WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Thor #4 by Jason Aaron, Mike del Mundo, Marco D’Alfonso, and Joe Sabino.
When we last left our favorite God of Thunder, Thor had found himself in a series of sticky situations. Having become reacquainted with his evil niece Hela, he deigned that she and Balder must get married, to unite Hel for the upcoming War of the Realms.
The ceremony found itself interrupted by Loki killing Thor, however, but for a perfectly legitimate reason; he needed to summon the army of Valhalla to aid in the fight against Sindr. Shortly after the Odinson's death, the wedding was interrupted again, however, this time by Hela's boyfriend Thanos, clearly showing up before he gets struck with a terrible case of decapitation in Infinity Wars. And, because this a Thor adventure we're talking about, things manage to get even more chaotic.
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Specifically, Thanos isn't at the wedding to demand answers about his girlfriend marrying another man. He's not even all that interested in whatever's going on, even when Sindr's forces show up and start wrecking everything in sight. No, he crashed the wedding simply to break up with Hela so he can begin his hunt for the Infinity Stones (SPOILER: He fails, quite badly.) without anything holding him back.
In Unworthy Thor, the Odonson's last starring series, Hela and Thanos started a new relationship after she tried to acquire Ultimate Thor's hammer for Thanos. Based on the promise of helping her rule over Hel again in exchange for her killing the Mad Titan, the two have remained together in the time since then, but the call of Lady Death is too strong for the Mad Titan for ignore, despite his attempts to do so. With the Infinity Stones in play once again, Thanos decided to end his fling with the Asgardian, and after using his finger to kill literally one flaming dog, he leaves the wedding.
After Thor (right -- his death didn't really stick) successfully ushers in the forces of Valhalla and briefly becomes the King of Hel, complete with a rad new hammer called Deathbringer, there's still the matter of the wedding and uniting Hel. Hela's still hungry for her throne, but Balder never actually said the vows before everything hit the fan. Instead, the one who says the vows is none other than Karnilla, making her and Hela the new Queens of Hel. Fully aware that Hela would've found a way to kill Balder, the former Queen of the Norns dumps her boyfriend to spare him and ensure that the union is sealed, ensuring Balder's return to the mortal realm.
For the long path that it took to get there, Thor actually does commit to the wedding it was hyping up for several issues, which is certainly a rarity for this summer in particular. Given the circumstances surrounding it, it's something of a win for Thor: He got the alliance he wanted, Balder is alive again, and he's got a new arsenal of hammers to use whenever he so chooses.
But it's not a complete success. As surprising a union as it may be, there's little doubt that Hela won't simply kill Karnilla outright later on, or that their divorce won't eventually fall on Thor's shoulders at some point after the War of the Realms is said and done. Not to mention that as Sindr left the battle defeated, she's been given a new assignment by Malekith: To turn her attention to slaughtering the living instead. This debut arc for Thor after his time being Unworthy wasn't easy, but the incoming War likely won't be a walk in the park for the God of Thunder, either.