Asgard is invaded by none other than.... Lord Vader

[cmdrjones]

Got this idea from the Honest movie trailer send up of "Thor the Dark World" (A send up richly deserved BTW... Thor moping in a snuggie... LOL )
but it got me to thinking, we DO see some modern weaponry hidden amongst all the medieval frippery. (Missile launching hoverboats, Gatling guns, Laser towers, energy shields etc) and some pretty impressive physical feats by the Asgardians (Heimdall taking down a PT boat sized ship with a pair of knives that cause it to spontaneously combust? Volstagg holding up the combined weight of about 20 full grown asgardians pushing on him, Thor smashing a rock giant with one hit, lady Sif with Hand-eye able to snatch a harpoon out of the air after being fired out of a hand cannon and so on, not to mention an energy shield that doesnt blink when rammed by a dark elf ship flying at WWII fighter speeds (apparently anyway).
So, let's say that Vader decides that Asgard is harboring rebel spies and launches an Invasion with the Devastator (i.e all the resources he had right at the beginning of episode IV) Can he march down and seize all of Asgard? Or will Odin beat him about the face and body with his energy spear?

Two alternate scenarios: If Asgard curbstomps give Vader the Entire Death Squadron
If Vader stomps, Give Asgard a week of prep time (due to Heimdall's super sight) and the rest of the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D to help out.

[Ahriman238]

The weakest Asgardian can tie knots from steel bars and is part of a warrior culture going back tens of thousands of years. Ground combat is going to be a curbstomp for Asgard, even more so if we go with the comics over the film.

On the other hand, AFAIK there's nothing stopping the Star Destroyer from just blasting Asgard to rubble if they can access it in the first place.

[Kojiro]

Asgards working are vastly unknown.

If there is prep time for Asgard the Bifrost may come into play. We already know it can be used as a weapon capable of tearing apart a planet so it seems entirely likely they could build weapons capable of damaging an ISD, even if they were fixed positions. Whether their shielding can withstand any sort of bombardment... there's no way to know how powerful that shield is. That said if they know the threat is coming they could just as easily turn the Bifrost on the ISD well before it gets there.

But there is just no way ground forces are getting anywhere. The Imperials will have to just pummel from afar and hope Asgard can't take it or fight back. Ultimately we know only a few bits about Asgard and I'm certain it has other tricks up it's sleeve, to say nothing of Odin's magic.

[Joun_Lord]

The weakest Asgardian can tie knots from steel bars and is part of a warrior culture going back tens of thousands of years. Ground combat is going to be a curbstomp for Asgard, even more so if we go with the comics over the film.

Asgardians are certainly stronger and longer lived then humans but don't seem super durable compared to them. Asgardians in Thor TDW die from Dark Elf laser blasts pretty easily. Thor's mommy dies pretty easily from a stab and the professor Earth living Asgard nearly does from being impaled.

In combat they don't seem that impressive either. Their armor didn't stop the Dark Elfdar energy weapons (only really had those Gungun energy shields as protection from them) and they seemed to have no ranged weapons of their own. They just didn't seem to be doing that well against the Dark Elves in combat. The Dark Elf infantry definitely didn't seem much more effective then an Imperial Stormtrooper other then their black hole grenades (which I'm sure the various grenades and thermal detonators used by Imps would be just as devastating even if ain't as visually cool). The only real time the Asgardians seemed to have the upper hand was when the Dark Elves engaged in melee but I doubt stormtroopers are going to go all Space Marine and rush the enemy with vibro-knives.

In the fight at the movie's beginning with Thor's companions the Asgardian troops were barely holding their own against the raiders armed with limited energy rifles but mostly what looked like melee weapons and projectile harpoon gun....things.

I think in one on one combat with Asgardian warrior vs Stormtrooper the Asgardian would probably win but in mass the Asgardians would probably wind up the same as what happened with the Dark Elves, they would be losing.

With the heavy hitters like Thor, Odin, and the Companions added in the mix things might be more in the Asgardians favor but I'm pretty sure the power of the Dark Side, mechanized infantry, and the power of a crap ton of turbolasers would render even them ineffective.

[jwl]

Just to clarify: we are talking about Asgard from marvel movies here, right?

[Perseid]

It all depends on just how powerful blasters and Star Wars materials are compared with those used by Asgard/Dark Elves.

The higher powers in the nine realms seem to have a level of understanding that is, as stated in the first film, like a combination of science and magic. Every Asgard death was due to them being hit by either their tech (Asgard professor in AoS) or from equivalent tech (Thor films). Every time a Asgardian has been hit by something mortal or outside of the higher powers within the nine realms (at least on camera), they appear to shrug it off. Case in point the Asgardian/history professor in AoS was a blacksmith back on Asgard but a steel knife was no threat to him.

