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Spoilers ahead for The Immortal Thor #25. Read on at your own risk!

If there’s one thing that writer Al Ewing loves, it’s a mystery. Just look at the whodunnit (and, for that matter, howdunnit of his Avengers AI, or the mystery identity of the ‘All-New Venom.’ The final issue of Ewing’s The Immortal Thor does exactly what readers are expecting — but perhaps not in the manner they thought, and therein lies the mystery… and, perhaps, a sneaky new title reveal for the follow-up series.

As promised on the cover of The Immortal Thor #25, ‘Even an Immortal Can Die’ — and, yes, Thor dies in the issue… in more ways than one. Technically, Thor died at the end of the previous issue, killed by Loki in order to reach the afterlife and make one final sacrifice, facing off against the spirit of Donald Blake, his former human alter ego and surrendering his (after)life in the process. That’s not the only death Thor suffers in the issue, however; Loki’s manipulations also sever the connection between Asgard and Earth, meaning that Thor is seemingly erased from history — the reader sees that his place as a founding member of the Avengers is taken by Beta Ray Bill, another hammer-wielder in Marvel lore, but this time from outer space, not alter-dimensional Asgard.

Yet, as Ewing’s omniscient narrator puts it, “Thor was gone. For a while, at least.”

The final pages of the issue see a character that looks very like Loki — yet calls himself Lukki — talking to someone who looks very like Thor, albeit in regular clothing. He seems to have survived a fight, and his memory is not all there… yet. “My… my name… is Sigurd,” he remembers. “Sigurd Jarlson. And I am just a man.”

The next page of the issue teases the first page of August’s Thor relaunch, previously titled simply ‘Thor.’ Now, however, the logo reads ‘The Mortal Thor.’ It's unclear if 'The Mortal Thor' is the new official title of the series, or simply a statement about the state of the character as his new series launches; however, this wouldn't be the first time Marvel has changed a comic's title after announcing the series recently.

Longtime Marvel fans will remember the name Sigurd Jarlson; it’s the secret identity Thor adopted in the 1980s, when he pretended to be a construction worker in New York City during the fan-favorite run by creator Walt Simonson. At that time, that was a name Thor used intentionally, however, and one where he was still essentially Thor with all the godlike power that entailed, simply in disguise — hardly “just a man.” So… is this Sigurd actually Thor, and if so, does he himself have any awareness of that fact…? Or is something else going on here, especially as history seems to be rewritten to remove Thor entirely?

A new mystery awaits Thor and fans in August 27’s (The Mortal) Thor #1, then. It’s worth remembering the name of the comic that first introduced Thor to the Marvel Universe, all the way back in 1962: ‘Journey Into Mystery.’ After all, if there are two things that writer Al Ewing loves, it’s mystery and callbacks to comic book history…

The Immortal Thor #25 is available now. 

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