The God in the War Machine

Sif has agreed to return to Earth with Thor and the two celebrate with a moment of romance atop the Transian mountains as a storm rages. Sif intends to stay with Thor from now on, but still intends to return to Asgard when the threat of Ragnarok finally comes. Her logic is simple: The Edda prophesies don’t mention her or Beta Ray Bill and perhaps their involvement can turn the tide in favor of Asgard.[1]

This tender moment is observed from Asgard by Bill, Heimdall, and the Grand Vizier who are disappointed that Sif chose to leave them as well. Odin catches them and reminds them that all Asgardians are forbidden from viewing Midgard. Heimdall apologizes for abandoning his post at the Bifrost, but explains he wanted to make sure his sister was safe. Odin promises he won’t punish Sif for leaving and admits that if anyone else wants to leave Asgard he will not raise a hand to stop them. Odin, however, will remain to face Ragnarok even if he has to fight the battle alone. While the others assure him they aren’t going anywhere, with the way things are going, Odin thinks Sif won’t be the last to go.

Meanwhile, Thor and Sif return to the High Evolutionary’s Citadel of Science within Wundagore Mountain. Here, the geneticist and his Godpack are loading up the New Immortals — who have been held in stasis since their defeat — into the Wundagore III.[2] They have decided to relocate back to the Evolutionary’s underground lab in New York City because of a growing conflict in the region that puts them at risk of discovery and conflict. Sif looks forward to going to New York since she has many friends there. However, Blitizana isn’t too happy about it and makes a point of saying that the Godpack are a group of social outcasts. Seeing the tension between the two women, Thor suggests that Sif accompany him back to the city ahead of the others to assess any damage that may have been done. Blitziana tries to find an ally in Jane Foster by pitting her against Sif. However, Jane has long since made peace with the fact that Thor and Sif were destined to be together.[3]

As Thor and Sif arrive in New York City, she asks what relationship he has with Blitziana. Thor assures her that he merely sees her as a comrade in arms. He tells her that the Godpack are unique as they have no connections to anybody since memories of their old lives were erased when they were transformed by the High Evolutionary.[4] All they really know is that they were all on a prisoner transport when they died. As such, their emotions run a little hot as they struggle to make connections with others and hopes this explains Blitiziana’s behavior earlier. Thor decides that they should stop for some lunch before continuing on to the High Evolutionary. Landing on a nearby rooftop restaurant, the thunder god uses his notoriety to get a seated without a reservation. However, this comes with a drawback at people keep coming to their table to get Thor’s autograph.

As they are dealing with his fans, someone spots War Machine heading their way. Thor figures his ally has come to visit him. However, when War Machine swoops down it’s not to land, it’s to strike Thor with all his strength. This leads to an all out brawl between Thor and War Machine. While the thunder god is busy, he instructs Sif to clear the area of innocent civilians. As Thor struggles with his opponent he tries to make sense of why a fellow Avenger would attack him. As it turns out, Loki has taken possession of War Machine’s body in his spirit form,[5] and is attacking Thor for breaking their earlier pact.[6] Loki decided to strike at Thor using one of his allies and now Thor has to decide to either kill War Machine or allow himself to be destroyed.

Meanwhile, somewhere over Europe, the Wundagore III has taken to the air. However, the travel to America hasn’t slowed down the High Evolutionary from his work. He is trying to determine what made the New Immortals turn against him. His first order of business though is restoring Count Tagar — one of his first New Men — back to his normal form as his transformation into a god has driven him mad.[7] As he works with a bio-retardant ray, the ship hits turbulence that causes the weapon to jar out of his hand and its beam strikes Blitziana. This causes her to have a flashback to her old life. In her previous life, she was an African American woman and the scene that unfolds before her is of when her someone she cared about was gunned down by a drug dealer named Bristle. When the gunshots brought the police to their location to investigate, the woman grabs a gun off the ground and mows down Bristle and his men. The cops then quickly arrested her, intending to punish her for her act of murder. This flash of memory is deeply emotional and traumatic that she ends up bursting into tears and curling up into a ball on the floor.[8]

Back in New York, the battle between Thor and the possessed War Machine spills into the streets below. As the two combatants clash, Sif continues to pull people out of harms way and keep them safe from the collateral damage. While War Machine is a formidable foe on his own, Thor banks on the fact that Loki is not very knowledgeable on the technology used in his suit of armor. Thor keeps on him until War Machine’s weapons are completely depleted. Unable to figure out how to get them to work again, the trickster god chalks this up as a loss and retreats, freeing War Machine. When the hero comes back to his senses Thor explains what happened and the two help with the clean-up effort. War Machine thanks Thor for his help and then departs.

Recurring Characters

Thor, War Machine, Sif, Heimdall, Grand Vizier, Beta Ray Bill, Odin, High Evolutionary, Godpack (Anak, Blitzaina, Bellam, Loga), Jane Foster, Jimmy Kincaid, Ani-Mutants (Urson-Wells, Simbus, Tantaro), Count Tagar, Loki

Continuity Notes

1. The threat of Asgard has been looking since Thor #472 when Thor experienced a prophetic dream. However, this threat will become a moot point when the WorldEngine tricks Yggdrasil into thinking that Ragnarok has already passed in Thor #491.

2. The New Immortals were rogue creations of the High Evolutionary that the Godpack and co shut down in Thor #482.

3. During Thor’s time living a double life as Don Blake, he fell in love with his nurse Jane Foster. They had a will-they-or-won’t-they romance that ran from Journey into Mystery #84 until Jane failed a test of godliness and was banished from Asgard in Thor #136. Thor ended up reuniting with Sif shortly thereafter. Jane has an intimate knowledge of how close Thor and Sif are because she spent a period of time merged with Sif from Thor #236 through 335.

4. When fleeing from the New Immortals, the High Evolutionary crash landed on Earth, killing the passengers aboard a prisoner transport. He used these cadavers to create his Godpack. See Thor #473.

5. Back in Thor #432, Loki sacrificed his own body to fake his death as part of a scheme to take over Asgard by possessing Odin’s body. This scheme was eventually exposed by Eric Masterson (during the time he was Thor) and Loki ended up a prisoner in Mephisto’s realm in Thor #455.

6. When Thor freed Loki from Mephisto’s realm in Thor #482 to assist in fighting the New Immortals it was under the condition that neither one would meddle in the others affairs moving forward. Thor broke this truce almost immediately after in the following issue when he suspected that Loki had a part to play in the appearance of a phony Don Blake that had recently.

7. Count Tagar was a tiger that was evolved into a humanoid many years ago, as explained in Thor #134-135. More recently, Tagar exposed himself to the genetic soup that the High Evolutionary was using to create the New Immortals in Thor #422-423. This evolved Tagar into a god-like form that eventually made him evil as we saw in issues #473 and 482.

8. If you’re thinking “great, they’re finally exploring the backstory of the Godpack” sorry to burst your bubble but, as of this writing (June, 2022) this is the only look into Blitziana’s past. We never learn anything else about any of these characters. Fun, huh?

Topical References

• The conflict that prompts the Godpack to relocate is cited as the war in the former Yugoslavia. At the time this comic was published, Yugoslavia had broken up into six distinct countries and they would war with each other well into the year 2017. That said, mention of this specific conflict should be considered topical.