WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for King Thor #4 by Jason Aaron, Esad Ribic, Ive Svorcina, Gabriel Hernandez Walta, Chris O'Halloran, Andrea Sorrentino, Dave Stewart, Chris Burnham, Nathan Fairbairn, Nick Pitarra, Michael Garland, Aaron Kuder, Laura Martin, Olivier Coipel, Russell Dauterman, Matthew Wilson, Mike Del Mundo and VC's Joe Sabino, on sale Wednesday, Dec. 18.
Jason Aaron's epic run on Thor is almost at its end. What Aaron and his collaborator Esad Ribic started in 2012 with Thor: God of Thunder concludes in 2019 with King Thor, as they jump millennia into the future to witness King Thor battle not only his brother Loki, but the resurrected Gorr the God Butcher.
Aside from Gorr, the four-issue miniseries has included a few callbacks to Thor: God of Thunder, such as the hero's three granddaughters (Atli, Ellisiv and Frigg), the Goddesses of Thunder, and Gorr's deadly weapon, the All-Black Necrosword. It remains to be seen how the monumental King Thor #4 wraps everything up in a nice, tidy bow before Donny Cates and Nic Klein relaunch Thor, but a preview of this week's finale transforms Thor from the King of Asgard into the King of Law and Order.
As King Thor contends with All-Black the Necroverse, Shadrak and the Librarian go through the books of Thor in the Halls of All-Knowing. Right when Shadrak believes the books document the vast history of the God of Thunder, the Librarian reveals some of the adventures take place in the far-flung future. For example, Shadrak is shown holding a book titled "Thor: God Cop."
We then get a short preview of Officer Odinson breaking up a potential war of the gods in the Xigal System. Thor's appearance for the most part still looks familiar -- he is still missing an eye and his left arm, though now he bears a policeman badge on his chest with a very different looking Mjolnir. Apparently, the warring gods are threatening each other's believers, which is classified as attempted deicide. The punishment for their crime is "a few million days in hel jail alongside some all-hard con-gods serving infinity terms..."
Of course, this isn't the first time we've seen a Thor act as a lawman in the Marvel Universe. The 2015 event series Secret Wars featured a high amount of tie-in miniseries, with one titled Thors. Yes, that's Thors plural, since the comic starred multiple Gods and Goddesses of Thunder from every corner of Battleworld patrolling its various domains.
Thors was more or less a police procedural in the same vein as DC's Green Lantern Corps. Except in King Thor #4, we appear to be dealing with only one Thor, and it is the one fans are most familiar with. There will surely be even more hints and teasers for what to expect in Thor's future, but King Thor #4 should also provide a nice ending to a story that began over seven years ago.