Fenrir

Much I have travelled, much have I tried out,
much have I tested the Powers;
from where will a sun
come into the smooth heaven
when Fenrir has assailed this one?

— Olive Bray, Poetic Edda

Fenrir is an immense wolf, a monstrous spawn of the trickster god Loki and the fearsome giantess Angrboda. Unlike his siblings, he wasn't initially cast out. But as he grew, his size and power became too terrible to control. The Asgardians, in a desperate bid to contain him, employed a magical fetter crafted by the dwarves. They gagged him by driving a sword deep into his cavernous, snarling jaws, then abandoned him on the desolate island of Lyngvi in the eerie lake of Amsvartnir, doomed to await Ragnarok. Despite his bondage, Fenrir sired all wolves, his influence seeping into the wild even from his distant prison.

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History

Fenrir, the eldest of Loki and Angrboda’s sinister brood, remains an enigma. The exact era of his and his siblings—Jormungandr and Hela—births is shrouded in mystery. Their arrival likely transpired in the shadowy aftermath of the post-Hyborean cataclysm. Raised in Jotunheim, amongst their mother’s kin, Fenrir and his siblings embodied the ancient menace threatening Asgard. Their upbringing in the realm of giants, coupled with their father's inherent mischief, cast a pall of suspicion among the Asgardians. During the conflict with the Dark Elves, Fenrir, Jormungandr, and Hela fought alongside their father and Odin, their true potential and threat lying in wait.

Antiquity

When Loki’s monstrous offspring were finally brought to Asgard, their dread-inducing power and sinister destiny became glaringly evident. Upon ascending to kingship, Odin cast Jormungandr into the ocean, hoping the sunless depths would sap its strength. He confined Hela to the throne of Niflheim, condemning her to harvest the souls of the wicked and the unremarkable dead. Fenrir, however, remained among the Asgardians, a towering, ever-growing beast. None but the courageous Tyr dared approach the beast to feed him. Yet, even Tyr recognized the escalating peril Fenrir posed, eventually conceding to aid in the beast’s binding.

The Asgardians forged a robust leather fetter, Leyding, and challenged Fenrir to test his might. Fenrir, wary of deception, allowed himself to be bound but shattered Leyding with a single, monstrous kick. In response, the Asgardians crafted an even stronger fetter of leather and iron, Dromi. Again, they goaded Fenrir with promises of glory. Fenrir snapped Dromi from its anchorage with doubled strength since their last encounter, breaking free with grim effort. The Asgardians, desperate, sought aid from the dwarves of Svartalfaheim. The dwarves returned with Glepnir, a constraint that appeared to be a flimsy ribbon, concealing its true, unbreakable strength.

The Asgardians brought Glepnir to the monstrous Fenrir, again challenging him to test his strength. Yet, the gargantuan wolf god sensed the malicious intent. Fenrir, eyes burning with suspicion, voiced his concern that failing to break Glepnir’s deceptively flimsy bonds would be an unbearable humiliation, hinting at sinister magic. The Asgardians, veiling their deceit, persuaded him with hollow assurances. Fenrir, his eyes narrowing, agreed—on one spine-chilling condition: if he remained bound, one of them must place their hand within his fearsome jaws as collateral. Tyr, after a tense silence, offered his hand. When Fenrir’s titanic strength faltered against Glepnir, and the Asgardians refused to free him, the wolf god snapped Tyr’s hand off in a gruesome display. The Asgardians, desperate and horrified, jammed a sword into his massive maw, the hilt against his lower jaw and the point stabbing into his hard palate. Subdued and seething with rage, Fenrir was dragged to the frozen wastes of Varinheim, beyond the waters of Lake Amsvartnir. There, the Asgardians bound him with a cord called Gelgja, fastened to a stone slab named Gjoll, which was driven deep into the icy ground and anchored by the boulder Thviti, pushing the slab further into the earth. Abandoned and bound, Fenrir awaited the day of Ragnarok.

