Manmademan
Member
This thread spun out of a couple of comments in the Captain America: Winter Soldier spoiler thread (If you haven't seen it, do so! it's incredible) in which some posters wondered if the character of Thor had been toned down or reined in since the crazy days of the 1960s and 1970s.
To that I say thee NAY, and present to you Thor: The God Butcher/Thor: Godbomb- an 11 issue arc in Thor: God of Thunder written in 2013-2014. This story is not only the most ambitious Thor tale ever written, taking place across millennia in a way that only a Thor story could be told, but also has some of the most gorgeous art to date. Marvel held nothing back with this one and Thor cements his position as Marvel's big dog.
One interesting thing about the arc is that it really goes out of it's way to present Thor as a God here, not just a hero in tights with a big hammer, and questions what being a god really means to mortals and those that worship the gods.
I'm making an effort to squeeze relevant and interesting nuggets of the story in without spoiling errything- really, go out and pick up the trade paperback- so going to be a long post or two, and there may be a few edits here and there. Making threads is not my strong point and there is a ton of time travel here, so hang in there.
On to the Story. The arc begins in 893 AD, with a young thor fresh off of a victory, celebrating with his worshippers. This Thor has not yet earned the right to wield Mjolnir, instead carrying a giant axe called Jarnbjorn. The mood turns sour quickly and a victory celebration turns into something of a murder mystery when someone finds the severed head of a local God.
The story then moves ahead a few thousand years into the present, to Indigarr, an alien world, somewhere in deep space within the marvel universe. It hasn't rained in years and everything is dying. By then Thor's name is legendary throughout the spaceways as
the greatest God who has ever lived, and in a last desperate act, a child prays to thor to save her people from starvation. From a universe away, Thor hears that prayer.
In moments, a desert planet is brought back to life by the god of Thunder. rivers are carved, storms brought forth- all in a day's work. But why pray to Thor? Where are the gods of Indigarr? They've been gone so long that Indigarr's people consider Gods and what they do as no more than myths and exaggerations- and Thor sets out to investigate. He finds them, but what he finds is not what he expected.
Indigarr indeed had Gods, but they had been slaughtered eons ago. And the work is strikingly similar to a foe thor thought vanquished in his youth. If this foe has returned, then Gods must be warned.
The story then skips ahead "millennia" in time, and we find a Thor in his twilight years, aged and looking much like Odin, complete with not only missing eye (this is generally the sacrifice required to obtain the OdinForce) but also missing arm- Thor's left arm is now gone, replaced with one of the arms of the Destroyer. This thor is the last of all the Gods of Asgard- having waged a war of attrition of 900 years.
All father thor fights alone against the hordes that defeated his people, but he is not so much a holdout as he is a prisoner- this enemy defeats him over and over, but refuses to let him die, or join his own people in slavery. This enemy wants to mighty Thor to rot helplessly as he watches the death of his race.
The story moves once again back to 893 AD. A Young Thor is once again among his worshippers, leading them to battle and glory against russian slavs, and their gods Perun the storm lord and Chernobog The Black. But something is wrong. The slavs are there, but Thor did not come to confront mere men with spears- and the Russian Gods are missing. Thor sets off to pursue them- finding them, but not in the condition he expected:
The murderer quickly makes himself known, and Thor finds himself not a combatant on the field of battle, but in the role of "prey" and his opponent is the hunter.
Young Thor is easily manhandled, and barely survives. Again we skip ahead in time to the Present, where Thor the Avenger (as we shall call the modern day Thor) seeks information about missing gods, in an effort to track down the whereabouts of the God Killer. He travels throughout the cosmos and across dimensions, finding plenty of dead gods, but not his killer.
Old gods, powerful gods, gods who wrestle black holes, gods of war, gods of peace- The god killer has been taking out gods in a 2000 year spree, growing more powerful with each kill. As he follows the trail, Thor finds dead god after dead God, some in piles so large they can be seen from space. Thor questions why no one has noticed their absence, and questions what it means for him. If the god of Thunder was to vanish without a trace, would it truly matter?
