Marvel revealed a new Thor last week that replaces the bruising handsome Norse god we’ve become accustomed to for the past 50 years with a mysterious female. So what is happening to guy Thor? A new sketch released Monday by Russell Dauterman hints at what an Unworthy Thor will look like.
“Thor character models!,” Dauterman exclaimed on his Tumblr page featuring sketches of both new female Thor and the now unworthy male Thor.
“Did these as I was starting work on the book. The costumes were designed before I came on board (by the great Esad Ribic, I believe), but here’s my take on them.”
The announcement of a switch to a female Thor brought plenty of controversy as Marvel was seen as changing an important character in the Marvel Universe as part of a gimmick. These types of gimmicks are nothing new in the realms of comics, however.
For example, Spider-Man has died a couple of times in two different comic lines. The web-slinger got better in the main Marvel universe and was replaced by a bi-racial teenager in the “Ultimate” line of comics. Meanwhile, the entire DC Comic universe was rebooted just three years ago and is already killing off and replacing characters. Marvel also recently announced that Steve Rogers was being replaced by Sam Wilson (aka The Falcon) as Captain America and even Wolverine is being killed off, supposedly for good.
This isn’t the first time that Thor has been replaced in the main line of Marvel comics. He was briefly replaced by the alien Beta Ray Bill after proving himself worthy of wielding Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. There was also a brief period of time where Thor was replaced by a character named Eric Masterson during the 90s.
So, what does this mean for the new female Thor? According to Marvel editor Will Moss , “The inscription on Thor’s hammer reads ‘Whosoever holds this hammer, if HE be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.’ Well it’s time to update that inscription. The new Thor continues Marvel’s proud tradition of strong female characters like Captain Marvel, Storm, Black Widow and more. And this new Thor isn’t a temporary female substitute — she’s now the one and only Thor, and she is worthy!”
As the Dauterman sketch shows though, this leaves an Unworthy Thor wandering around. He is missing all of his armor and is sporting what looks like a replacement left arm as well. That leaves the open questions of not only how he was deemed unworthy but if he will be on a redemption quest. It would not be surprising at all to see the character return to his former status again in a year or two with the new female Thor given a new identity and similar powers based on past history.
What do you think of Unworthy Thor? Will he be deemed worthy once again?
[Edit: Corrected the description of the Ultimate Spider-Man, Mile Morales. He was incorrectly described as gay.]