The Cobra and Mister Hyde

The Avengers have just finished their weekly meeting and with no pressing issues to discuss, Thor asks to leave. The rest of the team agrees to reconvene in another week. Before leaving, Thor mentions his envy over Giant-Man and the Wasp’s romance. When the Wasp tries to get Thor to talk about his own love life, Giant-Man reminds her that they all agreed that their personal lives are secret. With that, the Avengers depart.

Flying for home, Thor suddenly spots his old foe the Cobra and tries to capture him.[1] The Cobra manages to momentarily stun Thor with darts filled with cobra gas. The villain then slips into an open window of a nearby building. This happens to be the private lab of Calvin Zabo. Thinking the scientist harmless, the Cobra attempts to seize the property for a hideout, Zabo drinks the formula that changes him into Mister Hyde. The two begin trading blows but the pair find something in common, both have a deep hatred of Thor. Stopping their scrap, the two villains then agree to team-up and destroy their mutual foe.

Having lost the Cobra’s trail, Thor returns to his office where he resumes his guise of Donald Blake. When Jane Foster enters his lab there is tension as the two have deep feelings for one another, but Don cannot express himself because Thor is forbidden to love a mortal.[2] When Jane suggests going out dancing that evening, Don tells her to have a good time. Jane is hurt because she was hoping that Don would go with her but doesn’t say anything.

Meanwhile, Mister Hyde has built a time-reversal device that allows him to project past events. The Cobra doesn’t understand why his new ally is wasting time on a machine and is given a demonstration. Training the device on the Cobra it projects the battle the pair had just moments earlier. The two then plot to draw Thor out so they can use the device to figure out where he came from.

Later, Don Blake decides to listen to the radio to try and get off Jane Foster. It’s then that he hears a radio report about Mister Hyde attacking a jewelry store. When Thor arrives at the scene, Mister Hyde sprays him with chemicals from a device hidden under his shirt. The villain then flees into a nearby crowd and takes the counter-formula that turns him back into Calvin Zabo. When Thor can’t see his enemy through the crowd he decides to take to the air unaware that the Cobra is waiting to scan him with the time-reversal device. When Mister Hyde catches up with the Cobra, the pair view the time-scanner footage and discover that Thor came from the office of Doctor Donald Blake.

By this time, Don Blake has returned to his office and has begun puzzling his romantic dilemmas. He concludes that while Thor isn’t allowed to marry Jane Foster, Don Blake is and decides to try and give up being Thor. To test his resolve, Blake locks his walking stick in a cabinet, vowing not to remove it for an entire day. Moments later the Cobra and Mister Hyde come barging in demanding that Blake reveal Thor’s location. Not long after this, Jane Foster arrives to check on Blake after breaking off her date for the night and is captured as well. With Jane in danger, Blake tells Mister Hyde that he’ll tell them where Thor is if he opens the cabinet behind him. He then instructs Hyde to tap the cane on the floor - as it signals Thor - and then wait by the window for Thor to arrive. When Mister Hyde does this, it triggers the transformation that changes Blake into Thor and the walking stick into Mjolnir. Hyde is not worthy to hold Thor’s hammer and is instantly pulled to the ground, allowing Thor to recover the weapon.

Thor tells the two villains that Blake ran out of the room to call the police. Jane is surprised to hear that Don would risk his life like that, prompting Thor to tell her that Don Blake’s love for her is deeper than he lets on. Thor then lunges at his two foes but they both flee the scene. Mister Hyde flees into a nearby junkyard where uses a device to draw Thor’s hammer to his direction. However, Thor is too fast for him to set a trap and he flees into a nearby colosseum that is putting on a machine show exhibition. There, while Thor battles Mister Hyde, the Cobra arrives and uses one of the machines to pluck Mjonlir out of Thor’s grasp. It then places the hammer into its storage compartment. Thor now has sixty seconds to get his hammer back and he has to get through the Cobra and Mister Hyde to get it.

Recurring Characters

Thor, Cobra, Mister Hyde, Jane Foster, Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Giant-Man, Wasp)

Continuity Notes

1. Reference is made to Thor’s last battle with the Cobra. See Journey into Mystery #98.

2. Odin decreed that Thor shall not marry a mortal woman in Journey into Mystery #97.

When Heimdall Failed!

King Brimer wishes to attack Asgard, however, he cannot do it while Heimdall stands guard as he can see their advance coming from miles away. He asks his aid, Nedra, what he should do. She suggests they enlist the aid of the Vanna, fairy-like creatures that can become one with the air. Summoning one of them to her, Nedra orders it to sneak past Heimdall and spy on Asgard.

When the Vanna reaches the end of the Bifrost Bridge it zips past Heimdall’s post. Heimdall sees and hears nothing but has a sense of foreboding and instinctively flinches away as the Vanna passes by. Not knowing why he created in such a way, Heimdall begins to doubt his ability to do his job. Meanwhile, the Vanna flies about Asgard to observe their defenses. The creature next goes into the throne room where a report from Heimdall has come in. Even though the guardian of the Rainbow Bridge doesn’t know what threat may be present, his concern is enough for Odin to take the warning seriously.

Ordering the others in the room to remain still and silent he orders whatever presence in the room to show itself. The Vanna cannot disobey Odin’s order and makes itself visible. That’s when Heimdall arrives and sees that Odin has caught the intruder. Feeling that he has failed his job, Heimdall bows to his lord to accept his punishment. However, Odin does not seek to punish Heimdall but to commend him. Even though he could not see or hear an enemy, Heimdall did the right thing by reporting his concerns back to Odin. With that, when Odin and his armies head into the domain of the Frost Giants, Heimdall resumes his eternal post at the foot of the Bifrost Bridge.

Recurring Characters

Heimdall, Odin, King Brimer