After 64 Years, Marvel Officially Kills Off Thor-Level Character

Published Sep 15, 2026, 8:30 PM EDT

Nicolas Ayala is a Senior Writer for the Comics team at ScreenRant, with over five years of experience writing about Superhero media, action movies, and TV shows. 

Two major Asgard figures fight to the death, and Marvel reveals which of them doesn't make it out alive. Thor is so powerful in Marvel's Norse mythos that he often overshadows many other legendary figures who protect the Ten Realms alongside or completely independent of the God of Thunder. Angela, Balder the Brave, Heimdall, and Sif star in their own adventures while the hammer-wielding Avenger is protecting Asgard or Midgard. Darker figures like Loki and Skurge also have their heroic side, which comes to the surface every once in a while, often thanks to Thor.

Likewise, since Thor is so extraordinarily difficult to kill and possesses a lifespan spanning millennia, removing him from the equation inevitably sends massive shockwaves across the Marvel Universe. Whenever Thor dies or is rendered powerless, his absence leaves Midgard and Asgard dangerously vulnerable and allows rare threats to rise from the shadows. At the same time, unusual heroes rise to the occasion and showcase their own brands of heroism. The Mortal Thor's Sigurd Jarlson is the perfect example, being a regular Midgardian man with a regular hammer who finds himself forced to fight Thor villains without any godlike power.

Parallel to Sigurd Jarlson, Thor's direct replacement cements himself as the one hero worthy of sharing the hammer with the God of Thunder.

Marvel Kills Off Thor's Brother Tyr

Queen in Black: Defenders Of Light And Dark #3; Written By Al Ewing & Tom Waltz; Art By Zé Carlos & Fernando Sifuentes

Earth's Heroes still struggle to protect the planet from Hela's forces in Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark #3. However, Beta Ray Bill earns the titular team a major victory, attacking Tyr with Stormbreaker's lightning, seemingly killing the Asgardian villain for good and leaving Hela herself in shock. Bill pays his respect to Tyr, saying, "may you regain your truth in your next journey, be it in Valhalla or Hel." Having betrayed his kind in order to side with Hela, Tyr may have sacrificed his spot in Valhalla to land in Hel, only as a regular soul instead of a ruler.

Tyr Odinson, the Asgardian God of War, has a long history fighting in the shadow of his brother Thor, which fueled a quiet resentment and pushed him toward questionable alliances during times of Asgardian upheaval. While Thor is gone during Queen in Black, Tyr chooses to side with Hela after she imprisons Knull and claims the symbiote throne, believing Hela's dark reign would be the true path forward for what remains of Asgard. Tyr's desire to fill the void left behind by Thor with Hela backfires, and the fact that the Korbinite Beta Ray Bill kills him only makes this decision more poetic.

Queen In Black Is Doing Beta Ray Bill Justice

Thor's Absence Allows Beta Ray Bill To Show Off His True Might

Thor's death automatically transferred all the God of Thunder's achievements to Beta Ray Bill, who's remembered as a founding Avenger on Earth. On top of that, Bill is the only hero to remember Thor as an actual historical figure and know that Asgard is a real place. No longer playing second fiddle or serving as a backup hammer-wielder, Beta Ray Bill finally steps up as both a powerhouse and a strategic mastermind, leading the Defenders of Light and Dark against Tyr, Hela, and the Queen in Black's shadow army.

Queen in Black leaves no room for doubt when it comes to Beta Ray Bill's capabilities. Bill single-handedly kills Hela's current right-hand man and immediately coordinates his team's attack on Hela herself. Even though virtually every other hero genuinely believes Bill is hallucinating or lying about Asgard's existence, he cements himself as the single biggest threat to Hela in Queen in Black, above all of the active Avengers. Hopefully, once Thor returns and the world remembers the original God of Thunder, Beta Ray Bill continues to be much more than a surrogate Thor or an auxiliary warrior.

Would you like to see Beta Ray Bill stick around for the long run?

Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark #3