Warning! Spoilers ahead for Snake Eyes: Deadgame #2
In the latest issue of IDW's Snake Eyes: Deadgame, the silent ninja soldier is hunting down the newly risen Kirigun, also known as the Grave Master. This new foe is unlike anything Snake Eyes or any of his fellow Joes have ever faced before, and Snake Eyes soon learns that his fate is inescapably tied with Kirigun's. Apparently, Snake Eyes was chosen and trained long ago to serve as a new champion to meet the Grave Master in battle, due to the fact that the great deities Kirigun once fought are no more - a roster which includes Thor, the God of Thunder.
While Snake Eyes and Scarlett are hunting for the magical sword known as the Dead Sword in the latest issue, they are attacked by agents of the Grave Master. One of them reveals herself as Olympia, one of Snake Eyes' old mentors, and as they fight, she tells Snake Eyes that he can no longer avoid his destiny. A battle with the Grave Master is what she trained him for, as her father had long been seeking a worthy opponent for the trial known as the Deadgame.
However, the Grave Master is used to fighting deities and monsters, and Rob Liefeld's Snake Eyes: Deadgame #2 shows him knocking out the Norse God Thor centuries ago. Furthermore, the issue shares that Grave Master is responsible for the lack of deities in the present day, as he's the one who defeated them all. When he then tasked his daughter with finding him a new combatant, she scoured the world looking but continually came up short... until she found Snake Eyes. Now, Snake Eyes seemingly has no choice but to fight the Grave Master, as Olympia believes him to be the next best thing in the absence of the gods themselves.
From what he has seen thus far, Grave Master is not impressed with Olympia's offering of Snake Eyes. After all, Grave Master won their first altercation in the first issue, and Olympia just bested Snake Eyes after drugging him in order to present him to her father as a gift in this issue. However, Kirigun is willing to give Snake Eyes a chance if only for the meager entertainment he might offer, and the issue ends with him forcing Snake Eyes to undertake the Trial of Monsters, throwing him into the open maw of a giant monster Cobra.
Snake Eyes has much to prove to the Grave Master in a fight he clearly doesn't want to be in, but which he also can't escape. However, the mere fact that Snake Eyes was chosen to fight in the absence of a god like Thor is pretty cool and a testament to his prowess as a fighter and soldier. If Snake Eyes does manage to defeat the Grave Master in the Deadgame, that would mean Snake Eyes is a more proficient and capable fighter than even the gods themselves, which would be a pretty cool distinction in his career as a Joe. Fans will have to wait and see as Liefeld's Snake Eyes: Deadgame continues from IDW.