Warning: SPOILERS for Thor #6

Wolverine and Thor are the last two heroes alive at the end of time - but when they stand against the very last villain, Logan sacrifices everything... to make Thor the most powerful champion the Marvel Universe has ever seen.

Fans who thought that the previous issue in the Thor series couldn't possibly be topped - with Wolverine and Thor fighting the biggest battle ever - are in for a treat. A final showdown between Old King Thor, the last hero of the Nine Realms, and Wolverine, the last avatar of the cosmic Phoenix Force? That's an entertaining fight. And when Jason Aaron and Christian Ward ended that fight by making fans think Wolverine had bested Thor, they were only setting up the fight to come.

When Old King Thor and the Phoenix-Wolverine join together to kill Doom, the villain who has gathered up... well, all of the other magic forces left when Marvel's heroes died.

Doctor Doom: Marvel's Last Villain Alive

Once again proving that movies can never compete with the cosmic craziness of Marvel Comics, Thor #6 picks up immediately where the last issue and battle ended - and raises the stakes all over again. The last comic ended with Wolverine vanquishing Thor, and telling him that saving Earth was folly. Rather than leaving Earth and its people dead with the rest of the universe, Thor had to breathe life back into the embers... bringing the universe's greatest threat back home: Doom.

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The all-powerful form of the villain who used to be known as simply Doctor Doom is something to behold. Boasting the powers of Iron Fist, Doctor Strange, Starbrand, Ghost Rider, and who knows how many other heroes who fell to those strengths combined, Doom has truly ascended to godhood. A point demonstrated when he brushes aside the attacks of even Thor's granddaughters without breaking a sweat.

So it makes sense that he should set fire to the gardens fighting for life on Earth, and threaten to do the same to the few humans who dare to exist without his permission. Until the Earth's last heroes arrive to remind Doom they still can't stand him.

King Thor & Phoenix-Wolverine Join Forces

Doom points out just how dead the universe truly is, despite these colorful characters turning the abyss into a light show of cosmic conflict. According to Doom, the immortal powers of the Phoenix Force and the divine Asgardian Odin Force-- sorry, Thor Force are the only powers not yet claimed. But getting them won't be as, now that Thor apparently convinced Logan to fight by his side in defense of Earth.

It's a moment sure to be appreciated by Wolverine fans who felt a bit disappointed that the Phoenix-Wolverine's awesome power was somewhat marred by his desire to kill Thor and the life he had breathed back onto Earth. Still a hothead when charged up as the Cosmic Berserker, it seems Thor eventually talked Logan's inner superhero back to the surface. And as the pair show Doom he's not the only remainder of the Age of Marvel Heroes left... Wolverine can't help but get cocky.

Wolverine is Burned Alive By Marvel's Greatest Magic

Over-confidence proves seriously brutal, despite Wolverine and Thor teasing Doom as a newbie when it comes to playing God (both having untold millennia under their belts). As Logan begins to prepare for his celebratory beer, having proven he didn't even need to outnumber Doom to defeat him, the villain makes him pay. The Phoenix Force is mighty, but the combined magic of the Starbrand, Doctor Strange's sorcery, and the fires of the Spirit of Vengeance pack a punch Wolverine could never see coming.

Immortal or regenerating as the former X-Man may be, Thor is forced to watch as Doom burns Wolverine as he has never been torched before. The bad news? We hope readers are prepared to see Wolverine reduced to a skeleton. The good news? Well... this fight is only about to get more incredible.

Page 2 of 3: Wolverine Finally Dies... To Make Thor Invincible

Phoenix-Wolverine Can't Die - But Can't Win, Either

In another comic, seeing Wolverine grow suddenly sentimental about his planet, and the wild landscape of his native Canada - while burned down to nothing but a skeleton - might seem odd. In the context of Jason Aaron's Thor series, set at the end of the universe, it fits perfectly. Because let's be serious: the Phoenix Force is more than powerful enough to keep Wolverine alive against Doom. But when Doom turns the Ghost Rider's penance stare (torturing souls with all the sins they've committed) against the All-Father Thor, his heart collapses beneath the burden. In the millions of years Thor has lived, his attempts to be a hero have cost more lives than can be counted.

