Doom is Only Sixty Seconds Away!

Thor begins his day by stopping a duo of robbers using high tech weapons to pull off their daring heist. Thor quickly hands them over to the police so he can turn the reigns back over to his mortal counterpart, Eric Masterson so he can see his son Kevin off to school for the day.[1] After Kevin and his assistant Susan Austin are gone, Eric tries to get Hercules ready to accompany him to work, but the immortal hasn’t even gotten out of the bath yet, much to his dismay.

Meanwhile, at the police precinct, Lieutenant Stone is trying to make sense of how common crooks are getting ahold of high tech weaponry. Little does he suspect that this is all part of a grand scheme orchestrated by Doctor Doom so he can use Thor to help him liberate Latveria from Kristoff Vernard, his onetime heir who usurped his role as ruler of the kingdom.[2] To further facilitate this plan, Doom dispatches a robot to recover the high tech weapons from the police lock-up.

Not far away, Eric Masterson and Hercules arrive late at the construction site of his latest project, which is being overseen by Jerry Sapristi. Eric has until the end of the morning to finalize the redesigns for their client otherwise he will lose his contract to his rival, Jackie Lukus.

Back at the police station, Doctor Doom’s robot attacks Stone and his partner, Vinnie, while recovering the weapons. Blasted by the robot’s chest ray, Vinnie briefly vanishes and when he comes back his clothes are in tatters while raving about dinosaurs.

By this time, Eric has just finished his revisions as Hercules picks up a radio report about the attack at the police precinct. Excusing himself, Eric runs for cover so he can switch places with Thor to aid the officers. This all goes according to Doctor Doom’s plans until Hercules arrives with the thunder god, complicating things. Seeking a way to get past this unforeseen x-factor, Doctor Doom decides to show up in person to announce his involvement in this scheme. This creates a suitable distraction for Doom’s robot to fire it’s chest ray — a time beam — to teleport Thor’s hammer Mjolnir to another time period. With this a success, Doom retreats boasting that he might return the hammer after he is finished using it to liberate Latveria.

Thor and Hercules try to follow Doom up onto the roof tops however, Thor has been separated from his hammer for over sixty seconds and he reverts back to Eric Masterson. Even though he is now stuck in mortal form, Eric insists that they must go to Latveria and get Mjolnir back, no matter what.

Recurring Characters

Thor, Doctor Doom, Hercules, Eric Masterson, Kevin Masterson, Susan Austin, Marcus Stone, Jerry Sapristi, Jackie Lukus, Vinnie Evans

Continuity Notes

1. Thor was merged with Eric Masterson in order to save Eric’s life last issue. This merger will remain in play until the two are separated again in Thor #457.

2. The whole Kristoff Vernard thing is deeply complicated. See, Doctor Doom as seemingly killed in Fantastic Four #260. This activated a protocol where his heir, Kristoff, was mentally conditioned into thinking he was the real Doctor Doom in Fantastic Four #278. The real Doom was later revived in Fantastic Four #288. Doom has been trying to reclaim his kingdom since Fantastic Four Annual #20.

Topical References

• Hercules is depicted watching the Flintstones on TV. This may not be a topical reference if you consider he’s probably watching a re-run. The TV is depicted as a CRT model, obsolete and therefor 100% a topical reference.

To Fight the Unbeatable Foe

Thor has agreed to help Gundor — king of the Rock Trolls — liberate his land from Uroc, a troll whose entire body is made out of Uru, the same metal used to create Mjolnir. Thor tries matching the might of his enchanted weapon against Uroc, but it has no effect against his foe.

When Uroc uses his body’s natural magnetism to try and take the weapon away, the enchantment that prevents anyone unworthy from lifting it forces Uroc to release it. With no other options, Thor lures Uroc onto a rock bridge and tricks the monster into smashing it, sending Urco plummeting into the bottomless chasm below. Gundor is grateful for Thor’s assistance, and suggests that this might be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Recurring Characters

Thor, Uroc, Gundor