When people talk about the character of Thor throughout his history in Marvel Comics, there are two authors that will undoubtedly come up as the definitive writers of Odinson's saga: Walt Simonson and Jason Aaron. Simonson has always been the go-to name for the title of best Thor writer, but the last seven years have cemented Aaron's legacy with the iconic character. Aaron took over the Thor book in 2012 and has since delivered one of the most celebrated single character runs in the modern era. His time on Thor will come to an end with the upcoming King Thor arc, but Marvel already has his predecessor waiting in the wings.

During its Next Big Thing panel at New York Comic Con on Friday afternoon, Marvel announced that Venom and Thanos writer Donny Cates would be taking over for Aaron as the Thor writer. He's going to be penning the ongoing Thor series going forward, alongside artist Nic Klein.

Here's Marvel's official description of the new Thor series:

"The prince is now a king. All Asgard lies before Thor, the God of Thunder. And after many months of war, the Ten Realms are finally at peace. But the skies above the Realm Eternal are never clear for long. The Black Winter is coming. And the God of the Storm will be powerless before it."

This decision come as too much of a surprise given Cates' resume with Marvel. Since joining the publisher a couple of years ago, Cates has already made a massive splash with his various titles and established himself as one of Marvel's most popular writers. He's found massive success with titles like Venom, Guardians of the Galaxy, Thanos, Cosmic Ghost Rider, and Silver Surfer Black, and Marvel is hoping that will continue with Thor.

It's also worth noting that Cates has ties to both Thor and Jason Aaron. In the current run of Venom, Cates connected the history of the Symbiote god Knull to Thor's early days on Earth, potentially laying the groundwork for his new solo series. As far as his comic connection to Aaron, it was Cates who replaced Aaron on Doctor Strange in 2016.

Are you looking forward to the new Thor comic series? What do you think of the creative team? Let us know in the comments!