We skip once again back to 893 AD, leaving the present day behind. It's been a week since Young Thor survived his assault, and he has just woken up- nursing his injuries. Like any young, brash, foolhardy god he sets out alone to track his assailant- the trail is easily found, as the god butcher has left maimed gods in his wake to helpfully point the way for Thor. Confronting the God Butcher in a cave, Young Thor finds to his dismay that this was (obviously) a trap. The God Butcher (named Gorr) wants to know more about the Gods of Asgard, and where to find them- the better for him to butcher them as he has all other immortals whose paths he's crossed.
Gorr is no stranger to torturing gods to get what he wants, and no god has survived his attentions for long.
We move back once again to the present, where Thor has finally found the whereabouts of Gorr, the God Butcher. Gorr has traveled to a hidden planet, the home of the time gods, in the midst of something horrific. Gorr has (of course) killed the time gods, and used their blood and their tools to travel back to the dawn of time, and slaughter an elder god.
Thor the Avenger confronts Gorr in the midst of this horror, but Gorr flees into the time stream, Taunting Thor that he will be the last of his kind to witness what Gorr has in mind for all immortals firsthand. Thor deals with Gorr's minions and dives into the timestream after Gorr in pursuit.
We move back once again to 893 AD. Young Thor is STILL being tortured by the God butcher. He has lasted far longer than any other god- it has been seventeen days of torment at the hands of the butcher. Far longer than any immortal Gorr has ever encountered. Nevertheless, Young Thor is finally at his breaking point.
Young Thor is found and rescued before giving in, but not by the gods of asgard, or the all-father, but by the berzerkers and vikings who are his worshippers. Willing to die for him and unwilling to consider a world in which Thor the god of thunder and battle does not exist. Gorr easily dispatches these mortal followers, but not before Young Thor is given the distraction he needs. Gorr's chains that have kept him captive for 17 days of torture, and which have held fast gods the size of mountains, are shattered in moments, as Young Thor claims Jarnbjorn and critically maims the god butcher, presumably killing him.
This is the moment in which Gorr's hatred for Thor is cemented, and why Thor will be the last to die. We leave 893 AD behind for the last time, and move to the present. Thor the Avenger has chased Gorr though the timestream, but has arrived too late.
What he mistakes for his father Odin is actually the future version of himself- missing an eye, and equipped with the left arm of the destroyer. Upon the arrival of Thor the Avenger to the future, Gorr's armies that have kept Thor the All-Father prisoner for hundreds of years are recalled. All Father Thor is no longer a prisoner. The world of the God Butcher is far from asgard however, and both Thors leave immediately in hot pursuit.
Thor the Avenger calls the solar winds, speeding billions of light years across the universe in a matter of hours. Galaxies pass in a blur. Far faster than the speed of light, or faster than any but the most powerful immortals have dared to go.
Meanwhile, on the world of Gorr, the god butcher is on the eve of his triumph. The weapon he has been building for 900 years is nearly complete. Using the tools of the gods of time, he reaches back to 893 AD and pulls young Thor thousands of years into the future. Gorr tortures and beats him senseless, and intends to use young thor to drive in the last nail that will compelete the weapon that will devastate god-kind.
Young Thor is then thrown into the slave pits along with the remnants of gods from across the cosmos- including his own granddaughters, the goddesses of thunder. There they explain to him what the weapon is, and their plan to stop it.
These gods however are weak, and this world is dead. Kings of heaven and hell who once sat upon opulent thrones now squat in their own filth. Voices that once spoke while galaxies obeyed now reduced to frightened tears and whimpers. The rain gods can barely muster dew, and neither the goddesses of Thunder, nor Young Thor himself can call the storms. They're all rendered nearly powerless, but have one last shot at taking out the bomb, with the collected remnants of every scrap of unstable matter collected across centuries during the bomb's construction.
