With some indiscernible whispering, Nick Fury shared a secret so disarming it separated Thor from his usually dependable Uru hammer, the mighty Mjolnir. In that pivotal moment at the end of Original Sin, Thor lost his connection to the planet-shattering implement and was no longer considered “worthy” enough to wield it. Surprisingly, Mjolnir accepted Jane Foster as its wielder and transformed her into the new, apparently more worthy, Mighty Thor! But…but what about the original Thor? What about the Odinson?? Well, it seems the adventures of Odin’s genetic usurper are about to receive some well-deserved elaboration in the pages of The Unworthy THOR!
Looking at the cover (above), Thor holds his trusty axe, Jarnbjorn, while reaching for another, familiar looking, planet-tenderizing implement. If you’re a fan of Marvel’s now defunct Ultimates line (RIP), you’ll immediately recognize the aesthetics of this particular hammer: its former owner was Ultimate Thor. Oh! And he totally headlined in the THORS miniseries during which the entire Marvel Multiverse was hastily compressed into a singular, heavenly body due to events witnessed in Secret Wars! WHEW!
Jason Aaron, who’s been writing the character for a number of years – and currently writing the Foster-focused Thor book – talked with our friends at io9 about how Ultimate Thor’s hammer was the perfect narrative vehicle to conjoin with, and advance, the further adventures of Thor Odinson.
“I wanted something big to come out of ‘Thors’ that would affect our characters going forward, so that turned out to be a hammer. This is just a great, great beast of metal. So to have that somehow fly through the events of Secret Wars and land in the normal Marvel Universe, which we saw at the end of ‘Thors,’ at Old Asgard— of course it went back to Old Asgard, but the Old Asgard, nobody lives there. So, it’s just been sitting there, all this time.”
Ready for The Unworthy Thor? Sound off!