Thor (vol. 2) #49
By Fire Born, Part IV of V
Thor’s power has been greatly reduced thanks to Jake Olson using the Enchantress’ magic mirror to regain his lost powers. When the thunder god returns to Earth, he finds that Olson has transformed himself into Thor as he was before he became the Lord of Asgard and is the middle of a fight with Desak. Jake transformed himself in an effort to save Tarene, aka Thor Girl, aka the Designate, after she was turned into stone and shattered by the Grey Gargoyle. Desak has come to Earth on behalf of Zarrko the Tomorrow Man to destroy Thor and the Designate to prevent a nightmarish future from coming to pass.[1]
Observing the battle from Asgard is Amora the Enchantress. Hearing Jake Olson explain how he used her mirror to regain his lost powers, she vows to rectify the situation before this could affect her attempts at making Thor love her. Thor on the other hand, is unimpressed that Jake Olson stole some of his power in the process. When Jake tries to convince him that they need to be merged back together, Thor agrees for a moment and is about to use his power to do so. However, that’s when he recalled that it was his late father, Odin, who decreed that Jake live separate from Thor and in the mortal world, he decides against it.[2] Instead, he takes back the power that Olson took from him, restoring his former alter-ego back to his mortal form.
When Desak arrives, he senses that this Thor is different from the one he was just fighting, one that is more powerful. He takes this as proof that the nightmare future he has come to prevent will come to pass and vows to see Thor dead. He then unleashes a powerful blast that sends the thunder god slamming through a number of buildings until he crashes into a coffee shop. Having seen enough, the Enchantress calls for Thialfi, one of Thor’s friends and advisors and enlists his aid in helping Thor defeat Desak.[3] While back on Earth, Desak and Thor continue to brawl with one another. This is until Desak manages to stab a knife right into the thunder god’s ribcage. Watching from the sidelines, Jake Olson fears that — without help — Desak might actually win the battle. When Thor trires to blast Desak with the Odinforce, the god killer drinks up all the energy then digs the knife deeper into Thor’s chest. Thor’s cries of agony are so loud that they can be heard by Heimdall from his post at the Bifrost Bridge, and can be sensed by Doctor Strange in his Sanctum Sanctorum.
Jake Olson, meanwhile, has run back to the apartment once owned by the Enchantress. There he tosses the shattered stone body of Tarene in the hopes that the mirror will fix her. Sure enough, Thor Girl emerges from the mirror fully intact. As she tries to make sense of the situation, Jake tells her he’ll explain everything once he enters the mirror and becomes Thor once more. However, before he can do so, the Enchantress reaches out through the mirror and stops him from doing so, then uses her power to shatter the mirror to pieces.
Back at the scene of the battle, Desak pulls the dagger out of Thor’s chest, causing the thunder god to collapse to the gorund. However, before he can behead the Asgardian, Thialfi arrives on the scene at super-speed and blocks the attack while handing Thor the Bloodaxe once wielded by Skurge the Executioner. Thor takes the cursed weapon and uses it to fatally stab Desak in the chase. As he seemingly dies, Desak warns Thor that he has no concept of the hell he has unleashed.[4] Thor tells his fallen foe that all he cares about is the hell awaiting Desak.[5]
Recurring Characters
Thor, Enchantress, Jake Olson, Thialfi, Heimdall, Thor Girl, Desak, Doctor Strange,
Continuity Notes
There is a lot going on off the top here, she let’s get all the finer details out of the way:
Jake is actually Thor’s mortal form, separated from his body in Thor (vol. 2) #39 and will remain the status quo until issue #79. Jake used an enchanted mirror to turn himself into Thor in Thor (vol. 2) #47.
The Grey Gargoyle had turned Tarene/Thor Girl’s body into stone and shattered it in Thor (vol. 2) #46.
Desak was given power by a mysterious gem after his daughter was sacrificed to the gods of his world. His mission in life is to kill all gods. See Thor Annual 2001 for more details. Desak is trying to prevent the Reigning, a future where Thor rules over Earth and Asgard with an iron fist as we’ll see in Thor (vol. 2) #67-79. Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #2, this future takes place in Reality-3515. He learned of this possible future from Zarrko the Tomorrow Man, who has been trying to stop this future from coming to pass since issue #33. He approached Desak for assistance in Thor (vol. 2) #43.
Tarene/Thor Girl’s is also known as the Designate. She is fated to bring the universe to its next phase of evolution, see Thor (vol. 2) #21-25.
There are multiple references to Odin being deceased. Odin died battling Surtur in Thor (vol. 2) #40, leading Thor to taking the throne in issue #42. Odin will remain among the deceased until Thor #618.
Thialfi is treated like he’s been around this whole time and his background won’t get explained until Thor (vol. 2) #52. In that issue, it is explained that centuries ago, Thialfi was an orphan whose parents were murdered by Vikings. Odin took pity on the boy and brought him to Asgard to live among the gods. He decreed that Thialfi would become Thor’s advisor on mortal affairs once the thunder god had taken over the royal throne.
Although Desak is killed here, as of this writing (June, 2023) he has remained among the deceased. His next appearance is in Avengers Prime #5, where he appears as an undead thrall of Hela. His Reality-3515 counterpart, however, will return from the dead in Thor (vol. 2) #75.
We see a red skull swirling behind Thor at the end of this story. This is a nod to Bloodaxe, a Thor foe who first appeared in Thor #450, as well as a reference to the fact that anyone who wields the Bloodaxe is saddled with a curse to spill blood. This curse famously led to the death of Thor’s friend Eric Masterson aka Thunderstrike, as seen in Thunderstrike #22-24.
For One Night Only (Don’t Forget to Tip Your Waitress), Part 1
Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man) is at the Daily Bugle talking to his Aunt May. Due to his current assignment he is going to be over for dinner. As he is telling her this, J. Jonah Jameson comes into the room and barks at Parker to get off the phone. He tells Peter that his next assignment is an an important one. He is to head down to the commercial shoot for a car manufacturer to photograph an interview with a popular late night talk show host. However, the celebrity — for whatever reasons — has asked for Spider-Man to be the one to give the one-on-one. Since Parker regularly photographs the wall-crawler, Jameson wants Peter to make the arrangements. When Peter says he isn’t sure if he can secure Spider-Man, Jameson threatens to bust him down from freelance photographer to paperboy if he doesn’t.
…. This story is continued in Cable #105.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, J. Jonah Jameson
Topical References
This story centers around Peter Parker/Spider-Man interacting with comedian Jay Leno. At the time of publication, Leno was the host of the Tonight Show. As he is a real world celebrity, his appearance here and anything pertaining to his real life career should be considered topical. Both for the fact that he retired from the Tonight Show in 2014. At 73 years old (time of this writing in June, 2023) he’s also probably not going to be around for much longer.
J. Jonah Jameson states that General Motors (aka GM) is a major advertiser with the Daily Bugle. This should be considered at topical reference as this is a real world company.
Jonah also refers to Peter as a “Chatty Cathy” this was a line of talking dolls made by Mattel from 1959 to 1965. As the name suggests, one of their primary play features was the ability to talk. During the height of this doll’s popularity calling someone who talked too much “Chatty Cathy” became part of common vernacular. That said, this slang has fallen out of use and its usage here should be considered topical.