Thor the Avenger or Thor the All Father *might* have taken the time to construct a workable plan. Young Thor however, acts instead as a young, headstrong god might- and takes it upon himself to grab the antimatter and rush the bomb.
Young Thor pushes his abilities to the limit, and it rains not water but Thunder and FIRE on the Black World of Gorr, obliterating Gorr's constructs as Thor rushes the bomb and detonates the antimatter. The explosion is felt throughout space, and the force of the blast ejects thor OFF PLANET, and directly into the path of the space-boat of Thor the Avenger and All Father Thor. Luck? or Divine providence? You decide.
Young Thor is going to need more than the carcass of a shark as a weapon to take on the God Butcher though, and arms himself with an asgardian hammer. (Though NOT a version of Mjolnir as Avenger Thor and All-Father Thor have.) Young Thor is dismayed to find however that despite his efforts, the moon-sized bomb of Gorr remains untouched, totally unaffected by his suicide run.
The three Thors approach the world of Gorr and are quickly noticed by the God Butcher, who wastes no time confronting them directly.
This is the point where shit gets real.
The rush of Thunder in his veins after 900 years, All-Father Thor feels the remnants of the Thor-Force (previously the Odin Force) stir within his body. Summoning his power, All Father Thor blasts Gorr light years away into a barren moon in seconds.
Thorr the Avenger and All father Thor hurl mjolnir and speed in pursuit, as Gorr feels fear for the first time in eons. Largely unhurt, he begins to hurl chunks of moon into space at the Thors, cracking the planet.
Thor the Avenger and All Father Thor engage in battle but are consumed by the power of the God Butcher, smothering in darkness. But where is Young Thor? Well, without a mjolnir he's had to find..other means of staying in pursuit.
Young Thor's assault distracts the God Butcher long enough for the All Father to free Thor the Avenger, and the battle is resumed.
Combat is intense, with neither gaining the upper hand until Thor the Avenger realizes the planet they've been tearing apart isn't a barren moon at all. This planet is inhabited, this planet has a people, and the cracks spreading across the world are going to destroy it.
Thor the avenger disengages, speeding towards the planet's surface. With his bare hands, Thor seals the fissures cracking the planet and literally pulls it back together. Thus did the norse god of Thunder come to be worshipped on a scarred world in a distant corner of space.
All Father Thor has now freed himself. The Avenger returns to combat. Young Thor engages the enemy. All three bring the pain against the God Butcher, Hurling him into the heart of the sun and fighting him there.
The power unleashed in this fight is so vast it's begun to warp reality and the side effects are seen throughout the cosmos. The sun...turns black.
Thor...ALL Thors..have lost.
All Father Thor is strapped to a comet and sent speeding through space. Thor the Avenger is hurled into a fiery doom, deep in the chasms of the black planet of Gorr. Young Thor is dragged to the bloody pool of Chronos, intended as the final sacrifice to activate the God Bomb.
Both Mjolnirs are sealed away with the power of the god butcher, and Thor(s) are helpless. However, Thor the Avenger receives some unexpected assistance deep within the pits of the earth, and Mjolnir(s) are freed. One speeds to the pits of the earth, the other to the stars in the hands of All Father Thor. Young Thor claims the eye of Gorr (with his teeth!) instead of becoming a sacrifice, and the battle is resumed. The enslaved gods Gorr kept to construct his weapon join the combat- though their blood is swiftly used as fodder for the machine, activating the bomb. The fate of the gods is sealed as the bomb ignites.
The roaring of Mjolnir shakes the stars as Thor assaults the weapon in a desperate attempt to stop it. Thoughout space and time, it's effects are felt.
Linked to the heart of an elder god, and the chronos pool of the gods of time, Gorr's god-bomb sends the darkness of his god killing weapon to strike down every immortal that has ever existed or will ever exist. No era is safe, from the primordial darkness to the far future, gods are being stuck down where they stand and annihilated.
Thor the avenger sees this, and has one option.
Throughout existence, across space and time the assault on immmortals suddenly ceases. The armies of Gorr have vanished. His towers, his constructs, gone into thin air. In their place, only one thing stands..
