The Homecoming! Or How Did You Spend the Night After You’ve Saved the Universe?

Thor has returned to Earth after an extended period away from his adopted home.[2] Once arriving at his apartment, he switches back to his mortal form of Eric Masterson so he can get his personal life back in order. Calling his ex-wife’s house to speak with his son Kevin, Eric is told by the maid that they are away on vacation to Disney World and won’t be back until next week.[3] This disappoints Eric because he always wanted to take his son on vacation there, but decides to focus his time catching up on his work as a freelance architect. Lost in thought, Eric subconsciously sketches a picture of Sif. Although he finds the Asgardian warrior attractive, he recognizes that feelings he might have for her are actually Thor’s. Still, he is inspired to check in on a woman he’s interested in instead.

Eric then heads down to the apartment of his some-time business partner Jackie Lukus. However, when a man answers the door, he assumes that it is her boyfriend and makes an excuse to leave. When Jackie hears that Eric came knocking, she races outside to catch up to him. She explains that the man in her apartment was actually her brother. She knows that Eric has been going through a rough time and decides to elect herself as someone to help him through it and kisses him. As the two head off to spend time together, Eric doesn’t notice that the front page story on the Daily Bugle is about the Wrecking Crew’s current crime spree.

On Monday morning, Thor shows up at Avengers Mansion as Captain America is going through a new training routine. After his session is over, Cap tells Thor that they have been contacted by the British authorities. They are sending representatives to America to ask him some questions about his recent battle with the Juggernaut, as the villain was incarcerated in the UK until he mysteriously escaped.[4] Thor is willing to meet with them and agrees to meet with whom the British authorities send his way.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, British authorities are briefing Excalibur — the nation’s resident superhero team — on the Juggernaut’s escape and how they’d like them to meet with Thor and find out how the villain escaped and where he might be now. Captain Britain assures the chief inspector that they will get to the bottom of things.

Meanwhile, Thor returns to his apartment and changes back into Eric Masterson once more. This is just as his assistant Susan Austin is arriving and she is delighted to see that Eric is finally back home. She hopes that he will work on trying to regain custody of his son, but is disappointed to hear that this isn’t a priority for him right now. The discussion comes to an abrupt end when Jackie Lukus arrives so they can work on a join project together for a few hours. Susan is clearly jealous of the attention Jackie is getting from Eric.

Across town, the Wrecking Crew teleport in the middle of a grocery store so they can loot it for supplies while they are on the run from the law. Thunderball, Bulldozer, and Piledriver wonder why they aren’t knocking over a bank. The Wrecker explains that with his new teleportation powers they don’t need to steal money as they can take whatever they want whenever they want it.[5] As this is all going down, Loki — who has recently set himself up as a crime boss in the city — is getting annoyed by the Wrecker’s brash crimes and wants something done about it.[6] Ulik and Enchantress agree that they need to deal with the Wrecking Crew and promise to deal with them accordingly. They are not the only ones planning to deal with the Wrecking Crew as, elsewhere in town, Code: Blue is running through drills in order to be ready to their next encounter. After going through a shooting range course, Lieutenant Marcus Stone decides to run the drill again, but this time with live ammunition.

Meanwhile, Ulik and the Enchantress have arrived at the pier where they plant a device that will send out a signal that will draw the Wrecker and his crew to their location. The signal is also detected by Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and Quasar, but none of them can pinpoint its location. At the same time, Thunderball has obtained a new wrecking ball from a construction site when the Wrecker suddenly feels a sharp stabbing pain in his head and decides to trace it back to its source.[7] Phoenix also senses the signal just as she and her Excalibur teammates are about to clear US customs at JFK International Airport. Urgently wanting to track the source, Phoenix uses her telekinetic power to carry her and her teammates over to the source. Eric Masterson also senses the signal thanks to his bond with Thor. However, this hits him just as he’s heading to Kevin’s school to spend some time with his son and he decides to ignore it.

A short time later, the Wrecking Crew arrive on the pier, where Ulik and Enchantress are observing them under a cloak of invisibility. Before they can strike, Excalibur arrives and Captain Britain ambushes the Wrecker. Soon a battle breaks out between the Crew and the mutant heroes, prompting Ulik and Amora to wait and see how things play out before revealing their presence.[8]

News of the battle begins to spread, prompting Code: Blue to mobilize and head to the pier in a police helicopter. En route, they witness Thor as he races by and the team figures their job just got a whole lot easier.

Unfortunately, this won’t be the case as when Thor arrives, the Wrecker uses his crowbar to blast Thor with an illusion spell that makes him look like the Juggernaut. The Wrecking Crew use this deception to cover their escape while Excalibur engages Thor, mistaking him for their mutual foe. Over the course of the battle, Shadowcat uses her phasing powers to trap the “Juggernaut” by trapping him in the concrete beneath his feet. As Thor solidies inside this solid object he screams out in absolute agony.

Recurring Characters

Thor, Excalibur (Captain Britain, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Meggan, Phoenix, Lockheed), Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, Bulldozer), Eric Masterson, Captain America, Code: Blue (Marcus Stone, Rigger Ruiz, Mad Dog Rassitano, Jock Jackson, Fireworks Feldstein, Mother Majowski), Loki, Enchantress, Ulik, Susan Austin, Jackie Lukus, Kevin Masterson, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Quasar

Continuity Notes

1. The cover to this issue pays homage to X-Men #1 which features the X-Men attacking Magneto in a similar fashion to how Excalibur are depicted attacking Thor.

2. Thor has been away witnessing the birth of a Celestial in the Black Galaxy and saving Asgard from another Ragnarok level threat. See Thor #419-425.

3. Eric gave up custody of his son in Thor #421 when he realized that his double life as Thor put his son in danger and would take him away from home for extended periods of time.

4. The Juggernaut was incarcerated at Crossmore Prison after he was defeated in Excalibur #3. During the Acts of Vengeance event, Loki used his magic to free Juggy and pit him against Thor as seen in Thor #411-412.

5. The Wrecker was taught by Ulik how to channel his Asgardian magic through his enchanted crowbar to perform various feats, such as teleportation. See Thor #418.

6. Loki set himself up as crime boss in New York City back in Thor #414.

7. Thunderball’s original wrecking ball was crushed to bits by Hercules. See Thor #418 (again).

8. Here, Nightcrawler reminds himself not to over strain himself by teleporting too much. At the time of this story, Nightcrawler was still recovering from injuries he sustained during the so-called Mutant Massacre which took place in Uncanny X-Men #210-213. This made teleporting more exhausting, requiring him to use this ability sparingly. Nightcrawler will eventually get over this affliction in Excalibur #37.

Topical References

• When Eric calls his ex-wife’s home, he is told that Marcy has taken Kevin on vacation to Disney World. While something like this would be considered a topical reference, Marvel is now owned by Disney and as such a reference like this would likely no longer be considered topical due to brand synergy.

• Excalibur are booked a flight on a Concorde to get to America as quickly as possible. This should be considered a topical reference. Although the Concord was the fastest means of transatlantic flight, the cost and downturn of passenger flights following the 9/11 attacks resulted in the fleet being retired in 2003.

• When asked what type of ice cream he wants, the Wecker asks for Häagen-Daz. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world brand.