WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Thor #7, by Donny Cates, Aaron Kuder, Matt Wilson, and VC's Joe Sabino, on sale now.
Ever since the start of the new Thor series, the God of Thunder has been more than busy. While he started ruling Asgard as its new King, it wasn't long before Galactus came crashing down on the Realm Eternal, warning of the coming of an ancient cosmic threat known as the Black Winter. To help stop it, Thor agreed to become Galactus' new herald and together, they faced this common enemy. When all was said and done, Thor had defeated not just the Black Winter, but Galactus as well.
Now, Thor still has part of the Power Cosmic, he's left the armor of Galactus at the entrance of Asgard as a warning to all and he's gotten a glimpse of a terrible future. What's more, the God of Thunder has also noticed that his hammer is getting heavier. Clearly, there's a lot going on with him and Asgard and, because of that, he needs someone he can trust to watch over him.
This is why, in Thor #7, Thor names Beta Ray Bill as Asgard's Master of War -- and that's a real surprise, considering what happened between them recently.
After Thor agreed to become Galactus' Herald of Thunder, the superhero guided the Devourer of Worlds to five special planets. When consumed, these five planets would make Galactus more powerful than ever before, giving him a fighting chance against the Black Winter. However, this also meant that Thor reluctantly had to stand aside as the Devourer of Worlds destroyed planet after planet. Given the complicated, nearly villainous tendencies of this new role, the Herald of Thunder was interrupted by Beta Ray Bill at the end of Thor #2.
Bill is Thor's longtime friend, and one of the only other beings in the universe worthy of lifting Mjolnir. He showed up to help his friend, believing he had somehow fallen under the thrall of Galactus. Ever the valiant hero, he tried to prevent the destruction of these planets but Thor, knowing that this had to be done in order to save the universe, ended up engaging in a brutal fight with his friend.
The confrontation leads Thor to destroy Bill's iconic hammer, Stormbreaker, and for a moment, it seemed like the God of Thunder had permanently broken his friendship with his brother-in-arms.
But thankfully, that doesn't seem to be the case.
Despite their hard-hitting fight in Thor #3, Beta Ray Bill answers Thor's invitation to Asgard in issue #7. Bill is clearly still raw about the battle, but Thor tries his best to make amends for what happened and to repair his friendship with him.
Once again, Beta Ray Bill proves how great of a friend -- and how great of a character -- he truly is by sitting down with Thor and burying the hatchet. Thor tells him about the vision he recently had, a vision of an Infinity Stone-wielding Thanos leading an army of the undead coming for him, and everything else that's been going on. He knows something is wrong with him, with Mjolnir, with Asgard and with fate itself.
For those reasons, Thor is unsure of what will happen next. He fears that may lead to him leaving the throne of Asgard empty, or that he may turn evil somehow. For all of those reasons, he wishes Bill to keep him in check, and to stop him if he goes too far. He asks him if he is willing to become his second in command -- Asgard's Master of War.
And, of course, Bill agrees. Better yet, he says that for this new position, he will need a new hammer -- and Thor graciously offers him any weapon from his own private armory.
Beta Ray Bill is of course the perfect choice to be Thor's second in command -- he showed as much when he locked himself in battle with him to save an entire planet. Thor knows Bill will do what needs to be done -- even if it means stopping the God of Thunder himself.