Thor, Vol. 5: The Legacy of Thanos

Thor (2020) (Collected Editions)

by Al Ewing, Donny Cates, Torunn Grønbekk

A clash of mighty Marvel monarchs! Thor, King of Asgard vs. Eddie Brock, King in Black! Hammer vs. tongue! Lightning vs. symbiote! Golden hair vs. pointy teeth! But whatever their personal differences, they must put them aside to save the one thing they both love: Earth! Meanwhile, Thanos is missing, presumed dead. But Thor has seen a vision of his return. And it is enough to make even a god know fear! And when a universally loathed foe kidnaps Thor's baby sister, Laussa, and drags her so deep beyond Hel that not even Sif's All-Sight can see her, the God of Thunder must embark on a terrifying, universe-changing quest!

Collects Thor (2020) #27-28, Thanos: Death Notes (2022) #1, Thor (2020) #29-30.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes

128 pages, Paperback

Published July 4, 2023

Reviews

[Frédéric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cates’ run ends up unceremoniously with goddamn Venom. Ve.Nom. Like, wtf, man?

Then Gronbekk's run starts and her 2 confused issues have yet to convince me. And who is this new sister of Thor I never heard about?

So it ends miserably and starts confusingly. By Odin’s beard, this is not the way to drive a series!

[Pyramids Ubiquitous · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've come to the conclusion that I shouldn't expect anything more from Cates' Thor run than slightly interesting cameos and crossovers, slightly entertaining large-scale fights, different characters wielding Mjolnir, and classic, colorful comic book art. There is nothing resembling interesting storylines or anything to develop the Thor character or his mythos, and I won't expect that anymore.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm going to chalk the quality of storytelling here up to the unfortunate shifting of creative teams on this title around the publication.

The two issues teaming Venom and Thor up are fine, they bring back a old plot point, but my enjoyment of them is hurt a bit from my lack of knowledge on the Ewing Venom run for the moment. Death Notes is mostly anthology filler, except a small bridge to the next arc. The final two issues tease some big historical curse or the like, but doesn't resolve the plot itself, leaving you hanging for the final trade. I want to trust Grønbekk to land the final arc, but I'm thinking it's a 50/50 shot right now.

[Sud666 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. This is one disjointed volume with multiple story-lines that are, at best, indirectly related. The first story revolves around Thor (Odin is inside Mjolnir for some reason I don't know or care) and Venom fighting some other symbiote that's bonded with a demon. So Thor and Venom bond to fight it and start muttering gibberish about the "God in Black"- I realize I may have missed a great deal of the previous story but if this is a glimpse of what was, then I am very happy to remain ignorant of this dumbass take on Thor.

Then schizophrenically it jumps to an actually GOOD story arc about Thanos. But, apparently, this story is one from the past. Then the story arc jumps to "current" and it's Corvus Glaive and some dumbass child character named Laussa who is the "..daughter of Odin, of Surtur, and of Freyja..." ummm pardon? This threesome I'd love to have seen. Anyways this insanely stupid concept for a character and Corvus Glaive are the object of a black Valkyrie (er what?) and Thor's ire. Some more flashbacks, Bor (Odin's father) and Dr. Doom are all plot points for some reason.

Hmmm in retrospect this complicated mess might be deserving of one star but I shall keep the 2 because the artwork is good enough and hidden underneath the pretentiously complicated plot, and the frankly stupid "new Thor" ideas I think there may be a decent story lurking. I'm going to give the next volume a try to see if this story-arc can be salvaged or if this, much like the Jane Foster-Thor crap, is going to be a run that I shall gladly be avoiding and move on to better written Thor stories or runs.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. There are some really cool things going on in this volume and some just okay things going on in this volume. I’m excited to see what happens with the continuing Donald Blake storyline and I’m intrigued for what happens regarding the last issue’s revelation. The Venom and Bedlam storyline mostly just was alright. I didn’t hate anything here. I just didn’t love some things. I did love some of the horror elements in the last issue and the Thanos: Death Notes one-shot was a really solid read, as well.