That's it! You want to know how the story concludes, pick up the trade! I'll be back later for necessary edits.
To that I say thee NAY, and present to you Thor: The God Butcher/Thor: Godbomb- an 11 issue arc in Thor: God of Thunder written in 2013-2014. This story is not only the most ambitious Thor tale ever written, taking place across millennia in a way that only a Thor story could be told, but also has some of the most gorgeous art to date. Marvel held nothing back with this one and Thor cements his position as Marvel's big dog.
One interesting thing about the arc is that it really goes out of it's way to present Thor as a God here, not just a hero in tights with a big hammer, and questions what being a god really means to mortals and those that worship the gods.
I'm making an effort to squeeze relevant and interesting nuggets of the story in without spoiling errything- really, go out and pick up the trade paperback- so going to be a long post or two, and there may be a few edits here and there. Making threads is not my strong point and there is a ton of time travel here, so hang in there.
On to the Story. The arc begins in 893 AD, with a young thor fresh off of a victory, celebrating with his worshippers. This Thor has not yet earned the right to wield Mjolnir, instead carrying a giant axe called Jarnbjorn. The mood turns sour quickly and a victory celebration turns into something of a murder mystery when someone finds the severed head of a local God.
The story then moves ahead a few thousand years into the present, to Indigarr, an alien world, somewhere in deep space within the marvel universe. It hasn't rained in years and everything is dying. By then Thor's name is legendary throughout the spaceways as
the greatest God who has ever lived, and in a last desperate act, a child prays to thor to save her people from starvation. From a universe away, Thor hears that prayer.
In moments, a desert planet is brought back to life by the god of Thunder. rivers are carved, storms brought forth- all in a day's work. But why pray to Thor? Where are the gods of Indigarr? They've been gone so long that Indigarr's people consider Gods and what they do as no more than myths and exaggerations- and Thor sets out to investigate. He finds them, but what he finds is not what he expected.
Indigarr indeed had Gods, but they had been slaughtered eons ago. And the work is strikingly similar to a foe thor thought vanquished in his youth. If this foe has returned, then Gods must be warned.
The story then skips ahead "millennia" in time, and we find a Thor in his twilight years, aged and looking much like Odin, complete with not only missing eye (this is generally the sacrifice required to obtain the OdinForce) but also missing arm- Thor's left arm is now gone, replaced with one of the arms of the Destroyer. This thor is the last of all the Gods of Asgard- having waged a war of attrition of 900 years.
All father thor fights alone against the hordes that defeated his people, but he is not so much a holdout as he is a prisoner- this enemy defeats him over and over, but refuses to let him die, or join his own people in slavery. This enemy wants to mighty Thor to rot helplessly as he watches the death of his race.
The story moves once again back to 893 AD. A Young Thor is once again among his worshippers, leading them to battle and glory against russian slavs, and their gods Perun the storm lord and Chernobog The Black. But something is wrong. The slavs are there, but Thor did not come to confront mere men with spears- and the Russian Gods are missing. Thor sets off to pursue them- finding them, but not in the condition he expected:
The murderer quickly makes himself known, and Thor finds himself not a combatant on the field of battle, but in the role of "prey" and his opponent is the hunter.
Young Thor is easily manhandled, and barely survives. Again we skip ahead in time to the Present, where Thor the Avenger (as we shall call the modern day Thor) seeks information about missing gods, in an effort to track down the whereabouts of the God Killer. He travels throughout the cosmos and across dimensions, finding plenty of dead gods, but not his killer.
Old gods, powerful gods, gods who wrestle black holes, gods of war, gods of peace- The god killer has been taking out gods in a 2000 year spree, growing more powerful with each kill. As he follows the trail, Thor finds dead god after dead God, some in piles so large they can be seen from space. Thor questions why no one has noticed their absence, and questions what it means for him. If the god of Thunder was to vanish without a trace, would it truly matter?
