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Thor #4 Review: Two Thors Enter …

By Nick Tylwalk

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The new Thor hasn’t had an easy go of it so far. In her first day on the job as the Goddess of Thunder, she’s had to fight off a frost giant invasion led by Malekith the Accursed and find out if she had what it takes to be a hero when temporarily deprived of her hammer. And speaking of Mjolnir, she now has its previous owner show up looking for it, and he’s not in a real good mood.

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That’d be Thor Odinson, and in Thor #4, we get to see exactly what he’s been up to since his disastrous encounter with Malekith in Thor #1. In typical fashion, he not only shows up thinking he should have Mjolnir returned to him, he’s also quite certain he’s figured out who the new Thor is.

The fact that he’s wrong on both counts is a given, but the joy in this issue is the way Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman go about showing us. The hammer issue is resolved as a modern take on the classic “super hero misunderstanding leads to a fight” situation, while new Thor decides to prove to her predecessor in the most humorous way possible that his guess on her identity is incorrect. Or at least, like Odinson himself, I hope it is.

Even Dauterman’s art, which I still think is obscured at times by the way he does his visual FX, makes sense during the battle, as it’s pretty clear what’s going on when new Thor proves her worthiness. He also draws Odinson so sad that the Goddess of Thunder wants to give him a hug, though she decides on something else.

As for the overall arc, while this issue doesn’t answer the series’ biggest question, it at least removes the prime suspect, while also including a nice epilogue that deals with villains Malekith and Dario Agger, who literally decide to stand on the sideline and watch the Thor fight instead of getting involved on either side of it. So no worries about this issue treading water, even if it’s largely done to get Odinson to accept the new status quo.

SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT!

In a flashback, we see a disarmed Thor Odinson (sorry …) recovering in Asgardia from his run-in with Malekith. Bless his soul, he wants his axe so he can go right back and try to save Midgard again.

Instead, he gets something better: a new left arm forged by the dwarves of the Skornheim Mountains, made of the same black uru as Mjolnir. It’s there that Odin first plants the idea that Odinson’s mom might be the new Thor. Come on, lots of you were thinking it too.

We return to the present to see Odinson confronting the new Thor while the villains decide not to get in the way. Thor angers Odinson by tapping him in the chest with Mjolnir, and really ticks him off by using his trademark, “I say thee nay” line against him.

The remaining frost giants get a little too close to the struggle while Odinson is demanding to know who the new Thor is, and she shows off her hammer skills by having it fly all around the room to KO multiple giants. Odinson is impressed, admitting he could never make it do that, and when he thinks Mjolnir is coming back to him, it cruelly smacks him out of the way to go back to Thor.

She apologizes, but he’s seen enough to know that the hammer has chosen the correct wielder. He also look sad, and Thor considers a hug before getting asked point blank if she is Freyja. So … she kisses him instead, which proves, one hopes, that she is not his mother. Thor still won’t reveal her identity even though Odinson is sure they’ve met before. They team up to defeat the frost giant stragglers, and Malekith takes a powder via magic portal — though not before burning Odinson’s severed arm. Also Agger wants the Thors out or face trespassing charges. They leave, but not before new Thor gives him a warning.

Asgardian mages free the Avengers and Asgardians trapped in ice, one of whom is Freyja. Odinson gives Thor his blessing, something his mom says his father will hate. Odinson replies that it’s fine with him, and that he looks forward to finding out who the Goddess of Thunder really is. Worth noting: Freyja also says there’s something familiar about her.

And as for that epilogue … Agger and Malekith meet, and the Roxxon CEO reveals that the skull that Thor smashed earlier was merely a decoy. He’s still got the true skull of Laufey, and he’s willing to barter it to Malekith in exchange for realms, as in plural. The Dark Elf says perhaps they can do business after all.

Favorite Moment: That surprise kiss, though … Does Odinson have a crush on the new Thor now?

Final Thought: So it’s not Freyja, which the internal monologues made unlikely all along (let’s hear it for the return of thought bubbles as storytelling device, by the way). Yet it’s someone both Odinson and his mother believe they have met before. There are clues here to the identity of the new Thor, I just can’t put them together yet.

Next: How we got here: our review of Thor #3

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