Stormbreaking Kansas man finds Avengers-esque ax with a root handle growing through it

Thankfully it didn’t require the great sacrifices of Thor or Groot, but a Kansas man certainly has found himself a dandy of a Stormbreaker knockoff.

Last week, Redditor doopster77 posted a bunch of cool pics of his newfound weapon, under the following heading: “A tree root that grew through an old metal hatchet head I found unburied after a big storm still attached to a living root.” I am Groot, indeed.

As you might expect, the post quickly went viral, most likely because A) An old metal hatchet head attached to a living root isn't something you generally see everyday. And, perhaps more importantly, B) That ax sure looks a lot like Stormbreaker, Thor’s Mjølnir replacement, which, whilst being forged during Avengers: Infinity War, very nearly killed the God of Thunder, and took a big chunk of Groot’s arm for a handle.

And not for nothing, there was an actual storm involved in doopster’s discovery.

“It was all by chance actually. My wife and I were coming home after a big storm had rolled through and she spotted it in the dirt and mud,” doopster, also known as Matthew D., told SYFY WIRE. “I jumped out, gave it a kick and a snap, and took it inside. Cleaned it up and my mind was blown. Not something I thought I'd ever find right outside my front door.”

Though its provenance is not currently known, Matthew D. believes it wasn’t recently forged (and there’s no word on whether Eitri was involved or not). “I have no clue how old it is or where it came from, but my guess is it's extremely old,” he said.

“What you can see is kind of like a little bit of swollen tissue that follows the line of the ax head,” Brian Kane, a Massachusetts Arborist Association professor at the University of Massachusetts told NPR while discussing the find. "That’s exactly what you would expect to happen if a root was growing and detected something in its way. Like a root growing around a rock.”

While Matthew D. told NPR he was initially thinking about selling the unique item, he's since had a change of heart.

“I actually just had a big idea a few minutes ago about it. Originally I wanted to sell it, but I'm considering an alternative. I'm going around getting feedback about it, but I might use it for a campaign, if you will,” he said. “People are making a lot of Stormbreaker and Thor references... Well, what if I started trying to uh... Almost become Thor? Cosplay of course, but it couldn't get much better. I have blonde hair, I've got a reddish beard and a muscular build, just really out of shape.”

We think it’s a great idea. Heck, Thor’s been out of shape before too, and he still helped save the universe (with a little help from Stormbreaker, of course).

Looking for more sci-fi and fantasy? Head over to Peacock for films like Firestarter, Constantine, Twilight, Creepshow, Resident Evil and Independence Day.