We skip once again back to 893 AD, leaving the present day behind. It's been a week since Young Thor survived his assault, and he has just woken up- nursing his injuries. Like any young, brash, foolhardy god he sets out alone to track his assailant- the trail is easily found, as the god butcher has left maimed gods in his wake to helpfully point the way for Thor. Confronting the God Butcher in a cave, Young Thor finds to his dismay that this was (obviously) a trap. The God Butcher (named Gorr) wants to know more about the Gods of Asgard, and where to find them- the better for him to butcher them as he has all other immortals whose paths he's crossed.
Gorr is no stranger to torturing gods to get what he wants, and no god has survived his attentions for long.
We move back once again to the present, where Thor has finally found the whereabouts of Gorr, the God Butcher. Gorr has traveled to a hidden planet, the home of the time gods, in the midst of something horrific. Gorr has (of course) killed the time gods, and used their blood and their tools to travel back to the dawn of time, and slaughter an elder god.
Thor the Avenger confronts Gorr in the midst of this horror, but Gorr flees into the time stream, Taunting Thor that he will be the last of his kind to witness what Gorr has in mind for all immortals firsthand. Thor deals with Gorr's minions and dives into the timestream after Gorr in pursuit.
We move back once again to 893 AD. Young Thor is STILL being tortured by the God butcher. He has lasted far longer than any other god- it has been seventeen days of torment at the hands of the butcher. Far longer than any immortal Gorr has ever encountered. Nevertheless, Young Thor is finally at his breaking point.
Young Thor is found and rescued before giving in, but not by the gods of asgard, or the all-father, but by the berzerkers and vikings who are his worshippers. Willing to die for him and unwilling to consider a world in which Thor the god of thunder and battle does not exist. Gorr easily dispatches these mortal followers, but not before Young Thor is given the distraction he needs. Gorr's chains that have kept him captive for 17 days of torture, and which have held fast gods the size of mountains, are shattered in moments, as Young Thor claims Jarnbjorn and critically maims the god butcher, presumably killing him.
This is the moment in which Gorr's hatred for Thor is cemented, and why Thor will be the last to die. We leave 893 AD behind for the last time, and move to the present. Thor the Avenger has chased Gorr though the timestream, but has arrived too late.
What he mistakes for his father Odin is actually the future version of himself- missing an eye, and equipped with the left arm of the destroyer. Upon the arrival of Thor the Avenger to the future, Gorr's armies that have kept Thor the All-Father prisoner for hundreds of years are recalled. All Father Thor is no longer a prisoner. The world of the God Butcher is far from asgard however, and both Thors leave immediately in hot pursuit.
Thor the Avenger calls the solar winds, speeding billions of light years across the universe in a matter of hours. Galaxies pass in a blur. Far faster than the speed of light, or faster than any but the most powerful immortals have dared to go.
Meanwhile, on the world of Gorr, the god butcher is on the eve of his triumph. The weapon he has been building for 900 years is nearly complete. Using the tools of the gods of time, he reaches back to 893 AD and pulls young Thor thousands of years into the future. Gorr tortures and beats him senseless, and intends to use young thor to drive in the last nail that will compelete the weapon that will devastate god-kind.
Young Thor is then thrown into the slave pits along with the remnants of gods from across the cosmos- including his own granddaughters, the goddesses of thunder. There they explain to him what the weapon is, and their plan to stop it.
These gods however are weak, and this world is dead. Kings of heaven and hell who once sat upon opulent thrones now squat in their own filth. Voices that once spoke while galaxies obeyed now reduced to frightened tears and whimpers. The rain gods can barely muster dew, and neither the goddesses of Thunder, nor Young Thor himself can call the storms. They're all rendered nearly powerless, but have one last shot at taking out the bomb, with the collected remnants of every scrap of unstable matter collected across centuries during the bomb's construction.
Thor the Avenger or Thor the All Father *might* have taken the time to construct a workable plan. Young Thor however, acts instead as a young, headstrong god might- and takes it upon himself to grab the antimatter and rush the bomb.
