A Beloved MCU Hero Has Been Erased from History (Or Has He?)

Thor has long been one of Marvel’s most beloved superheroes, but saying that he was always popular is a bridge too far. Thor was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Kirby was a creator who always enjoyed bringing mythology into his comics (he’d go on to create his own divine cosmology at DC), and he and Lee made Thor into one of the more interesting early Marvel characters. Thor has had some blockbuster runs over past 60 years; there was the amazing Walt Simonson run that took readers to Ragnarok and beyond, the Dan Jurgens/John Romita Jr. run that recaptured the flavor of Kirby, the J. Michael Straczynski run that made Thor Marvel’s premiere warrior again, and the Jason Aaron that gave us an all-new Thor. Combine those with the MCU bringing Thor to the big screen, and we’re in a golden age of Thor. Into that golden age came Immortal Thor, a series that ended with the death of the God of Thunder.

Immortal Thor is a brilliant Thor tale, telling the story of Thor’s war against the gods of Utgard and the evil corporation known as Roxxon. Immortal Thor teased Thor’s death from the beginning, but when it finally happened, it took the death of the character further than anyone would have imagined. We’re seeing the aftermath of these events in the all-new Mortal Thor #1. The book takes us into a world that doesn’t even remember that Thor ever existed, with his entire history overwritten. So, who is Sigurd Jarlson, the main character of the book? Does Thor actually exist?

Thor Has Been Completely Forgotten

So, to understand what’s going on with Thor, we have to go back to Immortal Thor #24-25. Thor was in Utgard, battling the Utgard-Loki with Baldur and Skurge. Thor was able to defeat the gods of Utgard, when Loki appeared behind him and killed him at the end of issue #24. Issue #25 opened with Loki speaking Utgard-Loki about the events that just occurred. Skurge enraged with by the death of Thor, destroyed the Shadow Bridge to Utgard. However, the Shadow Bridge was the opposite side of the coin from the Rainbow Bridge of Asgard, and Skurge’s destruction of it seemed to destroy it throughout time and space. Readers immediately see the cost of this; on Earth, Thor disappears from a picture of the founding Avengers and is replaced by Beta Ray Bill. Thor then finds himself in the afterlife, where he ends up sacrificing himself to himself, much like Odin had done before, all to save the mortal world from a coming disaster. We don’t know where the story is going yet, but it seems like Thor has sacrificed his place as a god, and by doing so has changed the fabric of reality. There have been many versions of Thor, but now it seems like Thor has decided to get rid of his own legend. The one thing we know for sure about these events is this — Loki has engineered the whole thing. Loki is now the God of Stories, and they’re telling a new story, one that needs for Thor to no longer exist as the god we knew. Thor is dead, but not completely gone.

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This brings up to the end of Immortal Thor #25. Thor awakens from his death on Earth, but he no longer remembers his life as Thor. Instead, he’s now Sigurd Jarlson, and a familiar impish person named Lucky gives Sigurd keys to an apartment. That leads to Mortal Thor #1. Sigurd is trying to live his life and get a job, as rent is due soon. This brings him to a construction site, where Roxxon Energy Corporation is trying to hire scab workers because of a union strike. Sigurd notices that some of the thugs working with Roxxon has familiar runes on them, and balks at taking the job of striking workers. Sigurd makes a scene and others follow his lead. However, the Roxxon employee doesn’t like that Sigurd destroyed their chance to break the strike, and sends the thugs after Sigurd. Before the fight, Sigurd asks them about their runes, and they tell him that they worship Thor, the god of strength, who is angry and coming back. They attack him, but he uses the hammer he carries with him, a regular non-magic hammer, to bash the thugs. They don’t stand a chance against the muscular young man, and he tells them to be careful in who they attack and who they work for. They wanted an angry Thor back? Well, they have him.

Thor’s Story Has Never Begun… Yet It Starts All Over Again

We’ve gotten many Thor stories over the years. We’ve seen Thor win and we’ve seen lose. We’ve seen Thor die multiple times. Yet we’ve never seen a death of Thor the way we have seen it in Immortal Thor. Thor died, which is all a part of the cycle of his story, but this death did more. Thor sacrificed himself to himself, preparing him for whatever is coming. Thor has been taken out of the story of the Earth, or at least his history as the God of Thunder. There is still a Thor, but he is worshiped by evil. Thor no longer exists, but Thor has always existed. And he’s back.

Mortal Thor #1 is an amazing issue, continuing a story that is only a third of a way through. We don’t know why what has happened has happened, but we do know one thing — there is so more to know. A question Immortal Thor has asked is, “Would you know more?” There’s so much more happening than we know, and it’s so very intriguing.

Mortal Thor #1 is on sale now.