Thor #1 spoilers

[ciscostudent561]

This book....just wow.

Odin not being able to lift Mjolnir is honestly one of the dumbest moments in recent history. It makes absolutely no sense, he enchanted the hammer and has absolute control over it as shown as recently as Fear Itself.

I know he's depressed and doesn't have Mjolnir but why is he suddenly useless and so much weaker? How are any Frost Giants able to restrain him? How is Malekith able to just cut his arm off?

This doesn't even make any sense in the context of Jason's own run, heck Thor's already beat up Malekith without Mjolnir under his pen. I know that his Thor has shown that his dials go from 1 to 11 depending on his mentality but even Young Thor was far more effective.

And we lost the God of Thunder series for this? Thor beaten and humiliated just to introduce a new character?

People wonder why so many long time fans were pissed about this change. It has nothing to do with the new God of Thunder being female. Conan could have picked up the hammer and all the complaints would remain.

One of the best runs on the character is canceled and he gets sidelined in his own book. He loses his hammer because of a whisper (Which still makes no sense as Mjolnir does not define worthiness on what you think about yourself). Now he's apparently depressed and useless and loses his arm. Heck, this new character even steals his name.....

Man, I want to be optimistic but anyone who thinks long time fans don't have a reason to be really upset about this need to imagine such changes applying to their favorite. I hope the sales on this tank and it crashes and burns. I'm not against new things and changes, but I am against poorly planned plots because of PC crap.

THISS!!!! Thank you for sharing your sentiment! I can't believe whats happening its an abomination!

[PocketfulofKryptonite]

Haven't gotten out to get the issue yet, does the All-Mother in fact turn the throne back over to Odin, or is it still an open question?

Personally, I'd say he abandoned his throne, she succeeded him, and the political structure has now changed sufficiently that it should be down to a referendum in the Parliament of Worlds, or at the very least within Asgardia proper if it's just a question of who rules Asgardia rather than (putatively) all the Nine Worlds. In either of which Freyja/Frigga may very well have a great chance of keeping her throne, unless Volstagg takes it in a surprise landslide by virtue of so many of the voters being his kids.

He didn't abandon Asgard, Asgardia is not Asgard, Asgard was where Cul and Odin were, Odin is still King of Asgard and the three queens of Asgardia have equal power shared between them, Odin alone has the Odinforce since he was resurrected. He didn't abdicate his throne, he created a seperate land in the form of Asgardia and acted as Cul's jailer/cellmate.

[PocketfulofKryptonite]

In addition to not having any question about whether, in terms of wielding the hammer and being the thunder god, the new Thor was basically THE Thor for the moment (to the extent that they earlier suggested the original wouldn't even be using his birth name any longer), I think they want to explore what it means for the original Thor to be unworthy and not have access to that part of himself... and I think we could regard the hammer as a part of Thor in a metaphorical sense even before Strange's additions to the enchantment.

That was the entire premise of his origin when he was bound to Donald Blake though, it is literally one of the first stories they told with the character.

[Moriarty]

i'm a long time Thor fan. does this turn of events upset me? bring forth outrage? no. not at all. its just another chapter. it won't last forever. its like when everyone got upset over Superior Spider-Man. you should know better by now.

[Rage.Of.Olympus]

Thor (2014-) 001-010.jpg

My contender for the dumbest moment of 2014 so far.

[PocketfulofKryptonite]

i'm a long time Thor fan. does this turn of events upset me? bring forth outrage? no. not at all. its just another chapter. it won't last forever. its like when everyone got upset over Superior Spider-Man. you should know better by now.

But the whole "let's replace Thor" gimmick happened right after Fear Itself when Tanarus/Ulik took Thor's place. Such a similar story so soon after that is going back to the well too often for me. Why not Skirn: Breaker of Men reborn with Frigga/Freyja or Loki finding the remnants of Stormcaster and having that reforged? The All-Mother triumvirate already have been using him.

[vitruvian]

This book....just wow.

Odin not being able to lift Mjolnir is honestly one of the dumbest moments in recent history. It makes absolutely no sense, he enchanted the hammer and has absolute control over it as shown as recently as Fear Itself.

Thanks for reminding us that Odin's control of the enchantment was displayed during Fear Itself, which is long after the repairs to those enchantments by Strange. That tells us that the shattering and repair of Mjolnir at that time can't explain Odin's inability to lift it now. Something else must be going on, although that history is still useful in telling us a) just how important Mjolnir really is to Thor, containing as it does a piece of his very life force or soul, and b) that changes to the enchantments can indeed be made by other practitioners under the right circumstances.

I know he's depressed and doesn't have Mjolnir but why is he suddenly useless and so much weaker? How are any Frost Giants able to restrain him? How is Malekith able to just cut his arm off?

This doesn't even make any sense in the context of Jason's own run, heck Thor's already beat up Malekith without Mjolnir under his pen. I know that his Thor has shown that his dials go from 1 to 11 depending on his mentality but even Young Thor was far more effective.

I think you answer your own question. Since Aaron indisputably is aware that Thor was one mighty bastard from well before he ever lifted the hammer, it must necessarily be the case that he is weaker and less effective for less obvious reasons. Perhaps being separated from the external piece of his soul by being deemed unworthy is responsible, or perhaps whatever the whisper was about has him so distracted and prone to second guessing himself that he's practically sleepwalking through the fight. For whichever reason, he is lesser at the moment than he was as young Thor, the not-yet-worthy.

And we lost the God of Thunder series for this? Thor beaten and humiliated just to introduce a new character?

