Thor #394
… And How Shall Mortals Know Ye?
While on a rampage across New York City, Hogun the Grim is shot by a SWAT team and plunged into the East River.[1] Daredevil helps pull Hogun out of the water and gets his heart beating again by performing CPR. As Hogun is loading into an ambulance, Daredevil decides to find out why he this rogue Asgardian had been seeking out Thor.
Meanwhile, in Asgard, the flame tied to Hogun’s life force has been snuffed out. Unaware that he had been revived, Balder, the Grand Vizier, Fandral, and Volstagg mourn the apparent loss of their friend and wonder what has become of Thor.
Back on Earth, a film production based on Thor is being shot in Hollywood. However, production is set back when it is discovered that Thor shaved his beard and is no longer wearing his enchanted armor, putting the production back to square one.[2] With the script needing a full re-write, screenwriter Maddie Arnstein is asked to come up with a story that has more human interest to draw in viewers. Maddie takes on the job and after researching every news piece about Thor, she discovers that there is not much about the thunder god’s personal life to draw from. She then decides to look up the various eye witnesses that have seen Thor in action in order to get a better idea of what he is like in real life.
Flying to New York City, Maddie sets up meetings with the people she wants to interview. The first is a Doctor Graham. He tells her about how Thor assisted a humanitarian mission to the South American nation of San Diablo and how the thunder god disposed of its dictator. He also mentions how Thor rescued Jane Foster, a nurse who was part of the team of doctors who came to help. However, before Graham can get into any more detail, he has to go and carry out his duties as a doctor. Arnstein makes a not to look up Jane Foster and see what she can tell her about Thor.[3]
Maddie then goes to a police precinct downtown where she interviews a number of police officers who have encountered Thor in the past.[4] However, not all the officers have positive things to say about the thunder god. One office recounts the time that Thor was having a temper tantrum in the streets and wrecking property. It took his fellow Avengers to stop him from causing any more damage, but the thunder god was not happy with them interfering with their affairs.[5] This convinced the officer that Thor is nothing but a violent jerk.
Maddie later meets with a couple who paint a very different picture of the thunder god. They recount a time when they saw Thor flying around Central Park swooning over the news that Jane Foster loved him. The couple recount how this romantic display convinced them to get married.[6] Arnstein then meets with the owner of a local diner who recalls the time that Thor and Hercules fought with each other over Jane Foster’s affections and how much collateral damage was caused to the city in their scuffle.[7]
Finished her interviews for the day, Maddie returns to her hotel room and finds disgraced news reporter Harris Hobbs waiting for her. He has come to warn Maddie against digging too deeply into Thor’s past. He recounts how once he convinced Thor to take him to Asgard where he witnessed a battle between the thunder god and Absorbing Man. However, his camera was wrecked in the battle and he was made to forget the entire incident by Odin’s decree.[8] His dreams were later filled with images of his time in Asgard and eventually he remembered that he was there some years later. He then approached Thor and tried to convince him to allow Harris and a camera crew film a TV special about life in Asgard. Thor flat out rejected this, but he was then approached by Thor’s step-brother, Loki who smuggled them in to Asgard. There, Harris and his crew — Red Norvell and Joey Burnett — were roped into Loki’s scheme to bring about Ragnarok. This involved turning Red into a new incarnation of Thor. However, it all ended thanks to Thor, but not before both Red and Joey were killed.[9] When Harris returned to Earth, he narrowly avoided murder charges and ended up blacklisted from the industry. Fearing that Maddie might be headed in the same direction, he warns her to stop digging into Thor’s life. However, after Harris leaves, Maddie is more interested than ever and can’t give up on her fact-finding mission.
The following day, Maddie travels to Highland Park, Illinois, to meet with Jane Foster to hear about her past relationship with Thor.[10] Jane welcomes Maddie into her home but finds herself instantly on the defensive when Maddie starts asking personal questions about her past. Maddie assures her that she doesn’t intend to write a movie about Jane’s life but use the information to create a fictional narrative for her story to work around. This convinces Jane to talk and she talks about how Thor became involved in her life due to his connection to her former boss, Donald Blake.[11][12][13] Because of her association with Thor, she was constantly a target of his enemies such as the Executioner, as well as Cobra and Mister Hyde, and the Man-Beast. Eventually, Thor professed his love for her and she was given a chance to become a goddess and marry him. Unfortunately, Jane didn’t pass the test and was returned to the mortal world.[14]
All of this gives Maddie the inspiration she needs to write her script and she thanks Jane for her help. On her way out, Maddie bumps into Jane’s husband Keith Kincaid who is confused about the woman’s comments that Jane is one-in-a-million.
Returning to Los Angeles, Maddie writes her script which features Thor falling in love with a police officer named Kelly Hernandez and the pair fighting regular criminals, international terrorists, Asgardian trolls and falling in love along the way. However, the story ends on a somber note as Thor asks Kelly to return to Asgard with him. Since this means leaving behind her old life and family, Kelly has to turn down his offer. When Maddie turns in the script, the producers love it. However, they have made another creative change and rather than make a movie about Thor, they have opted to create a Saturday morning cartoon wherein Thor is depicted as an anthropomorphic dog instead, much to Maddie’s chagrin.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Daredevil, Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg), Balder, Grand Vizier
Continuity Notes
Hogun came to Earth in issue #392 and suffered a bump on the head from the rough trip that made him mad. This was due to the fact that dimensional travel between Asgard and Earth has been made more difficult since Sutur destroyed the Bifrost Bridge in issue #351. It will be repaired in Thor #426.
Thor grew a beard after Hela scarred his face in Thor #362. After being cursed with brittle bones by Hela in issue #373 he forged a suit of mystical armor to protect his body in issue #377-378. Defeating Hela in battle in issue #382, she restored his body. No longer having a scarred face, Thor shaved in Thor #386 and his enchanted armor was later destroyed in a battle against the Celestials in issue #388.
Thor’s part in the liberation of San Diablo was depicted back in Journey into Mystery #84.
One of the officers comments here that the Absorbing Man grew ten stories tall during a fight with Thor. He is likely referring to the events of Journey into Mystery #121, wherein Crusher Creel absorbed the height of a nearby building.
This public outburst happened in Journey into Mystery #101. Although not explained here, Thor was in a tiff because his father refused to allow him to marry Jane Foster.
Thor’s swooning happened in Journey into Mystery #107. Here, the couple state that they have been married for six years. Per the Sliding Timescale, seven years have passed between that story and this one. One could assume that the married couple were engaged for a year after their encounter with Thor, which makes logical sense.
Thor and Hercules fought over Jane Foster in Journey into Mystery #125 and Thor #126.
Harris Hobbs’ first jaunt to Asgard happened in Journey into Mystery #123.
The whole Ragnarok incident that Harris and pals experienced was chronicled in Thor #273-278.
Jane Foster’s baby is unnamed here. He is identified as Jimmy Kincaid in Thor #475. When Jane was last seen in Thor #372, she was still pregnant. Does the timeline work? I explain them below….
Thor and Don Blake were actually the same guy. As explained in Thor #159, Blake was a mortal identity created by Odin to teach Thor a lesson in humility. He lived on Earth for a decade as Blake before rediscovering Mjolnir in Journey into Mystery #83. Here, Maddie states that Blake has disappeared while working for the government. This is a cover story created circa Thor #337 when Blake was carried off by SHIELD agents so Thor could help them. Thor eventually got rid of the Don Blake identity in Thor #339.
Jane knowledge that Blake and Thor are the same man is kind of murky here. Thor once revealed his true identity to her in Journey into Mystery #124. She was made to forget again in Thor #136. She remembers again after she is merged with Sif in Thor #236. However, when she and Sif are separated in issue #335 her memory appears to be cloudy. However, the assumption is that she knows Don Blake and Thor are the same person since Blake and Sif attended her wedding in issue #336. She certainly knows that they were the same person when she’s seen again in Thor #475. Presumably, she’s not revealing that Blake and Thor were the same guy to maintain the secret?
Here Jane talks about how Thor once pretended to arrive at Don Blake’s office looking for his alter ego. That was in Journey into Mystery #107.
Jane’s encounters with the Executioner, Cobra and Mister Hyde, as well as the Man-Beast happened in Journey into Mystery #103, 110 and Thor #135 respectively. Thor professed his love to Jane for the first time in Journey into Mystery #124.
Topical References
Doctor Graham is depicted as having a beeper to notify him of surgeries he is needed for. This should be considered a topical reference since pages are more or less obsolete, particularly in the medical industry.
The Kincaid/Foster Baby
When measured up to the Sliding Timescale, the fact that Jane Foster has a baby in this story doesn’t really add up. She and Keith Kincaid got married in Thor #336, published October 1983. Jane was depicted as being very pregnant when she first appeared in Thor #372, published October 1986. This story, published August 1988 shows her son born and with a full head of hair. On average a baby has a full head of hair after six months.
These events all happen between “Year Six” (publications between November ‘81 and October ‘85) and “Year Seven” (publications between November ‘85 and October ‘89) of the Sliding Timescale. Based on a 4:1 time ratio where every four years of publication = 1 year of time in universe, that would mean each year of publication accounts for roughly one quarter of a year.
Based on this general idea, that would place Keith and Jane’s wedding as happening in the second quarter of “Year Six”, her pregnancy being the first quarter of “Year Seven” and Jimmy being around six months old in the third quarter of “Year Seven”. Given the months of publications I presume that Jane and Keith got married during month 8 of year six, Jane was visibly pregnant with Jimmy the first month of year seven, and Jimmy is already born and about six months old around the 8th month of year seven. That gives Jane five months to be visibly pregnant after her marriage — so either she got pregnant right after she got marrier or perhaps before the wedding. It’s entirely possible that Jane would have given birth to Jimmy and for him to reach six months old between Thor #372 and 394. Any discrepancy in terms of Jane’s pregnancy and Jimmy’s development could be chalked up to any number of things. Sometimes babies are premature. Sometimes babies grow hair faster than the average. If you really want to split hairs, you could say that it’s all artistic license. What I’m saying is that, at the end of the day, the time frame works pretty well. It’s tight, but possible.
