Thor #337

Nov 1983 · Marvel

☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join free

★ 1st appearance — Beta Ray Bill

About this Issue

Thor #337 is the single issue that cracked open Mjolnir's mythology for the entire Marvel Universe: by introducing Beta Ray Bill as the first being outside the Norse pantheon ever to lift and wield the enchanted hammer, Walt Simonson transformed a decades-old rule of the book into a living, narrative question — 'What does worthiness really mean?' — one that writers are still answering today. The issue simultaneously launched Simonson's celebrated run, which critics and Marvel itself have long regarded as the definitive treatment of the character, rescuing a title that had been drifting without clear direction and turning it into one of the bestselling, most-talked-about books on the 1983 stands. Its storytelling concept — that an alien warrior of profound nobility could earn the power of a god — seeded decades of worthy-hammer stories across comics and eventually influenced the wider cultural conversation around Thor in animation and film.

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $36

CGC 9.8 $544*

CGC 9.6 $244*

CGC 9.4 $138*

CGC 9.2 $116*

CGC 9.0 $116

CGC 8.5 $112

Show all 22 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 $93

CGC 7.5 $93

CGC 7.0 $78

CGC 6.5 $78

CGC 6.0 $78

CGC 5.5 $50*

CGC 5.0 $45

CGC 4.5 $41*

CGC 4.0 $39*

CGC 3.5 $31*

CGC 3.0 $28*

CGC 2.5 $21*

CGC 2.0 $20*

CGC 1.5 $20*

CGC 1.0 $20*

CGC 0.5 $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

Find on ebay

Search eBay for Thor #337 ▸

No confirmed live listings for this exact issue right now — this opens an eBay search.

Sell my copy

Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.

We Buy Collections ▸

Fast, fair offers · we handle grading & shipping

History

Walt Simonson had long held a deep personal attachment to Thor, and when editor Mark Gruenwald handed him full writer-artist control beginning with issue #337 (cover-dated November 1983), Simonson arrived with a clear mandate to start fresh rather than continue the existing run's tone. He designed Beta Ray Bill deliberately as a monstrous-looking figure — built from a skull shape with equine features — specifically to wrong-foot readers into assuming the character was a villain, then pivot to reveal a hero of profound sacrifice; Simonson has recalled receiving exactly the alarmed reader mail he hoped for after the first issue hit stands. The concept of another character proving worthy of Mjolnir grew directly from Simonson's close reading of the hammer's original inscription, which he recognized as an untapped narrative engine: if the enchantment was real, then someone new and worthy could, by the internal logic of the universe, actually pick it up — something no writer before him had acted on in a sustained, plot-driving way.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Beta Ray Bill, a cybernetically enhanced Korbinite alien warrior, created by writer-artist Walt Simonson; Beta Ray Bill is established as a member of the Korbinite race whose people are refugees fleeing the destruction of their galaxy.
First appearance of Lorelei, sister of the Enchantress, who debuts in the Asgard subplot running alongside the main story.
Marks the beginning of Walt Simonson's complete writer-artist run on The Mighty Thor, which ran from #337 through #382 (1983–1987), with Simonson handling both script and art through #367 before handing art duties to Sal Buscema.
Bill bests Thor in combat aboard the alien ship Skuttlebutt, picks up Mjolnir (transforming into an alien-featured version of Thor), and is accidentally transported to Asgard by Odin — who mistakes him for his own son — leaving Donald Blake stranded on Earth as a mortal for the first time.
The story's title is 'Doom!' and the issue's cover — showing the horse-faced Bill in full Thor regalia physically destroying the comic's own 'The Mighty Thor' title logo — signals the editorial break; starting with #338, the series adopted a new logo.
The cover image has been paid homage in at least three subsequent Marvel issues: Thor #451, Thunderstrike #23, and Mighty Thor (Vol. 2) #20.
The issue was reprinted as a standalone comic packaged with the Marvel Legends Series 15 (MODOK Series) Beta Ray Bill action figure in 2006, and has since been collected in numerous trade formats including Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson (2000), the Thor by Walter Simonson Omnibus (2011), Walter Simonson's The Mighty Thor: Artist's Edition (IDW, 2011), Marvel Tales: Thor #1 (2019), and True Believers: King in Black — Beta Ray Bill #1 (2021), among others.
The animated series The Super Hero Squad Show episode 'The Ballad of Beta Ray Bill' was based directly on the story introduced in this issue, and Beta Ray Bill was included in an early development version of the MCU film Thor: Ragnarok before being cut from the final film.