Warning: contains spoilers for What If…? Miles Morales Became Thor? #4
Marvel’s Thor travels between Asgard and Midgard (read: Earth) using the famous Bifrost Bridge, perhaps better known as the Rainbow Bridge from North Mythology – but now, the colorful construction has an all-new look. Marvel’s Asgard is a hybrid of design taken from old myths and Jack Kirby-created architecture. But as of What If…Miles Morales Became Thor? #4, the eons-old bridge is no longer the Bifrost Bridge…but the Brooklyn Bridge, used by Miles Morales when he became the new God of Thunder.
In North Mythology, the Bifrost Bridge allows the Gods to travel between realms, namely Asgard and Midgard. The God Heimdallr (Heimdall in the comics and the MCU) guards the bridge from his residence in Himinbjörg. Odin can summon the Bifrost Bridge (but does not always need it to travel), and the bridge has most recently been destroyed by Thor in his new and terrifying Hulk form using sheer brute strength alone, a feat once thought impossible.
In What If…Miles Morales Became Thor? #4, written by Yehudi Mercado with art by Luigi Zagaria, Miles Morales grows up as Thor in an alternate reality in which the Yggdrasil World Tree grew in Brooklyn. As such, Asgard is a mixture of Norse architecture and various New York City landmarks – including the Brooklyn Bridge. The road of the bridge is now covered in a bright, shining rainbow and graffiti adorns the sides and pillars of the structure. The Asgardians use the Bifrost in the same manner as the 616 reality – but it is also the site of a great tragedy regarding Thor and Loki.
Loki is not Thor’s brother in this reality, but his uncle (after Miles Morales’ uncle Aaron). While he harbors resentment toward Thor, he never truly hated his nephew – that emotion is reserved for Odin. Loki engineered a situation in which Odin’s life was in mortal peril at the hands of the Frost Giants, and all Thor had to do was watch him die; he would soon after be crowned King of Asgard. But the plan is foiled by Thor, and a defeated and disillusioned Loki is escorted on the bridge to Midgard, where he will remain in exile. Though Loki believes the development is fort the best, as “The throne can make monsters of men.”
Not only is the new Bifrost Bridge a marvelous sight to behold, it is also where Thor will see his uncle Loki for the last time. Perhaps the two travelled using the bridge multiple times, and a bond was shared that would have been impossible to forge in the 616 universe. Regardless, Thor’s new Bifrost-Brooklyn Bridge is a testament to the world of comics, in which new worlds can easily be created with talented artists and writers simply opening their minds to new and exciting possibilities.
