Thor #326
The Scarab Strikes!
In Cairo, a group of armed men shoot their way into the Museum of Antiquities. There they steal the legendary Eye of Horus and flee.
Two and a half weeks later, the Scarlet Scarab arrives in Chicago and breaks into the Museum of Natural History. Easily knocking out the security guards, the Egyptian hero looks for the Eye of Horus but finds no trace of the stolen artifact.
The following morning, Don Blake is reading about the incident when he sees his first patient. The man suffered a bump on the head after getting into a fender bender. He explains that he was distracted behind the wheel when he saw a strange red light in the night sky that contained a man that was heading straight to the museum. This sparks Don’s curiosity and at the end of the day he calls his friend Shawna Lynde and asks her if she knows of any place else in the city that might store Egyptian antiquities. She tells him that the only other place would be the Oriental Museum.
Blake changes into Thor and pays a visit to the Oriental Museum. There, the director tells him how some men recently came in to try and sell him the Eye of Horus. Suspecting it was stolen, the curator told them to leave and he called the police. Suspecting that the mysterious burglar might strike here next, Thor decides to hide out in a sarcophagus to wait him out. Sure enough, that evening the Scarlet Scarab breaks in to try and find the Eye of Horus. Thor confronts him and tries to get the Scarab to see reason, but the Egyptian attacks him instead.
In order to prevent the other museum artifacts from getting destroyed, the pair take their battle out into the street. Although the Egyptian is powerful, Thor deduces that his power comes from the Scarlet Scarab he wears on his chest. Channeling lightning through Mjolnir, Thor blasts the gem free from the Scarab’s chest, stripping him of his power and ending the fight. The two then put aside their differences and Thor learns about the Scarab’s origins. He tells Thor that he is related to Abdul Faoul, who was the original Scarlet Scarab during World War II.[1] After the end of the war, the Scarab that gave Abdul his powers disappeared. About a decade earlier, the present day Scarlet Scarab inherited Abdul’s old costume and notes and learned about his past as Egypt’s first super-hero. Deciding to take up the family legacy, he began searching the globe to find the missing scarab artifact. Ironically, he ended up finding it back in the cave where it was originally found. As the new Scarlet Scarab, the young Faoul has been investigating the theft of the Eye of Horus and sought to return it to his homeland.
Hearing all this, Thor agrees to help the Scarlet Scarab track down the thieves. They soon discover that the police have them cornered in a warehouse on the shore of Lake Michigan and race to the scene. With the arrival of the two super-heroes the thieves try to make a run for it but they are no match for the combined power of Thor and the Scarlet Scarab. Although the Scarab wants to drag the thieves back to Egypt, Thor convinces him to allow the US extradition process follow its proper course. Although he is reluctant to leave the Eye of Horus in police custody as evidence, the Scarlet Scarab decides to trust Thor and departs empty handed.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Scarlet Scarab, Brenda Barclay, Shawna Lynde
Continuity Notes
The present day Scarlet Scarab is not mentioned by his real name in this story. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #9’s profile on the Scarlet Scarab identifies him as Mehmet Faoul. Abdul’s time as the Scarlet Scarab was chronicled in Invaders #23 and 25. This story states that Mehmet is Abdul’s son. There are some issues with this, see “Topical References” and “Scarlet Scarab Timeline” below. In the summary above, I have generalized their familial relationship.
Topical References
This story states that Mehmet Faoul is the son of Abdul Faoul, the original Scarlet Scarab. This becomes problematic due to the fact that Abdul was active during World War II. Due to the Sliding Timescale, the Modern Age of the Marvel Universe is pushed forward in time, making the gap between its beginning and World War II grow larger with each passing year. I go into detail about it here. See “Scarlet Scarab Timeline” below.
This story also references a conflict between the mayor of Chicago and city council over a pier renovation project. The mayor is identified as Jane Byrne, who was mayor from 1979 to 1983. This is in reference to the fact that, during Byrne’s tenure as mayor, she attempted to revitalize the old Navy Pier. This should be considered topical, particularly since Byrne died in 2014. While she didn’t succeed in revitalizing the pier during her time in office, the area underwent massive redevelopments in 2006 that was entering its second phase of development in 2017. As such this whole reference should be considered topical as well.
