The Avengers icon and God of Thunder has just taken down one of the oldest, most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe in an epic showdown.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Thor #6, by Donny Cates, Nic Klein, Matt Wilson and VC’s Joe Sabino, on sale now.
One of the most shocking developments at the start of Donny Cates and Nic Klein’s run on Thor was the newly crowned King of Asgard agreeing to become the latest Herald of Galactus, the World Devourer. The Odinson’s new role came with a massive upgrade bestowed from Galactus’ Power Cosmic, which he wielded as he and Galactus traveled across the cosmos finding new worlds for the omnipotent being to consume. Together, they prepared for an epic showdown against a new, insidious evil spreading across the Marvel Universe known as the Black Winter.
And in Thor #6, the partnership between Thor and Galactus has come to a thunderous end.
The desperate alliance between Thor and Galactus was always a tenuously fragile one, with Thor growing increasingly disillusioned with Galactus’ constant need to eat entire worlds, which cost the lives of the beings who resided on them. This resulted in an electrifying showdown between the two, as the Black Winter appeared and revealed that Galactus had been its servant since the dawn of the Marvel Universe. As a weakened Galactus implored Thor to focus his attention on their mutual enemy, Thor subdued the World-Eater, revealing he had siphoned off much of the Power Cosmic from him during his time working as his Herald.
An enraged Galactus repeatedly attempted to strike out at Thor for this transgression, each time only to be soundly knocked back down by the infinitely upgraded God of Thunder. Finally, a frustrated Thor turned his full, thunderous fury towards Galactus and vowed to avenge all the countless victims that had been consumed by Galactus since the villain began his intergalactic rampage.
Summoning the full strength of his own abilities as the All-Father and Norse God of Thunder and the upgrades he had received through the Power Cosmic, Thor completely incinerates Galactus in a mighty thunderbolt, killing the omnipotent being where he stands and reducing him to a smoldering skeleton, before turning his attention back to the Black Winter.
Galactus has died before, only to return to life as hungry as ever. Most notably, Louise Simonson, John Buscema and Jon J. Muth’s 2000 miniseries Galactus the Devourer had the Silver Surfer turn his former master’s consuming technology against him, which resulted in a starving Galactus dying and temporarily being reborn as a star. As the universe fell into chaos without the presence of a World-Eater, Reed Richards and Sue Storm’s omnipotent children Franklin and Valeria Richards used their powers to resurrect Galactus who brought back order to the Marvel Multiverse before resuming his walking buffet of planets across the cosmos to sate his never-ending hunger.
At the start of Cates and Klein’s run, Galactus had foreseen that Thor would be responsible for his eventual death, and the Odinson has explosively delivered upon fulfilling that prophecy. Despite Galactus’ current state, Mark Waid, Javier Rodríguez and Álvaro López’s recent History of the Marvel Universe depicted Galactus and Franklin Richards as two of the last living beings in this incarnation of the Marvel Universe, which suggests that his resurrection is more likely than not. Still, the short-term and medium-term consequences of Galactus’ death have yet to be felt across the Marvel Universe, but the universe is without a World-Devourer for the moment.
And while the Black Winter is seemingly vanquished in the aftermath of Galactus’ demise, Thor is been haunted by his own visions of the future, which allude to even darker events on the horizon as the God of Thunder contemplates his thunderous actions.
