Thor: God of Thunder #6

On a desolate world 3000 years ago, a boy named Gorr is taught by his mother to honor the gods and trust in their blessings—up until the day she is killed by sand tigers….

Years later, Gorr is unable to provide for his pregnant wife as they whole tribe is starving and must soon leave the caves; she counsels him to trust that the gods will provide—and then she dies in a sudden rockslide….

Months later as the tribe treks across the desert in search of a new home, Gorr’s only son Agar dies in his arms; Gorr buries him and incurs the wrath of the tribe’s leader for not placing the boy’s body in the trees as the gods have prescribed. Gorr lashes out in anger and proclaims there are no gods, their promised blessings have never materialized and all they do is continue to suffer. The tribe stones the blasphemer and drives him out into the desolation…. As the outcast struggles across the desert he sees a bright light fall from the sky and crash some distance away; he goes to investigate and finds two armored men—one in gold and one in black—locked in a death struggle. The gold one pleads for help and Gorr, taking them for the useless gods of his childhood, flies into a rage and a serpentine black substance possesses him, providing him a sharp weapon with which to butcher his first gods. From that day forth he determined to search for more gods to kill…

Centuries later, he has had the Norse god Volstagg a slave for five hundred years to build his base for his grand work. Now he is tormenting Volstagg for stealing a loaf of bread from Gorr while hungry. The brutal Gorr whips him mercilessly and the Norse god points out that even if he slays all the gods in creation, there will still be one god left—Gorr himself. The angry Gorr has Volstagg crucified and meets his young son, assuring him all the bad gods will be gone soon….