Fans of comics and of superhero movies, prepare for something which will blow your mind in the near future: Thor has been announced to switch gender pretty soon. The decision has been made as part of an effort to bring credible female role models into the world of comics and superheroes, and we can be nothing but excited by the decision to promote stronger female characters. But the most interesting and intriguing detail about this upcoming change is its narrative twist, which is announced to be more than a “what if Thor was a female?” exercise of imagination. No, the story will not simply be a saga of the Northern god in his feminine version, but it will involve actual change, most probably by a female secondary character picking up the hammer of Thor after his retirement, thus sparking her transformation.

According to Marvel, the classic Thunder God will no longer be able to wield his mighty hammer, which is why the future heroine will step in his shoes and become an awesome female version of Thor. This change is already being written for comics by Jason Aaron, and Marvel has also confirmed that the new character will eventually be featured in a new Thor movie as well. We already have a few great actresses in mind for the part and we’re super excited about the moment, but our appetite will probably first be sated with a few comics releases before we can see the first movie trailer.

The old female version of Thor

There was an older attempt to feminize the Northern God in the Marvel universe, under the form of Thor Girl (born sometime in 2000 and only present in some not that mainstream editions of comics). But that character should be seen as something closer to a classic sidekick than a proper and full-fledged female version of Thor. Named Terene, the girl first gains the help of Thor and Orikan to fight for her destroyed homeland, and later manages to evolve into an Asgardian goddess herself and fight by Thor’s side as his helper. She then takes the name “Thor Girl” as a means of gratitude to him, and continues to basically play the sidekick. The upcoming female Thor will actually involve a complete transfer of power and identity from the old Thor to his new feminine counterpart.

Things we’re excited about with the upcoming change

Well, first of all, this isn’t the only upcoming change meant to create a stronger move within the Marvel universe. Other news report that the female version of Thor will be just part of the shifts, alongside similar shocking changes to the identities of Captain America and Iron Man. Although strong changes always risk alienating some of the fans, we can’t help feeling excited and curious about what’s to come.

Another thing we’re excited about is, of course, the awesomeness of the kick-ass actress who will get to play the part in the movie set to come out eventually. Although we’ve recently berated the movie Lucy (2014) for different reasons, there are few things we enjoy more than a badass female character setting the world straight. We’d also really like to see some romance where the godly action hero is the feminine element of the couple, and the man she becomes involved with does not feel threatened by her awesomeness. That’s one of the main points of such a feminist shift of story, right?

One of the things we’re less excited about is watching Chris Hemsworth leave the role, but we hope the character retires into having lots of gorgeous babies and living happily ever after with his lady mad scientist played by Natalie Portman. And as long as Loki played by Tom Hiddleston remains very much present in the story, we are definitely not complaining, if you know what we mean. All in all, we can’t wait to find out more about the female version of Thor, even if it’s just in the comics at first.