Thor (vol. 2) #3
God and Man
After hearing that her fiancée Jake Olson died on the job, Hannah Fairmont has gone to his apartment. There she is shocked to see that Jake is apparently alive and well and just got out of the shower. Little does she know that “Jake” is actually the current mortal form for Thor, god of thunder.[1] Thor finds himself in an awkward situation because he has no memories of Jake’s past. Luckily, Hannah is so overjoyed that her husband-to-be is still alive that she doesn’t notice how confused he is. Quickly composing himself, Thor asks careful questions to figure out who this woman is and is surprised to hear that she and Jake are to be married. Before leaving, Hannah asks “Jake” not to forget that he promised to pick up her daughter, Hannah from school later that afternoon. Thor is lucky to get the address out of her before she leaves, but wonders how he’ll recognize Fairmont’s daughter. Cursing Marnot for putting him in this predicament, Thor changes into his EMT uniform and scours the apartment to try and find a picture of Amanda.
Meanwhile, a deep sea diving team is testing out a brand new submarine designed by Tony Stark. It allows them to reach the ocean floor. There the two men piloting the ship find an old Viking ship that has somehow withstood the oceans waters for centuries. Believing they have struck it rich, they radio to the boat on the surface to inform them of this discovery. However, before they can get in for a closer look, they are attacked by a massive sea monster that crushes the vessel in its tentacles. The monster is under the command of a siren known as Sedna who was drawn to the boat from her far away lair. Examining the vessel, Sedna can tell it was crafted by the gods and decides to find the one responsible for making it as he would make a suitable mate for her.[2]
Back on land, Hannah arrives back at the hospital to tell Demitrius Collins that Jake survived the battle at the docks. While Hannah is around, Collins pretends like this is all great news. However, once she is gone, Demitrius is annoyed because he was hoping to use Jake as a patsy to pin some “evil business” on and now has to be more careful than ever.[3]
By this time, Thor — as Jake Olson — is leaving his apartment and has decided that having a mortal identity right now will be too disruptive to his life and decides to ditch it ASAP. However, he is visited by Marnot who is invisible to everyone but him. The engimatic being tells Thor that he promised to carry on Jake’s life in exchange for being restored to life to atone for letting him die. However, Marnot is candid about his reason for doing all this and when Thor asks how he can regain his godly persona, Marnot says he can figure it out on his own and disappears.[4]
Moments later, Sedna appears in the city searching for her intended mate. When the god she desires isn’t apparent she begins using her power over water to flood the streets. Jake Olson is washed into a nearby alley. There, he instinctively hammers his first to the ground much like he did the walking stick when Thor was Don Blake, and this transforms him into Thor.[5] Pleased to be the thunder god once more, Thor flies up into the air to confront Sedna. Seeing the rubies tied around her neck, Thor recognizes them as ones that adorned a ship he sailed many centuries earlier. Sedna expresses her intentions to make Thor her mate, but the thunder god refuses leading to a clash between the two of them.
As this battle rages on, Thor has completely forgotten his promise to pick up Amanda Fairmont from school. Amanda is well aware that Jake Olson is late and this reinforces her idea that he is a creep. As she waits, some local hoods approach her looking for trouble.
Meanwhile, Thor’s battle with Sedna take them out to sea where the siren uses her power to summon her massive sea monster. Thor tosses his hammer at the creature but the monster swallows it. Shockingly, the enchantment that makes Mjolnir return whenever it is thrown isn’t working.[6] This catches Thor off guard long enough for Sedna to tackle him and pull him into onto the oceans. As she drags him further out to sea, she begins using her power to slowly change Thor into a water breather so he is better suited to being her mate.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Jake Olson, Sedna, Marnot, Hannah Fairmont, Amanda Fairmont, Demitrius Collins, Enrakt (possessing Mjolnir)
Continuity Notes
Both Thor and Jake were killed during a battle between the Avengers and the Destroyer. An entity calling himself Marnot resurrected Thor in exchange for him taking over and living Jake’s mortal life as penance for not preventing his death. See Thor (vol. 2) #1-2.
Thor once voyaged aboard this vessel on a quest to prevent Ragnarok, leading to a clash with Queen Ula and her Hive Trolls. See Journey into Mystery #120-125.
Dimitrius’ talk of “evil business” seems to imply that he is up to something illegal that he wants to pin on Jake. However, whatever he means by this is never actually revealed. Later on in Thor (vol. 2) #15, Dimitrius is revealed to be an undercover police officer investigating the theft of drugs from the hospital. It’s revealed that the real Jake Olson was swiping drugs to sell on the streets. My persumption is that Dimitrius is really committed to his role.
Marnot is later revealed to be Hescemar, one of Odin’s ravens and it giving Thor his Jake Olson identity is to help the thunder god eventually rescue the captured Asgardians from the so-called Dark Gods. See Thor (vol. 2) #13.
Thor was once cast down to Earth to teach him a lesson in humility but also to hide him away from the threat of Ragnarok for a time. Odin cast him into the mortal form of Don Blake and Mjolnir as a gnarled walking stick. When Blake tapped the stick on the ground he transformed into Thor and the stick into Mjolnir. This was the status quo from Journey into Mystery #83 until Thor #339. It was used again when Thor was merged with Eric Masterson from Thor #408 to 457 as well.
The reason why Thor’s hammer isn’t responding to the enchantments that make it return to the thunder god, it is because Mjolnir has been possessed by Enrakt, one of the Enchanters. This is revealed in Thor (vol. 2) #14 & 16.
Topical References
The submarine crew and the ship it is reporting to refer to each other as Gilligan and the Skipper respectively. These were two of the main characters on Gilligan’s Island, a sitcom about castaways that found themselves trapped on a tropical island that ran from 1964 to 1967. While the character names were still part of the cultural zeitgeist long after the series ended, its reference here is not necessarily topical since it was made decades after the series ended due to its enduring impact on popular culture.
When Hannah sees Demitrius digging through supplies she asks him if he lost a box of Band-Aids. Band-Aids is the brand name for adhesive bandages and usually references to real world products would be considered topical. However, Band-Aid bandages have become a proprietary eponym, meaning that the brand becomes so commonly used in speech that it becomes eponymous of the product regardless of the brand. Similar in the fashion that people refer to tissues as Kleenex. Band-Aids/Kleenex are not the name of the product, but a brand name created by a manufacturer for their specific product.
