Thunderstrike #19
A Day in the Life!
Trapped within Seth’s Armageddon Complex, Thunderstrike has blasted a hole in the ceiling with his enchanted mace. This has caused the complex to begin flood, destroying all of the equipment. Seth is furious and vows that Thunderstrike will die for this since he already has the mark of death upon him. However, before Seth can attack, the pair are swept up in a torrent of water.
Meanwhile, Stellaris has teleported Bloodaxe to the surface after the vigilante was defeated by Seth. Fearing for Thunderstrike’s life, Stellaris then flies over the Hudson River to search for signs of him. Instead, she spots a tug boat caught up in the whirlpool caused by Thunderstrike. Stellaris saves the man on board the ship before going back out to find her friend. It’s at that moment that Thunderstrike finally comes up for air.
Stellaris notices the mark of death on Thunderstrike’s chest and he tells her to forget about it as he’s certain it will be erased when he switched back and forth between his mortal guise since that always repairs his clothing and any injuries. With Bloodaxe seemingly fled, Thunderstrike then heads off to warn the Avengers about Seth. Little does he know that Bloodaxe is not far away and observing him from behind some wooden crates. They always though that Eric Masterson was weak because he showed his enemies kindness and compassion, but now that Thunderstrike has shown them the came curtsey by saving their life, they have a lot to thing about and re-evaluate.
Some time later, Thunderstrike arrives at Avengers Headquarters and meets with the Black Widow. She goes into the Avengers files on Seth and is surprised to see that the image of Seth they have on file is wildly different than the man he just fought.[1] Unfortunately, Thor — the Avenger who faced him the most — has left very sparse information on the villain.[2] The Widow recalls that the Black Knight was involved in Thor’s last clash with Seth and since he never filed a formal report, the Widow promises to look through his private journal to see if there is anything important there.[3]
The Widow also wants to talk to Thunderstrike about the phone calls they keep getting from Marcy Steele. As Hercules overhears their conversation, ‘Strike explains that she has been trying to get him to be the spokes person for her health club and appear in commercials. She has been pressing on the issue since Thunderstrike recently trashed her apartment.[4] He tells Natasha that he was reluctant to agree to it without talking to her first. The Widow understands the situation and gives him clearance as long as he does a charity appearance on her behalf.
Eric agrees and heads off to spend some time with his son Kevin before the boy is forced to move to California with his mother Marcy and step-father Bobby.[5] When Eric arrives at Salon Steele, Marcy’s health club, and finds Kevin with his nanny Susan Austin and his teacher Ed Marrero. Upstairs, Marcy and Bobby are discussing their decision to move to California. Bobby tells him that the New York Smashers gave him an ultimatum: Get traded to the team in Los Angeles and retire from football. Since the sport is his entire life he is not ready to give up on it yet. Marcy has been questioning their marriage for some time and Bobby can sense it.[6] He promises her that if she and Kevin go with him to California he’ll make up for everything wrong he has done recently and repair the damage to their marriage. When he kisses Marcy it feels like the old Bobby Steele that she fell in love with and decides to give this a shot. As Bobby heads out, he runs into Doctor Gary Patersky who says he just signed up for a membership at Marcy’s club.
While not far away, Eric introduces Kevin to his new roommate Leah Princess — aka Stellaris — and the young man is rendered speechless by her beauty. They are interrupted by Marcy who has come to hassle Eric about getting Thunderstrike to show up for the commercial shoot. He tells her that Thunderstrike will be there this time. Stellaris meanwhile heads toward the locker room where she runs into someone she recognizes not just as someone in Eric’s personal life but as Bloodaxe. Since their double-identity is secret, “Leah” brings the person into the women’s locker room and tells them that she can tell they are Bloodaxe because she did a genetic scan on them when she rescued the vigilante from Seth’s hideout. She tells this person that they will have to come clean to Eric about their secret life sooner or later.[7]
Back in the Hudson River, Seth has managed to escape from the destruction of his Armageddon Complex in a submarine piloted by his private army, the Serpent’s Teeth. The death god has retreated to his private quarters and ordered his men not to interrupt him. From there, Seth sends his astral projection back to the ruins of his base to see if anything is salvageable. There he runs into the disembodied spirit of Loki, the Norse trickster god, who suggests that they team up as an alliance could be mutually beneficial.[8]
Meanwhile, Eric Masterson spends some time with his son Kevin. Rather than saying what needs to be said, Eric instead focuses on trying to hype up California for the boy. When Eric leaves to pick up his duties as Thunderstrike, he kicks himself for not using the time more wisely. When he arrives at the TV station for the charity event he signed on for on behalf of the Black Widow, Thunderstrike is rushed onto make up and tossed on stage with no idea what’s going on. He soon discovers — much to his horror — that this charity spot is on a shopping channel selling Avengers merchandise for charity. He also has to answer questions from people calling in to the studio. To Eric’s chagrin, they keep mistaking him for Thor.