Young Thor pushes his abilities to the limit, and it rains not water but Thunder and FIRE on the Black World of Gorr, obliterating Gorr's constructs as Thor rushes the bomb and detonates the antimatter. The explosion is felt throughout space, and the force of the blast ejects thor OFF PLANET, and directly into the path of the space-boat of Thor the Avenger and All Father Thor. Luck? or Divine providence? You decide.
Young Thor is going to need more than the carcass of a shark as a weapon to take on the God Butcher though, and arms himself with an asgardian hammer. (Though NOT a version of Mjolnir as Avenger Thor and All-Father Thor have.) Young Thor is dismayed to find however that despite his efforts, the moon-sized bomb of Gorr remains untouched, totally unaffected by his suicide run.
The three Thors approach the world of Gorr and are quickly noticed by the God Butcher, who wastes no time confronting them directly.
This is the point where shit gets real.
The rush of Thunder in his veins after 900 years, All-Father Thor feels the remnants of the Thor-Force (previously the Odin Force) stir within his body. Summoning his power, All Father Thor blasts Gorr light years away into a barren moon in seconds.
Thorr the Avenger and All father Thor hurl mjolnir and speed in pursuit, as Gorr feels fear for the first time in eons. Largely unhurt, he begins to hurl chunks of moon into space at the Thors, cracking the planet.
Thor the Avenger and All Father Thor engage in battle but are consumed by the power of the God Butcher, smothering in darkness. But where is Young Thor? Well, without a mjolnir he's had to find..other means of staying in pursuit.
Young Thor's assault distracts the God Butcher long enough for the All Father to free Thor the Avenger, and the battle is resumed.
Combat is intense, with neither gaining the upper hand until Thor the Avenger realizes the planet they've been tearing apart isn't a barren moon at all. This planet is inhabited, this planet has a people, and the cracks spreading across the world are going to destroy it.
Thor the avenger disengages, speeding towards the planet's surface. With his bare hands, Thor seals the fissures cracking the planet and literally pulls it back together. Thus did the norse god of Thunder come to be worshipped on a scarred world in a distant corner of space.
All Father Thor has now freed himself. The Avenger returns to combat. Young Thor engages the enemy. All three bring the pain against the God Butcher, Hurling him into the heart of the sun and fighting him there.
The power unleashed in this fight is so vast it's begun to warp reality and the side effects are seen throughout the cosmos. The sun...turns black.
Thor...ALL Thors..have lost.
All Father Thor is strapped to a comet and sent speeding through space. Thor the Avenger is hurled into a fiery doom, deep in the chasms of the black planet of Gorr. Young Thor is dragged to the bloody pool of Chronos, intended as the final sacrifice to activate the God Bomb.
Both Mjolnirs are sealed away with the power of the god butcher, and Thor(s) are helpless. However, Thor the Avenger receives some unexpected assistance deep within the pits of the earth, and Mjolnir(s) are freed. One speeds to the pits of the earth, the other to the stars in the hands of All Father Thor. Young Thor claims the eye of Gorr (with his teeth!) instead of becoming a sacrifice, and the battle is resumed. The enslaved gods Gorr kept to construct his weapon join the combat- though their blood is swiftly used as fodder for the machine, activating the bomb. The fate of the gods is sealed as the bomb ignites.
The roaring of Mjolnir shakes the stars as Thor assaults the weapon in a desperate attempt to stop it. Thoughout space and time, it's effects are felt.
Linked to the heart of an elder god, and the chronos pool of the gods of time, Gorr's god-bomb sends the darkness of his god killing weapon to strike down every immortal that has ever existed or will ever exist. No era is safe, from the primordial darkness to the far future, gods are being stuck down where they stand and annihilated.
Thor the avenger sees this, and has one option.
Throughout existence, across space and time the assault on immmortals suddenly ceases. The armies of Gorr have vanished. His towers, his constructs, gone into thin air. In their place, only one thing stands..
That's it! You want to know how the story concludes, pick up the trade! I'll be back later for necessary edits.
