To keep up with a growing female audience, Marvel has announced today that they intend on creating a new Thor series where Thor is a female. The new Thor series will be written by Jason Aaron with art by Russell Dauterman and will premiere in October.
In case you don’t understand how this is going to work, Jason Aaron explained, “This is not She-Thor. This is not Lady Thor. This is not Thorita. This is THOR. This is the THOR of the Marvel Universe. But it’s unlike any Thor we’ve ever seen before.”
How will this work in the Marvel Universe where Thor is involved in multiple comic book series? “The inscription on Thor’s hammer reads ‘Whosoever holds this hammer, if HE be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.’ Well it’s time to update that inscription,” says Marvel editor Wil Moss. It seems like for the next Thor series, the male Thor that we all know and love will be deemed unworthy to wield Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer. The title of Thor will be passed on to someone who is worthy, she just so happens to be female. Traditional Thor will still be involved in the Marvel Universe. My best guess is that the new Thor series will mainly focus on female Thor, while another series will probably handle the issue of where old Thor fits in and what he will do, if anything, to get his hammer back.
As a fan of Thor, I’m excited for this new change in the story line. I think the big fuss about it so far has centered around people thinking that Thor is getting a sex change or that Marvel is pushing some kind of transgendered agenda on everyone. Traditional male Thor will still be very much involved in the Marvel Universe. I look at this as more of a Superior Spider-man situation than killing off a beloved character. Peter Parker came back in the end, so I’m sure old Thor will pull through. I think of all this as welcome news in a long line of Marvel drama, such as the recent rumors of cancelling Fantastic Four and X-Men.
Thor will be joining several other female heroes that have their own comic book series, like Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Elektra, and Ms. Marvel. Maybe Thor will be filling the void for the female warrior archetype that has become popular with characters like Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones.