Thor #391
The Madness of Mongoose
Spider-Man is swinging across the city, happy to finally be back in his classic red and blue costume. He thinks about how much his life has changed since getting married to Mary Jane and is struggling to get used to the idea that she is making more money doing modeling than he does snapping pictures for the Daily Bugle.[1]
Meanwhile, in the Biltwell Hotel, the staff begins to wonder about their most recent long term resident who hasn’t left his room since arriving a few months ago. Inside, the razor toothed man examines a tracking device and determines that the one he has come to destroy is nearby and it will soon be time for him to act.
Elsewhere, in Brooklyn, Thor has resumed his civilian identity of Sigurd Jarlson. He heads to his apartment and is shocked to discover that the building has been torn down. Once again Thor finds himself coming to grips with how fast things change in the mortal world, particularly since the Bifrost Bridge connecting Asgard to Midgard has been severed.[2] Sigurd makes a phone call and learns that his old friend, Jerry Sapristi, is working on a new construction project. Needing good workers, Jerry rehires Jarlson without hesitation. He then introduces him to the two men leading this current project, architect Eric Masterson and Aloysius Jamesly, a self-proclaimed genius who wants this building to become his masterpiece.
As Sigurd gets to work he is attacked by the man from the hotel, who attacks him wearing a strange fur lined costume. This attacker introduces himself as the Mongoose and says that he has come to destroy Thor. Knocked off the scaffolding, Jarlson is about to fall to his death when he is saved in mid-air by Spider-Man. As the wall-crawler keeps the Mongoose busy, Sigurd slips away to the office to recover Mjolnir and change into Thor.[3]
Thor joins Spider-Man in battle and the pair find themselves divided between saving construction workers and battling the Mongoose. This job is made all the more difficult thanks to the Mongoose’s speed and his ability to fire disorientating gas from his gloves. The battle causes enough damage to the construction site that it compromises its integrity. When some girders begin falling toward Jerry Sapristi, Eric Masterson pushes him out of the way and gets his legs pinned under the metal for his trouble. With the building about to topple, Thor pushes himself to the limit to hold it steady while Spider-Man webs up some reinforcements to keep the it standing. Unfortunately, the Mongoose manages to escape in the confusion. With the battle over, Thor rushes Eric to a hospital. Spider-Man, meanwhile, is kicking himself because he forgot to set up his automatic camera to take photos of the battle and takes off.
Meanwhile, Asgard has been under repeat attacks from the forces of Seth, the Egyptian god of death. Balder desperately needs to bring back Thor, but this task has been made nearly impossible due to the fact that Asgard is unmoored from its connection to Midgard. In an act of desperation, the Grand Vizier agrees to use Asgardian science to send Hogun to Earth, however this process will be painful and there will be no guarantees if he’ll succeed.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Spider-Man, Mongoose, Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg), Balder, Grand Vizier, Eric Masterson, Jerry Sapristi, Aloysius Jamesly
Continuity Notes
A lot of Spider-Man exposition is dropped right at the start to frame what’s going on in Spider-Man’s life:
This story happens shortly after the events of Amazing Spider-Man #300, wherein the web-slinger fought Venom for the first time. Mary Jane took issue with Peter continuing to wear his black and white costume after Venom assaulted her and he went back to wearing his red and blue costume full time.
Here, Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as being married. The couple had relatively recently tied the knot in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21. However, years after this story, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. In the new timeline, Peter and Mary Jane are engaged but not married and one could presume they are in a common-law relationship instead.
Peter also mentions how the couple recently moved into an expensive condo in Bedford Towers. this also happened in Amazing Spider-Man #300. They will live there until issue #314 of that series.
The Bifrost was shattered by Surtur in Thor #351. It will eventually be restored in issue #426.
The Mongoose thinks to himself how he encountered Spider-Man in the past. This was in Amazing Spider-Man #283 when Baron Zemo was attempting to recruit him into the Masters of Evil, although Spider-Man never learned who the Mongoose was at the time.
Topical References
The original twin towers of the World Trade Center are depicted as part of the New York City skyline in this story. This should be considered topical as they were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and subsequently replaced with the Freedom Tower.
