Finally, “Thor: Love and Thunder” has arrived. Given that Thor: Ragnarok contains an Easter Egg that feeds this fire, fans have long held the belief that the film will introduce Beta Ray Bill, a significant Thor ally. Beta Ray Bill has not been spotted yet, though.
This individual has also proven to be deserving of Mjolnir. Beta Ray Bill is a bioengineered alien that defends the citizens of his now-destroyed planet as their champion. He is known as the champion of Planet Korbin. Even though they were once enemies, he ends up becoming friends with Thor and even receives the Stormbreaker at some point.
Walt Simonson was the man behind the character’s creation, and in 1983, he appeared in his first comic book. We will delve into Beta Ray Bill’s introduction, his partnership with the Asgardians, and other interesting story arcs in today’s video.
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Beta Ray Bill: Backstory Explored
It is important to understand Beta Ray Bill’s origins before we look into who he is. Bill is a native of the planet Korbin, which is located in the Burning Galaxy. The planet has been colonizing other planets for a thousand years and has technology that is considerably better than Earth’s.
Since several of these worlds belonged to the Nine Worlds, the demon Surtur had preyed upon them (that is the cute little guy who is very much responsible for the fun event known as the Ragnarok). The initial explosion, which Korbin managed to survive, increased the temperature of the Burning Galaxy. Soon, the Korbinites could no longer withstand the heat.
The Korbinites utilized their top tier technology to the fullest to create a fleet of massive spaceships for their people. These A.I. spaceships were sentient and would be used for the Korbinites’ escape and survival until they found a habitable planet. And with a shortage of food, the people were kept in cryopreservation. However, someone had to defend and protect these people and for that reason, the Korbinites needed a champion.
Needless to say, it was Beta Ray Bill who was selected to fill this role. His biology was restructured with that of the strongest carnivore of Korbin, which was responsible for his strange appearance.
The Korbinites left the Burning Galaxy before the destruction of their home, but they were being chased by millions of demons who wanted to destroy them. This caused Beta Ray Bill’s spaceship, Skuttlebutt, to escape to a solar system we are all familiar with.
The character made its debut in the 1983 comic series by Marvel known as ‘The Mighty Thor’ and appeared in the 337th issue. The issue opens with not the mighty Thor himself but Don Blake, a mortal persona of Thor. The Asgardian had adopted this persona to learn humility. Odin had guised him into a crippled professor at Harvard University and he had also seized Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. As Don Blake, Thor used a staff (mainly to help him walk because he was crippled but also to unleash his Godly power).
Don Blake is at Grant Park in Chicago when Nick Fury ambushes him and shoves him inside his car. Turns out, S.H.I.E.L.D. has intercepted the arrival of a mysterious alien ship and it is heading toward Earth at a speed that dwarfs the speed of light itself. This is Beta Ray Bill’s ship Skuttlebutt, but of course, Thor and S.H.I.E.L.D. do not know anything of it.
Thor agrees to help Midgard, once again. He unleashes the power of the Mighty Asgardian God and tries to catch up to Skuttlebutt. After a struggle, he catches up but falls victim to the ships automated weapons. Being a God, Thor is obviously able to neutralize the threat and finds himself inside the spaceship. There, he comes across a mysterious figure in cryopreservation which suddenly breaks free and introduces himself as Beta Ray Bill. However, Bill believes Thor to be one of the demons who were after the Korbinites while Thor also believes Bill to be a threat.
The two begin to fight but Thor ends up dropping Mjolnir. As he turns into Don Blake once again, his body is weakened to parallel that of a mortal man. Skuttlebutt, now damaged, closes in on Earth and is about to crash. Beta Ray Bill forms a stasis egg to protect himself and Don Blake to survive the crash and they are soon greeted by Nick Fury. Beta Ray Bill is oblivious to these people and believes them all to be a threat and tries to look for Thor’s hammer. Instead, he finds the stick of Don Blake. Frustrated, he strikes a wall with that stick to get his angst out but ends up getting the godly power of Thor himself. With Mjolnir in his hands, he throws the hammer at a S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle and is surprised when the hammer returns to him after each impact.
Soon, the skies open to reveal Odin who mistakes Bill for Thor, because who would guess that some random alien is suddenly worthy of Mjolnir! Beta Ray Bill then is taken to Asgard while Don Blake or the original Thor is left as a mortal on Earth.
In the next issue, Don Blake learns about Bill wielding the hammer and being taken to Asgard by Odin from Nick Fury. Meanwhile, in Asgard, the people realize that the warrior that has returned is not Thor at all. Odin is surprised to see the alien being worthy of Mjolnir and prepares to question him. But Bill hurls the hammer at the God as he claims that he has won it fair and square in combat. Odin grabs the hammer and senses that Bill is speaking the truth, which further complicates the matter. So, he encases Bill in a vessel and brings Don Blake back to Asgard.
Blake turns into Thor once again while Bill is released. Odin agrees to communicate with Bill and learns about the Korbinites. Bill is also grateful to have found Mjolnir, as it is a weapon that can help him protect his people. But the weapon, in all honesty, has not been won in complete fairness, mainly because Thor had been handicapped by his father. Odin had never imagined someone else would be able to wield Mjolnir, so with both of them now having a claim on the hammer, they will have to battle one another to own it.
And so, a trial by combat is decided. In this combat, both warriors will fight without weapons and the one who attains victory will get Mjolnir. Due to its high stakes, they will also have to fight to the death. For the longest time, they fight on equal ground, that is until they fight near a river of lava where they knock each other out. In this terrain, Bill has the advantage since he has been nurtured in the intense heat of Kordin. He revives himself before Thor can, winning the battle. But instead of letting Thor die, he lifts his body and is transported to Asgard, this time as the winner of Mjolnir.
But once again, Odin reveals that Bill was given an advantage on purpose. The Norse God wanted to test how worthy Bill truly was. He wanted to humble Thor as well. Ultimately, Thor got Mjolnir back and the Stormbreaker was forged for Beta Ray Bill.
Using the Stormbreaker, Beta Ray Bill protected the Korbinites and became an ally of the Asgardians. Thor soon became his oath brother and Asgard was now another home to him. Naturally, he sided with the Asgardians during Ragnarok as the Norse Gods fought Surtur and his flaming demons. However, Thor ultimately sent him back to the Korbinites to keep the memories of the Asgardians alive.
The Amazing Story Arc of Beta Ray Bill
In 2005, Marvel published a six-issue story arc for Beta Ray Bill known as ‘Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill’. These comics were written by Dan Berman and Michael Avon Oeming while Andrea De Vito handled the art for it.
The first issue opens with a discussion in the High Council Chambers of New Korbin, where a Korbinian named Rogotta asks for Beta Ray Bill to be denounced as their champion. With Bill spending too much time with the Asgardian Gods, the Korbinians begin to chastise him. They also wish for the re-activation of Alpha-Ray instead, since a terrible catastrophe is approaching them once again. This catastrophe is Galactus. And all of this takes place while Beta Ray Bill is fighting with the Asgardians during Ragnarok.
Galactus is a cosmic being who consumes planets for its continuous survival. He also has a herald, who does the job of finding such planets for him. Here, Galactus is known as Ashta. And there’s no force in the Universe that can stop Galactus from consuming them… such is the cosmic being’s power.
Unfortunately, Ashta arrives before the Council can reach a decision. Around this time, Beta Ray Bill is transported away from Asgard by Thor while the Korbinians send their ships to fight Ashta. Alpha Ray is released but he is unstable. Beta Ray arrives to fight Ashta as well but is instead engaged by the unstable Alpha Ray. But ultimately, he is swatted away by Galactus himself while the cosmic being devours New Korbin, making Bill experience the destruction of his homes New Korbin and Asgard on the same day.
In the next issue known as ‘The Crumbs of Galactus’, Galactus’ herald Stardust heads to destroy the remaining defenders of New Korbin while his master consumes the planet. Meanwhile, Beta Ray Bill has survived (despite having damaged Galactus’ helmet) and finds his sentient spaceship Skuttlebutt. The spaceship tells Bill about the flight of the Korbinians into the Meta-Orb, a device that has stored the consciousness of New Korbin’s people. At the same time, an enraged Stardust is sent to destroy Beta Ray Bill for surviving and damaging Galactus’ helmet. Stardust soon appears in front of Bill and gets hold of the Meta-Orb. Beta Ray Bill charges at the herald to save his people again but Stardust starts to pour his cosmic energy into the orb.
