Thor (vol. 2) #79
Gods and Men, Conclusion: Letting Go
It is the year of 2170, and Thor has ruled over Midgard for over 100 years. However, his rule is now threatened by Desak, the God-Slayer. More powerful than ever before, Desak has increased his power even further by merging with the Destroyer as well as Tarene, the Designate, whose spirit had been empowering the enchanted armor this entire time.[1] With her spirit finally free, Tarene decides that the Asgardians are a threat to her life and uses her power to go back in time and give Desak his power so that he can stop the Asgardians.
Thor has just learned how Loki enslaved the Designate all this time and is furious. Tarene was supposed to bring humanity to its next step of evolution. However, Loki points out that doing so would make it impossible for the gods to rule over them. Thor is horrified by this admission, as his goal was never to control the mortals. Hearing this is further justification to Desak that all gods must be destroyed. When he unleashes a powerful blast, sending rubble raining down on the armies of Asgard, Thor uses the Odinpower to protect them.
This gives Magni time to recover and topple a building on to of Desak while he is distracted. The young god figures that finishes off their foe. However, he is proven wrong in seconds as Desak blasts himself free from the rubble. When Magni tries to attack Desak again, Tarene unleashes a powerful blast upon him that knocks him out.
Thor realizes that this will be a fight to the death, and orders Sif and the Enchantress to take his son to safety. Before they do, Thor kisses the unconscious Magni on the forehead and asks that the boy never forget him. While this is going on, Desak continues to lay waste to the Asgardian army, slaying both Fandral and Volstagg in the process. Thor then joins Loki, who believes the only way to stop Desak is by killing the Designate, thereby cutting him off from his limitless power. Thor reluctantly agrees with his step-brother and the two charge into battle. However, Loki is incinerated by a single blast, leaving Thor to fight alone.
Thor pushes through the powerful energy blast until he reaches Mjolnir. Amazingly, in realizing everything he has done has been a mistake, the thunder god becomes worthy enough to wield his enchanted weapon once more. Picking it up, he tosses it with enough force to strike and decapitate Desak, killing him once more. With the battle over, Thor is joined by the evolved Designate, who explains that she needed to create Desak becuase the Asgardians were preventing her from pushing humanity to the next stage of evolution. Thor realizes the gravity of what he has done and decides that there must be an atonement. He then uses the Odinpower to stop time. Locating Sif, the Enchantress, and Magni, he says goodbye to them all.
He then leads the Desginate to the chamber where he has kept a time machine created by Zarrko the Tomorrow Man hidden all these years.[2] With it, Thor can go back in time and prevent the events that led to his rule of Midgard. He travels back over 100 years and prevents a team of soldiers from setting off the explosives that would have destroyed both the city of Asgard and New York. He then orders the soldiers to go back to their masters and inform them that the Asgardians will be leaving the mortal world forever.[3]
Thor then goes outside where the battle between his people and the soldiers is raging. He quickly finds Sif and Balder and orders them to withdraw all their troops back to Asgard right away. He then appears before Jake Olson, his mortal half, and his past self.[4] He tells them that he has been through hell and back and that he has concluded that his goals were wrong and that humanity needs to find its own way. In fact, he discovered that the one thing he was missing this entire time — the thing that had been missing since Odin separated him from Jake Olson — was his humanity. The future Thor then uses the Odinpower to reunite his past self and Jake Olson. The future Thor also merges with them as well so that Thor has the knowledge of everything that had gone wrong so that he can make better decisions and a brighter future for them all.[5]
Recurring Characters
(Earth-3515) Thor, Magni, Enchantress, Sif, Volstagg, Balder, Loki, Desak, Tarene, Zarrko the Tomorrow Man (Earth-616) Thor, Jake Olson
Continuity Notes
From the “Shit You Need to Know Off the Top Dept.”:
The events of this story take place in a possible future that now exists in another reality. Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #2, it has been desigated as Reality-3515. It was to be the future of Reality-616 until a divergence at the end of this issue. Its history matches that of Earth-616 until the point of divergence.
Desak is an alien who sought revenge against the gods after his daughter was used in a ritual sacrifice. He was given power by a mysterious gem in Thor Annual 2001. He was seemingly killed by Thor in Thor (vol. 2) #49. However, the spirit within the his gem of power spirited his body away to an alien world to heal and slumber until he was needed again. He awoke awoke in issue #75 when Magni lifted Mjolnir.
Odin was killed in battle with Surtur in Thor (vol. 2) #40, leaving Thor to rule the kingdom in his absence.
Thor took over the world in the present day after Asgard was destroyed, as seen in Thor (vol. 2) #67. He became unworthy to lift Mjolnir after he slew Jake Olson, his mortal half. Thor has kept this a secret, telling his followers that it was destroyed.
Tarene is a powerful being known as the Designate who is fated to bring about the next stage of evolution to the universe. For more on that see Thor (vol. 2) #21-25. She has been MIA since her last appearance in Thor (vol. 2) #62.
Zarrko had been trying to prevent this future from happening since Thor (vol. 2) #33. He failed when Asgard was destroyed in issue #67, the catalyst that led to these events coming to pass.
Sif and Balder are shocked to see the future Thor, noting his injuries. Future Thor lost his left eye and half his arm thanks to Wolverine, as we saw in Thor (vol. 2) #73.
Jake Olson was Thor’s mortal identity since Thor (vol. 2) #1, the two were mystically separated by Odin before his death, as seen in Thor (vol. 2) #39.
The abrupt ending to this story and a new creative team taking over the book and going in a completely different direction leaves a number of loose ends that are not really explained. Allow me to fill in some of the blanks:
We don’t see Zarrko the Tomorrow Man again until he makes a cameo at the Bar With No Name in Amazing Spider-Man #552. One could presume that after future Thor prevented the Reigning timeline, he went back to his status quo.
With Asgard being spared, then Thialfi also wouldn’t have ended up getting sent into the future. However, as of this writing (June, 2023) he hasn’t been seen since. His subsequent fate is unknown. Perhaps he ends up dying in the next Ragnarok cycle that is chronicled in Thor (vol. 2) #80-85.
Tarene, aka the Designate, doesn’t get enslaved now and goes back to being Thor Girl some more. We’ll see her again in Avengers: The Initiative #20.
Desak will remain deceased at least time of this writing. His spirit are among those that will fight Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man in Avengers Prime #5.
Lastly, this is the last time we also see Jake Olson. Presumably, he ceased to exist when Thor was killed in Thor (vol. 2) #85. His exact fate is unknown. Interestingly enough, Thor’s previous mortal identity — Donald Blake — will return in Thor (vol. 3) #1. Blake explains that he was in a void of non-existence this entire time. Perhaps this is what happened to Olson.
Topical References
This story is stated as taking place in the year 2170, given how far away this date is from the present day, it could be considered factual. The only topical aspect of this future timeline is in measuring the length of time between the present day of the Marvel Universe and this future. As the Sliding Timescale moves forward, the gulf of time will shrink. Modern readers should consider all such measurements being relative to the date of publication.