Deception

Asgard has been conquered by the Dark Gods, ancient enemies of the Asgardians. Their leader, Majestron Zelia now presides in the royal palace. She gloats to her prisoner, Odin, about her success. However, Odin can be free once more if he agrees to become Zelia’s consort and loyal servant. The All-Father refuses and spits in her face. When she strikes him, Odin becomes enraged and vows that once he gets free he will bring down his absolute vengeance upon her. Zelia scoffs at this as Thor is presumed dead, and thanks to her illusionist D’Chel, their allies the Olympians will not come to Odin’s rescue.[1]

Meanwhile, Thor — who is anything but dead — has arrived in Olympus with Hercules, only to discover that it too has been ravaged by some titanic war.[2] As they look around for clues as to what happened, they are shocked to see that Dionysius died in battle.[3]

Suddenly, Thor is attacked by Hermes as he races by on his flying chariot. He is joined by Ares and Atlas who accuses Thor for the conflict that destroy Olympus. Thor has no idea what they are talking about and tries to defend himself. Hercules finds himself torn between fighting along side his friend or defending his people. To his credit, he pulls Atlas off Thor and demands to know what’s going on. With the battle over, Thor has trouble getting Mjolnir to obey his commands and Atlas accidentally gets smacked in the face with the enchanted hammer when it fails to return to the thunder god’s hand.[4] With the battle over, Pluto appears before them and also accuses Thor of being a betrayer. He says that the attack on Olympus was caused by the Asgardians.

Hercules doesn’t trust his uncle since he has lied in the past. However, before another brawl can break out, Zeus appears before them. He too accuses the Asgardians of attacking Olympus. When Thor refuses to acknowledge this, Zeus calls him a liar and explains how their domain was invaded by an army of Asgardians which included Sif, Balder, and the Warriors Three. Unable to believe that this was happening, Zeus believed that they were acting on their own until the moment he saw Odin in the distance commanding the invading horde.

Little does Zeus or anyone else know that this attack was a frame job created by the Dark Gods to create a division between Asgard and Olympus. As Zeus details the invasion, Majestron Zelia, and D’Chel detail how they were able to dupe the Olympians. Perrikus also tells Odin that they are going to make him suffer a great deal by destroying everything he cares about before killing the All-Father.

Back in Olympus, Thor takes offense when Zeus speaks ill of his father and also questions the validity of his story. Hercules gets upset that his friend would accuse his father of lying and demands he apologize or face a beating. Thor tells Herc to do what he must, saying he doesn’t believe that Zeus is lying, only deceived. Still, if it helps prove his case, the thunder god refuses to raise a hand toward his friend. That convinces Hercules that Thor means well and he decides against fighting. Disgusted by this and fed up with the pair, Zeus uses his magic to banish them back to Earth. When Hercules suggests they go out drinking after their ordeals, Thor declines saying that he needs to focus on finding his father. As the thunder god leaves, Hercules overhears a radio report about the Thunderbolts, who have just been outed as former members of the Masters of Evil. Remembering how he suffered a beating from the Masters in the recent past, Hercules decides to pay these Thunderbolts a visit.[5]

Recurring Characters

Thor, Hercules, Dark Gods (Perrikus, Majestron Zelia, D’Chel, Adva), Zeus, Odin, Hermes, Ares, Pluto, Atlas

Continuity Notes

1. At the time of this story, Odin believes that Thor perished with the rest of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four in Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1. What he doesn’t know is that Thor and his allies survived and were living out reimagined lives in a pocket dimension before being rescued in Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4. The reason Odin doesn’t know this is because the Dark Gods captured the Asgardians prior to this revelation, as seen in Journey into Mystery #513.

2. Here, Hercules makes a passing mention to the fact that he has been stripped of his godly immortality. That happened in Avengers #384 and will remain the status quo until Ares #1-5.

3. Although deceased here, Dionysius turns up alive again in Hercules (vol. 3) #4. How he was resurrected is never clearly explained.

4. Thor has been having troubles with his hammer since Thor (vol. 2) #3. It’s later revealed in issues #14 & 16 that it has been possessed by the Enchanter known as Enrakt.

5. The whole thing between Herc, the Masters of Evil, and the Thunderbolts is — as you can guess — complicated. The details:

   • Back in Avengers #273-277, the Masters of Evil laid siege to Avengers Mansion. During the attack, Hercules was seriously injured and suffered brain damage. This took him out of circulation for a while from Avengers #285 to Annual #17. For a time, Hercules was afraid of getting killed in battle, but over time got over his fear in Thor #418.

   • When the Avengers and Fantastic Four were believed to have died during the Onslaught conflict, Baron Zemo hatched a scheme to reinvent the Masters of Evil as superheroes in order to gain public trust and take over the world. This plan began in Thunderbolts #1. The Thunderbolts were outed as former villains in issue #11-12. However, despite this, many of its members began to like being heroes and had decided to carry on.

   • Hercules’ clash with the Thunderbolts will be chronicled in issue #22 of their series.