Avengers: Endgame left the world in perfect condition for another Thor to pick up the hammer.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame.
Avengers: Endgame represented a huge shift for the MCU. Lives were lost, stories were concluded, and consequently, many of the characters and heroes that established the foundation of the world are not moving forward with it. While the movie made it very clear that a few characters, like Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, are done with the Avengers for good, the future is less certain for some.
One of these characters who’s been left up in the air, or up in space, to be more specific, is Thor. He’s one of the OG MCU heroes, but his story didn’t get wrapped up quite as neatly as those of his colleagues.
Throughout the entire movie, Thor was suffering from severe PTSD following the events of both Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War. He lost his mother, father, brother, and best friend, witnessed the slaughter of a solid chunk of his people after finally accepting leadership over them, and to top it all off, lost the battle that could have avenged them.
Between Thor, The Dark World, and Ragnarok, Thor’s had one of the most concise story arcs in the MCU. He began the series not being worthy to wield Mjolnir or to sit on the throne of Asgard. Then, when he became worthy, he was still unwilling to take his Kingdom.
By the end of Ragnarok, he was ready to take on the responsibility, knowing the kind of leader that Asgard really needed. His power had nothing to do with his father’s legacy or an enchanted hammer. He was the man for the job.
Then, in Infinity War, Thanos took all of that away. At that point, Thor’s story basically started from scratch. The people he had been working up the nerve to lead were all but gone, and he began the search for another weapon with which to harness the power that he’d recently discovered was inside himself. He had a singular focus: Kill Thanos.
At the beginning of Avengers: Endgame, he did just that, and then he was done. His purpose was gone and so was his will to be the Thor that he’d grown to be. He crumbled under the weight of everything that he’d lost and suffered severe PTSD, to the point that he couldn’t even hear the name “Thanos.”
He regained pieces of himself throughout Endgame, but when he gave up the throne of Asgard to Valkyrie, he made it clear that he’s on a different journey now. Wherever he ends up with the Guardians, he’s not on the same path of Thor as we’ve known it.
However, just because he’s no longer on that path, it doesn’t mean the universe doesn’t still need a God of Thunder! Luckily, the MCU has already set things up perfectly for somebody to take his place.
It’s been established from the beginning that “whosoever holds this hammer (Mjolnir), if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.” So, that tells us that “Thor” isn’t just the man that we know. It’s more of a title, like Captain America or Iron Man. Different people can hold that title. This has occurred in the Thor comics, with Jane Foster even taking up the mantle.
The MCU has also established that it is possible for different people to be worthy of wielding Mjolnir. This was first shown in Avengers: Age of Ultron when Vision, the literal embodiment of an Infinity Stone, picked it up. In Endgame, it was really driven home when Cap gloriously lifted up the weapon.
One stumbling block for the emergence of a new Thor could be that Mjolnir was destroyed by Hela in Thor: Ragnarok, and Steve returned the hammer from the past to its rightful timeline. However, there are countless ways that this could be rectified.
First of all, now that time travel has been introduced, anything goes. They could retrieve the hammer from anywhere. Also, there are plenty of instances in the comics when Mjolnir is destroyed and recreated or copied. We’ve already seen the dwarven blacksmiths who forged it, and finding somebody to enchant it would hardly be an obstacle.
With Avengers: Endgame, the MCU also introduced the idea of legacies for these heroes. Steve passed the shield onto Sam, so why couldn’t the same thing happen with Thor? In fact, he already began to pass that legacy on when he yielded his throne to Valkyrie. Is it such a stretch that she could pick up the hammer, too? She’s definitely the most logical choice, and who I believe the MCU is prepping to take on the title of Thor.
While the Thor we know has completed a story arc and is onto new adventures, Valkyrie’s is just beginning. We met her in Ragnarok as a drunk on a garbage planet. A warrior who had fallen from grace. She picked up her sword for the fight, but I’m willing to bet she has a lot of growing to do before she’s worthy of handling Mjolnir.
Valkyrie has fought to protect Asgard, and is now ruling them, so who better to be their champion? Earth is getting a chance to rebuild itself post-Thanos, and Asgard deserves that same opportunity. If Valkyrie, as Thor, was in future MCU movies, we’d get to see that happen.
Whether it be in solo films, in the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie, or potential Captain Marvel sequels, a large part of the franchise is moving to space! On top of that, Valkyrie has a great relationship with Thor and Hulk, so if she continued as the God of Thunder, it could also be a great opportunity to include them in future MCU films (a girl can dream, okay?).
Not only is a new Thor possible, but with the groundwork the MCU has already laid, I believe it’s inevitable. Valkyrie is poised to take not only the throne of Asgard, but the title of Thor as well.
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