All in the Asgardian Family: Unpacking all the recent drama in Thor’s family tree

The holidays are a time for family, but with that comes family drama. As you travel this holiday season, dreading awkward dinner conversations, take solace in the fact that your family isn’t as complicated as Thor’s. That’s right, even the God of Thunder isn’t immune from splashy family drama. Imagine how bad the holidays could be when your father is a hammer, an ancient Avenger claims to be your mother, and your brother – well, the less said about Loki the better. If you’ve been away from the Thor books for a while, here’s a breakdown of some recent shakeups in the Odinson family tree.

The search for Thor's sister

Thor’s little sister has been kidnapped, and if Thor doesn’t find her, then all of reality might be destroyed. No pressure. Laussa Odinsdottir is the daughter of Odin and his wife Frigga, but she has a third parent – the demonic fire giant Surtur. Shemay look like a young toddler, but she’s one of the most dangerous beings in the Marvel Universe

Odin and Frigga had conceived Laussa in the space between realms. Unfortunately, it happened to be the area where Odin had previously sent the essence of Surtur. As a result, some of Surtur’s power wound up inside Laussa, making her a ticking time bomb. The results of this can be seen in Angela: Asgard’s Assassin #4, where the child turned into a fire demon and incinerated Groot.

Angela, another one of Thor’s sisters, was able to purge Surtur from Laussa, however it’s been hinted that remnants of the fire giant might still reside inside the toddler. With or without Surtur, Laussa is still a force to be reckoned with. She can subtly influence the people around her, pushing their minds to do what she wants, while those affected are unaware of her influence, believing that they’re acting of their own free will.

In Thor #29 (2022), Corvus Glaive kidnaps Laussa. Though the full scope of Glaive’s plan hasn’t been revealed yet, we know it has something to do with a vision Thor had. This vision depicted Thanos wielding Thor’s hammer Mjolnir, which was infused with the Infinity Stones. Thanos also wore a mysterious black gauntlet in his other hand. Thor has no idea what this black gauntlet is, but he knows it’s bad news.

It appears that Laussa holds the key to Glaive finding the gauntlet. In other words, Thor had better hurry and find his sister before it’s too late.

Surprise, surprise, my dead grandfather is alive

While searching for his sister, Thor was surprised to run into another relative. Thor and the Valkyrie warrior Runa followed Glaive’s trail through the realm Niffleheim, where they came face to face with Thor’s grandfather King Bor. This is a bit of a surprise for the God of Thunder because he’s the one who killed his grandfather back in Thor #600 (2009). Thor’s mischievous sibling Loki had put an enchantment on Bor, causing Asgard’s original king to see demonic enemies that didn’t exist.

This caused Bor to go on a rampage through Earth. Thor battled his grandfather, unaware of his true identity. The battle ended with Thor killing him, which had major repercussions. Since Bor was Asgard’s first king, Thor killing him was considered a major offense. The God of Thunder was temporarily banished from Asgard.

Despite being dead, Bor has continued to be a presence over the years. Hela briefly reanimated Bor’s corpse in Avengers Prime #4 (2010), but his body was turned to dust by the end of the story. Gor also made a brief visit from Hel in New Mutants #43 (2012) to preside over a wedding. It’s not unusual for an Asgardian to return from the dead, but the reveal of Bor at the end of Thor #29 still raises many questions.

Why is Bor in Niffleheim? What does he know about the black gauntlet? Bor has some explaining to do, and it looks like we’ll be seeing some of his answers in Thor #30.

Wait, so who is Thor’s mother anyway?

Avengers #63 (2022) continues Jason Aaron’s Avengers Assemble event. The storyline finds the Avengers one million years in the past, fighting for their lives alongside their prehistoric predecessors. That’s right, a Stone Age version of the Avengers exists. Both groups are currently facing the Multiversal Masters of Evil, a team of villains from different realities.

What does any of this have to do with Thor’s family drama? Avengers #63 is narrated by an unseen figure who isn’t revealed until the final page, on which the prehistoric Avenger known as Firehair flies through space, making her way towards Earth to join the battle. “Thor, my beloved. Mother is coming,” Firehair says.

If you’re feeling lost, then don’t worry; Thor is just as confused when he met Firehair. The Stone Age heroine is an early Earth mutant, and one of the first humans to possess the powerful Phoenix Force.

In Marvel Comics, Thor was raised by Frigga, Queen of Asgard. Frigga is Thor’s biological mother in the MCU, while the comics portray her as his stepmother. In Thor #300 (1980) the God of Thunder learned that his biological mother was Gaea, the Goddess of Earth. So where does Firehair fit into this?

Years ago, Odin and Firehair were romantically involved. Odin tried to pressure Firehair into marriage, which caused her to end their relationship and leave the planet. Before departing Earth, Firehair encouraged Gaea to get together with Odin.

“For if this god-child should someday be born of the union of the goddess of Midgard and the sky-father of Asgard, you will be just as much their mother as I,” Gaea tells Firehair. In other words, because Firehair encouraged Odin and Gaea to procreate, she can technically be considered the second mother to that child. It’s a bit of a stretch, but there’s more to it. Firehair was by Gaea’s side when Thor was born, and used her powers to revive the infant after he was killed by Odin’s nemesis Laufey. While reviving the baby Thor, Firehair imbued the infant with some of her powers.