The experience is so humiliating to Eric, when he returns home he had decided that Thunderstrike won’t be doing Marcy’s commercial. When he calls her to tell her, he is shocked to hear that Hercules showed up to do the commercial in his place. Marcy is even more pleased to have an Olympian god promoting her health club especially how she saw Thunderstrike bomb on live TV earlier in the day. When Eric is finally off the phone with Marcy, Stellaris tries to tell him about her encounter with Bloodaxe. However, before she can reveal their true identity their roommate Samantha Joyce arrives with Chinese take-out for dinner. Tabling the conversation until they can talk in private due to Eric’s secret identity.
After dinner, Eric heads up to his room to do some work for Rave Architectural Design before hitting the sack. Going into his private bathroom to wash up, Eric strips off his shirt as he washes his face. When he looks back up in the mirror he is shocked to see that Seth’s mark of death is still imprinted on his chest.
Recurring Characters
Thunderstrike, Seth, Loki, Stellaris, Bloodaxe, Marcy Steele, Bobby Steele, Kevin Masterson, Susan Austin, Ed Marrero, Gary Patersky, Samantha Joyce, Black Widow, Hercules
Continuity Notes
Seth looks radically different here than he has in the past. Although his true identity is called into question here, they are the same character. In Seth’s profile in Marvel Zombies: The Book of Angels, Demons & Various Monstrosities #1 it is confirmed that this is the same Seth we’ve seen in every other instance.
Thor has encountered with Seth on number of occasions at this point in time including Thor #240-241, Marvel Two-In-One #22-23, Thor Annual #10, Thor #390 and 395-400.
The reason why the Black Widow has to look in the Black Knight’s diary instead of contacting him directly is because he and Sersi had left for another dimension in Avengers #375. He will return to his proper time and place in Heroes for Hire #2.
When Marcy’s husband Bobby Steele locked himself in Eric’s son’s bedroom, he tried to save Kevin as Thunderstrike. This trashed the apartment and was received very poorly by the Steele’s, as seen in Thunderstrike #8. Marcy has been trying to get the hero to be pitch man for her company since issue #2. She has since threatened to sue him for the damage done to her apartment unless he does these commercials.
The Steele’s have been planning to move to California since Thunderstrike #12.
Bobby Steele has been a utter dick since Thunderstrike #1. As explained in issue #8, he had been abusing steroids to try and recover from his slumping performance out on the filed. This made him increasingly violent and paranoid. He struck Marcy and kidnapped Kevin in issue #2, and then there was the episode where he locked himself in Kevin’s room in issue #8.
The appearances of Bobby Steele, Ed Marrero, and Gary Paretsky at the health club all at once is to make readers wonder which one is the really Bloodaxe. However, these are all red herrings. The real clue is the fact that Stellaris drags Bloodaxe into the women’s locker room, identifying her as a woman (keeping in mind that this story was written in a time when most people only recognized binary genders). Anyway, in case you missed it in literally every index I’ve written for this series, Bloodaxe is identified as Jackie Lukas in Thunderstrike #22.
At the time of this story Loki’s physical body had been destroyed back in Thor #432. This was all part of an intricate plot to take possession of Odin’s body and rule Asgard in secret. This was exposed in Thor #453-455. Since then, Loki has been without a physical body. He will have a new one made for him in Thunderstrike #21.
Topical References
When talking about his ability to work from home Eric states that he can send all his work to Rave Architectural Design via fax modem, aka a fax machine. This should be considered a topical reference since this is an obsolete technology. A modern architect would do all his work and submit it electronically these days.
