Marvel Teases Female Thor’s Death
Marvel teased the possible end of one of their more controversial new characters, female Thor, or Jane Foster as Thor.
Female Thor first fully appeared in Thor Vol.4 #1. The book was seemingly a commercial success when it debuted in October of 2014. It sold an estimated 150,862 units and was the #3 book of the month behind Walking Dead and Death of Wolverine. However, by issue #5 Thor had bled nearly 100,000 units. It was down to 69,513 units sold and #11 on the overall charts. Marvel would then launch Female Thor in Mighty Thor #1 in November of 2015. The relaunch would see Mighty Thor sell an estimated 112,053 units and come in at #12 for the month. This time issue 5 saw Mighty Thor only sell an estimated 54,568 units and drop to #20 overall for the month. By August 2017 and Mighty Thor #22, the book only sold 37,490 units and ranked #47 overall.
By then Marvel Vice President of Sales David Gabriel pointed out what he was hearing from fans and leading to low sales.
What we heard was that people didn’t want any more diversity. They didn’t want female characters out there. That’s what we heard, whether we believe that or not. I don’t know that that’s really true, but that’s what we saw in sales. We saw the sales of any character that was diverse, any character that was new, our female characters, anything that was not a core Marvel character, people were turning their nose up against. That was difficult for us because we had a lot of fresh, new, exciting ideas that we were trying to get out and nothing new really worked.
Gabriel would go on to backtrack the statement. However, the point still stood.
Marvel recently relaunched their entire line with Marvel Legacy. They brought back original numbering for many of their books and have alleged to refocus their efforts on the characters that made them successful in the past. Fans seemed to be pleased with this decision and gobbled up Mighty Thor #700 which launched in October of this year. It sold 115,662 units at the steep price point of $5.99. Most Marvel Comics generally sell for $3.99. The issue promised the return of Odinson as a hero, but also revealed the return of the villainous Mangog. But more importantly the issue promised to keep Female Thor around.
Well, just five issues later and it appears Female Thor is heading to the chopping block. In Mighty Thor #705, Marvel tells us “Jane Foster … will make the ultimate heroic sacrifice in a conclusion that will rock the Marvel Universe, and the minds of readers everywhere.”
The issue will also see Thor face-off against Mangog. Series editor Will Moss exclaims, “This is it, folks! The big showdown between Thor and Mangog. The penultimate chapter of ‘The Death of the Mighty Thor.” Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman have been building to this issue for over three years, and you absolutely do not want to miss this. You may think you know where things are going, but I promise you do not.
We then get a look of preview pages from Mighty Thor #703 and #704. The first two pages from Mighty Thor #703 show Female Thor apparently reverting back to the cancer-stricken Jane Foster as what appears to be Doctor Strange takes care of her. Then we get Odinson leaping towards Mangog ready to split him in half with his ferocious axe.
Are you sad to see Female Thor go? Or are you finally happy that Marvel seems to be listening to their fans and getting back to what they should do best, telling great stories in comic books?
Mighty Thor #705 hits stores on March 21, 2018. The final order cutoff is February 26, 2018.
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