Thor #439
The Thor War Part 2 of 4: When Hammers Clash!
Thor, aka Eric Masterson, has found himself caught in a two way battle. In one corner is the alien known as Stellaris, who has come to get revenge against him for abandoning her in the Black Galaxy.[1] On the other is Dargo Ktor, the Thor of the 26th century, who has been tricked into attacking the present day Thor in order to save his own timeline.[2] When Masterson is knocked out by the double blow, Stellaris starts attacking Dargo as well, as she wants to kill Thor herself. Masterson quickly recovers but no matter what he tries, he can’t convince either of his attackers to stop trying to kill him.[3]
This battle is being observed by Zarrko the Tomorrow Man and his Servitor robot from within his time-cube.[4] Zarrko gloats over how easy it was to trick the future Thor into fighting his past counterpart. Despite his claims, there was no risk to Ktor’s timeline and his real purpose is to siphon the energies from the two Mjolnirs which he intends to use to become more powerful than the Time Variance Authority and the Council of Cross-Time Kangs and master all of time.[5]
Meanwhile, the battle rages on until a stray lightning bolt from Dargo Ktor strikes a nearby rooftop, sending a reporter and her cameraman falling to their doom. The two Thors quickly stop everything and work together to race to save the people they put in harm’s way. At that same moment, Stellaris grows bored of her battle with Thor and becomes curious about some bikers passing by on the street below. Deciding she needs time to relax, Stellaris has her armor transform into a motorcycle and she takes off after the bikers.[6] Seeing that the future Thor isn’t really a bad guy, Eric tries to reason with him, suggesting that they can work on their problem together. Unfortunately, Dargo doesn’t want to risk his loved ones in the future and renews his attack.
At that same moment, Bobby Steele and his new wife Marcy are getting ready for an evening out. As they are getting ready, Bobby tells Marcy how things went when he went over to her ex-husband’s house to tell Eric that he intends on adopting Kevin. He pretends it went well, but Marcy knows better and Steele admits that Eric did try to hit him. This is all overheard by Kevin himself, who is deeply upset to hear all of this and runs away from home.[7]
Back in the city, the two Thors continue to battle it out. In the ensuing clash the pair strike the heads of their hammers against each other. The strike causes a powerful vibration that is felt throughout the universe. For Zarrko, this twin blow allows him to gather the last of the energy he needs. While many light years away, the vibrations are picked up by Beta Ray Bill’s hammer Stormbringer. This is just as he has found a suitable planet for his people and has begun taking them out of suspended animation.[8] This is as the Imperial Leader thanks Bill for a job well done. Suspecting that there is something wrong with his ally Thor, Bill requests permission to return to Earth and see how he can aid the thunder god. The Imperial Leader refuses to allow Bill to go, saying that it is his duty to remain and protect his people. This doesn’t sit well with Beta Ray Bill.
However, moments later, Beta Ray Bill arrives on Earth and orders both Thors to stop fighting.[9] He reminds them of the nobility that comes with wielding Mjolnir and reminds them that they are both worthy to wield the enchanted weapon and therefore must work together as brothers. Beta Ray Bill’s speech convinces the pair to stop their brawl and turn their attentions to Zarrok’s time ship. Unfortunately, the Tomorrow Man got all the energy he needed and escapes into the time stream once again.
Dargo fears that he might be stuck in this era, but Beta Ray Bill promises to help him find a way back home, suggesting the combined magic of their three hammers will allow them to follow after Zarrko. Eric Masterson is reluctant to tag along since his apartment just got trashed, Stellaris is on the loose somewhere, and Bobby Steele is trying to adopt his son. When he tries to back out, he is shammed by Bill and Dargo so badly that he changes his mind. The three Thors then raise their hammers together as a show of unity.
Recurring Characters
Thor-616, Thor-8710, Stellaris, Beta Ray Bill, Imperial Leader, Zarrko the Tomorrow Man, Servitor, Kevin Masterson, Bobby Steele, Marcy Steele
Continuity Notes
Stellaris went to the Black Galaxy in order to try and stop the birth of a new Celestial, whom she blames for the destruction of her entire species. She failed and seemingly perished, as seen in Thor #419-424. She turned up alive again last issue. However, her past has been called into question in Annihilation: The Nova Corps Files #1. As of this writing (June, 2022) her claims have yet to be confirmed or denied.
Dargo Ktor’s origins were first told in Thor #384. Per All New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #11, his future exists in Reality-8710. Zarrko tricked him into going to the Modern Age and attacking Thor last issue as well.
Eric Masterson quips that Dargo’s Thor costume is a lot better than the “Television Version”. He is referring to The Incredible Hulk Returns a 1988 made-for-TV movie that served as a continuation of the Incredible Hulk TV series that ran from 1977 to 1982. The movie featured the first appearance of Marvel’s Thor in a live action feature and the design choice took some liberties with the character.