The third issue is mainly a battle between the two beings. Beta Ray Bill manages to get his hands on the Meta-Orb once again and leaves it with Skuttlebutt. He then engages in a violent fight with the herald of Galactus, shattering planetoids and grappling one another. In fact, Stardust realizes that he had underestimated the champion and the strength of the Stormbreaker. Ultimately, Bill kind of emerges victorious. Kind of.
However, Stardust is a cosmic being. Bill can never truly defeat him. He rises once again as he glows blue and white with power. He opens a portal that acts as a gate to the cosmic hell in order to send Beta Ray Bill into the treacherous place of the exiled demons. Somehow, Beta Ray Bill manages to not get sucked in but something else comes out of it as it latches onto Bill. Stardust notices that something is escaping and closes the portal immediately but the escapee knocks the both of them out. Finally, it reveals itself to be Asteroth, an Old One born from the Chaos of Creation.
The fourth issue dives deeper into Asteroth who is now revelling in being free once again. And just like Galactus, she feeds on planets as well. But unlike Galactus, she does not care for the cycle of creation and destruction. She consumes to cause as much Chaos as she can. While she engages in destruction, Beta Ray Bill and Stardust revive. The herald tells the champion about the massacre that awaits them, for which they will have to join hands momentarily.
Turns out, when Stardust had tried to exile Bill to Cosmic Hell, a small fragment of Asteroth escaped. She wishes to destroy any order in the Universe and cause nothing but a chaos of unprecedented scale. However, due to only a small fragment of her being free, she is not as strong as she should be. But she will gain this strength by consuming planets, solar systems, the Universe, and even the Multiverse. The reason why Bill did not get sucked into Stardust’s portal to hell was because of his will. And that very will caused Asteroth to latch onto him and find freedom once again. So now, they will have to stop her before it is too late.
So, Bill and Stardust team up to fight the evil. They find Asteroth and put all of their efforts into driving her into the core of a planet. Stardust then opens up a black hole to take care of Asteroth once and for all but with her unreal powers, Asteroth begins to twist the gravity of the black hole, causing it to pull Beta Ray Bill and Stardust towards it instead.
In the fifth issue, which is ‘Omega: The End’ Alpha Ray is revived by Galactus who powers him up with the Power Cosmic (which is how the Silver Surfer or the heralds of Galactus usually get their powers). Alpha Ray arrives at the party and drives Asteroth into the black hole, thus saving Bill and Stardust.
Suddenly, Bill is transported to a different place, a place that looks like nothing he has ever seen before. Here, he has no form and the place has no terrain. He thinks he is dead when he is told by someone that he is being rewarded instead. He finds Skuttlebutt here and then heads to Asgard, or whatever remains of the place after Ragnarok.
While Surtur comes crashing on the devastated ground, the Meta-Orb (now unstable) turns into a demonic version of Beta Ray Bill himself. However, it is Asteroth, who had sent some of her evil essence into the Orb while she battled Stardust and Beta Ray Bill. As Omega-Ray, she tells him that she has fed on whatever was in the Meta-Orb, which pushes Bill into a frenzy, as the Meta-Orb had the consciousness of his people (80 percent of which had actually survived because of the Orb).
Bill begins to violently pound on Asteroth with the power of the Stormbreaker and ultimately kills her.
But suddenly, in the sixth issue known as ‘The Death and Life of Beta Ray Bill’, the entire premise changes. A man named Simon Walters almost dies, but not really. As he catches his breath again, he stumbles out into a speeding car on Earth. The car gets wrecked and the driver is enraged. This young man then transforms into a Boar in front of Simon.
The Boar begins to attack Simon, who is not nearly as strong as Beta Ray Bill (kind of like Thor and Don Blake). However, as Simon slams his fist on the ground, he becomes Beta Ray Bill once again. Back in his element, Bill sends the Boar soaring across the sky with his strength and somewhere down the line, he finds himself around Spider-Man, who is trying to save a bus full of passengers.
With Spider-Man now in the picture, Bill and Spidey take down the Boar together and team up for some pizza. Here, Bill tells Spider-Man about who he truly is. Even though Bill’s memory is patchy and he does not remember much, he tells Spider-Man the things he can piece together.
Bill had destroyed Omega Ray (that is his dark and evil version from the previous issue) and was on the verge of death himself. However, he realized that all the souls in the Meta-Orb were not dead yet, which meant that there was still hope. But before he could do anything, he blacked out. Soon, a figure stood over him and reminded him of a new beginning and a new life that awaited him and his people. And just then, he took his last breath as Beta Ray Bill and first breath as Simon.
