What makes someone a hero? Is it holding a magical hammer, or is it stepping up when everyone else runs away?
During the chaos of the Queen in Black’s invasion, Hela the Goddess of Death has set her sights on Earth. The planet is falling into madness and Thor is dead, beyond the reach of mortals. But two men find themselves carrying the legacy of the Thunder God: Beta Ray Bill, the alien warrior who wields Stormbreaker and Sigurd Jarlson, a mortal man carrying a hammer through the ruined streets of New York.
Neither of them is Thor, but both are about to discover what it means to carry that burden.
A Tempting Offer
Bill goes to battle Hela but is blocked by her general, Tyr, the ancient Norse God of War who now serves Hela. Tyr isn’t looking for a bloody brawl right away; he just wants to talk. Tyr wonders why Bill fights them since he and Hela are the last remnants of Asgard. Bill retorts that Tyr dishonors Asgard by serving a wicked queen while he fights for Asgard’s true honor. Tyr counters by offering Bill a deal: join them in their goal to reopen the Bridge to the nine realms, returning myth and magic to Midgard.
The words dig into Bill’s insecurities of feeling he never truly belonged in Asgard, that he’s just been a guest wearing someone else’s armor. Tyr reminds Bill of his destroyed home planet, Korbin, showing him flaming visions of Galactus destroying his people.
“Why fight for a world like Earth that destroys itself?” Tyr asks. “Come home. Help us build something better.”
Needing time to think, Bill uses Stormbreaker to summon dimensional winds, sweeping him and Tyr away to a strange pocket realm where time stands still. In this quiet space, Tyr reveals that in order to rebuild Asgard and restore the nine realms, they plan to subjugate humanity. Hela plans to carve the rune Ehwaz (the rune of forward motion) into Earth itself, turning the entire planet into a giant battery.
Tyr calls it acceptable collateral damage. But Bill sees right through it. He grabs the War God by the throat, realizing that a home built on the ashes of innocent lives is no home at all. Bill isn’t fighting for glory, but because action is needed.
Fire on the Ground
Meanwhile in New York City, Sigurd Jarlson is riding on the subway carrying a radiation suit and a heavy hammer in his bag. He needs to meet with the Radioactive Man at dawn somewhere far away from people. He considers going to a spot where his friend Kris would be but decides it’s too dangerous until the Roxxon business is taken care of. Until all of this is settled, he can’t go home.
As he’s walking out of the subway station, Sigurd is bumped by a fleeing woman. He sees the street in flames, cars are on fire. Sky-scraping alien beams light up the city streets in flames, sending crowds running in terror. The Queen in Black’s invasion has reached him.
Amidst the panic, a woman rocking a black Victorian-style dress and plumed hat tells Sigurd they can’t fight the alien soldiers in living armor, since ordinary people like them can’t. She warns against trying to play the hero and that ordinary people should leave this mess to the professionals like the Avengers or firefighters.
“What if those who can help, can’t?” Sigurd asks.
She tells him to accept that people die, that accepting death brings peace. But when Sigurd hears a child scream from inside a burning building, he doesn’t hesitate. He runs straight into the inferno.
Inside the crumbling structure, the woman uses green magic to pull him out of falling rubble, mocking his efforts. “Will anyone thank you for being just another body in the rubble?” she asks, trying to break his spirit.
Sigurd hesitates for a second, but another cry rings out. He pulls himself up and keeps climbing.
Parallel Tempests
In the timeless realm, Bill exchanges blows with Tyr. Tyr calls him a cheap imitation of Thor who will never belong. But Bill doesn’t need to be Thor. Being Beta Ray Bill is more than enough to stop a corrupt god.
Inside the burning building, Sigurd reaches a little girl clutching a stuffed bunny. He carries her out through the smoke and flames, staring Death right in the eye without fear.
Bill lands a decisive strike on Tyr just as the pocket realm collapses. He throws Tyr back into reality right as Captain Marvel and the Fantastic Four arrive to crush Hela’s remaining forces. Bill wins his battle.
Sigurd, however, walks out of the rubble holding the silent girl. Despite his best efforts to give her CPR, she isn’t breathing. That’s when the strange woman. drops her disguise, shedding her human form to reveal herself to be Hela, the Goddess of Death.
Hela looms over him, mocking his grief. “Is death really so hard to bear?” she asks.
Sigurd looks up at the Goddess of Death and answers, “Life. It is life that is hard.”
He explains that death itself isn’t the enemy. It can bring earned rest after long struggles. What makes death cruel is when it comes too soon, leaving the living cold in its wake.
The Spark of Mercy
His words strike a chord deep within the Death Goddess. Hela looks at the broken man who refused to give up, even when faced with absolute failure. She tells him to go in peace and forget they ever spoke, vanishing in a flash of green light.
Seconds later, the little girl gasps for air, coughing back to life. Sigurd cries out in relief, shouting for a doctor in both Norwegian and English. High above the rubble, Hela’s silhouette watches before fading away.
When the dust settles, Earth remembers Beta Ray Bill as the alien hero who fought off the Queen in Black’s forces in Thor’s name. History books won’t record the mortal who ran into a burning building with nothing but a hammer and an unwillingness to quit.
Only one person will ever remember what Sigurd Jarlson did that day. And as the paramedics carry the little girl to safety, that one person is more than enough.
