Asgard Aflame!

Having gained enhanced power through the demon Dormammu, Loki now intends to have his final revenge against his step-brother, the mighty Thor.[1] The trickster god teleports himself to Asgard to confront Odin. There he learns from Odin’s vizier that the All-Father has gone missing and that nobody knows where he went or when he will be back. Loki incapacitates Odin’s advisor and takes command of the armies of Asgard.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Thor walks the streets filled with grief over Jane Foster, who is expected to die unless she can be saved by some kind of miracle. Spotting an out of control truck about to run down a child playing in the street, Thor snaps out of his funk and saves the child’s life. After being thanked for the rescue, Thor decides to return to Avenger Mansion. However, he discovers an invisible force-field has been erected around the building. Within hours, Thor is meeting with military brass at the Pentagon who have reports that every hero on Earth from the Fantastic Four, to Spider-Man, to the Hulk, to the individual members of the Avengers have all been trapped in similar force-fields. The only one who isn’t trapped is Thor himself. More perpexing is a series of strange cubes that have appeared outside every military base in the country. Thor recognizes the cubes as ones previously used by Pluto, the Olympian god of death.[2]

During Thor’s briefing they get a call that Loki and an army of Asgardian soldiers have emerged from the cube that has appeared outside the military base in Washington, DC. Loki demands that Thor appear and fight him, vowing that this time he will destroy his step-brother once and for all. Thor goes outside and confronts Loki’s army on the Arlington Bridge. Although he fights off the troops, Loki’s newly gained power easily blasts Thor aside.[3] As Thor recovers from Loki’s attack he is approached by General Sam Sawyer who has amassed an army to defend the capital from Loki’s invading force. Thor leads the American troops into battle and in the ensuing clash, a group of soldiers attempt to detonate the bridge to cut off access to Washington. However, Loki’s magic allows the invading Asgardians to continue crossing anyway, forcing Thor and his army to retreat so they can regroup and come up with a new plan of attack. Thor is visited by the vizier who tells him that Odin cannot help because he is somewhere on Earth in a mortal guise to learn about humility. The All-Father can’t help because a spell of forgetfulness has made him unaware of his true nature.

The conflict is televised across the nation as people across the country tune in to watch developments as they happen. Among those watching are the members of a commune out in California. Among them is a new comer named Orrin, a man stricken with amnesia whom they welcomed into their community. He finds the news most interesting, however he has no idea why, unaware that he is actually Odin, the All-Father of the Asgardians.

Recurring Characters

Thor, Loki, Odin, Sam Sawyer, Avengers (Iron Man, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Black Panther, the Vision), Spider-Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange

Continuity Notes

1. Loki gained these powers when Dormammu was defeated at the end of the Avengers/Defenders War. See Avengers #115-118 and Defenders #8-11.

2. Thor is referring to his battle with Pluto from Thor #163-164.

3. Loki claims ownership for transforming Arnold Nicholson into Amrak in Thor #231.

Topical References

• Those watching the footage of Loki’s invasion are watching on CRT televisions, topical because this technology is obsolete.

• The narrative here alludes to how the viewers had previously watched the Vietnam War on television. Any suggestion that this was a recent event should be considered topical. Per History of the Marvel Universe #2, all Modern Age references to the Vietnam War in the present test are instead the Sin-Cong Conflict.

• One of the members of the California commune states that his parents fled Austria to the United States during the “Great War”, aka World War I. This should be considered topical since it is now impossible for anyone who lives in the Modern Age with a normal life span to have had immediate family members who were alive during World War I unless special circumstances were involved. One could assume that this old man is referring to ancestors as opposed to immediate family members.