Thor #285
Deviants and Doormen!
Thor returns to New York City after his investigation into the Celestials operating in South America. Hauling a commercial airliner that was caught up in the fiasco to JFK International Airport, Thor leaves CIA Agent Johnson to explain what happened to the authorities and takes off.
As he heads to the apartment owned by the Eternal named Sersi, Thor finds himself questioning why he revealed his secret identity to Daniel Damian earlier and wonders why he maintains a secret identity anymore.[1] However, when he gets close to the apartment and sees some children playing baseball on the roof he decides to duck into a private spot to change back into Don Blake. On the street, Don is approached by an old patient of his that escorts him into the building.[2]
Knocking on Sersi’s apartment door, Don discovers the door unlocked and the entire apartment trashed. Inside he is confronted by a massive man with red hair who accuses him of being a Deviant. This massive man transforms into an even more massive red-skinned monstrosity named Karkas. When the well-spoken monster attacks, Don changes into Thor and after a brief battle, Karkas realizes that he is dealing with someone other than an Eternal or Deviant and stops fighting. Karkas introduces himself to the thunder god as a Deviant mutate and an ally of Sersi and the Eternals. When he learns that Thor came to deliver a message to Margo Damian from her father, Karkas goes to Sersi’s mirror and has it project images of what happened prior to the apartment getting trashed.
Thor views scenes from earlier that day, when Ikaris and Margo left Sersi’s apartment.[3] They were suddenly snared in a net and brought into a ship that Ikaris recognizes as a vessel belonging to the Eternals of Olympia. Piloting the ship is Thena, daughter the the Zuras the patriarch of the Eternals. She had come with Karkas and another mutate named Reject. After a round of introductions are made, Thena explains that she had come to investigate reports that the Deviants had built a new city beneath New York.[4] Disguising themselves as normal humans, Thena leads her companions into a subway tunnel which leads to a secret passage into the Deviant’s new home. When the enter the Deviant city, the Eternals and their allies were ambushed. Dropping their disguises in order to fight back, Thena and the others cannot convince them that they have come in peace in order to recruit the Deviants to assist in fighting back against the Celestials. Ultimately, the battle turns when Warlord Kro appears and grabs Margo. With their human ally as a hostage, the Eternals surrender although Karkas decided to escape.
Concluding the tale, Karkas returned to Sersi’s apartment to recruit her aid only to find it trashed. The only thing he was able to find was a strange statue that resembles the missing Eternals. As it turns out, this is Sersi disguised and now that she knows she is not in danger, Sersi drops her disguise. She also reveals the Deviant who attacked her in her home. With the authorities arrive on the scene to investigate the sounds of fighting, Thor and his newfound allies take the captive to a nearby rooftop for questioning. When threatened with being transformed into a human, the Deviant reveals that there is a secret entrance into the Deviant city hidden in Central Park. Little do Thor, Sersi, and Karkas know that Warlord Kro is aware of what is going on and is preparing a special trap for them.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Ikaris, Thena, Makkari, Sersi, Ransak the Reject, Karkas, Kro, Margo Damian, SHIELD, Dromedan
Continuity Notes
Thor mentions how he knows Tony Stark and Iron Man are the same person here. Thor and Iron Man figured out each other’s secret identities in Avenges #113.
Here Don Blake wonders why he is literally a different person when he is in his mortal guise. As revealed in Thor #159, Odin created the mortal guise of Donald Blake to teach Thor humility. A lot of Blake’s questions here go unanswered for years. Thor (vol. 3) #1 reveals that Blake is actually a unique entity created by Odin’s magic that lives a shared existence with Thor, hence why he is so different when Thor changes into his mortal guise.
Thor mentions meeting Virako, the father of Ikaris, a millennia ago. This was in Thor Annual #7.
A lot of recent Eternals history is dropped here. These references are:
That Ikaris last saw Thena when the Eternals last formed the Uni-Mind. This was in Eternals #12.
Mention is made of how Ikaris, Margo and Sersi fought Dromeda. That was in Eternals #17.
The original home of the Deviants was destroyed by the Celestial Eson in Eternals #10.
Also Thena is uninterested in Sersi and her ability to transform men into pigs. This is alluding to the idea that Sersi was responsible 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.
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.
Thor’s statement that he encountered the Eternals a millennia ago should be considered a general description of the passage of time. Per Thor Annual #7, he had this encounter around 1000 AD. The length of time between those events and this story will always be subject to change due to the nature of the Sliding Timescale.
Sersi quotes jazz musician Louie Armstrong at the end of this story. Usually something like this would be considered a topical reference, particularly since Armstrong has been dead since 1971. However, since the Eternals are immortal and Sersi spent a lot of time interacting with humanity over the centuries, one could accept that she would know and reference the legendary musician even after such a reference would be considered topical had it been said by anyone else.
