Journey into Mystery #89
The Thunder God and the Thug!
Thor is heading back to the office of Donald Blake when he is spotted by people in the waiting room. Fearing they might discover his secret identity, Thor goes into the mannequin shop upstairs. There he dresses one of them up as himself and tosses it out the window before changing back into Don Blake and going downstairs.[1]
As Blake gets to work, he laments to himself how much he loves Jane Foster, and how he can’t bring himself to tell her for fear of rejection due to his disability. He is unaware that Jane also has feelings for him and wishes her boss would open up to her about his feelings. She then starts thinking about how dreamy Thor is and daydreams what it would be like to be married to the thunder god.
Elsewhere in the city, the police are transporting Thug Thatcher to prison. He has been arrested for trying to muscle into the steel industry by selling substandard metal. However, on the way to prison, Thatcher’s gang ram the prisoner transport, leading to a gun battle with the police. Although Thug Thatcher gets loose, he is shot by the police. That’s when they notice they are near a doctor’s office and retreat inside. This turns out to be Don Blake’s office and after tying up Jane Foster and cutting the phone line, they force Blake to come with them back to Thatcher’s hideout to treat Thug’s gunshot wounds.
There, Don’s cane is taken away so he can perform surgery on him. The whole time, Thug’s girlfriend Ruby dotes over her lover.[2] However, when the surgery is complete, Thug orders his men to kill Blake. Caught in a bind, Don issues a prayer to Odin for help. Odin hears Blake’s plea and summons a force wave to knock Don’s walking stick into his reach. Quickly changing into Thor, the thunder god is busy dealing with Thatcher’s men while the mob boss grabs his girlfriend and tries to flee the scene. Quickly wrapping up the crooks in a table cloth, Thor knocks down a bunch of trees to stop the crooks who try to flee in by car. Soon the police arrive to take control of the situation.
Thor then heads back to Don Blake’s office where Thug Thatcher has retreated with Ruby. There he threatens to kill Jane Foster if Thor doesn’t drop his hammer. With sixty seconds until he reverts back to Don Blake, Thor uses ventriloquism to trick Thatcher into thinking the police are outside the door. While the mobster is distracted, Thor kicks Mjolnir at his foe, knocking the gun out of his hand. Reclaiming his hammer, Thor then grabs Jane Foster and takes her to safety. When Thor catches up to Thatcher, the crook has fled to a nearby construction site. Thor is stopped from acting when Thatcher tries to shoot Ruby with his gun. Once Thug is atop the construction site, Thor tries to frighten him back down by summoning lightning to strike the steel girders. Instead, Thug finds a bucket of red hot rivets and threatens to throw them on the crowd below unless Thor stops.
Luckily, the girder he is standing on buckles sending Thatcher falling. Thor flies up and saves his life and hands him over to the police. After musing over the irony of the situation, Thor notices that Ruby is still pining over Thatcher even as he is being taken into police custody. He makes a prayer to Odin once again and the All-Father uses his power to make Ruby forget all about Thug Thatcher so she can live a normal life.[3][4]
Recurring Characters
Thor, Thug Thatcher, Jane Foster, Odin, Ruby Mortensen
Continuity Notes
Apropos of nothing, the writer follows this with a 1/2 page retelling Thor’s origin as it was told in Journey into Mystery #83. This retelling suggests that Don Blake turns into Thor whenever he pounds his walking stick on the ground. In reality, Blake really is Thor, having been banished on Earth in human form by Odin to teach his son a lesson in humility. See Thor #159.
Thug Thatcher’s first name is revealed to be Andrew and Ruby’s last name is revealed to be Mortensen in the Zaniac entry of Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #13.
We’ll find out what happens to Thug Thatcher and Ruby Mortensen in Thor #368-372. It doesn’t turn out to well for either of them.
The events of this story are expanded upon in Thor: First Thunder #3
