It’s finally here. The final battle, for Midgard, for Thor, for the fate of all the realms. War of the Realms issue #6 wraps up Marvels latest comic event with an almighty issue which makes up for the series lack of Thor in previous issues by having four God of Thunders all fighting on the same page! A truly epic issue which finishes up the series nicely and finally gives us that showdown between the God of Thunder and the Dark Elf king we’ve all been waiting for, and it doesn’t disappoint.
(This Review will Contain Spoilers)
Plot
The War of the Realms #6, written by Jason Aaron with artwork from Russell Dauterman, Matthew Wilson and, Joe Sambino brings us to the final battle of the War of the Realms. Malekith, now in control of the Venom symbiote through the use of dark magic, is demanding that Thor face him alone or Odin and Lady Freyja will meet a gruesome end. If only Thor can face Malekith then it’s time to assemble as many Thors as possible. Warning this may get complicated.
After giving up an eye, and the last fragment of Mjolnir Thor has finally discovered how to end The War of the Realms. After a small time-travel trip into the future by Mr. Fantastic and The Thing to collect the All-Father Thor he, Thor God of Vikings and our present-day Thor all meet at the ruins of Asgard. As if 3 Thors wasn’t enough their war party in completed by Lady Jane Foster wielding the broken hammer of the War Thor, taking up the mantel of Goddess of Thunder one last time. If you’ve felt like War of the Realms has missed Thor out in previous issues it definitely starts to make up for it here. Speaking as someone who isn’t a massive Thor fan but recently found some new appreciation for the character, seeing all these different Thors together gave me goosebumps and is easily one of the coolest moments from the entire War of the Realms.
Back on Midgard, what’s left of our heroes are barely hanging on, fighting Laufey, king of the Frost Giants. With most of Malekith’s forces finally being defeated around the globe however, it’s starting to look like our heroes might be getting the upper hand in this war. That is until Laufey swallows the Casket of Ancient Winters and breaths an almighty blizzard across New York freezing most of our heroes.
Our party of Thors arrive at Stonehenge, where a powered up, symbiote infused Malakith is waiting for them. All out chaos ensues with Malakith wielding the Symbiote sword as he fights present-day Thor. Meanwhile, his war dogs and dark elf assassins battle the other Thors as hammers and axes are thrown across the battlefield. Malekith looks insane now thats he’s combined with the symbiote, and these few pages are some of the best action to come of out War of the Realms.
Back in the frozen wastes of New York, The Devil of Hells Kitchen throws Heimdall’s sword down Laufey’s throat and then gets ready for a fist fight with the frost giant, which might be the most “Daredevil thing ” I’ve ever seen Daredevil do. Whilst previous issues have moved a little too fast cutting between different characters and battles across the planet, here it only swaps between the two. Our heroes in New York and the Thors fighting Malakith. It is way easier to follow and generally just a more enjoyable read.
As the Thors battle it out, the cold winds of Laufeys blizzard begin to chill the air and deep in space, the storm to end all storms’ erupts from the world tree with the sun at its eye. As hammers clash with the symbiote and Lady Jane Thor frees Lady Freyja and Odin the fires of the storm and the cold winds of the blizzard meet overhead. This was how life was first created, but here and now something new is being created or should I say forged. From the almighty storm, a fully resurrected Mjolnir appears and with a small tear in his eye, present-day Thor proves his worthiness by lifting the weapon.
After a seriously strong blow, Malekith is finally knocked down defeated and in a moment of sweet irony, the Lord of the Wild Hunt is torn apart by his own hounds after they smell his fear for Odinson. With Malekith defeated and the war of the realms all but over, only Laufey remains standing on earth and Lady Jane Foster knows exactly where to fling her ax. After taking out the Frost Giants eye, a truly bizarre twist sees Loki, cut himself out of the frost Giants belly, (after being eaten in issue #1) using Heimdall’s sword. Whilst I did expect some sort of trickery from the God of Mischief before the wars end this was a little too on the nose. Imagining Loki just sitting in Laufeys belly this whole time was a little too ridiculous for me.
The War is over, the nine realms rejoice and peace is finally restored, not just on Midgard but everywhere. Our heroes and Asgardian warriors finally look back on their victory as Thor is named All-Father Thor by Odin. A genuinely epic conclusion to what has been an epic event. Not only was this the most action-packed issue it had the best action of the series. This issue happily makes up for Thor’s absence in previous issues, and whilst seeing four different Thors at once (try saying that five times fast) may be overwhelming for newer readers it felt incredibly epic even to someone like me who isn’t the biggest Thor fan.
Characters
Alright, for the final issue of War of the Realms I can safely say Thor steals the show. The question is, which Thor? Let’s start with our Thor, present-day Thor. He’s the issue’s main hero and ultimately the one who takes on Malekith. He’s been through some tough times in this war, losing his eye and arm being some particularly cruel moments for the character. His arc is wrapped up nicely, here finally taking down Malekith and being proven worthy by his trusted hammer.
Next up for me has to be Lady Jane Foster as Thor, AKA The Goddess of Thunder. She kicked some serious ass, not only holding her own in the battle with Malekith but also saving Present day Thor’s life and dishing out a pretty heavy blow to Laufey. Her time as Thor was short but sweet and it was nice to finally see her level up in this series.
This is where my limited knowledge of Thors begins to show. We have the All-Father Thor who appears to be Thor from the future, looking beaten up and rather old, and we have Thor God of Vikings, who I could guess is an alternate version of Thor or simply someone else who has Thor’s powers similar to Jane Foster. Whilst they were still cool, they weren’t nearly as interesting as present-day Thor and Jane but they did add some nice action to the series climatic battle.
As a villain, Malekith finally started to reach his potential here, even if it did take him bonding with the Venom Symbiote to do it. Not only does he look absolutely crazy but he holds his own against Thor and Jane throughout the fight using Thor’s own hammer, with some new symbiote spikes on the side, against him. Only when Thor wields Mjolnir does he start to lose his footing. Malekiths death felt fitting enough, after spreading so much fear, his own hounds devour him when they smell his fear. It was poetic enough and served as a satisfying conclusion.
Back in the big apple Daredevil and Laufey’s story has its own fair share of cool moments but does end up feeling like a B-plot compared to Thor’s story. Characters like Cap, Iron-Man and Black Panther obviously take a back seat although they do pop up here and there.
Artwork
This may be the best looking issue of War of the Realms to date. Russell Dauterman, Matthew Wilson and, Joe Sambino have done a seriously epic job here. The battle between the four Thors and Malekith is truly insane, with the fire of the sun explosion, lightning of Thor and the Black Venom symbiote all clashing on the page.
The frozen wastelands of New York also look pretty epic, although we’ve already seen that before. Each character is handled very well, especially the different Thors which whilst looking similar, all distinctly stand out from one another. The series started off with a fairytale type look to it, and whilst that may have been lost in previous issues it makes a full circle coming back for the finale.
The war of the Realms is finally over, and the good people of those realms can rest easy knowing Malekith and his dark forces are gone. It’s been one hell of an adventure, and its taken some of our favorite heroes to some pretty cool locations. It ended just as strongly as its started and finally gave me the worthwhile pay off I’ve been hoping for. What are your thoughts on Marvels latest comic event? Have you enjoyed The War of the Realms? Let us know down below or over on Twitter.
