The moment that many Marvel fans have been waiting for has almost arrived. On Oct. 1, the new female Thor will be introduced in the last few pages of the comic entitled, Thor No. 1.
The announcement came last July on ABC's The View where it was revealed that the new Thor would be female. The initial idea came from Jason Aaron, the book's writer, but he said Marvel was behind his decision 100 percent. Aaron also said that he was already building up a strong supporting female cast around Thor, so for him, it made sense for the new Thor to be a woman as well.
In "Original Sin," Nick Fury - who was bestowed with the powers of The Watcher - whispered something to Thor which immediately made him drop his hammer. That whisper, whatever it was Fury said to him, made Thor unworthy of Mjolnir, opening the opportunity for a new Thor to pick up the hammer.
Very briefly, Wonder Woman was able to wield Mjolnir in a Marvel/DC crossover. Even Thor himself who was transformed into a woman by his trickster brother, Loki was able to use his hammer. Others who have picked up the hammer have been Beta Ray Bill, and even a frog.
But this new Thor is not some random female who picks up Thor's hammer. She will not also be a new sidekick like Thor Girl or Valkyrie who will be a co-Thor. The new female Thor will be the one and only Thor. Her story and the buildup to it will completely fit in to the mythos surrounding the original Thor and Mjolnir.
The identity of the mysterious masked woman will remain a secret for the time being. Not even Odin knows who she is. When Thor gets it into his head that she is someone who knows him, he starts looking back at all the women in his life and wonders if she could be any one of them.
The list of women who could possibly be behind the mask is substantial, including Thor's mother, Freyja, his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, his current love interest S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Roz Solomon, or even Sif, an Asgardian warrior. While the identity of the new Thor will drive Odin and the Odinson crazy for a while, Aaron also promises that he will not drag out that mystery for too long.
Meanwhile, unable to lift Mjolnir, the Odinson who is no longer worthy of being Thor, continues to help Earth in whatever way he can, even without his godly powers.
Aaron wanted the Odinson to go on a journey, a theme of worthiness that he had been exploring for a long time in the comics. Behind the pages, Aaron had been writing and developing the female Thor character for two years. To him, she is not a gimmick, and she is not a one shot deal who will turn Mjolnir back to the Odinson after just a few installments. She is going to be Thor for a long time and he is optimistic that even the skeptical fans will see exactly where he is going by the time the 4th or 5th issue rolls out.
On the negative reactions of fans after the announcement was made on the new Thor, Aaron says he knew there would be some freak outs, but overall, knows that he is going in the right direction.
"I don't think we would have gotten the same amount of backlash if we just announced that it was a different dude that was picking up the hammer. So that's pretty disappointing," he said.
The gender swap does not only happen with Thor. Even the leadership of Asgard is going to face some struggles with the return of Odin. But since his wife, Freyja, had been ruling in his stead as the All-Mother for a period of time, she is not quite willing to retreat back into her husband's shadow.
