Thor is the Norse God of Thunder. Lightning is like his personal trademark. He swings his hammer and lightning follows thunder in a show of godly bravado and mayhem. But the Marvel Comics have recently trumped his skillset a bit. Thor has been having quite an adventure in the latest issues featuring him. After being unworthy of the Mjolnir and roaming around as an Asgardian mercenary to eventually seeing his one true love die as he held her, He and his fans have seen it all. Or have they? The recent Thor issue might beg to differ. Presenting – Marvel Comics Update – Thor becomes the new God of Death!
SPOILER ALERT – Major Spoilers for Thor #4 by Jason Aaron. If you still haven’t read it yet, we suggest you look away!!!
The story takes place at a time where the Dark Elf King known as Malekith has led a war against all the ten realms of Yggdrasil aka the Norse World Tree. With his war taking its toll on the realms since a decade, things aren’t necessarily looking up for the good guys. Malekith manages to destroy two out of the ten realms, Nornkeep and Asgardia. The other eight now hopelessly await their eventual destructions at the hands of the Dark Elf’s army that is showing no signs of stopping.
Malekith now wages a war against the wastelands of Niffleheim and the barren rocks of Hel itself. Sindr, one of Malekith’s greatest generals, who just so happens to be the daughter of Surtur, wages a war against the great realms of the Yggdrasil. Her command composes of an army of goblins that are skilled and bloodthirsty. She has almost won the land for her lord.
The frozen lands of Niffleheim have almost no hope to win this battle. Thor, Loki, Balder, and Skurge lead the remaining resistance against the advancing forces of Sindr. In a last-ditch resort to defeat bad guys, Thor implores Loki to kill him. He would then be sent to the gates of Valhalla, where he intends to persuade the Valkyries, Asgard’s most skilled warriors, to join their cause. He is successful in bringing the Valkyries with him but it looks like even that is not enough for them to win. They need something else. Something that can be of far greater importance but it could only be achieved by a far greater sacrifice.
The only hope the God of Thunder has to now put on the very thing he despises. He will become the only thing he has always fought to protect the other innocent people from. He already has the Mjolnir and the power of Lightning. But with Malekith already having the upper hand and the battle becoming a lost cause, Thor has to do something that will squeeze the living daylights out of him. He has to become something else.
Although he never wished for it, Destiny has other plans for the Asgardian God of Thunder and Lightning. His fate is sealed with the very object of his hatred. Marvel Comics sure has a way of making its readers go wow like that. The next picture will surprise you.
The fight happens in the barren freezing wastelands of Niffleheim. Thor leads the resistance comprising of his allies against the forces of Sindr. In the heat of battle, Sindr knocks down the Goddess of Death aka Hela of Asgard. Hela’s crown, the thing that gives her powers over the dead, is knocked out of her head. Thor sees the crown on the ground and seeing a golden opportunity; lifts it up and puts it on his head. The crown gives him immeasurable powers.
His new hammer aka Hel-Bringer is drenched in the smouldering blood of his slain enemies. His other hand now holds a hammer made of purely frozen blood, courtesy of the powers granted by Hela’s Crown. Thor is no longer the God of Thunder but the God of the Asgardian Deathstorm, an entity that was the stuff of legends even in the highest of the Norse Circles. He is literally transformed into the God of Gods and the latest King of Hel.
Although the transformation was for only a very short period of time, it was pretty awesome to look at. Thor explains that his newfound abilities have a tendency to try and corrupt his soul. Each moment his powers magnify and he has to spill blood to satiate himself. Still, Thor manages to stay in control as the power levels of his own might start to grow leaps and bounds. Thor stays in control and defeats Sindr with his newfound strength, which is enough to overpower even the daughter of the Mighty Surtur. Sindr realizes the battle is lost and retreats back to her stronghold, to report back about these latest developments to her master Malekith.
As soon as the battle is over, Hela stomps over to Thor and takes back her crown. This ends the brief stint of Thor as the God of the Deathstorm. The battle is won but the threat of Malekith is far from over. The Dark Elf King still holds the upper hand in the war as the battles rage on in the other realms at full strength. If Thor decides to take the fight to the guy holding the rod, he might need Hela’s crown again.
Now that Thor has tasted its power and as explained, its ability to corrupt, he might be coming back for more of it. The next Thor issue will show us just how badly situations might turn out to be for the good guys. Will we see the new God of the Deathstorm back in action again? We sure hope we do. But only time can give us the right answer. We just hope that it gives us a good one.
Thor appeared in his last standalone movie in Thor: Ragnarok. The official synopsis for the third Thor installment reads:
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.
As for Infinity war, Joe Russo, one of the Directors for Avengers Infinity War, had a very interesting thing to say about the connection the movie had with the Thor saga. He says and we quote:
“Interestingly enough, I’ll start out by saying Thanos, even though he’s not a character that had a huge preexisting story in the Marvel universe. He was a threat but he was not developed in any way up to this point. Thanos has an incredible amount of screen time in this film, in a lot of ways I would say it’s his movie. Our job when we make these films — and what we feel is important to us — is to surprise the audience. We wanted to tell a story that they weren’t expecting, and the story is told from the point of view of a villain, which I think is also really unique and risky for a commercial film that will surprise the audience. I think this is a market where the audience really enjoys innovation and disruption, and we want to do something innovative in this space. So I think Thanos has an incredible amount of screen time, and I think you’ll find that Thor has a really interesting arc in the film. He hasn’t been at the forefront of other Avengers movies but he certainly has a very important role in this film. So I’ll say, Thanos and Thor.”
Thor appeared last in Avengers Infinity War. The third and final act of Phase 3 showed Thor in a pivotal role: The official synopsis for the movie reads:
Imprisoned on the other side of the universe, the mighty Thor finds himself in a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against the Hulk, his former ally and fellow Avenger. Thor’s quest for survival leads him in a race against time to prevent the all-powerful Hela from destroying his homeworld and the Asgardian civilization.
