Thor #472
If Twilight Falls
Thor has a nightmare about the final battle of Ragnarok, the so-called twilight of the gods.[1] He wakes up screaming and finds that his father Odin, Sif, Beta Ray Bill, and the Warriors Three standing at his bedside. As it turned out, Thor had been in a deep sleep for two weeks and just finally woke up. He assures everyone he is fine, in light of his recently cured bout of madness, which almost led to the destruction of Asgard.[2] With the threat of Ragnarok on the horizon, Odin asks if his son will finally settle down and sit stay in Asgard.
Unfortunately, Thor refuses to do so. Even though he is in his right mind, he is still angry at Odin over the years he has had to spend being trapped in mortal form. Particularly the years he suffered in exile as Doctor Donald Blake. He is particularly upset over how, when he petitioned Odin to make Jane Foster a goddess so they could be married, his father set her up to fail and then orchestrated his reunion with Sif to make him forget all about her.[3] This makes Sif ask if he regrets her return and he clarifies by saying that he knows they are destined to be together, but didn’t need his father to manipulate things and should have been allowed to make that decision on his own. Odin is insulted by this and the fact that his son would turn his back with Ragnarok looming on the horizon. This angers Thor who doubles-down on his desire to return to Earth. When he asks if the any of his friends will join him, none — not even Sif — are willing to go.
Taking this as a betrayal, Thor decides to leave without them. However, Odin orders the Warriors Three, Balder and Beta Ray Bill to prevent his son from leaving. One by one, Thor defeats his friends which further embroils the antagonism between him and his father. Seeing that nothing will stop the thunder god from having his way, Odin gives up and tells Thor that he is banished from the realm of Asgard, something that Thor could give two shits about and leaves. As Thor passes the Bifrost bridge, Heimdall prepares to attack and thinks against it as he cannot bring himself to raise a hand against the god of thunder, and will accept any punishment that Odin might mete out against him for failing to act. As Thor streaks by on his way to Earth, the guardian of the rainbow bridge wishes him luck.
However, when Thor arrives in New York City, he discovers that despite the fact that he was born on Midgard, he is ever a stranger to this domain despite spending so many years in its defense.[4] He begins wondering if he should set up a new civilian identity like he has had in the past.[5] He then decides to fly around the city for inspiration.[6] In a part of the city slated for urban renewal, Thor happens upon a trio of super-humans fighting humanoid animals. Fearing innocent people might get hurt in the brawl, Thor steps in to end the fight. Hurling Mjolnir at one of the man-beasts, Thor is surprised when it withstands the blow.
That’s when their creator, the High Evolutionary, appears before him and explains that these are all his creations and that they were merely seeing who is the fittest to survive.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Odin, Sif, Balder, Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg), Heimdall, Beta Ray Bill, High Evolutionary, Godpack (Blitzaina, Loga, Luminor), New Men (Simbus, Tontaro, Urson-Wells)
Continuity Notes
The Asgardians have been aware of the threat of Ragnarok since the ancient past as first seen in Thor #128. They have thwarted this event on a few occasions already, notably in Thor #154-157, 273-278, 350-353, and most recently in Thor #418-425. Thor’s vision of Ragnarok doesn’t actually come to pass since Yggdrasil is tricked into thinking Ragnarok has already passed in Thor #491.
Thor had suffered from the Warrior Madness since Thor #460 until he was cured by Odin last issue. His attempt to destroy Asgard was chronicled in Thor #468-471, Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #86-88, Warlock Chronicles #6-8, and Warlock and the Infinity Watch #23-25.
Oy, there is a lot of shit to cover in this brief recounting, because Thor lore (that rhymes!) is always needlessly complicated:
To teach Thor humility, Odin banished him to Earth for a time in the form of a mortal named Don Blake. Thor eventually regained his power in Journey into Mystery #83 and re-discovered his true identity in Thor #159.
During this time, Thor fell in love with Jane Foster and wanted to reveal his true identity. Odin refused to allow this, or for Thor to propose to her. See Journey into Mystery #90 and 97. Eventually, Thor couldn’t keep his secret from her any longer and revealed the truth to Jane in Journey into Mystery #124.
Thor successfully petitioned Odin to test Jane to see if she was worth of godhood in Thor #136. She flubbed the test when she panicked in the face of the Lurking Unknown and was banished to Earth with no memory of her past with Don Blake or Thor. She was also placed in the employ of Keith Kincaid, whom she fell in love with.
Where was Sif in all this time? All the goddesses of Asgard were sent away to prepare for the Fourth Host of the Celestials, as explained in Thor #301. Sif was called back early, while the others wouldn’t return until Thor #274.
After a brush with death, Jane was made to remember her forgotten past and for and in order to save her life, Sif merged with her. See Thor #230, and 235-236. There was a brief period where Jane was the dominant personality until issue #249. when Foster stopped appearing after a while, they discovered that her soul was trapped in the Rune Staff of Kamo Tharn and rescued her in Thor #334-335.
It was also during that time, that Keith Kincaid came looking around for Jane, whom he was engaged to. After he helped Thor and Sif free her from the Rune Staff, Jane and Keith got married as seen in Thor #336. When last we saw the happy couple, Jane in Thor #371-372 she was expecting their first child.
The whole Jane Foster thing is being brought up here likely to refresh readers for when she appears next in Thor #475. In that story, she is forced back into Thor’s life after being kidnapped by Karnivore, aka the Man-Beast.
Thor mentions some of his connections to Earth outside of his time as Don Blake. They are:
That he is the son of Gaea, the goddess of the Earth itself. As revealed in Thor Annual #11, Thor was born of a union between Odin and Gaea (then posing as Jord). This was done contrary to Thor’s birth in past Ragnarok cycles (see Thor #293 for all of that) so that he had a connection to Earth.
More recently, Thor was bonded to and shared his existence with Eric Masterson from Thor #408 through 457. From issue #432 onward he was imprisoned in Eric’s subconscious mind and lived vicariously through his eyes.
On top of mentioning Don Blake, Thor also recounts the time he assumed the identity of Sigurd Jarlson. By that time, Thor had abandoned the Blake identity and the enchantment that allowed him to assume mortal form was transferred to Beta Ray Bill’s hammer Stormbreaker in Thor #339. Nick Fury and SHIELD helped Thor by fabricating this false identity in Thor #341. Due to constantly being called away to Asgard, this identity fell into neglect and was all but abandoned by Thor #379. He last used that identity in Thor #402. It was totally abandoned by the time he was merged to Masterson in Thor #408.
A bystander confuses Thor with the “new guy” Thunderstrike. At the time of this story, Eric Masterson had just recently reinvented himself as Thunderstrike as seen in, you guessed it, Thunderstrike #1.