[Adam Jarvis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not too bad. It split off and went in another direction. The venom storyline was better. Decent enough.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Secrets sought and some are found. Ancient magic and time distortions.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.
Highlights:
- With the Rainbow Bridge having been destroyed, Thor needs a new way to allow his people to travel. Bringing in Loki to explore new paths using magic, a new villain is released: Darkoth, the Death Demon... but he comes with a piece of Carnage symbiote!
- When any piece of Carnage shows it's face.... Venom isn't far behind. And it takes a combination of Venom and Thor to take him down. (Cool scene)
- Donald Blake (too long of a backstory to go into it here) is enduring his "punishment" below, and get some symbiote dripped on him. That acid won't be a problem now.... AND THIS story will definitely come back next Volume
- In the middle, we get a long Thanos story which is kind of cool and shows a complicated side of his relationship with Death.
- With Thanos and the Black Order on your mind... the story brings us Corvus Glaive and has him kidnap Laussa, Thor's sister (I swear I didn't remember he had a baby sister) and takes her down to Hel.
- Thor goes after her with the help of Sif, and wins the day... but secrets of Bor are on the horizon and are somehow connected to Doctor Doom?

Overall, this is kind of a setup for what seems to be a big Volume coming up. Hope I don't have to wait too long.
Recommend.

[Alex Sarll]

Neither quite its own thing, nor properly part of Donny Cates' misbegotten and then medically truncated Thor run, this has its moments. A story about Thor brooding over getting Hulked-out *again*, only to be interrupted by symbiote bollocks, was never going to be high on my wants list, but incoming writer Al Ewing manages to get some very funny bits of dialogue in there. That has nothing whatsoever to do with Thanos; it's followed by a one-shot which does, but doesn't have much to do with Thor, bar a framing sequence of his looking through the mad Titan's filing cabinets (yes, literally), surrounding shorts in which Christopher Cantwell thinks reskinning Roko's basilisk is enough to make a story, JMS is having one of his good days, and Kyle Starks is much less fun than usual. That leads into two issues about Corvus bloody Glaive and, I wish I were making this up, a black infinity stone, where I still felt like I was missing half the context, but where Torunn Gronbekk at least finds space to riff on some of the less explored aspects of the MCU Ragnarok, rendered into powerfully metal, vaguely Tom Mandrake pages by Nic Klein.

[Jason Tanner · Rating 2 out of 5]

More than anything, this book feels like material left out of a crossover I've never heard of and didn't ask for. It's not strictly bad, but I have no idea what's supposed to be going on.

The break with whatever story Donny Cates was trying to tell us was made complete about halfway through this thing, but honestly, it's for the best. Cates' Thor run was wildly inconsistent, and I never quite got what he was trying to do. The Gronbekk issues at the end are interesting, but this is really where I feel like I'm reading half a story.

Also, I'm so f***ing sick of Thanos. Keith Giffen was the last person who had a good creative direction for Thanos, and it came to a pretty satisfying conclusion in Annihilation. Eighteen years ago.

It's been bullshit since. The only highlight for me was when Jonathan Hickman had God-Emperor Doom pull out his skeleton in Secret Wars.

But we needed Thanos for Brand Synergy. Not that the guy in the movies is properly Thanos. He was an interesting antagonist, but is a Thanos who isn't a necrophiliac even a real Thanos? MCU Thanos was just a guy trying to help everyone out in the worst way. Now the comics can't get rid of him, even though his story is effectively over and he's just the End Boss of cosmic Marvel in the same way that Darkseid spent most of the 2000s just hanging around for Superman to punch from time to time instead of doing Fourth World stuff.

But I digress.

Anyway, I didn't hate this book, but I can't really recommend it because it's not really coherent. The pieces are mostly fine, but they don't fit together very well.

2.5 stars, rounded down

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume is technically the end of Donny Cates' Thor run, but I think you can tell he's checked out already by this point.

We open with a two issue Venom story that's more to do with Venom than it is Thor thanks to Al Ewing's hand on the rudder, a deep dive continuity pull, and a twist ending even I didn't see coming.

Then Torunn Gronbekk begins her run on the series by bringing Runa the Valkyrie in, and trying to tie up some of the Thanos-related content that Cates seeded earlier in the series.

And finally, the Thanos: Death Notes one-shot is shoved in here to fill space (although it gives us our first Marvel JMS content in like a decade, so that's worth crowing about).

Artwise, Salvador Larrocca handles the Venom two-parter, while Nic Klein sees out his run on the title for the Thanos story. A decent combo, and at least we get to see Klein once more before the book ends.

