that it was actually Indra whom Thor had fought in those issues.
  Class 100 strength includes anything > 100 tons, as it is difficult to quantify beyond that. You do have to remember that there is a difference between Marvel's characters, and the characters from religion.
  While Marvel may have goofed in having Shiva fight on the level of Thor (although Shiva was overpowering him in Nirvana), it would make more sense to have him be more an the level of Zeus or Odin, again, only in the MU.
  Also, if you cling to the belief that it was really Shiva, and not Indra, you could just think that Shiva was merely toying with Thor, and testing his abilities, only feigning defeat for his own purposes--Snood.

• I'm attaching a much better drawing of Shiva done by Amar Chitra Katha comics...much better than what Marvel has done, that is...it's a small picture, but gives an idea...there's a whole world of gods, and Indra is their king...so he's like as powerful as Zeus or Odin....then there's the Trinity - Brahma Vishnu and Mahesh (Shiva), who transcend all universes and are all powerful....think of them as the kings of the Celestials or something...all powerful with untold power...they could grow to over 2000 feet if they wanted to, or stand at the size of  a normal man - whatever they choose. And Shiva is the most dangerous and volatile of them...the easiest to anger, but also the easiest to please and obtain favor or powers from...known as Bhole (simple thinking) Shankar, who will grant Boons to anyone, whether good or bad, if they perform sufficiently severe penance and meditation (it would usually have to encompass several rebirths, so its pretty hard)...if he's pleased, he'll grant them a wish....if that leads to trouble for the world/worlds, well that's that then....let the other gods handle it...if they all fail and it comes back to Shiva and he's angered he'll just incinerate the guy...
• If it was depicted that Shiva had some respect for Thor because Thor was a mighty powerful and honorable god himself, so Shiva decided not to destroy him
  instantly, but to test his passion by seeing how well Thor would battle, and whether Thor would be willing to battle to the point of his death, and then Shiva
  pleased with the effort put in by Thor would grant him what he wished instead of killing Thor, it would be acceptable...
   

Will defends his claim that it is Shiva, and not Indra, in both Thor#301 and Annual#10:

• As gods, they would both be able to change form, however, in the earlier appearance, Shiva is obviously more concerned about reviving gods past their prime over ascendant gods as the Hindu gods. This would be typical for him since Indra is basically a Hindu Hercules caring more about getting drunk and having adventures. In the mythology, Indra heard about how the dragon Vritra was causing droughts on Earth. After getting rib-snorting drunk on amrita (a Hindu nectar), he charged Earth and killed the dragon by drowning it since it was immune to weapons. He was severely reprimanded since Vritra--despite his nature--was a friend and ally of Vishnu, a minor sun god at the time. The gods slew Airvariat, Indra's elephant mount, and used the beast's life energies and head to revive Ganehsa, who was near death. This is how Ganehsa became the elephant-headed god of wisdom we see on Apu's counter on The Simpsons."
  Again, it's a matter of whose personality actually fits the deity. Indra would have most likely pushed Thor aside and tried killing Demogorge on his own, that was more his nature. Plus, Indra and Vishnu have been on the outs for a long time. Despite their boyhood friendship, Vishnu would be holding him back in the Hindu Pantheon. Indra had major clout in the old Vedic Pantheon, but his role was greatly diminished under the Hindu Pantheon. He would not be allowed to impersonate Shiva, a major deity with worshipers today, and he would not be able to pull it off in front of Vishnu, Shiva nor Brahma.

In OHotMU 2006#3 it was confirmed that Indra impersonated Shiva at least on one occasion.

According to John McDonagh:
Before appearing in a Marvel magazine series, The Destroyer, Remo Williams, originated in a series of paperback books. A policeman was framed for murder, he became a special government assassin for the agency CURE. Trained by Chiun, he developed mystical martial arts powers. Unarmed and dangerous, he discovered he was an avatar of Shiva.

The place of the Destroyer in the Marvel Universe is a little uncertain. Using the idea that the adventures could have taken place in real time (don't you feel older, thinking that the origin of the Fantastic Four did not take place until after the early 1990s), you could fit them in. Admittedly, in Destroyer I#1 (magazine), a character says "Who do you think you are, the Hulk?".  However, that could have been a reference to Xemnu the Titan.

I recently purchased a copy of Adventure House's reprint of Real Mystery Magazine I#2 (July, 1940). This is one of Martin Goodman's "shudder pulps." Since it's been established that Goodman's magazines are 616 stories (with the probable exceptions of his sci-fi stories set in the future), I've been looking through whatever copies I can of his magazines for anything of particular interest for 616 continuity/history.
I noticed that the main villain in the story "Mates for Hell's Half-World Minion," Anya Prami the Priestess of Anguish, says "I tell you I will destroy every young person in this city--destroy them in a madness and horror such as you never dreamed of! Before Siva, Eighth Avatar of Vishnu, I swear it!" Shiva never actually appears in the story, but this is probably the first (publication-wise) reference to him in a 616 story.
Luke Van Horn

New and additional images by Ron Fredricks.

Profile by William Uchtman. Edited/Revised by Snood.
Updates by Markus Raymond & Ron Fredricks.

Clarifications:
Shiva should not be confused with:

• Shiva (Dr. Si Fan Chung) - of the Nest--Marvel Team-Up Annual#1
• Shiva - the computer program designed to kill those involved with the Weapon X program--Wolverine II#48
• any other characters with similar names
  

images: (without ads)
Thor I#301, cover (main image - Shiva battles Thor)
Thor I#301, p15, pan7 (headshot - Shiva)
Thor I#301, p16, pan1 (Shiva battles Thor)
Thor II#61, p6, pan7 (Shiva at Council Elite meeting)

Appearances:
Thor I#301 (November, 1980) - Mark Gruenwald & Ralph Macchio (writers), Keith Pollard (pencils), Chic Stone (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Thor Annual I#10 (1982) - Mark Gruenwald & Alan Zelenetz (writers), Bob Hall (pencils), Rick Bryant, Joe Rubinstein, Andy Myshynsky, Al Gordon & Kevin Dzuban (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Thor I#398 (December, 1988) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Ron Frenz (pencils), Don Heck (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Thor II#61 (May, 2003) - Dan Jurgens (writer), Ben Lai (pencils), Ray Lai (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thor II#65 (May, 2003) - Dan Jurgens (writer), Ben Lai (pencils), Ray Lai (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First posted: 01/23/2002
Last updated: 06/19/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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