This Classic Avenger is Starting Over After Being Killed Off

Everything old is new again, as Marvel announces Thor, a comic juggernaut and one of fiction’s most tenured characters, will get a refresh. Thor #1 will drop this August, giving the 60-year-old character his most radical makeover yet.

Fans are bound to get excited for the new Thor creative team of Ewing and Ferry. Yet in a twist even Heimdall couldn’t have clocked, before the fans get the Thor comic they want, they’ll have to watch him die. Immortal Thor #25 kills off the character this July, clearing the deck for what Marvel calls an unprecedented new direction.

Not Your Old Man’s Mjölnir

What a Thor Restart Means For Marvel Comics

Thor has been the God of Thunder in Marvel Comics since 1962, accumulating six decades of canon, relationships, and cosmic responsibilities. Most creators who tackle the character cobble together something based on that history. But Ewing and Ferry want to tear it down completely.

The Norse Myths tell of Gods who walked the Earth, doing great deeds for the mortals who believed in them. But Asgard isn’t real, and never was. The Gods never soared in our skies, never stood with our heroes, never fought for kindness or justice. It was all just a story. Nobody’s coming to help us. But somewhere in the city... a man is waking up.

Their take on Thor sounds like something of a soft reboot. Asgard never existed, and the Norse gods are fiction. Everything comic readers think they know about Thor is revealed to be only stories, leaving a powerless man waking up to his hammer and no gods watching his back in its wake.

Ferry returns to Thor after his acclaimed run with Matt Fraction, bringing the artistic chops that made those issues memorable. Ewing has spent 25 issues of Immortal Thor building toward this moment, so when Thor dies, it won’t feel like a cheap stunt. “Since the very first issue of Immortal Thor, Thor’s been facing the end of his tale… but that was only the end of Act One,” Ewing said. The writer teases whether the new Thor will be “alive,” “dead,” “immortal… or much, much more.”

Comic fans have seen Thor reinvented before. Jason Aaron spent years exploring worthiness through the Unworthy Thor arc and Jane Foster’s time with Mjolnir. Walt Simonson redefined Asgardian mythology in the 1980s with Beta Ray Bill and cosmic storylines that still influence creators today.

Ewing's approach, however, will question whether any of it mattered in the first place. It's a bold move for someone who's been Marvel's mythological anchor since the Silver Age. The comic book legend gets covers from Alex Ross, another legend in his own realm. The full reveal is scheduled after Immortal Thor #25 hits stands in July. Marvel's promotional push suggests they see this as more than just another restart.

Whether longtime fans will embrace a version stripped of everything that made him recognizable remains the big question. But with Ewing and Ferry's track record, the experiment feels worth watching.