Summary
- Mjolnir becomes a "smart hammer" with new powers to alert Thor about emergencies and control his new ride.
- Thor is embracing technology as his origin and mission are corrupted by the Minotaur.
- Roxxon Presents: Thor #1 is coming from Marvel Comics April 17.
As Marvel makes a huge change to primordial being known as the God Tempest, Thor's hammer is one of the most powerful weapons in Marvel lore, enchanted with magic that stops the unworthy harnessing its might. However, Thor's enemies have found a way to subvert even that ancient magic, corrupting Thor's weapon alongside a new version of the god himself.
In Marvel's official preview of the Roxxon Presents: Thor #1, fans meet Marvel's new version of Thor, created thanks to eldritch meddling by the Roxxon corporation and its leader Dario Agger, aka the Minotaur. Rewriting Thor's origin and life, Roxxon has turned him into 'Chad Hammer' - a tame superhero designed to work as corporate propaganda and undermine environmentalist action.
As the new Thor appears in Roxxon Presents: Thor, he reveals that his Mjolnir - emblazoned with the 'Roxxon' logo - is now a "smart hammer" referred to as "Mjolnir ." As well as its godly powers, Mjolnir can now perform the useful function of alerting Thor to an emergency situation, along with the less useful functions of bugging him with social media alerts and being the only way to operate "the Thor-Truck" - a Tesla Cybertruck-esque monstrosity made in the shape of the hammer's head.
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All-Father Thor Finally Fights Marvel's Strongest Character (Stronger Than the Hulk)
Thor wants the Power Stone, but he'll have to face the superstrong character who beat the Hulk, Silver Surfer & Juggernaut in unarmed combat.
As Thor becomes a shameless champion for environmentalism, his new dark reflection challenges him to walk the walk...
Thor Unveils 'Mjolnir '
Thor's Hammer Gets Tech Upgrades, and Even a Matching 'Thor-Mobile'
In recent Immortal Thor comics, Thor has learned that his mother Gaea has dark plans for humanity if it continues to harm the natural world. Thor naturally sought out one of the world's biggest polluters in Dario Agger, but the world-plundering Roxxon CEO was ready for him. Agger has used Thor's Marvel comics (which canonically exist in the Marvel Universe as non-fiction s of his adventures) and the magic of the Enchantress to warp Thor's history, creating a second, Roxxon-approved version of the hero.
The Roxxon Presents: Thor comic shows how Thor's past and present have been warped by Agger, as Odin demands fealty rather than humility. The change alters Thor's core values, turning him into a committed enforcer of the status quo. Over in Immortal Thor, Thor just declared he doesn't consider himself bound by human laws - he'll follow those that exist in the name of justice, but won't hesitate to destroy Roxxon if it means saving humanity from environmental collapse. Now, he'll be opposed by an equally powerful Thor who feels exactly the opposite.
Everything about Chad Hammer is designed to expose and critique corporate attempts to dodge ability...
Thor Unveils Mjolnir's True Form, Changing Marvel's Cosmic Order Forever
As Thor faces Toranos, aka the Utgard-Thor, his iconic hammer Mjolnir is revealed to be the 'shadow' of the Elder God's gigantic wheel.
Marvel Is Pulling No Punches with Chad Hammer
The New Thor Is a Takedown of Corporate Propaganda and Real-World Corporations
Marvel has long used Roxxon as a stand-in for real-world corporations, satirizing both the business practices and propaganda clichés that the world's largest companies use to stay in power and keep down any significant opposition. For example, 2015's Deadpool #40 (from Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn and Scott Koblish) parodies pro-fracking propaganda as Dario Agger hires Deadpool as a spokesperson, only for the Merc with a Mouth to gradually realize he's working for the bad guys.
However, Marvel has rarely taken as definitive a shot at corporate ideology as Roxxon Presents: Thor, at least in its modern stories. Everything about Chad Hammer is designed to expose and critique corporate attempts to dodge ability. Indeed, the issue will see Chad Hammer fight "a group of insane environmental activists" who have taken saving the Earth "TOO FAR." With only these pages existing so far, it's already clear that Roxxon Presents: Thor won't be obscuring the targets of its ire, with the Thor-Truck clearly echoing criticisms of Tesla's Cybertruck.
Thor's new ride isn't the first shot Marvel has taken at Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently. Marvel fans quickly observed that Tony Stark's new nemesis Kelvin Heng - an obsessive billionaire who hates mutants because they beat him to colonizing Mars - has many similarities to the controversial figure.
Al Ewing is one of the best writers working with Marvel today, and is fresh off iconic runs on Immortal Hulk and Guardians of the Galaxy. Ewing has touted Immortal Thor as a companion piece to Immortal Hulk, in which Bruce Banner's Devil Hulk persona declared his intent to destroy the world as it currently exists and build something better. While Immortal Thor is the hopeful reply to Immortal Hulk's apocalyptic tone, it's not pulling its punches in depicting the mindset of the corporations Thor is taking on. In Ewing and Ibraim Roberson's recent Immortal Thor #9, Agger explained his reasons for putting profit over the planet:
Oh... I could make a speech, I suppose. Some Roxxtube-ready blather - pop-fascism for the rubes and the tech bros. I could blame my tragic childhood or the lust for blood and cruelty that never abates... Or revenge, of course. You'd believe revenge. But the truth, Thor? Absolute and unvarnished? I like when the number goes up. That's all. Because that means I win. That means I'm better. And that's all there is.
Thor Explains Why Captain America Became Worthy of Mjolnir in Endgame
Thor explains a key detail of what makes someone worthy to wield Mjolnir that makes sense of Captain America's 'Avengers: Endgame' triumph.
The question that remains is whether Roxxon Presents: Thor will be allowed to bite the hand that feeds it, going after Marvel and Disney's own flaws...
Thor Has a Radical New Enviromentalist Agenda
Thor's Mother Gaea Has Solidified His Mission
Though he was raised by Odin and Freya, Thor is so powerful because he is the biological son of the Elder God Gaea - the embodiment of the natural world. Jason Aaron's iconic Thor run emphasized Thor's commitment to environmentalism, and even had him clash with Roxxon (culminating in Agger ransacking the Ten Realms for natural resources during War of the Realms.) Now, Immortal Thor and Roxxon Presents: Thor are taking that commitment to the next level. In recent comics, Gaea warned Thor that she has plans to strike back at humanity for their attacks on the natural world. Gaea made it clear that she considers Thor her agent among humanity, and that she created him with the intent that he would help them avoid her necessary wrath.
Marvel has often prided itself on being 'the World Outside Your Window,' and environmental concerns certainly won't be going anywhere in the coming decades. Consolidating Roxxon and its monstrous CEO into a symbol of corporate malfeasance and deception is a smart move in giving Marvel an embodiment of this very specific existential threat, and having Thor champion the response shows the scale of the challenge - one befitting not just a spy or Super-Soldier, but a god.
With X-Men comics currently taking on machine-learning and its place in art and Thor calling out how corporations undermine environmentalist rhetoric through pop culture, the publisher is showing how classic heroes can address truly modern problems. The question that remains is whether Roxxon Presents: Thor will be allowed to bite the hand that feeds it, going after its own corporate masters in Marvel Entertainment and The Walt Disney Company.
Roxxon Presents: Thor #1 is coming from Marvel Comics April 17.