The Secret Invasion Arc
Sometime later, Beta Ray Bill reverted back to his Korbinite body from Simon. He also became a prisoner of the Skrulls and was a subject for their experiments and torture. He was then sent to Asgard as Simon with this Asgard being vulnerable to attacks from the Skrulls.
In Asgard, Thor believed Simon to be the real Beta Ray Bill while several others thought that it was a Skrull agent in disguise. Loki did more damage by fueling the fire and riling up the Asgardians to kill Bill. Thor was only proven right after he tossed Mjolnir to Simon and the Korbinian championed it. Soon, he turned into his cyborg form as he proved himself to be worthy. He then fought alongside the Asgardians to fight off the Skrulls.
During a fight with a female Super Skrull, Beta Ray Bill went against her with the Stormbreaker, which was sliced in half. However, he was no match for her. So, Thor had to team up with Bill. The Super Skrull then reforged the Stormbreaker to its original form and hurled it towards an Asgardian. But it was stopped midway by Thor, who then passed it on to Beta Ray Bill.
Later, Bill parted ways with Thor as he was in limbo following his encounter with the ghost figure who turned him into Simon. He then returned to the cosmos to find answers.
Beta Ray Bill also protected some alien monks who turned out to be the same Skrulls who had tortured him. These Skrulls suddenly began to see Bill as their New God after repenting for their sins, but Bill was not having any of it.
What Makes Beta Ray Bill Unimaginably Strong
Beta Ray Bill is the best gladiator of Korbin and one of the greatest warriors of his galaxy. As a being that can wield Mjolnir and Stormbreaker, fight alongside Gods, damage Galactus’ helmet, fight Asteroth, and almost defeat a cosmic being like Stardust, it is safe to say that Beta Ray Bill is remarkably powerful.
His first advantage is his physiology as an alien cyborg, which makes him a lot stronger and faster than any other Korbinite. With this also comes superhuman strength with which he can crush moons and destroy planets.
He is almost invulnerable to injury as we can assess from the fact that he flows through stars and sustains minimal damage from beings like Thanos. He can also surpass the speed of light, thanks to the Stormbreaker.
In fact, the Stormbreaker alone gives him several other power amps. The weapon is extremely durable, thanks to the mystical Uru metal. He can obviously make the weapon move in any direction and it will always return to him. It even allows Bill to teleport anything even if it is lightyears away. The Stormbreaker is great at sensing mystical and cosmic energy that is near Bill and can track beings across the Universe.
Just like Thor’s Mjolnir, Beta Ray Bill can use the Stormbreaker to project energy, fly, control the weather with its lightning and hurricanes, exercise enormous striking power, create shields and heal others.
His ship, Skuttlebutt, adds to his remarkability. In a way it’s the superior Korbinian technology. But you would not want to mess with someone who has such a badass ship by his side.
This A.I. operated vessel absorbs stars for fuel, moves at superluminal speeds, repairs itself, produces arms, drones, and other types of firepower for combat, and even heals its passengers of their physiological problems.
And of course, it can create force fields, stasis fields, and track things or beings. Thor might be crazy strong but technology is not his strongest suit. So, point to Beta Ray Bill for this.
Where Else Has He Appeared?
Even though Beta Ray Bill has not appeared in Thor: Love And Thunder, he has made a cameo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Well, it is less of a cameo and more of an Easter Egg.
In Thor: Ragnarok, the Grandmaster’s tower sported a giant sculpture of Beta Ray Bill alongside other champions, since Bill had fought in Sakaar’s gladiator matches and attained victory.
He also appeared in the 2010 animated movie known as Planet Hulk. This film followed Beta Ray Bill’s journey to Sakaar via a wormhole where he was forced to go against Hulk.
When it comes to television, Beta Ray Bill appeared in the Silver Surfer Animated Series, The Superhero Squad Show, and Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
It does not matter if Beta Ray Bill has not appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There’s still a long journey ahead with the M.C.U., now that it is exploring the Multiverse. If they ever venture into the Cosmos, it is likely that we will finally get to see characters like Beta Ray Bill and Galactus.
And with that, today’s video comes to an end. What did you think of Beta Ray Bill? Did you enjoy this video? If yes, then don’t forget to like and comment on this video. Till then, goodbye. And have a nice one!