Marvel Team-Up #116
Between Sword and Hammer!
Valkyrie is out on patrol across the city when she spots a young couple being attacked by a gang of muggers. She swoops into action and her superior strength scares the thugs away before they can cause any harm. During the fight the mystical vibrations of her sword Dragon Fang attract the attention of the combined energy form of Meru the Mind-Bender and Dalia the Shape-Changer, aliens who previously battled both Spider-Man and Thor and seek to get revenge. Their energy form is attracted to Val's sword and transfer their essence into it, allowing them to take possession of Valkyrie's body. With Val under their control, the two aliens send her off to seek out Spider-Man and Thor to get revenge against them.
At his Soho apartment, Peter Parker finds it increasingly difficult to focus on his studies and is hard on himself for his troubles being able to make it through school. Deciding to go out web-slinging to clear his mind, Peter changes into Spider-Man and swings off into the city. In his travels, he is found by Valkyrie who attacks him. Not understanding why he is being attacked, Spider-Man takes not that Valkyrie wavers when she throws her sword at him and misses, and then resumes her homicidal attack on him when she grabs her sword again. Realizing that she has been possessed, Spider-Man flees toward Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum in the hope of getting the aid of Dr. Strange. However, when he arrives there he is told by Wong that the Doctor is not present and is forced to flee again when Valkyrie catches up to him.
Their chase attracts the attention of the media, who's news report airs on live television. Seeing the news coverage, Dr. Donald Blake recognizes Valkyrie as a woman his alter-ego Thor loves. He grabs his walking stick and uses it to transform into Thor and flies into action. Thinking that Spider-Man had attacked Valkyrie, and not the other way around, Thor attacks the Wall-Crawler until he realizes his mistake. As the two battle the possessed Valkyrie, her sword is once more knocked out of her hand freeing her from the aliens controls. As Thor and Valkyrie reunite, Spider-Man grabs the sword which attempts to fly off into space in order to kill Spider-Man. Using his superior strength, Spider-Man manages to redirect the sword back to the rooftop they were fighting off. Thor stops ogling Valkyrie long enough to smash Dragon Fang with his hammer, setting loose the Meru/Dalia energy being. Seeing their true threat for the first time, Thor uses his hammer to open a space warp to banish them through, ending their threat.
With the battle over, Thor offers to repair Dragon Fang for Valkyrie and the two ride off on Aragon leaving Spider-Man alone to sort out what exactly happened. Without any sort of conclusion to be drawn from the battle, Spider-Man decides to return back to his apartment and work on his term paper again.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Valkyrie, Meru the Mind-Bender, Dalia the Shape-Changer, Thor, Wong, J. Jonah Jameson, Aragorn
Continuity Notes
The depiction of the original twin towers at the site of the World Trade Center should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. The original towers were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. The timescale has pushed forward enough that the modern age does not begin until after that date and continues to move further away.
Spider-Man is "still bummed" about the Black Cat. She appeared to die at the end of Amazing Spider-Man #227. She turns up alive and well in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #75.
Spider-Man reminds Valkyrie that he helped the Defenders against the Serpent Men (Marvel Team-Up #111) and the Lunatic (Defenders #61 - although the footnote mistakenly references Defenders #68).
Wong states that Doctor Strange is not available. At the time of this story, Doctor Strange was traveling in the Microverse as seen in Micronauts #30-35.
Donald Blake recounts how he recently learned that Thor and Valkyrie have had a romantic relationship centuries ago. These events were detailed in Thor #296-300.
Thor recalls a time his own hammer was damaged, that was in Journey into Mystery #120. He repaired it that same issue.
