Forced Perspective

Balder watches as Thor leaves Asgard on some kind of mission. He is soon visited by Loki who wonders what Balder is thinking of.[1] Balder has no interest in speaking with the trickster and makes that known. Loki acts hurt, telling him that his change hasn’t just been in his gender, she has changed her entire way of life and has vowed to never tell a lie again. Balder doesn’t buy it and tries to walk away. As they pass the Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg), Fandral mocks the former trickster.

Now with a captive audience, Loki points out that even though Thor has given them a new lease on life and they can come and go as they please, they have no direction, no common goal. She says that staying in Asgard all the time is just squandering the gift that they have been given and Loki doesn’t intend to do that. Before she leaves, she tells them that she has heard of some Frost Giants who have also survived Rangarok that have been spotted on Midgard.

This gets Balder’s attention and moments later, he visits Loki in her chamber where she is going over old spells. He wants to know where the Frost Giants are and is told that they are terrorizing locals in the Rocky Mountains. In fact, she has cast a spell that will turn an ordinary doorway into a portal to get him there and gives him a magic ring that he can use to recall himself back to Asgard once he has dealt with the Frost Giants, all he need to is whisper Loki’s name. Balder takes the ring and considers this for a moment, then warns Loki that if she is lying to him in anyway, he will kill her. When Balder walks through the door, he appears on the snow covered mountains of the Rockies and feels right at home.

Meanwhile, Volstagg has approached Heimdall and asks him if he can tell him about the fate of the Avengers. Heimdall says that there are many teams that go by that name now, but the original team exists after a fashion.[2] Volstagg then explains that he wishes to join the Avengers, but this leads to Heimdall making fun of his weight. However, before the two can come to blows, they are interrupted by calls from the ground. It is young Bill Cobb, who works in the diner in nearby Broxton, Oklahoma. He has come to see if Kelda is home and the two gods realize that the mortal is smitten with the beautiful goddess.[3]

At that same moment, Balder is searching for the Frost Giants reported by Loki. He thinks about his purpose in life, thinking about how he was known as “Balder the Death Bringer” because of the prophecy that his death would signal the start of Ragnarok. From the day he was old enough to carry a sword, he dedicated himself from preventing that from ever happening. Unfortunately, it did, Balder died and Ragnarok began. However, even in this he was a failure, as Thor managed to find a way to break the Ragnarok cycle so that it would never happen again.[4] Now Balder finds himself without a purpose and wonders what his place is in this world and if there is any at all. Off in the distance, Loki shows the Frost Giant that Balder is looking for him and tells it to prepare a welcome for the warrior.

Back in Asgard, Kelda has come to the edge of the city to meet with Bill. The young mortal has brought her flowers but they are too light to toss up to her. After a few failed attempts, he ties the bouquet to a rock to throw to her. It works, but he accidentally hits her with it in the process. Kelda assures him that she’ll be fine and tells Bill that she is going to fetch a ladder so he can come up.

Meanwhile, in the Rockies, a father and son are forced to pull over when their car somehow begins overheating, almost as if by magic. As they look in the engine to try and figure out what’s wrong they are attacked by three Frost Giants. Luckily, Balder arrives to save them and kills two of them. The third proves to be much stronger, and although Balder slashes its throat, it manages to pin him to the ground. That’s when Loki arrives and stabs the giant from behind. When he tries to talk — and potentially reveal how Loki set this all up — the trickster kills the last giant. That’s when a police officer arrives on the scene. Seeing the bloody carnage all around, the officer pulls his gun and orders them to surrender. That’s when the father tells the officer that the two Asgardians slaughtered the Frost Giants in front of his son.

Back home, Kelda shows Bill around and he feels really out of place among the Asgardians. Kelda speaks of how mortals and gods used to interact with one another frequently centuries ago, mentioning how they even shared beds together. She then says that she hopes that day will return, implying she wants to sleep with him. When Bill asks her to repeat the last thing she said, she escorts him to her home. Not far away, Fandral comes looking for Balder, but nobody has seen him since earlier this morning. This bothers him, as he has heard some distrubing news.

As it turns out, Balder and Loki were arrested by the police and used their one phone call to contact Thor with the Avengers to bail them out. When Thor arrives, the officer apologizes, as they aren’t entirely sure what Asgard’s diplomatic rules are.[5] However, now that forensics has confirmed that the Frost Giants they killed weren’t human and they are free to be released. When Balder tries to explain himself, Thor says they will discuss things at home and orders Loki to transport them all back to Asgard. When they are there, Thor pulls Balder aside to have a talk. As they pass Bill trying to teach some Asgardians how to play basketball, Thor tells Balder that while he said they were all free to come and go, the world outside is new to them and there are rules they have to be aware of when dealing with he mortals. He wishes that Balder had come to him first before venturing out alone.

After this meeting, Balder goes back to Loki and confirms that what she said earlier was true, that Thor wants them to do things his way. However, he doesn’t feel right questioning Thor but he feels so lost and directionless. Loki can understand this given the fact that he was orphaned when his parents were killed by Frost Giants. However, Loki asks Balder what he would think if that was all a lie, that his parents were actually Odin and Frigga, and that Thor is his half-brother and has an equal entitlement to rule Asgard?[6]

Recurring Characters

Thor, Balder, Loki, Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg), Heimdall, Kelda, Bill Cobb

Continuity Notes

1. Loki is appearing here as a woman because he has stolen Sif’s body to take on the female form, as explained in Thor (vol. 3) #12. As we saw in issue #8, Sif’s soul is trapped in the body of an elderly woman named Rose Chambers. This will remain the status quo until Sif is saved in Thor #602.

2. Volstagg is referring to the original team, which Thor helped found back in Avengers #1. That version of the team was disbanded following the betrayal and attack on their home by the Scarlet Witch in Avengers #500-503. At the time of this story, there are two teams of Avengers one led by Luke Cage formed in New Avengers #1, and another by Iron Man which was formed in Mighty Avengers #1. The original team won’t be reformed until Avengers (vol. 4) #1.

3. Bill first met Kelda back in Thor (vol. 3) #6 when he bumped into her exploring Broxton on her own and she invited him to come visit her in Asgard sometime.

4. Ragnarok was known as the Twilght of the Gods, was a prophecy that the gods would perish. There are many different versions, the first which was told in the fiction was in Thor #128. In Thor #293 and Thor (vol. 2) #84, it was revealed that Ragnarok is actually a cycle of death and rebirth, that was manipulated by the beings known as They Who Sit Above in Shadow. One of the pillars of this prophecy was that Balder was the first to die. During the last Ragnarok cycle, Balder was indeed killed as seen in Thor (vol. 2) #81. In Thor (vol. 2) #85, Thor stopped the Ragnarok cycle from repeating once and for all. Thor later resurrected the Asgardians between Thor (vol. 3) #1-5.

5. Iron Man arranged for Asgard to have diplomatic immunity in Thor (vol. 3) #3.

6. Balder’s true parentage is confirmed next issue. Thor would be considered Balder’s half-brother because they don’t share the same mother. As per Thor #301, Thor’s biological mother was Gaea the Earth Goddess.