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But then... that's exactly what makes Wolverine and Thor so different. Logan and Jean Grey had something, once, but he knows that the Phoenix Force chose him as its champion out of practicality. But out of these godly beings now deciding the fate of Earth and life in the universe, Logan knows there's only one hero worthy of the name. And worthy of the Phoenix Force, too.

Wolverine Dies To Give Thor The Phoenix Force

Even though Logan can sense that Thor, or Odin, or someone in the ancient past loved the Phoenix Force's avatar (as was shown in Jason Aaron's Avengers of 1,000,000 BC) we still give him credit for making the choice to sacrifice himself. The way he sees it, Doom, Thor, and he are packing enough power to keep the fight raging for the rest of time (possibly destroying Earth in the process). So as Logan looks out over Thor's recreated Earth, he entrusts saving the day to the King. And if not succeed in saving the day, then at least keeping hope alive while the immortal Wolverine finally rests.

The two of them - All-Father and Cosmic Berserker - can stand against Doom. But he can only be defeated by one hero possessed of both their weapons. And showing Logan was always a hero when it counted most, he requests that Thor "keep the fires burning, bub" - before passing the Phoenix Force into Mjolnir and being obliterated as a result.

Leave it to Doom to embrace his villainy and accuse Wolverine of taking "the easy way out," rather than standing to fight him. And so the final stage of Marvel's last battle is set: Thor, the last hero, and Doom, the last villain. Thanks to Wolverine's sacrifice Thor gets to enter the fight with a stronger weapon than, arguably, any he has wielded before (remember: Wolverine defeated him in the previous issue through the might of the Phoenix Force). A weapon that is famous for being wielded by Thor, and Thor alone. And when it gets this newest upgrade of cosmic power, that restriction is all the hope that life in the universe needs.

Rising to the occasion and letting Logan's sacrifice and faith dispel any of his doubts of being "unworthy," Thor raises Mjolnir for what may be the last time, and transforms with the power of the Phoenix. Warning Doom that his desire for both Mjolnir and its new Phoenix energy is way out of his league.

That's the kind of power that only King Thor, Champion of the Phoenix Force can wield.

Page 3 of 3: King Thor Becomes The Phoenix's Final Champion

Old Thor Becomes King Phoenix, God of Fire

If someone had suggested, as Thor whirled Mjolnir with enough force to turn entire planets into cannonballs and Wolverine outstretched his Phoenix form for "light-years," that Jason Aaron and Christian Ward still had a more epic moment in mind, few would have believed it. But as the page turns to reveal "the Mighty Thunderbird. King Phoenix, God of Fire," its hard to argue that a new bar has been set for Marvel's Cosmic arena. Not to mention creating what must clearly be the most awesome and powerful Phoenix avatar of all time, with "a heart of lightning and a fist of burning Uru."

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But before fans get busy updating online wikis with the most powerful energy Mjolnir has ever contained, or just longingly gazing at the image of Thor and the Phoenix, combining into a vision of fire, lightning, and godly badassery, there's still a fight to be won. A fight against powers rivaling those of Thor, and a fight about to be waged for... years? Decades? Centuries?

Thor & Doom's Battle Shakes The Earth For An Age

We've learned by now that assuming this story is over would be folly, but it definitely seems that Doom's role in it has come and gone. When Thor drives Doom into the heart of the planet to begin their final battle, the action shifts instead to the surface of Earth and the people, and the future generations who live upon it. All the while, feeling the ground shake beneath them as Thor pounds Doom into oblivion, fueling the planet's earthquakes and volcanoes with each strike.

It seems that in passing the Phoenix Force to Thor, Wolverine may have actually given Thor the fires needed to renew the Earth from the inside out (at least, that's what seems to be happening in a poetic, if not literal sense). Fans of the god of thunder need not worry: Thor is the one to eventually bring the shaking to an end, and climb up out of the world, claiming it is finally "finished." But that may mean only this fight, and not the threats to come.

We won't spoil the story teases Aaron drops for his next chapter in Thor's life at the end of the universe. But let's just say that if Thor wielding a new power of cosmic significance sounds like a worthwhile read, we're willing to bet that the next chapter in this story may be even more of a must-read for Thor fans.

Thor #6 is available now from Marvel Comics.

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