Without knowing how Asgardian physiology and technology stacks up to Star Wars tech it could swing either way.

[cmdrjones]

The weakest Asgardian can tie knots from steel bars and is part of a warrior culture going back tens of thousands of years. Ground combat is going to be a curbstomp for Asgard, even more so if we go with the comics over the film.

On the other hand, AFAIK there's nothing stopping the Star Destroyer from just blasting Asgard to rubble if they can access it in the first place.

Agreed, but with one caveat: A Warrior culture can be a detriment if you refuse to adapt to new conditions. that SEEMs to fit Asgard to a "T".

[cmdrjones]

Just to clarify: we are talking about Asgard from marvel movies here, right?

yes

[cmdrjones]

Asgards working are vastly unknown.

If there is prep time for Asgard the Bifrost may come into play. We already know it can be used as a weapon capable of tearing apart a planet so it seems entirely likely they could build weapons capable of damaging an ISD, even if they were fixed positions. Whether their shielding can withstand any sort of bombardment... there's no way to know how powerful that shield is. That said if they know the threat is coming they could just as easily turn the Bifrost on the ISD well before it gets there.

But there is just no way ground forces are getting anywhere. The Imperials will have to just pummel from afar and hope Asgard can't take it or fight back. Ultimately we know only a few bits about Asgard and I'm certain it has other tricks up it's sleeve, to say nothing of Odin's magic.

I thkn pound for pound the Asgardians, especially the "Heroes" have an advantage in ground fighting... At close range. Though I'm not sure, short of Mjolnir, that using a hand weapon to take on an AT-AT will be a very healthy endeavor.

[Kojiro]

I thkn pound for pound the Asgardians, especially the "Heroes" have an advantage in ground fighting... At close range. Though I'm not sure, short of Mjolnir, that using a hand weapon to take on an AT-AT will be a very healthy endeavor.

There's no reason to believe Asgard doesn't have ranged weaponry- we've seen the turrets for example. They seem to have issues hitting the DE ships but I'd be confident they could hit AT-ATs. Whether they can do damage though...

That said, I'm sure Asgard has other tricks. We know for a fact they can generate and output massive amounts of energy so who knows. We should remember the defense we saw in TDW was hastily assembled against a surprise attack, and that Asgard itself probably hasn't been attacked in a very, very long time.

The fact is we just don't know how Asgardians and their tech works. I'm pretty sure that MrCorSec is right, there's some element of magic that allows mundane 'higher' attacks to work (Loki puncturing Thor's abdomen/armour with a stiletto, Malakith throwing a dagger through an Asgardian chest plate) while lower ones that should do far more damage do little if anything (just look at the punishment Thor takes from Iron Man without so much as a scratch).

I will say this- Sif's shield is an anomaly. In TDW we see regular Asgardian plebs block DE blaster shots with their shields. Sif's shield I'm guessing is at least of that quality, yet that harpoon penetrates it. I'm pretty sure that's to make a visual point of her 'saving' Thor but it does present an inconsistency.

[NecronLord]

How big is Asgard? Because it looked like a large flat disc of rock, and well, star destroyers are good at turning rock to vapour. Even if Asgardians were invincible, they're not going to be doing much floating in space; Loki managed, yes, but when he was floating in space, he was no threat.

Blow it up.

Tractor beam them and pull them into the nearest star.

[Lord Revan]

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D suggest that even "grunt" asgardians have quite effective healing factor, that proffessor was saved by making sure that he lived long enough for the healing factor to heal the wound and we're talking minutes for a serious chest wound here from having peice of the berserker staff shoved forcibly into his chest and I want remind that said peice was not sharp so wound will be greater then a wound from a sword or dagger.

[Kojiro]

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D suggest that even "grunt" asgardians have quite effective healing factor, that proffessor was saved by making sure that he lived long enough for the healing factor to heal the wound and we're talking minutes for a serious chest wound here from having peice of the berserker staff shoved forcibly into his chest and I want remind that said peice was not sharp so wound will be greater then a wound from a sword or dagger.

Thor seems to go from being wounded by Loki's stiletto to fine in a few minutes. Even Loki takes no more than 15 minutes to start getting up and about after Hulks puny god slamfest. Hell in TDW he goes from impaled to ambushing Asgardian guards in a very short span, seemingly to sitting on the throne fine in very short order (to say nothing of whatever he did to Odin).

How big is Asgard? Because it looked like a large flat disc of rock, and well, star destroyers are good at turning rock to vapour.

I'm pretty sure the city there at least falls within the scope of an ISD to lay waste to, assuming there is no viable counter attack. Of course if there isn't the question is really 'how much rock can an ISD sit above and pulverise?' which is quite a bit.

