Civil War II: Marvel Teases Thor's Return

12/28/2016 12:35 pm EST

Spoiler Warning for Civil War II #8

Marvel Comics today released Civil War II #8, the conclusion to Marvel's 2016 event series that pit Captain Marvel and Iron Man against each other in superhero combat. Civil War II was written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by David Marquez.

While Marquez drew the bulk of the story in Civil War II #8, the issue also featured a handful of guest artists. These artists were used to illustrate the final visions of the future shared by Ulysses, the Inhuman who set off the Civil War II conflict, to begin with.

Next: Iron Man's True Fate In Civil War II Revealed

One of those pages was illustrated by Esad Ribic, the artist of Secret Wars and Thor: God of Thunder, and seems to hint at the return of the original Thor, currently going by the name Odinson, as the wielder of Mjolnir. Check it out below.

To be clear, we are talking about the Mjolnir of Earth-616, the same Mjolnir that Odinson was made unworthy of during the events of Original Sin. In the currently ongoing limited series The Unworthy Thor, Odinson is attempting to claim the Mjolnir of Earth-1610, the Ultimate Marvel Universe. We don't know what the outcome of that series will be, but the hammer wielded by Thor in Ulysses' vision is clearly not the Mjolnir that Odinson is currently after.

We also know that the Thor in the vision is a possible future of the currently unworthy Thor because of his left arm. Odinson had his left arm cut off by Malekith. It has since been replaced by a prosthetic arm of black uru. The Thor in the vision has the same prosthetic.

Currently, Jane Foster is wielding Mjolnir as Thor in the Marvel Universe and as a member of the Avengers. In her human form, Foster is battling cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. However, whenever she transforms into her Asgardian Thor form it purges her body and undoes the effects of the chemotherapy. As has been foreshadowed in The Mighty Thor, continuing to act as Thor may severely shortly Jane Foster's lifespan.

The vision also shows Thor battling Loki, his brother, and oftentimes archenemy. Since the events of Siege in 2010, Loki has appeared as a younger being, first as a child and then as a teenager, and has been acting as a force for good, allying himself with the Young Avengers and serving as the All-Mother's secret agent.

Ulysses' vision shows Loki as an adult again, wearing his distinctive horned helmet. He also appears to be wielding All-Black the Necrosword, the cosmic weapon used by Gorr the God Butcher during his spree of deicide.

Putting all of this together, it seems like the vision may reveal a major turning point of Jason Aaron's ongoing Thor saga, one in which Jane Foster – for whatever reason – is no longer Thor, Odinson has once again become worthy of Mjolnir, and Loki has returned to his form as a true villain. Could it be true?

"Those are almost like a warning shot, things that could happen, will happen or could be avoided," Brian Michael Bendis told ComicBook.com of Ulysses' final visions. "All of that, we thought was a nice way for Ulysses to kind of bow out of profiling and leave just enough for all the heroes that were present to realize that they will always have work to do."

Fans will have to wait and see what 2017 has in store for Thor, Odinson, and Loki.

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