The next chapter for Thor begins soon, as Marvel’s Asgardian God of Thunder will finally take the throne as ruler of Asgard in Donny Cates and Nic Klein’s upcoming run. But Thor won’t just be back in the action before long – he’ll be doing it with something he hasn’t had for a while: both of his arms.

Following Jason Aaron’s incredible seven-year run on Thor which saw the Odinson become unworthy, Jane Foster become The Mighty Thor, and finally had Thor lose an eye to save the Realms, a different take on the popular character is coming. In preview images for Cates and Klein’s arc, Thor looks noticeably different. The upcoming Thor makeover brings a new costume, new responsibilities, a new eye, and even a new left arm.

Thor previously lost his arm in 2014’s Thor #1 after it was cut off by Malekith. After it was replaced with an arm made of Black Uru as a present from the Dwarves of Nidavellir. In Thor #706, he lost that arm bringing Jane Foster back to life, melting away as he tried to shock her back to life with lightning. Eventually, he would receive a magical golden arm but lost it in a Berserker rage during the War of the Realms. Thor’s next arm was a considerable improvement, ripped right from an Asgardian Destroyer, a near-invulnerable enhanced armor animated by the magic forged by Odin. So, it packs a punch. Thor still possesses the arm in Aaron’s current King Thor run.

Cates discussed Thor’s severed limb in an interview with CBR. The Venom writer admitted there’s a natural reason for its return and once you read the debut issue, readers will understand why it did much better.

The costume is cool and different, which represents a nice change of pace for the character. Aaron’s run defined the modern version of Thor. To follow it up, Cates had to do something different. He’s the perfect writer to change things, as he’s shown with his ongoing Venom run, his wild Thanos series, and Silver Surfer Black. Cates is not afraid to shake up continuity and upset the status quo to tell a great story. His biggest strength is reimagining characters, which bodes well for his Thor run.

I know a lot of people have a lot of questions about the new costume and the lack of a number of things including a severed arm. [Laughs] There are natural reasons for all of that though. The new costume comes very organically out of the events of Issue 1. You’ll understand why when you read it. I loosely described what I had in mind for the costume in the script. Then Nic turned in layouts and a few designs and he nailed it really quick.

But, the question remains: how did Thor grow his arm back? Was it with the help of one of the mystical and magical characters in Marvel? Or, maybe, Thor’s somehow gained a healing factor like Deadpool that’s helped his body regenerate to normal? Whatever has happened to Thor, he appears to be at full strength and ready to take down the pending Black Winter coming to the Ten Realms.

  • THOR #1 Written by: Donny Cates Penciled by: Nic Klein Cover by: Olivier Coipel A BRAND-NEW, SUPERSTAR CREATIVE TEAM TAKES THE KING OF ASGARD TO NEW REALMS OF GLORY! The prince is now a king. All Asgard lies before Thor, the God of Thunder. And after many months of war, the Ten Realms are finally at peace. But the skies above the Realm Eternal are never clear for long. The Black Winter is coming. And the God of the Storm will be powerless before it.

Thor #1 will arrive at your local comic book shop in January of 2020.

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