Firehair isn’t Thor’s mother in a traditional sense, but as this article proves, nothing about Thor’s family is traditional anyway. Judging from her narration and the time period the battle is taking place in, it appears this is Firehair shortly after she left Earth following Thor’s birth. In other words, Thor will know her due to their conversation in Avengers #42, but she won’t remember that conversation because it hasn’t happened for her yet.

Either way, Thor’s alleged mother is entering the battle, and she’s bringing the power of the Phoenix Force. The Multiversal Masters of Evil won’t know what hit them.

My father is a hammer

Thor’s relationship with his father Odin has always been complicated. The King of Asgard has a history of manipulating Thor, removing his powers, and being an overall unreasonable parent. However, their relationship has recently taken a strange turn. In Thor #22 (2022) Odin sacrificed himself to help his son defeat the God Tempest.

When Asgardians die, their spirits go to Valhalla to enjoy a peaceful afterlife. Curiously, Odin found that the gates to Valhalla had been destroyed. The kingdom was bare, and the once vibrant Valhalla was gone. With nowhere else to go, Odin’s soul entered Thor’s legendary hammer Mjolnir. As you can imagine, Thor was taken aback when his hammer began speaking to him with his father’s voice.

This has led to an interesting new status quo for the God of Thunder. Odin is now by his side for all of his battles. And if you think the former King of Asgard is keeping quiet, then think again. Odin has plenty of critical things to say about everything Thor does. While Thor is thankful to continue the relationship with his father, Odin does get on his nerves. Despite this, the father-son duo make a great team, even if Thor wishes his hammer would shut up sometimes.

Didn’t Thor recently become a father?

Although this happened in another continuity, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Thor recently becoming a father. The Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Thor recently returned to the big screen in the film Thor: Love and Thunder (2022). The film used many elements Jason Aaron’s run on Thor like Gorr the God Butcher, and Jane Foster’s tenure as the Mighty Thor.

Throughout the film, Gorr attempts to find the powerful being known as Eternity so he could wish for the death of all gods. When he arrives at Eternity, Thor convinces Gorr to instead wish for his daughter Love to return. Since Gorr is moments away from dying, Thor agrees to take care of the girl in her father’s place.

The film ends with an amusing sequence where Thor plays father to the young girl. They squabble over food, clothing choices, and all the typical things fathers and daughters do. The final shot of the film is the duo rushing into battle together. This ending has a meta element to it, since Love was played by India Rose Hemsworth, the real life daughter of Thor actor Chris Hemsworth.

The comics version of Thor is not a father, at least not in a traditional sense. Thor: God of Thunder #8 (2013) introduced Atli, Ellisiv, and Frigg, who are technically Thor’s granddaughters. The three warriors, who are collectively known as the Goddesses of Thunder, come from an alternate future timeline.

What’s been going on with Thor and Loki lately?

Since his debut in Journey into Mystery #85 (1962) Loki has generally been a thorn in Thor’s side. However, the God of Mischief has recently been on his best behavior. To be fair, the bar is pretty low, but Thor’s adopted brother has been – dare we say – helpful? With Odin dead, Thor has been acting as King of Asgard, and Loki has been somewhat of an informal advisor.

In Thor #27 (2022) the God of Thunder calls on Loki to help him fix Asgard’s damaged Bifrost Bridge. Loki gave Thor some advice about how to modernize Asgard’s transportation system, and the ideas were actually good. In Thor #28 (2022) Loki also helped his brother take down the villain Darkoth. Some of you might be waiting for the other shoe to drop, and you aren’t wrong to be concerned.

Remember, this is Loki we’re talking about, and trouble follows him wherever he goes. Recently Thor’s human identity Donald Blake was split into a separate entity, and that entity became evil. After Blake’s rampage, Thor told Loki to decide his punishment. Loki locked Blake up in an underground dungeon, where he would be tortured by a giant serpent for all eternity.

At least that’s what was supposed to happen. After Darkoth was defeated, his alien symbiote fell through the cracks of the ground, into Blake’s dungeon. The symbiote bonded with Blake, taking on the identity of Serpent. As of now, Thor is unaware of this, since he doesn’t know where Blake was imprisoned. Loki saw the symbiote go underground, and was aware that it was heading towards Blake. He seemed nervous about this prospect, but neglected to tell Thor. Still, Loki’s decision to keep this information to himself seemed to come from a place of fear or embarrassment rather than malevolence.

Either way, Asgard has a new powerful enemy, and Loki hasn’t given anyone a heads up. It just goes to show you, even when things are going well between Loki and Thor, it’s only a matter of time before that relationship crumbles.

All in the Asgardian Family

As you can see 2022 has been a pretty busy year for Thor’s family. His prehistoric mother is about to take on a supervillain army, his sister might cause the end of all reality, the grandfather he killed has returned, his father is a hammer, he’s become a father, and he’s made temporary peace with his brother. All of these storylines are ongoing, so it will be interesting to see where they all end up. Keep your eyes peeled to Popverse as we continue to track the twisted soap opera of Thor’s family.