Cold War Era

When the Beyonder summoned the heroes and villains of Earth to Battleworld, the Justice Society of America, Hela, and Fenrir found themselves plunged into Ragnarok, alongside Valhalla’s warriors. Despite their victory with Thor’s aid—unfallen without Jormungandr’s presence—Asgard burned, and the world met its end. Grieving their losses and strategizing was futile as the Fimbul Winter swept over Asgard, and the Jotunn stormed the rainbow bridge to assault the gods anew. The battle, relentless and cyclical, saw neither good nor evil prevail when the nine realms lay in ruins, though evil lay dead. Only when the heroes merged their might with the Asgardians did the war’s tide shift, vanquishing Surtr before he could obliterate Asgard. During this tumult, Dr. Doom’s loss of the Beyonder’s power restored the world to its previous state, leaving it to await the new form Ragnarok would take.

Superhuman Registration Era

Freed from his icy prison, Fenrir prowled the roots of Yggdrasil, the world tree, embedded deep in Niflheim. Decades of festering anger and bitterness toward the Asgardians and Tyr, his so-called friend, fueled his rage. Fenrir, who once fed the Asgardians lavish banquets to earn their trust, even offering his flesh and blood to transfer memories, now sought revenge. The father of all wolves, filled with an insatiable hunger for retribution, yearned to reclaim his stolen memories and enact vengeance upon Tyr, the friend who betrayed him.

As the war between Heaven and the many hells erupted, Lucifer gathered agents from both realms who sensed the ominous imbalance. Battling the apocalyptic influences, the devil himself, gravely wounded, found himself face-to-face with the monstrous Fenrir at the roots of Yggdrasil in the haunting realm of Niflheim. Lucifer realized that if Fenrir brought down the world tree, it would spell the ultimate doom for creation, marking the wolf god as the prophesied avatar of destruction. Despite his debilitating wounds, Lucifer fought ferociously. Their epic clash left Lucifer barely able to stand, yet he stood atop Fenrir’s throat. The colossal wolf god sought help from his sister, but she remained indifferent. With a final, devastating blow, the Morningstar vanquished the wolf god, leaving Fenrir’s lifeless body for Hela to tend to.

When the Fimbul Winter descended upon Asgard, sowing chaos among its people, the deaths of Fenrir and Jormungandr disrupted the Ragnarok cycle. Fenrir’s soul and corpse were not destined for eternal rest in Niflheim or Valhalla, leading to his eerie reanimation in an Asgard ruled by his sister, Hela. Together, they quashed several insurrections among the populace after Odin’s life force ebbed, with Thor and Loki mysteriously absent. Upon their return, Thor and Loki brought the Hulk, eager for battle. Fenrir, now an even more fearsome beast, clashed with the green titan. The wolf god drew first blood, his fangs tearing into the Hulk. Yet, as Fenrir’s fury grew, so did the Hulk’s rage. In a climactic showdown, the Hulk shattered Fenrir’s jaw to free his leg from the beast’s vice-like grip, then delivered a cataclysmic uppercut that sent Fenrir hurtling off the edge of Asgard into the depths of space.

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References

1. Fenrir on Wikipedia
2. Fenris Wolf (Earth-616) on Marvel Database
3. Ragnarok on Marvel Database
4. Fenris on Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
5. Fenris (New Earth) on DC Database
6. Last Days of the Justice Society Special Vol. 1 #1 on DC Database
7. Lucifer Vol. 1 #51 on DC Database
8. Lucifer Vol. 1 #52 on DC Database
9. Lucifer Vol. 1 #54 on DC Database
10. Lucifer Vol. 1 #64 on DC Database
11. Lucifer Vol. 1 #67 on DC Database
12. Lucifer Vol. 1 #68 on DC Database

Aliases:

• Berumir
• Fenris
• Fenris the Wolf
• Fenris Wolf
• Iron-Jawed Fenris, the Wolf of Wolves
• Godkiller
• Lord of All Monsters
• Odinsbane
• Wolf Fenris
• The Wolf God