Thor #209
Warriors in the Night!
Over the past few days, Thor has been searching for sign of Sif who disappeared without a trace after agreeing to assist Karnilla in her search for Balder the Brave, also missing. His search as taken him to London, England.
Landing on a deserted city street, Thor bangs his hammer on the ground to revert back to his mortal form of Donald Blake. Little does he know that the impact of his hammer has reached an ancient stone object buried under the ground. As the vibrations strike the stone object, strange runes begin to glow on its surface.
Don Blake then goes into a nearby pub to get some thing to eat as he had not done so in many days and is starving. As he sits down to his meal, Blake is visited by the astral projection of Odin’s vizier who has reached out to Thor even though he is in exile.[1] Donald is in the middle of explaining the disappearance of Sif when suddenly, the entire pub is rocked by a massive explosion.[2] This was caused by the stone object buried under ground which is now bursting from the surface. There it shatters open revealing an blue-skinned entity that calls itself the Demon Druid. While everyone is distracted by the new comer, Blake transforms into Thor and confronts the Demon Druid. Surprisingly, the Druid proves incredibly powerful and knocks out Thor with a bolt of energy.
When the thunder god wakes up, members of the police have arrived on the scene and have begun tracking the Demon Druid’s movements. The entity has since made his way to the Lambeth area and neither the police nor the military have been able to stop it. Seeing the Demon Druid as a dangerous threat, Thor takes off to try and stop him from reaching whatever his goal may be. After the thunder god has taken off, a member of the Royal Astronomical Society arrives and asks to take a sample of the rock the Demon Druid was encased in for examination. He is very interested in learning more about the strange rock because, by his assessment, is over 3000 years old.
Thor catches up with the Demon Druid in Esher where their battle renews. While the battle it out, the police lieutenant investigating the case goes to the London Library on a hunch. Taking note of the star pattern on the Demon Druid’s chest, confirms what he suspected: that it shares the same pattern as the rock formations found at Stonehenge. By this time, Thor and the Demon Druid have both unleashed their full power on one another, knocking both combatants out. When they start to revive, the lieutenant has arrived on the scene and orders everyone to stand down. He explains that the Demon Druid must be some kind of alien visitor that is seeking a way to get back to his homeworld and that Stonehenge must be some kind of portal to do so. Thor isn’t willing to believe that the Druid is not a threat until it is pointed out that the alien only attacked in self-defense.
Thor decides to take a chance and the lieutenant turns out to be correct as the Demon Druid is teleported to points unknown when he reaches Stonehenge. With the battle over, Thor returns his attention to his on going search for Sif.[3][4]
Recurring Characters
Thor, Demon Druid,
Continuity Notes
Thor has been in exile since Thor #203 when he called out his dad for toying with humanity to create a new race of gods.
Sif went missing when she agreed to help Karnilla find Balder in Thor #207. What happened to Sif and Karnilla will not be revealed until Thor #214.
Wonder Man #7 reveals that the Demon Druid was a member of the Kree. His entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #5 goes a step further to explain that the Demon Druid was a Kree Eternal.
This story suggests theorizes that Stonehenge was created by the same race as the Demon Druid. While there is conflicting information about the origins of Stonehenge, there is no indication that the Kree had anything to do with the rock formation. The deets:
Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #27 states that Stonehenge was the creation of the Caretakers of Arcturus, or at least they have claimed to have created it. According to this account that happened somewhere between 1300 and 1000 BC.
This is refuted by the Merlin entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition #8. This states that the stones were occult stones that were originally located in Ireland and were moved to England.
Topical References
This story states that one can travel to London in about seven hours. That is about the average flight time for your average commercial flight, even at the time of this writing in May 2021. It also mentions that one could travel there in less than five hours aboard a supersonic jet. This is in reference to the Concorde jet which used to make transatlantic flights much faster than traditional air travel. This started around the time this comic was published until the fleet was ultimately retired in 2003. There are no longer commercial supersonic flights for a number of reasons (logistical, environmental, and commercial). As such this reference should be considered topical because you can’t just jump on a supersonic jet unless you want to enlist in the Air Force.
The police force in London is referred to as the Scotland Yard in this story. This is a misnomer given in many forms of North American media to identify the Metropolitan Police Force. Their main headquarters is called Scotland Yard.
