Despite everything they’ve been through together, Thor’s most powerful friend has committed an unforgivable act – and there may be no going back.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Thor #20, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
Although he was born the prince of Asgard, Thor has always seen the mortal realm of Midgard (or Earth to us Earthers) as his true home. Having lived among them as both a god and a mortal, Thor’s formed a strong affection for humanity, which has inspired him to defy the wishes of his father Odin and serve as one of Earth’s most powerful defenders. Even after his recent ascension to the throne of Asgard, maintaining his ties with both the Earth and his teammates in the Avengers has remained one of Thor’s highest priorities.
Unfortunately, Thor’s open affection for humanity is also one of his greatest vulnerabilities, and one of the God of Thunders oldest allies has just exploited it to betray him in the most brutal way possible in Thor #20 (by Donny Cates, Nic Klein, and VC’s Joe Sabino). Mjolnir, acting on its own free will as the murderous God of Hammers, has just dealt its former wielder a deeply personal blow by slaughtering the entire population of the small town of Broxton, Oklahoma, the place where Thor came closer than ever before to achieving his lifelong dream of bringing the people of Asgard and Midgard together in peace.
Broxton first debuted in Thor #1 (by J. Michael Straczynski, Oliver Coipel Mark Morales, Laura Martin, and Chris Eliopoulos), where it became the site of Thor’s resurrection after he’d sacrificed himself (and all of Asgard) to usher in Ragnarok and end the millennia-spanning cycle of death and rebirth that he and every other Asgardian had been trapped in by the mysterious “Those Who Sit Above in Shadow”. With the former realm of Asgard rendered temporarily uninhabitable by Surtur and the souls of the Asgardian people residing in human vessels, Thor rebuilt the Asgardian capital just outside of Broxton and began the long process of resurrecting his people one soul at a time.
At first, the people of Broxton were upset with the Asgardians’ sudden appearance, as their prideful nature often caused them to ignore the problems that their actions were inadvertently causing the town. However, as time went on and the Asgardians grew more accustomed to life on Earth, they eventually befriended the people of Broxton by using their incredible powers to assist the town’s citizens with their problems. Eventually, the two cities united to form a bizarre yet functional community that combined the best of both cultures, with the people of Broxton and Asgard regularly inviting members of the other community to gatherings and celebrations. Although Asgard and its people would eventually return to their original realm once the damage done to it by Ragnarok was healed, they left behind an everlasting tree and a beautiful fountain as a symbol of the genuine friendship they’d formed with the people of Broxton.
Sadly, Thor’s affection for Broxton and its people made it the perfect target for Mjolnir, which has conjured a physical form through the energy of the almighty God Tempest and declared itself the God of Hammers, a being prophecized to bring about the end of Asgard by murdering its king. After being left in the care of the Avengers while Thor attempted to discover why it no longer recognized him as its wielder, Mjolnir escaped from Avengers Mountain and went on a rampage across the Ten Realms, slaughtering countless innocent beings while framing Thor for its crimes. When Sif transports Thor to the sight of Mjolnir’s latest attack, a horrified Thor is greeted by the sight of his once-faithful hammer standing over the charred remains of Broxton, with the bones of its inhabitants scattered in all directions.
The revelation that Mjolnir is wielding its earth-shattering power for evil is already terrifying enough, but the fact that it chose to destroy a place that meant so much to Thor shows that the God of Hammers is as sadistic as it is powerful. Broxton was a place that proved that people from two different worlds could live together in harmony, and it was proof that the peace Thor has sought to forge between the Ten Realms since becoming the king of Asgard was possible. Through the destruction of Broxton, Mjolnir has declared war on everyone and everything that Thor holds dear, and its willingness to target the people who accepted him during one of his lowest points shows that it’s willing to do anything to cause its former wielder suffering.
The peaceful coexistence between Broxton and Asgard was one of the greatest triumphs of Thor’s life, and Mjolnir’s slaughter of Broxton’s people is both a chilling demonstration of how powerful its new form is and a horrifyingly personal attack on the man who once used it to save lives. Despite everything they’ve been through together, Mjolnir’s horrendous crime proves that it now sees the God of Thunder as an enemy to be crushed.
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