As Marvel's God of Thunder, Thor is one of the most powerful and dangerous Avengers in the Marvel Universe, but even he has to endure certain embarrassments of daily life just like the masses of mortals of Midgard. This isn't always strange to Thor; he's spent plenty of time on Earth and is thus quite familiar with human customs and culture. But in Thor: God of Thunder #12, the so-called strongest Avenger meets an unforeseen barrier: a steadfast security guard.

Thor in the world of the comics is far more familiar with human customs than his Marvel Cinematic Universe counterpart. He began his comics history as Doctor Donald Blake, an ordinary human who chanced upon a stick in a cave. Hitting the stick transformed the otherwise-normal staff into Mjolnir, Thor's hammer, and Donald Blake was thus transformed into Thor. Eventually readers learned that Blake was Thor; his father Odin had send him to Midgard to learn humility, changing his memories to better fit the narrative.

Related: MCU Phase 4 Merch Art Reveals Thor's New Love & Thunder Costume

In Thor: God of Thunder #12, Thor returns to Midgard after dealing with the events laid out by Gorr, the "God Butcher." Thor approaches a prison with the intent to give a condemned criminal his last meal - a precious fruit from the Kandelar tree native to the planet Endogo. Before he can enter the prison proper, Thor strolls through the metal detector - which naturally sounds an alarm (since Thor is carrying his hammer). A junior security guard asks Thor to leave his hammer behind, but his superior allows Thor to pass. Whet met with protests from the junior guard - who is understandably uncertain about a weapon on prison grounds - the supervisor says "Trust me...nobody in this place could ever pick it up."

thor-metal-detector

Thor going through the proper channels of security instead of simply flying into the prison yard is a sign that the character has matured (and that he's been spending time learning from Captain America perhaps). But the senior security guard is right: no one in this prison would be able to so much as budge Mjolnir; this is death row, and, Thor is off to see Fulton (the prisoner) just before his execution. Mjolnir has been held aloft by killers before (as Thor himself has killed many enemies), but it seems the hammer can also determine crime and culpability.

In a sense, the prisoner "found God" at the end of his life, thought perhaps in a more literal sense than most. The fact that Thor didn't even argue with the security guard underlines the solemnity of his task at hand. Thor is the butt of many jokes in the MCU, but in the comics, he's quite noble.

Next: Marvel's Mephisto Has Been Defeated in The Most Ridiculous Way