WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of Record of Ragnarok, now streaming on Netflix.
In the annals of Marvel, from the comics to cartoons to the movies, Thor and Mjolnir usually represent something virtuous. A blonde, long-haired and quite majestic god wielding a hammer no longer than his arm has become a staple of the Avengers, with the Odinson not just seen as Asgard's defender but a hero across the entire cosmos.
The closest we've come to seeing this duo warped was the clone version in Civil War that called down lightning to kill Goliath. Netflix's Record of Ragnarok anime takes it a step further, though, making them the scariest villains ever.
With his red hair and black eyes, Record of Ragnarok's Thor feels like a killer from the Samurai X series. He doesn't talk much as he squares off against the Chinese warrior, Lü Bu, to open the tournament as he just wants to play his part in rendering humanity extinct. And in his case, silence does speak volumes.
Thor creates an intimidating aura, looking like a silent psychopath and craving blood. It's even more dramatic seeing his Mjolnir as big as a pillar, to the point it can easily be used as a shield. And it's not like Thor can just swing it around easily and bring thunder down as the Marvel character does -- he's got to work for his swing, flinging it so it can pick up momentum for even more devious strikes.
But what really makes the duo a horror show is the power being suppressed. This is unleashed when Lü Bu actually cuts Thor, and the god decides to let Mjolnir free. That's right -- the weapon is like a living, breathing entity with Thor wielding special gloves to stop it from coming to life.
He eventually takes them off, allowing Mjolnir to break out of its shell in a gruesome manner. The scary thing is, the gloves weren't protecting Thor from Mjolnir -- it's the other way around. When Record of Ragnarok's Thunder God applies his strength to the hammer, the pain it evokes makes it the deadliest weapon of them all.
As Thor seethes, Mjolnir starts to emit a lava-like substance, overheating with anger to the point where his Geirröd swing-and-smash can level entire cities. It shakes up the Valhalla arena, gaining momentum in an apocalyptic manner, and even scares Zeus and worries Odin. Watching its heart beat like a monster out of a John Carpenter or David Cronenberg movie is even more terrifying as it lusts after blood, fear and violence.
Sadly, affairs conclude with Thor smashing his enemy's head off, but that's not enough. When the Chinese spectators rush the gladiator's pit to die with their hero, Thor obliges, taking pleasure as he fries them all and eviscerates them into nothingness. He's honored to have done this but as stoic and somber as he may seem, his sadist side is loving every single moment.
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