Merge:Thunderstrike (Eric Masterson)

Eric Masterson is a character in the Marvel Comics universe acting as a superhero under the names of Thor and Thunderstrike. His son, Kevin Masterson also took up the name of Thunderstrike in the MC2 universe that takes place in the future.

Character biography
The Norse thunder god Thor merged with an Earth architect called Eric Kevin Masterson, who - after Thor seemingly killed Loki - would be given the form and power of Thor in the original's stead while Thor was sealed in a corner of the merged body's mind. Eventually, Loki would be revealed to have possessed Odin to manipulate matters, and both he and Thor were restored to their own bodies.

Eric returned to Earth and continued fighting crime, even joining the Avengers since for a brief time he still had a direct connection to Thor's powers. Although he and Thor were separate beings once again, Eric found he could still transform into the Asgardian body. Thor gave Eric Mjolnir and bid Eric return to Earth and continue as its protector. Eric's position as Thor didn't last long, however; he was manipulated by the Enchantress into attacking Thor over Sif's affections. Thor tried to talk Eric down until Eric hit Sif, which provoked Thor's anger. Thor defeated Eric easily and reclaimed Mjolnir for himself. Odin appeared and revealed the Enchantress' hand, but Eric was humiliated and no longer believed himself worthy of carrying on in Thor's name. Odin assured Eric that, although Mjolnir was created for Thor alone, Eric was still quite worthy and rewarded him with an enchanted mace called Thunderstrike, after which he would change his heroic name to match the mace.

During his first battle with the powered anti-hero Bloodaxe, Eric realised that while he retained the appearance of Thor that he had had while using Mjolnir, his strength was greatly diminished. He also found out (while being beaten to a pulp by Bloodaxe) that the Thunderstrike Mace had several differences to Mjolnir. He was unable to command the storm, call upon lightning or perform many of the weather based attacks that Mjolnir had allowed him to perform.

After his defeat to Bloodaxe, he decided that a new costume was in order so that Thor's reputation would remain intact. He abandoned the cape, boots and signature winged helmet in favor of leather boots and vest, a lightning bolt earring and a ponytail. When he was identified as Thor after defeating Bloodaxe, he replied "No. He's the other guy. My name is..er..Thunderstrike", taking the name of his mace when unable to come up with something better.

Bloodaxe would continue to be Thunderstrike's main foe throughout the 24 issue run of his solo comic. In the end, Thunderstrike defeated Bloodaxe (who was on 'his' way to try and kill Seth, the Serpent God of Death) only to discover that she was his love interest Jackie Lukus. Realising that the only way to defeat Seth was by increasing his own power levels, Eric allowed himself to succumb to the homicidal curse contained within Bloodaxe's axe (Formerly the axe of Skurge the Executioner) in order to possess enough power to battle and defeat Seth. After he had seemingly slain Seth, the Avengers attempted to take the Thunderstrike/Bloodaxe amalgam down for murder, only to find he was beyond their control. After defeating most of the Avengers with little to no effort, Thor arrived to face down his former friend. It was at this time that Eric managed to plead "stop me Thor...please stop me...if you can..". During the ensuing slug-fest with Thor, Eric's body is possessed by the axe, leaving Eric's consciousness to battle in his own mind against the personification of the axe's evil. Skurge is not only his mental avatar and ally in defeating the axe, but also the cause of the evil that threatens to destroy Eric entirely. Eric managed to put the Asgardian majicks of the Thunderstrike Mace against the similar majicks of Skurge's axe. The resulting psychic backlash then destroyed Thunderstrike, and assumedly the two weapons as well.

Thunderstrike is later greeted in Valhalla by Thor, but Eric states that Thunderstrike is not who he is. Odin agrees and despite Thor's protests, Eric reasons that Valhalla is not where he belongs. Thor begrudgingly accepts this, as Odin leads Eric off to a shaft of light.

Thunderstrike would later appear (complete with mace) in Avengers Vol. 3 #10 & #11 as an undead Avenger minion of the Grim Reaper. After overcoming the Grim Reaper's control, he (and other undead Avengers) were returned to the spirit world by the Scarlet Witch. It is not made clear if this was Eric that returned, or a magical construct of some sort, although his last words were to Thor in regards to checking on his son Kevin.