[Simon_Jester]

I take it there's no reason to assume Asgard has any kind of shielding against heavy energy weapon bombardment?

[Lord Revan]

there seems to be enough heavy hitters in the cosmic Marvel in MCU that it's not unreasonble to assume that Asgard has some form of defense against space attacks but it could easily be some form as "cloak" to hide it's true location, rather then a shield to protect from bombardment, but either way we don't know.

[Kojiro]

The palace is shown to have shielding, brought down by internal sabotage of the generator before fully raising. Seemed to go up slowly though, maybe a minute or so to be fully up. Whether or not the rest have shields that weren't manned is unknown. No idea whatsoever on what kind of firepower it can absorb.

That said, this RAR is about whether or not Asgard can be invaded. It does seem unlikely that Asgard has no other defenses given the universe they know full well exists. I think perhaps they rely on Heimdal here, who was more or less defeated by the DE stealth. The idea that Asgard would have no recourse against a Kree ship like we saw in Guardians seems a little absurd but that's more or less what we're talking about here. I think a prepared Asgard would fare significantly better than the ambushed one in TDW.

[GuppyShark]

The idea that Asgard would have no recourse against a Kree ship like we saw in Guardians seems a little absurd but that's more or less what we're talking about here.

That is an excellent point.

Ronan's ship was bombarding Xandar's capital from within its atmosphere with impunity. Xandar had recently fought his race to a standstill and knew Ronan was at large and on the warpath.

The only way this could make any sense is if Ronan used the infinity gem to teleport his ship underneath a hypothetical Xandar planetary shield, although this feat was neither observed nor described in the film. In other words, unless the infinity gem allowed Ronan to circumvent the normal rules of intergalactic warfare, Xandar's inability to defend itself was indicative of incompetence or complacency.

Can we safely assume other galactic powers, such as Asgard, are not also incompetent or complacent?

[Kojiro]

Can we safely assume other galactic powers, such as Asgard, are not also incompetent or complacent?

Oh hai dude!

That was something I didn't really notice during Guardians until someone pointed it out. Are those Nova Corps fighters the extent of Xandar's defenses? Is one capital ship really able to cake walk into the capital like that? Why would the Kree bother signing a non aggression treaty with a state so clearly militarily beneath them? How did they fight them to a standstill if one ship can do that?!

As to complacency, I think again this comes down to Heimdal. That guy has serious surveillance abilities and if the Asgardians are complacent, it is in relying on him. I don't think it's wise to just go around assuming that every major power is incompetent though. For what it's worth the purple infinity gem is the gem of space, known for it's ability to teleport/warp space, so your suggestion is actually just a deleted scene away in terms of plausibility. For TDW I think it's likely Asgard has defenses or a planetary shield but didn't know they were under attack until far too late. I'd prefer those two options to grotesque incompetence though.

[GuppyShark]

Hi Kojiro . Would you believe I ran into Morgan today? Coincidence abounds.

The two situations are polar opposites.

Xander seems like a largely peaceful power having recently been at war for an extended period of time (I forget how long, I think it was on the order of a century?).
Asgard is a warlike power that has been at peace for an extended period of time (the entire duration of Loki's life).

I expect Asgard to be rusty but ultimately ready for a war.
I expected better of Xandar, it appeared they were reduced to begging the Kree to stop Ronan and competely unable to defend their colonies and protectorates, even before Ronan was wielding the infinity gem.

[Lord Revan]

I seem to remember there having talk of Xandar warships but it was said they had none in range to respond in time or something like that.

[GuppyShark]

If your enemy can just appear and start bombarding your capital, you have to be an idiot to keep no forces protecting it.

[Lord Revan]

If your enemy can just appear and start bombarding your capital, you have to be an idiot to keep no forces protecting it.

I agree but I was just pointing out that there might have been mentions of warships and it's not just the nova fighters, I could be wrong there though as I'm going by memory and it's been a while since I saw the movie.

[J Ryan]

Wasn't Ronan's plan just to get the Gem the surface? Which being shot at by a capital ship would have aided? Seems the right plan was to hold him in place with the fighters whilst a team went in to neutralise it.

He probably just blitzed straight through any static defenses, but under normal circumstances that wouldn't be a viable plan.

[Elheru Aran]

Asgard is at least the size of a decent island. In Dark World, when Thor is zipping about in the Dark Elf fighter-craft and the flying boat, they're passing stuff like mountains, rivers, and so forth. Conceivably, it's quite likely an entire world in its own right, and it's strictly in the comic books that it's the big floating city in space.

[atg]

and it's strictly in the comic books that it's the big floating city in space.

One of the Thor movies does have a fly-by showing it as such.