WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Thor #4 by Jason Aaron, Mike del Mundo, Marco D’Alfonso, and Joe Sabino, in stores now.
For the past several years, the Dark Elf Malekith has been waging the War of the Realms, a devastating attack on all ten realms of Yggdrasil, the World Tree. Following the destruction of the Nornkeep and Asgardia, all other realms tremble in the wake of the villain's armies. His reach is so vast that it even stretches to Hel, on the frozens wastelands of the planet Niffleheim. There, Sindr, general of Malekith, Queen of Cinders and daughter of Surtur, leads an army of goblins to conquer the land. Her power is great, and her invading forces, which are also comprised of certain factions of the Dead, is vast.
There is little hope for Thor, Loki, Balder, Skurge and the rest of their allies in their quest to defeat Sindr and ensure that Niffleheim doesn't fall under the control of Malekith. In a desperate attempt to bring in the most fearsome warriors, Thor convinces Loki to "kill" him so that the God of Thunder can reach the Gates of Valhalla and summon the Valkyries to their cause. Once he returns to Hel, Thor now has an army of Valkyries behind him -- but still, that isn't enough to defeat Sindr.
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The only hope Thor has to push back the flaming daughter of Surtur is to put on Hela's Hel-Crown, and become the King of Hel... and the new God of Death.
In the thick of the battle, Sindr manages to knock Hela down, the Goddess of Death's Hel-Crown falling to the ground. Seeing an opportunity the likes of which he has never seen before, Thor grabs the crown, and puts it on. Covered in the smoldering blood of his enemy, Thor takes the fight directly to Sindr. With his new hammer Hel-Bringer flaming in his right hand, and another hammer made of frozen blood summoned in his left as a result of his new crown, Thor effectively becomes the new King of Hel, and the God of the Deathstorm.
The transformation may be brief, but it's pretty spectacular. Thor says that the Hel-Crown fills him with a power that calls for blood, and he listens. Still, he remains in control, only with even more power than before. With these new abilities and his heightened strength, Thor overwhelms Sindr with might and determination. Defeated, Sindr abandons the battlefield and retreats back to Malekith.
The battle is barely over that Hela finds Thor and quickly nabs her crown back -- thus ending Thor's very brief stint as the new rule of Hel. However, the new power levels that Thor reached with the Hel-Crown cannot be ignored. The battle is won, but the War of the Realm still rages on. Malekith has been a thorn in Thor's side for years now, and he will not be easy to defeat. Could the Hel-Crown give Thor an edge over the Dark Elf? And, furthermore... what would happen if Hela wasn't there to take the crown back from him?
Thor may be King of Hel no longer by the end of the issue, but now that he's tasted the power of Hela's crown, he may go back for more in order to win the upcoming bigger battle... may Hel help us all.
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