Contains spoilers for Immortal Thor #16!Thanks to a team-up of classic supervillains, Thor is apparently dead in truth, but what’s worse, this evil can now become something more powerful than anyone could have expected. Of course, as one of Marvel’s most powerful deities and one of Earth’s mightiest heroes, death likely won’t be enough to stop Thor — yet the implications of his killers’ actions could have far-reaching, cosmic consequences.
Immortal Thor #16 – Written by Al Ewing, with art by Jan Bazaldua – Features Thor’s apparent death at the hands of B-list villains Mr. Hyde and the Gray Gargoyle who, along with Cobra and the Radioactive ManAre beautiful what the comic describes as a new pantheon of gods.
The villains’ plan to defeat Thor surprisingly goes off without a hitch. Cobra’s venom blinds Thor, allowing Gargoyle to sneak up and stab him. Mr. Hyde then strikes the killing blow, smashing the God of Thunder into literal pieces.
Mr. Hyde, Gray Gargoyle, and a host of wonder villains just elevated themselves by killing Thor
Immortal Thor #16 – Written by Al Ewing; Art by Jan Bazaldua; Color by Matt Hollingsworth; Lettering by Joe Sabino
The villains are brought together by a mystery boss, who is almost certainly Dario Agger, head of Roxxon. Agger recently returned from the dead after being killed by the Enchantress and Scourge in Immortal Thor #10 And has apparently now made his promise to kill the gods in kind. If there was any doubt what the dreaded foursome of villains are working for, Alex Ross’ deck Immortal Thor #16 features Radioactive Man posing alongside Agger. Whatever Agger’s plan is this time, it has seemingly worked in a shocking turn of events for Marvel’s God of Thunder.
Immortal Thor emphasized how the gods are created by the narrative, and the stories about them; Surely the villains who killed Thor must be all-powerful gods, and so they become so.
However, Agers’ plan may have consequences he did not foresee. Immortal Thor #16’s story describes how Midgard has its own gods, and this – in concert with the issue’s “next time” blurb for Immortal Thor #17 – Suggests that the B-Tier villains may now be their own pantheon. in other words, If they actually killed Thor, the villains could metaphysically gain a measure of divinity themselves. Immortal Thor emphasized how the gods are created by the narrative, and the stories about them; Surely the villains who killed Thor must be all-powerful gods, and so they become so.
A Brief History of Minor Villainy: Marvel’s Latest “Gods,” Explained
Immortal Thor #16 – Out now from Marvel Comics; Immortal Thor #17 – Available November 20th
In fact, all four of these villains are classic B-list Thor Antagonists, all of them introduced in Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s seminal Journey Intro Mystery Run, which stars Thor. As his name suggests, Mr. Hyde, Calvin Zabo, is a scientist with an evil alter ego. Inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson Dr. Jekyll and Mr. HydeZabo invented his own ‘hide formula’ and became a supervillain. Arguably his biggest role in the modern Marvel Universe is as Daisy Johnson’s father, Quake, but he’s mostly a classic choice when Marvel’s heroes need someone to fight for an issue.
Mr. Hyde also has a long-standing partnership with Cobra, which produced the four villains in Immortal #16 Could be the silliest. In a classic Silver Age comics plot, the evil Kallus Voorhees is bitten by a radioactive cobra that gives him all the powers of… a cobra. While his most prominent power is contorting his body like his namesake, The thing that enables the killing of Thor in Immortal Thor #16 is Cobra’s Poison CloudOne of the few things that can temporarily blind the god of thunder.
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Radioactive Man like many classic non-“Western” Marvel villains, is a product of the Cold War, both in and out of continuity. A nuclear scientist for the People’s Republic of China, he gained the ability to absorb and shoot radioactive energy in an accident. He is sometimes a supervillain, usually in the hands of evil, and sometimes a government agent. Finally, the Gray Gargoyle, Paul Duvall, is yet another accident-prone scientist. Dosed in chemicals that turned his hand into stone, Duval realized that he could use the hand to either turn himself into living, superstrong, stone, or to realize other people and objects.
Death is not the end in Marvel comics, especially not for the gods
Thor’s death may be real, but it’s still likely short-term
Thor may be dead, but death doesn’t mean the same thing to a god as it does to a mortal. Thor himself died many times, whether while fighting against enemies or in the cyclical destruction of Ragnarök. Immortal Thor kept repeating the refrain of ‘the wheel turns’, which at least partially symbolizes how the gods are always part of repeated stories that see them come back to life. What goes around comes around, the wheel turns, and Thor always resurrects, especially when he’s in a story about himself.
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Immortal Thor #16 also prominently featured Thor and Sif debating whether they had the right or duty to bring a dead god back from Valhalla itself. Sif convinced Thor that this was a terrible idea, however She may change her perspective if and when she discovers that Thor himself has died. Skurge’s return proved that it was possible, after Odin brought him back from Valhalla to try to stop Thor’s death, and even Dario Agger was resurrected by blood magic since Enchantress killed him. Thor May have been killed by his former B-list villains, but that’s never stopped him before.
The Immortal Thor #16 is available now from Marvel Comics.