People wonder why so many long time fans were pissed about this change. It has nothing to do with the new God of Thunder being female. Conan could have picked up the hammer and all the complaints would remain.

One of the best runs on the character is canceled and he gets sidelined in his own book. He loses his hammer because of a whisper (Which still makes no sense as Mjolnir does not define worthiness on what you think about yourself). Now he's apparently depressed and useless and loses his arm. Heck, this new character even steals his name.....

Man, I want to be optimistic but anyone who thinks long time fans don't have a reason to be really upset about this need to imagine such changes applying to their favorite. I hope the sales on this tank and it crashes and burns. I'm not against new things and changes, but I am against poorly planned plots because of PC attention or whatever.

Oh yea, let's not forget them introducing Angela, who is apparently the rightful heir to the throne (Which completely demeans one of the largest parts of Thor's origins) and beats him up. I've always wanted women to have a bigger role in large more mainstream titles...until now.

I'm not upset. Characters have been laid low and rendered into seemingly hopeless underdogs for lesser reasons than introducing a potentially interesting new character.

As far as Thor being the rightful, or legitimate, heir to Asgard's throne... he's never been that, has he? His birth mother was Jord, also known as Gaea, never married to Odin, and Freyja/Frigga is his stepmother. To the extent the Asgardians follow Midgardian notions of legitimacy and primogeniture, I believe Balder used to be the primary contender.

[Moriarty]

But the whole "let's replace Thor" gimmick happened right after Fear Itself when Tanarus/Ulik took Thor's place. Such a similar story so soon after that is going back to the well too often for me. Why not Skirn: Breaker of Men reborn with Frigga/Freyja or Loki finding the remnants of Stormcaster and having that reforged? The All-Mother triumvirate already have been using him.

and we just had someone other than Steve acting as Captain America a few years ago. Thor Odinson is still around. he just isn't worthy. this story is exploring elements of his character.

[vitruvian]

Sif not being able to lift it before the inscription changed makes sense because the enchantment was gender specific. Odin not being able to lift it doesn't make sense since it doesn't matter if he's worthy of lifting it, the enchantment was bestowed by him and so he's excluded from the limitations because he commands the parameters of it.

As you rightly pointed out, a whisper in his ear shouldn't matter in regards to Mjolnir, Thor is still Thor and Mjolnir is still linked to his life force. A crisis of confidence shouldn't cause Mjolnir to stop abiding by it's enchantment parameters unless he's been sleepwalking and acting like a total douchebag without knowing it but even then as soon as he stopped being worthy it should have dropped from his hand, whether he knew why or not, not after a whisper from Nick Fury.

We've been reminded that Odin's power over Mjolnir's enchantments has been demonstrated pretty recently, so the circumstances that changed that are as yet unknown. He certainly comes across as surprised and not a little miffed at it, so it's not like he (or the writer) seems to have forgotten he's supposed to be able to handle it regardless of worthiness.

The only thing I can think about the whisper is that it may not be about something Thor himself has done (unless maybe it's something unworthy and now that he knows he can't bring himself to regret or disavow it, but would do it again), but more a secret that makes him feel some unworthy emotion towards another, one that again he can't find it in himself to repent of and thereby be worthy again. Something that makes his actual attitude towards things going forward more like that of young Thor before he could lift it, and such that he can't adjust his attitude even though he knows it's separating him from Mjolnir.

[Username taken]

Why doesn't Odin just make Thor another hammer?

[vitruvian]

He didn't abandon Asgard, Asgardia is not Asgard, Asgard was where Cul and Odin were, Odin is still King of Asgard and the three queens of Asgardia have equal power shared between them, Odin alone has the Odinforce since he was resurrected. He didn't abdicate his throne, he created a seperate land in the form of Asgardia and acted as Cul's jailer/cellmate.

Fine, he can go back to Asgard proper and the All-Mother can continue to rule Asgardia as she sees fit. Another way of putting this, he may not have abandoned Asgard, but he most certainly abandoned the Asgardian people and doesn't necessarily have any fit claim to take over their governance again.

[vitruvian]

That was the entire premise of his origin when he was bound to Donald Blake though, it is literally one of the first stories they told with the character.

Except that he hasn't actually been unworthy to wield the hammer since Don Blake picked up that walking stick, except in flashbacks to young Thor. Shoot, he was even worthy at the time that Odin bound him to Donald Blake to teach him humility, so a lack of humility was apparently not a disqualification.

[MindofShadow]

I thought the issue explained why Thor was "weak." Freyja mentioned that Thor was too weak at the moment to fight becuse he has been on the damn moon in a depression for a long ass time. He was not fit to handle Jotuns AND Malekith.

[PocketfulofKryptonite]

and we just had someone other than Steve acting as Captain America a few years ago. Thor Odinson is still around. he just isn't worthy. this story is exploring elements of his character.

Bucky's redemption arc was carefully orchestrated and Falcon's was too from when he was Snap Wilson. Luke Cage, same deal. I am not against the traditional heroic arc of the tale of redemption but the idea a woman can rock up on the moon and by mere touch alter the enchantment Odin placed on it is just shock tactic writing. Thor is not a complete idiot, if he can't lift the hammer after the whisper, he'd stop trying and call for Heimdall to send assistance.

[Superchick]

Thor is THE SADDEST. PUPPY. IN THE UNIVERSE. that is so funny...

Thor cradled in his mothers arms as she consoles him is one of the most heartwarming things I've seen in Thor for years.