Thor, bored out of his mind by Loki's theatrical performance is about as carefree as he gets before his world starts coming apart. When a rift tears open above the theater and Hela is pulled into it despite Peggy Carter's attempts to hold her back, everything changes. He is crowned king immediately and grief does what it tends to do to someone who has never been taught to sit with it: it turns outward. His first act on the throne is to order Carter's arrest, convinced she is responsible for his sister's death and the rifts that keep swallowing his world.

Wanda and Fury both tell him he is wrong, that Carter is not the cause but potentially the solution, and that someone else entirely is the Forerunner destabilizing the universe. Thor hears them and proceeds anyway, deploying his Yellowjacket soldiers and the Destroyer armor against Carter and everyone helping her. When Stark's device finally identifies the Forerunner and Rogers steps forward glowing green, the truth lands cleanly and Thor accepts it without argument. He tells Carter to finish what she was summoned to do. He watches Steve Rogers sacrifice himself to save the universe and says nothing more. The world holds together, and Thor is left standing in the wreckage of a kingdom that no longer has anyone in it he loves.