After Hela destroyed Thor’s previous weapon, the mythical Mjolnir hammer, Thor was unarmed most of the way in Thor: Ragnarok and he still managed to kick the Goddess of Death’s ass. His father King Odin made him realize that power is within him and Mjolnir was just a mere conduit. Also, he had help from Revengers comprising of God of Mischief aka Loki, Hulk, and Valkyrie. Moreover, Thor ordered Loki to release monster named Surtur (Asgardian Doom) who blew Asgard to smithereens and Hela along with it.
But Thanos is not just any God. He is the most powerful cosmic force who is hell-bent on destroying half the humanity. He has come to devour and kill. Hela might have been a powerful adversary and Thor managed to defeat her with just his bare hands but battling Thanos will be infinitely more difficult as compared to Hela.
And Thor immediately realized that Thanos is extremely powerful who killed his brother Loki and Heimdall right in front of him. This pushed Thor to his breaking point and in a fit of rage, he said to Thanos “You will die for this”. There was no way that Thor could beat Thanos without a weapon worthy of piercing the Mad Titan’s skin and in Infinity War, we finally catch the first glimpse of Stormbreaker in action.
In the third act of Avengers Infinity War, he came to Wakanda to help Cap, Black Panther & others safeguard Mind stone and buoy he took down a substantial portion of the alien army with his new weapon. In the end, he stabbed Thanos with ‘Stormbreaker’ and he almost died. But how powerful is the Stormbreaker, Thor’s new Infinity War weapon?
Let us explain its true abilities to you….
Spoiler Alert: Massive Spoilers for Infinity War. Proceed with Caution….
When Mjolnir was destroyed by Hela and Infinity War indicated that Thor might be getting a new weapon in the MCU, everyone speculated that it will be the mythical Jarnbjorn, the legendary battle axe that Thor Odinson currently wields in The Unworthy Thor series. We couldn’t have been more wrong. It is not Jarnbjorn the ax that Thor wields in the movie. It is a weapon we never thought Thor would wield in the MCU, but he did.
Most of Thor’s story arc within the movie involves him being defeated by Thanos, seeing his brother getting killed by the Titan and Thor swearing revenge on the purple freak. Thor then meets the Guardians of the Galaxy where Rocket and Groot decide to accompany Thor to Nidavellir, the Norse Dwarven realm where Mjolnir was forged.
They found out that the rings of Nidevellir are frozen and all but one Dwarf were slaughtered. This dwarf name is Eitri played by popular Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage aka Tyrion Lannister. They decided to work on a new weapon and restart the rings.
It is there that Thor discovers the Stormbreaker. He was holding the door to allow Star’s energy to heat the forge. He literally had to take massive quantities of heat (equivalent to awakening a dying star) to be able to activate the weapon. It could have killed him but he was a worthy Asgardian warrior who was born to wield the ax.
But what is the new weapon that now has the honor of being wielded by Thor? How powerful is it really? Is it even more powerful than Mjolnir itself?
In the comics, the Stormbreaker is the hammer wielded by Beta Ray Bill, an alien warrior who fought Thor to a standstill and earned the Norse God of Thunder’s respect for his sense of honor and glory. To reward him for his bravery, Thor ordered the Dwarves of Nidavellir to forge a hammer similar in strength to Mjolnir.
The Stormbreaker became Beta Ray Bill’s choice of weapon in battle. It has mostly stayed in the same shape throughout the following issues with a blunt edge and a short and sharp edge at the back like a mallet. In one issue, Beta Ray Bill gained the Power Cosmic and it became more ax-like. In another issue, the Skrulls broke down the hammer into two to be wielded by a Super Skrull. For the most part, though, Stormbreaker is a hammer, not a sharp-edged instrument of war.
In the movie, the Stormbreaker was only a prototype that Eitri, the dwarf King who also was coerced by Thanos into making the Infinity Gauntlet, had designed for Thor. Thor comes to Nidavellir to see everyone except Eitri dead and the Dawrven Forge cooled down. He, along with Rocket, Groot and Eitri manage to restart the Forge and create the Stormbreaker from scratch. Groot even chops off his own hand to give the Stormbreaker a handle for Thor to wield.
Thor’s new weapon Stormbreaker shares nothing but a name with its comic book counterpart. Its abilities are vastly different (and superior). It can channel Thor’s lightning energy much more efficiently and has a wider area of devastation than Mjolnir ever could. It also has the added ability to summon the Bi-Frost and teleport Thor and his allies to a place of the God of Thunder’s choice.
Mjolnir is not as durable as Stormbreaker, which could take a direct attack from a complete Infinity Gauntlet and still manage to pierce its beams to penetrate Thanos (a feat that not even the Hulk could do). All in all, we haven’t seen the last of Stormbreaker and hopefully, we never will.
Avengers: Infinity War is currently screening in theaters near you. It is directed by Joe & Anthony Russo aka Russo brothers who are famous for handling big comic-book ensemble movies (Civil War is phenomenal work by Russos). It is produced by Marvel boss Kevin Feige along with a set of executive producers including God of Marvel comics Stan Lee, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Michael Grillo etc. The screenplay has been written by a talented duo – Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.
The ensemble cast is breathtakingly amazing as there are some of the biggest Hollywood stars working together under Marvel banner including Josh Brolin (Thanos), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Pratt (Star Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Sebastian Stan (Winter soldier), Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Bradley Cooper (voice of Rocket Raccoon), Vin Diesel (voice of Groot), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Jeremy Reiner (Hawkeye), Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr. Strange), Benedict Wong (Wong), Tom Holland (Spiderman), Letitia Wright (Shuri), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlett Witch), Karen Gillian (Nebula), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Dave Bautista (Drax), Paul Bettany (Vision), Samuel Jackson (Nick Fury), Cobie Smulders (Mariah Hill).
The official film synopsis reads:
“An unprecedented cinematic journey ten years in the making and spanning the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Infinity War” brings to the screen the ultimate, deadliest showdown of all time. The Avengers and their Super Hero allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe”.
“As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos. A despot of intergalactic infamy, his goal is to collect all six Infinity Stones, artifacts of unimaginable power, and use them to inflict his twisted will on all of reality. Everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment – the fate of Earth and existence itself has never been more uncertain”.
Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk and the rest of the Avengers unite to battle their most powerful enemy yet — the evil Thanos. On a mission to collect all six Infinity Stones, Thanos plans to use the artifacts to inflict his twisted will on reality. The fate of the planet and existence itself has never been more uncertain as everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment.