Thor #476
Whom the Destroyer Would Destroy
Since moving to Wundagore Mountain with the High Evolutionary and his Godpack, Thor has found himself in the most bizarre and unexpected reunion. Thor has inadvertedly uncovered Don Blake — his former mortal alter-ego — hidden in a cavern beneath the Citadel of Science.[1] Also, following a battle with rogue members of the Animutants, he has been reunited by his old flame, Jane Foster-Kincaid and her son Jimmy.[2] While the appearance of Don Blake is confusing to Thor and Jane, it is even more confusing for Blake who doesn’t seem to remember anything past the fateful trip to Norway that led to Thor’s revival in the present day.
As Thor and Jane try their best to explain what they know about the situation, the High Evolutionary educates the Godpack — Anak, Bellam, Blitziana, Loga, Luminor, Riger, and Zefra — on who Blake and Foster are and their relationship to Thor. He then ushers the group back into his lab as they have more work to be done and Thor has a lot of explaining to do.
When the thunder god finishes explaining everything to Don Blake, the question still remains: How did Don end up in the bottom of Wundagore Mountain for years and why. When Jane explains her love life with Thor and how she proved unworthy to Odin and denied a marriage to Thor, she found new love with Keith Kincaid. She and Keith got married and had a child together. Hearing all of this deeply upsets Don Blake as he realizes that Thor stole his life for years and ruined everything. Furious he attacks Thor with a chunk of metal, but obviously can’t cause the god any harm. That’s when they hear Jimmy screaming and realize he wandered away while they were talking. Racing into the High Evolutionary’s citadel they realize that Jimmy’s screams were out of fear or pain, but delight as he plays with Anak.
Meanwhile, in Niffelheim, Hela the goddess of the dead and her guard dog Garm watch as the Destroyer continues to struggle with the monsters that live in the realm of Midhogg. Hela revels in watching the indestructible suit of armor tries in vein to get free. However, she now has a use for the Destroyer and retrieves the armor, then casts away the spirit of Lorelei who had inhabited it ever since she failed to take over Niffelheim.[4] When Garm asks who will possess the Destroyer armor this time, Hela gives him a hint: They have more than two legs.
Back at Wundagore Mountain, Thor tells the High Evolutionary that he is going to take Don Blake back to New York to prove everything they have said is true and help him put his life back together. It’s here that the geneticist asks Jane if she would remain and help teach the Animutants, as she had done with the original New Men before them.[5] Since she doesn’t have much of a life to go back to, Jane decides to take the job.
Soon, Thor takes Don Blake back to New York City where Blake is shocked to discover that his medical practice is long gone and has since been replaced with a brand new business. When he sees what year it is, Blake becomes even more upset than ever before. Even though he wanted Thor to find out why Odin interrupted his life like this, seeing how much time he has lost has made him angry enough that he no longer cares. He tells Thor to get out of his life and storms off to try and salvage what’s left of it.[6] Thor lets Blake go, wishing there was something he could do to help without groveling back to his father.[7]
Thor takes his mind off of Don Blake when people in the street begin asking him for autographs or thanking him for past rescues. Suddenly, the ground begins to shake and buckle as something rips its way up into the streets. It turns out to be the Destroyer, now powered by a new vessel, it has come to destroy the god of thunder. As Thor pushes people to safety the Destroyer unleashes destructive beams of energy that cut through the near indestructible uru metal of his enchanted hammer Mjolnir. Once the streets are cleared, Thor tires to fight back against the Destroyer but it is more powerful than ever before. It manages to rip Mjolnir from the thunder god’s grasp and pummel him into unconsciousness with enough brutality that it shatters part of Mjolnir in the process. The Destroyer then proclaims the god of thunder dead by its own hands.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Destroyer, High Evolutionary, Godpack (Anak, Bellam, Blitziana, Loga, Luminor, Riger, Zefra), Hela, Garm, Lorelei, Jane Foster, Don Blake, Jimmy Kindcaid, Keith Kindcaid (flashback)
Continuity Notes
Thor renounced Asgard and returned to Earth, where he ran into the High Evolutionary and the Godpack. Over the course of the last few issues he had decided to accompany them and train the Godpack on how to be proper gods. See Thor #472-475. The return of both Don Blake and Jane Foster happened last issue as well.
Thor and Jane Foster were in love with one another early on in Thor’s present day crime fighting career. However, they were forced to separate when Odin deemed her unfit to become a goddess and thus could not marry Thor, as seen in Thor #136. She met Keith Kincaid immediately after and eventually the two were married in Thor #336. Jane became pregnant with Jimmy in around Thor #371. As explained last issue, Jane and Keith had since separated.
The Don Blake situation is very, very, complicated allow me to explain:
When Odin believed that Thor required a lesson in humility, he was banished to Earth in the mortal guise of Donald Blake. Since Thor #159, it was believed that Blake was merely a figment of Odin’s imagination.
It’s later revealed in Thor #479, that Blake was a real guy and that Thor was initially merged with him. However, when Thor learned his lesson, circa Journey into Mystery #83, and was led to the enchanted walking stick that would turn him back into Thor he and the real Don Blake were separated the moment the cane was struck. Blake was then hidden away under Wundagore Mountain by Odin. Thor would change into a facsimile of Blake whenever he changed forms.
The man seen here isn’t the real Don Blake, however. Not long after Odin stashed him away. Sigyn — Loki’s wife — attempted to kidnap him to leverage Don to have her husband freed. Instead she accidentally killed him and left a mystical construct in his place as we’ll learn in Thor #483.
What happened to the real Don Blake? He will remain dead for some time, existing in a “shattered realm” until Thor dies in Thor (vol. 2) #85 and the two merge together once more in Thor (vol. 3) #1.
Lorelei died during a war with Seth in Thor #402. Her spirit possessed the Destroyer armor (which had been left in Hel since Thor #382) and went on the rampage. She was ultimately stopped by Sif and Balder as seen in Thor #438-441. We’ll see her vengeful spirit again in Thor #485.
Jane was hired as a teacher of the New Men back in Thor #132. The job didn’t last long, as seen in Thor #134-135. Thanks to an attack by the Man-Beast, the High Evolutionary decided to take his creations to the stars to find their destiny, leaving Jane behind in the process.
It’s interesting to note that Don Blake recognizes the building his office was previously located since in Thor #267 it was revealed it was torn down and replaced with a parking structure. But hey, he just woke up after being trapped in a cave for years and had some problems remembering things to start last issue, so perhaps he didn’t realize a totally different building is now in its place or he was in denial all the up to this point.
Here, Thor estimates that it hasn’t been very long for Don Blake to have been declared legally dead. Thor was last in the physical form of Don Blake back in Thor #337-338. Per the Sliding Timescale it’s been about three years between that story and this one. Generally speaking, in the United States, it’s usually about 7 years before someone who has gone missing can be declared legally dead. So this measurement of time would be factual and not a topical reference.
Topical References
When Don Blake reads the date on the newspaper he is surprised that it is the year 1994. This should be considered a topical reference. This story is very vague about how much time has passed between Journey into Mystery #83 and this story. Stating that it has only been a “few” years. This is a bit of an understatement. According to the Sliding Timescale, it’s been about 9 years.
In this story, Thor is asked by a woman on the street to sign her copy of Edith Hamilton’s “Mythology”. This book, originally published in 1942 is one of the most comprehensive educational works on ancient Greece. It’s reference here wouldn’t necessarily be considered topical as it is a seminal non-fiction text.
