Thor and Wolverine are juggernauts of their kind. Thor hails from Asgard, a place that is known to champion the warrior code. Wolverine has lived through one of the bloodiest times in human history. While Thor is the lord of thunder, Wolverine has been literally molded into the agent of Chaos. Thor has his hammer. Wolverine has his claws. Several fictional fights have been hypothesized in the fan forums depicting a fight where sometimes Thor wins and sometimes Wolverine is the victor. Well, the theories of who is stronger amongst Thor and Wolverine can be put to rest for Marvel has finally decided to give us an answer. Presenting – Phoenix Force Wolverine fights King Thor in comic book history’s greatest deathmatch!!!
SPOILER ALERT: The Following paragraphs contain MAJOR Spoilers for Thor #5. If you intend to read it and still haven’t, we suggest you look away….
In the pages of Thor, Jason Aaron has depicted a battle of cosmic proportions. We never saw Wolverine and Thor share the same frame in a movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But we did see Wolverine acquire the Phoenix Force and live long enough to become the last living human being who is essentially a God now that is witnessing the end of the Marvel Universe as we know it in the far future.
Thor is now Old King Thor, the All-Father’s powers now rest with him. Asgard is almost gone with only a few Asgardians kept alive by Thor’s hyper-powerful magic that has the ability mould the primal forces of the universe. Both are not Gods, they are God of Gods and they just decided to turn on each other.
We are here to paint you the picture. This comic book is a sight for sore eyes. It has finally given us the answer as to which one is better – the comic books or the movies? The answer, after Thor #5, is loud and clear. No matter how large its budget is or how star-studded the cast might be, a movie will never compare to the magnitude of a comic book writer and a good artist working in tandem to deliver a brilliant story arc with just pictures and words. Thor #5 is a testament to the fact that a good comic book arc will always be superior to any superhero movie that ever was, is or will be.
Before diving deeper into the tale of the cosmic death match that kills one of the heroes, let us throw in some light on the back story of the comic book storyline we are talking about.
Brace yourselves.
Thor bears witness as the Marvel Universe breathes its last
Jason Aaron has worked wonders with what miniscule resources he had at his disposal. He made Thor into a legend. After crowning himself the King of Hel and becoming a force to be reckoned with, Aaron also writes a story arc titled ‘Untold Eons from Now’, a storyline which sees Thor expand his Asgardian kingdom to include almost all of creation. He goes full cosmic and brings the whole universe under his protection as the inevitable end nears. The Earth is now a cold, barren wasteland and only a single village remains. Asgardians and humans now work together under Thor’s tutelage to keep the flame of life alive in the cosmos.
Thor sat beside a resurrected and virtually immortal Jane Foster, contemplating the fact that there is no afterlife in the future. The After-life died along with the rest of the forces of the universe that eventually lost steam with the passage of time. When the Mjolnir comes crashing down on Earth bringing some terrible news. Thor puts his ear on his hammer and listens to the message. And before we know it, has already blasted off into the dark void of space.
End of the Line
Mjolnir was tasked with finding out if the universe has indeed gone dark and lifeless. If there was even a sliver or speck of life left somewhere in the universe, Mjolnir was supposed to find it and report to Tor immediately. Turns out, the message is simple – there is NO life left in the universe. And to top it off, there is even more sad news. An unknown force is coming to claim Earth and destroy what is left of life in this carcass of a universe. Thor longed for a fight to go down guns blazing. But the surprise that awaited him when he met the unknown force face to face left him petrified.
Enter Old Man Phoenix
It is a Phoenix Force powered Wolverine!!! Logan is a character that has a healing factor to die for (no pun intended). His healing gives him enormous longevity. But even the Wolverine cannot live long enough to witness the end of time as we know it! To do that, he has merged with the Phoenix Force. The mission of Old Man Phoenix is simple – find life anywhere in this dying universe and execute them as a mercy killing. Logan wants life to be extinguished so that the Universe can die in peace. And the only planet that remains with life on it is Earth – which is under the protection of King Thor.
Wolverine is not there to greet his old Avenger pal. He is there to kill Thor.
All-Father Thor vs. Cosmic Berserker Wolverine
After Thor brought the last remnants of life back to form that lone village on Earth, everything seemed normal. The Phoenix Force Wolverine had died in an earlier issue. The Phoenix Force has brought him back from the dead. No one knows what is going to happen next. No one knows why Wolverine is hell-bent on destroying all life in the universe. What we do know is that there is going to be a fight that will shake the very foundations of the cosmos.
Since the Universe is now near damn empty, Thor can now use his full power as the All-Father without worrying of hurting nearby worlds. He spins him Mjolnir so fast that the whole universe rotates along with it. He uses his ancient magic to summon boulders the size of galaxies and conjures up a storm that could dwarf several black holes put together.
The Wolverine is pure animalistic rage. The Phoenix Force has responded to his new foe all too well. The greater the threat, the more powerful is the host of the Phoenix force. It also depends on the mental and physical durability of the host. Jean Grey was a timid human being but Wolverine is a far superior specimen. With King Thor as his enemy, someone who can summon planets for projectiles, and no risk of any form of collateral damage, the Wolverine taps into his rage and unlocks a power that could even scare the bejesus out of cosmic entities. Wolverine turns into the ‘Cosmic Berserker’.
Endgame
The fight keeps shifting in both heroes’ favour. Thor manages to get a killing blow when he makes Mjolnir pierce the chest of Wolverine. Not even a healing factor as good as Logan is enough to heal him back from that wound. With the energies that were flowing through the hammer, Thor thinks it is enough to put the animal down.
He was wrong.
The minute Thor looks away Wolverine’s healing factor (now supercharged with the Phoenix Force) heals the gaping hole in his chest. Wolverine then finally ends the fight when he summons all the Phoenix Force’s Strength to push his claws right through All-Father Thor’s chest. The fight ends with Wolverine as the victor and King Thor’s lifeless corpse lying on the ground. The fight is epic but sadly, since the universe I long dead there is literally no one to witness it.
But wait, there’s more. If you think Wolverine is now the only living being in the whole wide universe, you are wrong. Another villain now exists in the universe and he was waiting for a moment like this. King Thor is dead and Doctor Doom is now free to do whatever he wishes. Jason Aaron and Christian Ward are righting Thor #6 as we speak and they have this to say about the upcoming use:
“If you thought Old Man Phoenix was crazy, then wait’ll you see what we’ve done to Marvel’s greatest villain… A Doom more powerful than anything that has ever lived.”