There is also a reference to the Chicago Cubs losing a recent baseball game. Since the Cubs are a real world baseball team, their reference here should be considered topical. Yeah the team has been around since 1876, but sports teams change names and locations for a variety of reasons (usually economic) hence why it should be considered topical.
The Rescue
Loki and Tyr have kidnapped the goddess Idunn and stolen her golden apples of immortality. Now at risk of growing old and dying, Odin has gathered his people to deal with this current crisis as quickly as possible. Although he has sworn off the ways of war, Balder agrees to lead a rescue mission to save Idunn from her captors.[1]
The four warriors manage to sneak into Loki’s camp and steal back Idunn from under the nose of Tyr. The war god is furious because Loki was not present to stop this from happening. However, despite this set back Tyr is still confident that they can win since even though Odin won back Idunn, they still do not have access to the golden apples and are therefor still vulnerable.
This is well known among the warriors of Asgard who wonder about their next move. Sif suggests that they relocate to Midgard, noting that Thor has never needed to consume the golden apples whenever he resided on the world of mortals. Odin decides to take this idea to the flaming prophet Mimir. Mimir confirms that ASgardians do not need to subsist on the golden apples while on Earth and Odin orders a full on evacuation of Asgard in order to preserve lives.
Recurring Characters
Odin, Balder, Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg), Idunn, Loki, Tyr, Sif, Heimdall
Continuity Notes
After being put in a death-like state in Thor #274, Balder hovered between life and death as his soul was trapped in the afterlife. After being brought back to life in Thor #301, the experience scarred Balder so badly that he swore to become a pacifist.
The Scarlet Scarab Timeline
This story presents Mehmet Faoul as the son of Abdul Faoul the original Scarlet Scarab, who was active during World War II. As I stated above, the Sliding Timescale will eventually make this impossible without drastically aging Abdul, who is depicted as a young man in this story.
This story states that after the end of World War II (so 1947) the Scarlet Scarab vanished and Abdul spent the rest of his life looking for it to no avail.
This story states that Abdul died ten years prior to this story and left his son Abdul with his diary and Scarlet Scarab costume. Abdul states that he searched for years until he finally found the Scarlet Scarab. Based on the Sliding Timescale, that would mean that the original Scarlet Scarab died 4 years before the start of the Modern Age as this story takes place during “year six” of the timeline.
Marvel has yet to address the issues with this origin story to explain the discrepancies. There are few possibilities that could come to play here:
1) Due to his exposure to the Scarlet Scarab, perhaps Abdul Faoul’s aging process was slowed even after he lost its power.
2) Mehmet is still the son of Abdul and perhaps he aged naturally for someone that is the son of someone that was active in the 1940s. Perhaps he found the Scarlet Scarab as an old man and the mystical artifact rejuvenated him. This is possible since we don’t really get a clear look at Mehmet during these flashbacks.
3) References to Mehmet being the son of Abdul are actually topical in nature, much in the same way that Sharon Carter’s relationship to Peggy has become topical over the years. It’s entirely possible that Abdul could be reassigned as less direct family member and perhaps the Scarlet Scarab stuff was passed down from generation to generation.
When it comes to the various options, I don’t like the first two as they are born out of laziness and too many characters rely on these sorts of cheats to explain how they could be still alive in the Modern Age (Captain America, Bucky Barnes, Nick Fury, the Angel, the Red Skull, Baron Strucker, and on and on and on)
Personally, I like the third option best because it is the least disruptive to established continuity. Mehmet can still be in his relative prime through all of his appearances without raising questions. Abdul can still be related to him just not quite directly. The idea that the Scarlet Scarab stuff being passed down through successive generations (rather than father to son) is also a lot more believable. This is not outlandish as it has been done with the aforementioned Carter family as well as the Ross family (Thaddeus and Betty Ross et al.)
