Writer Donny Cates and artist Nic Klein knock it out of the cosmic ballpark in Thor #6, the much-anticipated conclusion to the six-part Thor epic, "The Devourer King." The issue has fans and speculators buzzing, with copies already going for twice cover price on eBay and Marvel Comics announcing a second printing, all thanks to the rumored appearance of a certain death-obsessed Titan and the ultimate fate – and true form – of the most powerful villain ever seen in the Marvel Universe, the Black Winter. But just who or what is the Black Winter?
Fans were stunned to learn in recent issues of Thor that Galactus is actually the herald of the Black Winter, just as the Silver Surfer and most recently Thor himself have served as heralds of Galactus. But whereas Galactus – aka Galan of Taa – is merely the Devourer of Worlds, the Black Winter is the devourer of entire universes! Having consumed the Sixth Cosmos eons ago, the Black Winter struck a bargain with the sole survivor, Galan of Taa: “I spare you. You serve me.” It then transformed Galan into the cosmic entity known as Galactus who was to serve his dark master by seeking out new universes for the Black Winter to devour, but Galactus apparently skipped out on the deal and went in search of his own herald and some planets to munch on. As the saying goes, “revenge is a dish best served cold”, and it doesn’t get much colder than the Black Winter as it comes to get even with Galactus for his betrayal.
The Star Plague, the Blight Storm, the Rot Blizzard, the Frost…just as the Black Winter goes by many names, according to Galactus “each galaxy or entity that gazes into it, perceives it differently. You see the form of your own true death.” As the Black Winter destroyed the Justice Lea…er…the “league of gods” of another universe (which included a sun god, a god of emerald light, a god of dark, a god of the ocean, a god of speed, etc. as well as allusions to Metropolis and Darkseid), it appeared as a cosmic hand (just like the one that created the DC Universe), while to Thor it appeared as a “dark Thor”. Perhaps to the disappointment of fans and speculators, the Black Winter doesn’t turn out to actually have one “true” form…at least not one revealed in this issue.
Besides emanating black frost- and snow-like energy which disintegrates everything it touches and the ability to change form at will, the Black Winter can reveal to any being a vision of their “true end”. It shows Galactus a vision of Thor, who does in fact kill the Devourer of Worlds by using him as a living bomb to destroy the Black Winter. So with both Galactus and Black Winter dead, the God of Thunder can finally breathe easy, right? Wrong! Before the Black Winter’s last ebony snowflake is crushed in Thor’s hand, it shows the Odinson his own end…the “something slithering through time” to “kill Thor’s destiny” and “break his fate” that the Black Winter had eluded to in previous issues…a horrific vision of none other than the Mad Titan Thanos wielding an Infinity Gem-encrusted Mjolnir – an “Infinity Hammer” – and leading an army of zombified Marvel heroes.
It seems even in death, the Black Winter is still able to spread darkness and fear.