Thor levels Malekith’s forces around Earth in War of the Realms No. 5

Thor and the Avengers fight to their very last breath to stop the War of the Realms, but soon Thor realizes he must do something more in order to stop it. Spoilers for War of the Realms no. 5 follow.

The world is overrun and the Avengers are barely able to hold back to the seemingly never-ending tide of Malekith’s forces due to their utter lack of understanding of the War of the Realms. The only thing that’s now keeping them back in the fight is the re-emergence of Thor after he had been brought back from Jotunheim. Fighting with a fury that no other can achieve, Thor single-handedly begins to even the playing field.

Despite the war on Earth, Daredevil, with the power of Heimdall, brings Thor to the sun because there is one scream that he can now hear above all else, Yggdrasil, the World Tree. The World Tree is growing out of the sun from a seed that had been present on Asgardia before it was destroyed in the fight with Mangog and now, it’s being reborn. Thor begins to ask many questions that Daredevil is no able to answer, but before long Thor knows what he needs to do. He flies to the World Tree and has Daredevil nail him to it with Jarnbjorn so that he can burn, which will hopefully have the World Tree provide the answers he seeks, namely how to stop Malekith.

On Asgard though, Jane Foster contemplates what she needs to do in order to stop this war, especially given that she is now regent of Asgard. Against Hemidall’s advice and protection, Jane picks up the broken hammer of the War Thor, thus beginning her transformation into being a god once more.

Image by Marvel Comics/Art by Russell Dauterman

War of the Realms has been pretty consistent in what it’s been wanting to do, all-out war, and it’s done it well. It’s extremely fun and satisfying to see certain characters completely out of their depth and interacting with others that there would be no logical reason to see them on the same page without a story such as this, like Wolverine and the Warriors Three. The problem is, the pacing is way too fast for its own good, and that continues in this issue. There is no time to breathe or for any character moments to shine through, it’s just action-heavy. The moments are there, but there’s not enough time to dwell on them. It really feels like the series as a whole could have been benefitted from two more issues.

8.0/10 

War of the Realms no. 5 is another extremely fun, exciting entry to this tale even if everything does move extremely quickly.