A bit of a mix-up hodge-podge of a volume. It's not bad, but it's a bit all over the place as well as other writers scrabble to pick up the pieces from Cates' departure.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its a shame this run ended the way it did or going this direction because Donny had such a great run till now and he obviously left the book for personal stuff but the book quality kinda went down. The first 2 issues are alright, Thor teams up with Venom to take down Darkoth who has been bonded with the Bedlam's spawn symbiote and typical fight, fun "God in black" moment and a cool twist of who this venom really was and ties into Al ewing's run really well on Venom!

The next story vs Corvus Glaive who has taken Laussa hostage and something with resurrecting Thanos and also how Bor, grandfather of Thor plays a role in it is there.. the plot is intriguing, the execution is not and thats where the comic goes down for me, and its not the best written one, but cool moments here and there and also brings back that character Runa.. which was meh.

So if you wanna skip it go ahead, it doesn't get better from here and the next volume is the last one and ends this run, the big battle with Thanos idk what will happen with that, but you have Immortal Thor by Ewing to look forward to next!

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh hey, I seem to have missed yet another crossover. Thanks Marvel, I'll just muddle through this new volume.

Venom of Asgard (27-28). A dull fight against some purple guy I vaguely recall from my youth and some venom symbiote from the future or something!? (That doesn't really make much sense.) Not only is there no depth to this story, but it's mainly a setup for some future story with Don Blake [2+/5].

Death Notes. A bunch of short stories related to Thanos. OK. They're actually pretty good, but why in the world are we seeing them? Why was this comic even created? [4/5]

Legacy of Thanos (29-30). Some little girl, who we're supposed to recognize is kidnapped. There's some neat history of Bors having used nuclear weapons. Kinda neat. And then it's just another setup?? [3/5]

What a waste of a volume. And what a pile of continuity that's not explained.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Si Thor se encuentra devastado ante la imagen del Bifrost desquebrajado (por culpa de su estado "Hulkizado)... El lector no va a poder encarar este recopilatorio con un ánimo mejor. Donny Cates se empieza a ausentar de su cabecera con Thor cediendo autoría que afronte esa tan adelantada trama con el nuevo retorno del Titán Loco en busca del enésimo artefacto cósmico de condenación (para ello se inserta lo del especial de "Death Notes"). Lo cual descubre una historia pasada con el linaje familiar de Thor e, incluso, futura. Con lo que depara el secuestro de la nueva hermanastra de Thor por parte del Corvus Glaive.

De este mamotreto, supongo que gusta más esos primeros números que cruzan historia con el Venom de Al Ewing. Un ser ligado al pasado de Thor está infectado por un nuevo simbionte que empieza a tomar de referencia a Thor. Lo cual escala rápido la amenaza... Incluso podemos perdonar la inclusión de Salvador Larroca como dibujante.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thor crosses over with Venom and Carnage (who has been meandering through the Realms, killing gods) and it's...fine. Some cosmic Venom weirdness and plenty of goopy punching.

Then, we get an interlude about Thanos, which feels somewhat misplaced outside the Thor framing story. These short vignettes are all intriguing, though, and probably the best part of The Legacy of Thanos. Makes sense, given the volume title.

Then Corvus Glaive shows up to kidnap Thor's sister (??) in an effort to obtain something that Bor hid in a mountain a long time ago. Runa the Valkyrie (presumably from a book I didn't read, like Thor's sister) shows up too. Oh, and Thanos, I guess? But like, in the past?

Anyway, it's a lot to handle seems like it's only going to continue into the next volume... yikes.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real mixed bag of a collection as the writers attempt to wrap up Donny Cates' storyline and set the stage for what's next. The first couple issues with Venom and Thor teaming up really don't go anywhere. Then there's a fill-in issue called Thanos: Death Notes. Why it's there...who can say. To serve as a reminder? I guess. The last two issues, with Thor's young sister, Laussa (where did she come from?), being kidnapped by Corvus Glaive and taken into an off-limits section of Hel aren't too bad, but again, things are just starting, it seems. The story just sort of ends, mid-action, with no resolution.

[Joey Amorim · Rating 2 out of 5]

And so, the Donny Cates era of Thor comes to an unceremonious end. I understand it’s come out recently that it’s because he was in a serious car accident, so I wish him all the best and hope he’s able to make a comeback soon. While I would consider this run as a whole kind of a dud, I can’t lie and say I wasn’t intrigued about the endgame Cates was clearly building towards between Thor and Thanos. Torunn Grønbekk is left to pick up the slack, and what she gives was pretty boring. Also, wtf Marvel? How long has Thor had a frickin baby sister?! That hasn’t come up in any of the Thor books I’ve been reading recently! *sigh* Anyway, one more volume and I can move on to Immortal Thor.

