Thor #284
The City of the Space Gods!
Thor has venture to Peru to investigate the base of the Celestials, who are currently examining the Earth to render a judgement of all life in the next 50 years. Encontering Gammenon the Gatherer, Thor tries to stop the Celestial from grabbing a passing commercial airliner. Gammenon blasts Thor with a bolt of energy that seemingly atomizes the thunder god before entering the dome that protects the Celestial’s base of operations at the site of some Incan temples.
While the passengers aboard the plane try to make sense of their situation, one of the children notices Doctor Donald Blake. Blake insists that he was always a passenger on board, and thinks how changing back into his mortal guise and stowing away on the aircraft was a close call. When Gammenon leaves the aircraft on one of the temples, the passengers begin emerging from within. Don becomes acquainted with two in particular a woman named Lisa, and a shady character who calls himself Johnson. Once they are out, they are greeted by long-lost archeologist Daniel Damian and the Eternal named Ajak.[1] Don Blake recognizes Damian and Ajak — having met the latter as Thor a millennia earlier[2] — but pretends not to know the Eternal.
Pretending to have heart troubles, Daniel convinces Ajak to take him and Don Blake somewhere they can talk privately. The Eternal also complies when Don later asks for privacy while he examines Damian. Daniel uses this opportunity to explain to Blake about how he and his daughter Margo found the City of the Space Gods with the aid of an Eternal named Ikaris and how he learned the origins of the Celestials and their creation of humanity, the Eternals, and the evil Deviants. Surprising himself, Don Blake openly reveals that he knows about the Eternals and recounts his past encounter with them before transforming into Thor before the startled doctor.
That’s when Ajak enters the room and reveals he was spying on them. He is glad to see Thor again, but warns the thunder god that — for good or ill — he will defend the Celestial’s mission on Earth. That’s when Johnson and Lisa come barging in. Johnson — armed with a gun — reveals that he has come searching for three SHIELD agents that had gone missing around the same time as Professor Damian. Daniel then reveals that these agents were reduced to free-floating atoms and stored in a box.[3] That’s when Lisa transforms into a pale-skinned winged woman, revealing that she is not human at all but a pale-skinned Deviant named Ershkigal, who was sent by her masters to investigate the Celestials as well.
While at that moment, back in New York, the Eternal known as Sersi returns to her apartment to find her visitors, Ikaris and Margo Damien sulking. The pair are uninterested in Sersi’s attempts to cheer them up as they are more concerned with the Celestial’s impending judgement of humanity.[4][5] When a mailman comes knocking with, Ikaris and Margo take this as their cue to leave. Using his powers of levitation, Ikaris and Margo leave out the window. As they fly across the city pondering over humanities apparent lack of interest in the Celestials a massive ship of unknown origin appears above them.[6]
Back in Peru, Agent Johnson is demands that they hand over the contain containing his fellow agents and begins opening fire. Luckily, Thor is able to deflect the bullets by spinning Mjolnir. After the government agent is knocked out, both Ajak and Ereshkigal try restraining Thor but he manages to break free from their incapacitating weapons. Knocking out both the Eternal and Deviant, Thor realizes that there is not much more he can learn here. As the ensuing battle damaged the device keeping them trapped within the dome, Thor decides to gather agent Johnson and the other passengers and leave. However, Daniel Damian refuses to leave and instead asks the thunder god to pass along a message to his daughter. Unsure if the Celestials will stop him, Thor summons a massive thunder storm to cover his escape and leave the City of the Space Gods hauling the downed commercial airliner with a chain.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Ajak, Ikaris, Sersi, Gammenon the Gatherer, Jemiah the Analyzer, Arishem the Judge, Ereshkigal, Dromedan, Daniel Damien, Margo Damien, SHIELD, Valkin, Virako
Continuity Notes
Daniel Damian went missing when he uncovered the so-called City of the Space Gods in Eternals #1-3.
Thor previously encountered the Eternals in the year 1000 AD but was made to forget the encounter until the memories were revived by Mimir in Thor Annual #7.
The fate of the missing SHIELD agents was depicted in Eternals #7.
Margo mentions how they recently fought Dromedan. That was in Eternals #17.
Here Sersi claims responsibility for changing the crew of Homer’s Odyssey into pigs. Eternals #3 first establishes the idea that Sersi was mistaken for the Greek Goddess known as Circe. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: The Women of Marvel 2005 #1 is the first handbook that retroactively places Sersi’s first appearance to Strange Tales #109, which features a flashback of Circe, confirming that this is true. What this means about the mythical Circe is unexplained, mind you, as the character has not been seen in the Marvel Universe proper.
Humanity at large learned of the Celestials back in Eternals #16.
Topical References
There are constant references to the events of Eternals happening “three years ago”. This should be considered a topical reference as it denotes the length of time between the publication of the early issues of Eternals (1976) and this story (1979). Say what you will about Roy Thomas, he never follows the Sliding Timescale. At any rate, per said Timescale, the events of the Eternals happened about a year prior to this story instead of three. From a narrative standpoint, a year pause in the Eternals storyline makes more sense than a three year gap.
Likewise, the reference to the Celestial’s day of judgment being in the year 2026 AD should be considered topical it measures 50 years from the date of publication of Eternals #1 (1976). The Modern Age of the Marvel Universe continues to be pushed forward due to the Sliding Timescale that a specific date should never be used. Modern readers should interpret the 50 year time frame but not apply a specific date.