4. For the record, Zarrko comes from Reality-6297 as detailed in All New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #12.
5. Zarrko name drops two organizations that deal in time travel:
The TVA first appeared in Thor #371, their goal is to monitor and maintain the timelines of every reality in the multiverse. They are incredibly bureaucratic and terrible at their jobs. Prior to this story they were last seen in Fantastic Four Annual #24, wagging their fingers at Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four for manipulating the timestream. Zarrko has not previously encountered the TVA and (as of this writing in June, 2022) he has yet to do so either.
The Council of Cross-Time Kangs are time travelers that killed and replaced a divergent version of Kang the Conqueror, as explained in Avengers Annual #21. Their primary goal is trying to obtain a powerful weapon trapped behing a temporal bubble around a period of time some 20 years in the future, as explained in Avengers #292-297 and Fantastic Four #337-341. While Zarrko hasn’t encountered them in the past or since (as of this writing) he did clash with Kang once in Marvel Team-Up #9-11. The CCTK will get wiped out in Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective #1-4.
6. Stellaris fucks off for a while until she reappears in Thunderstrike #1.
7. Bobby Steele came to Eric to announce his intentions to adopt Bobby in Thor #438.
8. Beta’s people, the Korbinites, were forced into exile when their home world was destroyed by Surtur’s fire demons in Thor #337-339. Bill had been trying to find his people a new world ever since.
9. Beta Ray Bill asks Masterson what happened to the real Thor. Eric only states that it is a “long story”. Indeed it is, the true thunder god was banished for seemingly killing Loki in Thor #432, his mantle and powers were transferred to Masterson who had been merged with Thor since issue #408. This will remain the status quo until Thor #457.
Topical References
This story features the original twin towers of the World Trade Center as part of the New York City skyline. This should be considered a topical reference as these buildings were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and subsequently replaced with the Freedom Tower.
References to the Modern Age taking place in the 20th century should be considered topical. The Sliding Timescale has pushed the Modern Age forward in time such that it does not begin until after the start of the 21st century.
Thor’s reference to the old Incredible Hulk TV show/made-for-TV-movies would not necessarily be considered topical. Marvel owned media exists within the Marvel Universe (comics and cartoons and such) as such the Hulk TV should would have existed in universe.
When Dargo talks about how he needs to preserve his future, Eric quips that he’s already seen Terminator II and knows all about time paradoxes. The Terminator franchise deals with time travel and changing the past to prevent an apocalyptic future where machines have conquered the planet. The 2nd film in this series had just come out around the time this story was published. It’s reference here should be considered topical as it is now a dated reference.
Here Monsters Dwell
Sif and Balder have ventured into Niffelheim in order to search for the exiled Thor.[1] There they have discovered that some spirit has taken control of the Destroyer’s armor and has overthrown Hela and now rampages through her domain.[2] The only way to stop the Destroyer is to free Hela and in order to do that, Sif and Balder need to venture into the Midhogg, the final home for oath-breakers, murderers, and monsters, in order to recover a mystic sword that can shatter her crystal prison. To get there, the pair have to fight through the dead warriors that are loyal to the Destroyer. Eventually, word gets back to the Destroyer as to what the two Asgardian warriors are up to, prompting them to head to Midhogg and deal with them directly.
Meanwhile, Sif and Balder arrive at a pit filled with tentacled monsters blocking their path.[3] To get by, they use one of the Norn Stones to levitate over the pit with swords swinging to slice any tentacles that reach too close. Once on the other side, they quickly find the cave where the sword has been hidden. Inside, they find it buried in the chest of a being sitting in a chair that is so old, he has petrified into rock. Desperate to find Thor, Sif pulls the sword out of the body without a second though. Suddenly, the entity that was impaled by the sword wakes up. Introducing itself as Gar-Toom, the stone being explains that the sword kept him imprisoned for centuries as punishment by Hela and now that he is free, he intends to destroy them both. Sif and Balder decide to flee, but when they reach the mouth of the cave they find the Destroyer waiting for them outside!
Recurring Characters
Sif, Balder, Hela, Gar-Toom
Continuity Notes
After Thor seemingly slew Loki, he was banished for the crime of killing a fellow immortal in Thor #432. Loki actually cheated death as we’ll see in Thor #450-455. We will also learn that Thor wasn’t banished someplace else, but had his identity buried deep within his human host, Eric Masterson, as explained in Thor #456-459.
Hela had previously cursed Thor with brittle bones that would never heal back in Thor #373. In order to force her to remove this curse, Thor piloted the Destroyer armor leading to their clash in Thor #381-382.
Here, Sif wonders whose spirit is piloting the Destroyer armor. She hopes that it is Thor. Unfortunately, Sif’s guess would prove to be incorrect, as we’ll learn in Thor #440, the Destroyer is actually being piloted by the spirit of Lorelei who has been dead since Thor #402.