[Luke Muench · Rating 1 out of 5]

After Cates' painstaking build-up of his world, characters, stakes, etc., I found this to be borderline unreadable. That may seem harsh, as Ewing is a good writer in his own right, but nothing about this book feels like a continuation of Cates story beyond general plot beats. The writing feels entirely different, moving away from the epic mythological tone for a more casual, standard Marvel vibe. The art dropped in quality dramatically (personal taste, I know), or if nothing more changed substantially to bring across an entirely different and unfitting tone. All of it just feels like it works against the story that has been building, taking away my desire to finish the series.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know this mentions Donny Cates but this is when he leaves the book due to personal issues. Nuff said about that. Al Ewing writes the 2 issues with Venom. It's OK. Then the stuff with Thanos very slowly begins to happen. The Thanos: Death Note stuff is mainly recaps of past Thanos stuff from long ago. Then Torunn Gronbekk takes over and reveals that something happened between Thanos and Bor when Bor was king. That's it. It's a volume in transition as Marvel has to deal with Cates's sudden departure.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

c-ch-ch-changes...

We have a collection that tips its hat to the current 'Venom' story arc. Thor calls in a favor from Loki (that is guaranteed to end well, right?) and tries to get the Bifrost repaired. Thus ends the Donny Cates run on Thor...

The next run looks to be a glimpse into Odin's father's machinations with the 6th(?) infinity stone. Add the black stone to your cosplay, everyone. I'm sure this is going to get realllllllly creepy, really quick.
--------

Bonus: Thor-nom? Ven-or?
Bonus Bonus: Since when does ANYTHING make Mjolnir bleed?

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 3 out of 5]

I concede that I haven't read the crossover book with the Hulk and I'm missing some of the context here. The book tries to jump over that part and focus on his new troubles - including a shattered Bifrost. But still, it's rather odd.

This leads to a mistakenly summoned demon, a weirdly symbiote-only version of Eddie Brock and another shenanigans. And as they all need to work together to defeat this demon, there's more going on.

Then second half involves Thanos being inserted into Asgardian history and him serving some greater purpose...but cliffhanger.

[Sam Bakos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do yourself a favour and skip the first two chapters. They are not important unless you read the venom run, they feel disjointed and like they don't belong. The artstyle is way worse in them and several characters look out of place, differently then usual. I know this isn't anything new for comic books but I consider it a cardinal sin of the medium, just skip them they don't affect the story. The rest of the volume also feels disjointed. So not much of an improvement besides the art going back to being good. I like it for the great art but the story leaves me wanting more.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Donny Cates spectacular run is quickly coming undone. In this collection we get an uneventful meeting with Eddie Brock and a look into the vision of Thanos that Thor has had the entire run but what really happened here was...nothing. Truly nothing. Each issue felt like filler. Nothing felt important even though a family member is kidnapped. The Thanos issue in the middle served almost no purpose. The art, by some good artists, didn't come together. Overall, a major setback.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collects Thor (2020) issues #27-30 and Thanos: Death Notes (2022) issue #1

SPOILERS:

It seems like lately, whenever I see Venom involved in a story, I just want to skim through it...so I did.

I'm intrigued by the ongoing Donald Blake story.

The "Thanos" issue was the highlight of this collection.

The Glaive story at the end of the collection was the worst part of this volume, which is discouraging because I think that is setting up the final story in Donny Cates' run.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a strange volume. Two issues are more or less a Venom crossover, then there's a long Thanos story that only loosely ties in, then two issues of set up that require knowing about two relatively minor characters.

Had I read this right after reading the King in Black stuff, I might have enjoyed it more, but mostly I just felt a little confused and bored.

[Aarthika · Rating 3 out of 5]

a lil random

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am very fond of Thor and these comics. There very interesting and the series never bores me. I’ve read all of them except one I think, but I really like them!

[Trevor ComicFan · Rating 3 out of 5]

72

The last two issues were pretty decent, the earlier stuff was blah.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting…but a journey to a next chapter.

[Josh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some actually useful editor's notes would have been helpful.