After 64 Years, Thor Lore Introduces Mjolnir's Dark Opposite

Published Mar 25, 2026, 10:09 AM EDT

Dungeons of Doom #3 is written by Ben Percy and Phillip Kennedy Johnson. It features art by Carlos Magno, Robert Gill, and more. The issue's second vignette tells the tale of Sviksemi, and the unfortunate Hydra agents who find it.

Sviksemi's debut might be brief, but like any addition to Marvel lore, it could have greater implications down the road.

Marvel Officially Introduces 'Sviksemi," The Evil Version Of Thor's Hammer Mjolnir

Dungeons of Doom #3​​​​​​​, Written By Ben Percy & Phillip Kennedy Johnson; Art By Carlos Magno, Robert Gill, Justin Mason, & Georges Jeanty

The "Sviksemi" chapter in Dungeons of Doom #3 focuses on Manx and Valence, two Hydra operatives who stumble across the cursed Asgardian hammer while looting the caverns underneath Doom's Latverian castle. Short story even shorter: once Manx gets his hands on the hammer, it's all over for both of them.

"I hear it now, Valence," Manx says. The hammer is speaking to him. Telling him he's worthy. Manx instantly becomes unhinged with power, cackling as he uses Sviksemi's power to fry a squad of Latverian soldiers who attack the Hydra duo. After they're dead, it's a slippery slope into paranoid delusion from there for the hammer's new wielder.

The Cursed Counterpart To Mjolnir Is A Major Addition To Marvel's Thor Canon, Even If It Doesn't Feel Like It Yet

The "Hammer Of Treachery," Sviksemi, Could Be A Dangerous Factor In Marvel's Future

Once he has Sviksemi in his grasp, Manx becomes dangerously possessive of the hammer. This leads him to kill Valence, but not before he explains Sviksemi's origin. Like Mjölnir, it was made by a "dwarven smith of Svartelheim," but in this case, the smith was Doctor Doom's captive. He was forced to make Doom his own hammer.

Except he sabotaged the forging process. "The wielder of the hammer is cursed ever to be betrayed," Manx says. Of course, it's hard to say how much of this is a true revelation, coming to Manx from the hammer, or how much of it might be his delusion. After all, it is Manx that turns on Valence, not the other way around.

Either way, Sviksemi causes Manx's death too. Which means it is left sitting there in the rubble below Doctor Doom's dungeons. Perhaps lost forever. Or maybe waiting for a more "worthy," and much more dangerous, person to come and pick it up. Sviksemi is now a big dangling plot thread in Thor lore.

"Dungeons Of Doom" Puts A Dark Twist On Mjolnir's Mythology & The Idea Of "Worthiness"

The Marvel Universe Is Better Off With Sviksemi Buried In Doom's Dungeon, But How Long Will It Stay There?

When Manx strikes the fatal blow on Valence, it sends him tumbling down into the deepest reaches of Doom's dungeons. Sviksemi lands on his chest, and he's unable to lift it off. Yet to him, that is the ultimate proof that he was "worthy" of the hammer. He dies satisfied. It's a bleak, but satisfying twist on Mjölnir's mythos.

For Manx, Sviksemi chose him. But now that he's dead, Mjölnir's dark opposite is there for the taking. It might be months, or years, before Marvel readers see Sviksemi in action again, but now that it is an official part of Thor canon, it's only a matter of time before the right creative team picks it up and runs with it.

Dungeons of Doom #3 is available now from Marvel Comics.

Let's hear it, Marvel fans. Is giving Mjolnir a dark opposite a cool move?