In Marvel’s 2007 event titled World War Hulk, Hulk went on a violent rampage across New York City, with the God of Thunder himself, Thor, nowhere to be found. But when Thor enters the battle in an alternate What If? tale, he ends up proving that he’s not just one of the most powerful heroes in all of the Marvel Universe, but one of the most important ones too.
As seen in What If? World War Hulk, the story titled “What If Thor Entered World War Hulk?”, by Michael Gallagher and Patrick Spaziante, focuses on an alternate series of events that brings Thor to the urban battleground of NYC to challenge Hulk for all his worth. Originally not involved in this story due to his commitment to restoring Asgard after the devastating events of Ragnarok, this issue gives fans a chance to see how Hulk’s war on his friends would have turned out had Thor been there in person.
An event that saw New York City nearly leveled to the ground as Hulk tore apart the Illuminati group of heroes that shot him off-planet after deeming him too big a danger to be kept on Earth, this What If? story keeps the same basic premise of World War Hulk but adds a god-level hero into the mix to make things interesting. Arriving in the city to help stop Hulk, Thor initially tries to talk the Green Goliath down from his madness, only to be pulled into a fight with him immediately.
Beating each other senseless, the pair eventually crash into a subway system where a distraught New York citizen begs them for help. Soon stopping their brawl, Hulk and Thor are next shown to be working together to save the people trapped underground, Thor takes this opportunity to relate and speak compassionately to Hulk on a personal level (they both recently lost their home and family, after all). Thor tells Hulk, “Hope, not hate, is what must drive us forward,” affecting Hulk to a point that he agrees to lay down arms, ultimately allowing everyone involved to survive and leave this predicament behind them on the best terms possible.
Either a notable addition or notable exception for near every Marvel event over the past few decades, including but not limited to Civil War (he was cloned but never actually present in the conflict), Secret Invasion (he fought the Skrull pantheon to guarantee victory), War of the Realms (it was a Thor-centric event), Fear Itself (Thor sacrificed himself for to get the win), Siege (he defeats the evil version of Sentry with a lightning blast), and more, Thor was either specifically instrumental in helping the good guys win during these crossovers, or would have been vital in doing so had he been around to lend a hand. Furthermore, in the aftermath of some of these events, Thor — like how he’s portrayed in this What If? issue — is framed as a kind of peacemaker whose lack of concern for petty politics allows him to truly understand what's gone wrong at the moment, ultimately being able to treat his friends and colleagues as individuals with valid concerns while also defusing (or at least acknowledging) situations that most others would simply gloss over.
So while no other hero can lay claim to what he’s accomplished in Marvel's biggest stories, Thor is often still overlooked for the important hero he truly is. Thor is a heroic catalyst that can bring great change to the Marvel Universe, so don’t be surprised if he becomes even more instrumental in Marvel’s next line-wide crossover event.
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