Marvel Comics told fans to expect a big announcement on today’s installment of The View and boy, did they deliver. That news of course being that the title of Thor, starting this fall, will be filled by a woman in the Thor comics. Now this isn’t to say that our old God of Thunder is completely out of the picture, but rather that someone else will now wield his power and hammer, Mjolnir; she just so happens to be a female. Hit the jump for a breakdown of the announcement as well as a look into who else has held the hammer in the past.
Whoopi Goldberg first dropped the news today with the following statement:
“It’s a huge day in the Marvel Universe. Thor, the God of Thunder, he messed up, and he’s no longer worthy to hold that damn hammer of his. For the first time in history, that hammer is being held by a woman. That’s right. Thor is a woman!”
Yes, for the foreseeable future (which in comic book time is usually measured by when the next movie will hit the cinemas—see Peter Parker’s recent return), Mjolnir will be held by this mysterious woman. She’ll make her debut as the titular character of the relaunched, Thor series, hitting this October with a brand new #1 issue, written by Jason Aaron and with artwork from Russell Dauterman. Aaron, current writer for Marvel’s Thor: God of Thunder, contributed with this to say:
“This is not She-Thor. This is not Lady Thor. This is not Thorita. This is THOR. This is the THOR of the Marvel Universe. But it’s unlike any Thor we’ve ever seen before,"
As for “He” Thor, for a reason as yet to be revealed, the Odinson now finds himself unable to wield his hammer and will go by “Unworthy” Thor, moving forward. He won’t be unarmed, however, as he’ll now be sporting the weapon he had used previously to Mjolnir, a giant axe called “Jarnbjorn”. Don’t even ask me how to pronounce that one (yarn-b-yorn?). The mystery of why this happened and where “He” Thor goes from here will surely be revealed in the coming months.
For those wondering, this is not the first—and most likely will not be the last—time that Thor’s hammer has been held by another. The first person to do this was the alien warrior, who happens to look like a horse, named Beta Ray Bill. He eventually got a hammer of his own, Stormbreaker, and still patrols the stars. There was even a time when the hammer was wielded by a frog, that was in fact Thor who had been cursed by Loki and placed into the body of an amphibian though Throg was certainly a story to remember.
Actually, this new female Thor isn’t the first woman to wield the hammer. That honor goes to Wonder Woman! Yes, during a crossover between Marvel Comic and DC comics (appropriately named Marvel Vs. DC), Wonder Woman picked up the hammer and gained the power of Thor for most of the series, as she found herself worthy enough to do so. Coincidentally, in a later series entitled JLA/Avengers, Superman did the same. There was even a time during the 80’s/90’s where Thor’s hammer belonged to a regular schlub named Eric Masterson, who would eventually become Thunderstrike.
I’m one of the biggest Thor fans you’ll meet, and I think this will be a great change for the character and will lead to some great storytelling. Will also keep my ear to the ground on the “Death of Wolverine” and “Brand New Captain America” that are hitting the scene. Oh you didn’t hear about those? Read your comics, kids!
