Thor Odinson (Earth-616)/Expanded History

Ancient History

Preface One: History, Myth and Legend

Nature of Asgard

In order to understand the history of the Asgardian thunder god known as Thor, one must first understand the nature of the Asgardian people. Although their true origins are lost to antiquity, the Asgardian people, native to the dimensional realm of Asgard, have spent centuries as slaves to the mysterious being known only as Those Who Sit Above in Shadow. These immensely powerful beings have utilized the Asgardian people to sustain and increase their ever growing power. Generally, the people of Asgard had long believed Those Who Sit Above to be only myth, the only member of this pantheon who was aware of the full truth was Thor's father Odin, who for untold centuries has attempted to break the hold Those Who Sit Above have had on his people.

This cycle of death and rebirth has since been called Ragnarök, or the Twilight of the Gods. Each cycle. This cycle has appeared to be part of the Celestial Axis of the Zodiacal Procession. Asgard and eight of the Nine Worlds within are linked to the planet Earth in another dimension via the celestial equator. Each Ragnarok cycle has been run roughly every 2160 years. Each new cycle would occur basically the same with varying differences. Thor himself would relive his life over and over, sometimes different in appearance, sometimes different in overall character. His relationships with his fellow gods also varied from cycle to cycle.

The Myth

The people of Asgard were worshiped by the Norther Germanic tribes, predominantly during the middle ages, particularly by the Norse and Scandinavian tribes of the time. Many texts and interpretations of this mythology have been transcribed over the years. With many texts of this level of antiquity there are many contradictions of tales due to varied translations, different interpretations, adoptions, as well as tales being rewritten or lost to the ages. The history of Thor native to the Earth-616 universe, due to the cyclical nature of his life, appears to have lived many loose interpretations of these myths in one form or another.

Generally speaking, most myths state that the people of Asgard had their beginnings with the birth of the Frost Giant Ymir who rose out of the the frozen waters of the Well of Life many millennia ago. This was followed by the birth of the cow known as Audmilla who was protected and nourished itself from Ymir's body. From this feeding from the ice Audmilla uncovered the first of the gods, Buri. Buri later married the Frost Giantess as a wife who bore him a number of children. Among these children was Bor, who begat more children with his wife Bestla, among these children was Odin. Odin eventually became the ruler of the realm of Asgard and lorded over its Nine Worlds. Odin, through his wife Frigga had a single son, Thor, who grew to become the god of thunder and eventually wielded the mystical Uru hammer known as Mjolnir. Thor's greatest adversary in these myths was his half brother Loki, the son of Laufey one-time leader of the Frost Giants who was slain by Odin. When Laufey was slain in battle, Odin took Loki in as one of his own, and the youth grew up to become the god of mischief. According to the Ragnarok myth, thanks to the machinations of Loki Asgard would be laid to waste thanks to the unleashing of the Fenris Wolf, Jormungand the Midgard Serpent, as well as the armies of the undead unleashed from Hel. During the final battle all the gods perished and Asgard was destroyed, Thor himself falling in battle after being poisoned by Jormungand. In the aftermath, what was left of Asgard was swallowed up by Fimbulvetr, or the Endless Winter.

Unfortunately, how much is truth and how much is myth cannot be determined to the antiquity of the tales, the uncertainty as to the origins of the Asgardian people, as well as the constant cycle of death and rebirth literally rewriting the lives and memories of all its people. What can be confirmed is that in each cycle to date an incarnation of Thor had died, but his essence was reborn with each renewal of the cycle. Over the millennia the Asgardians were slaves to their fate thanks to the machinations of Those Who Sit Above, although with each rotation Odin would attempt to break the cycle. Thor would frequently be used as Odin's means to break this cycle. Odin had often theorized that placing his son among humanity would ultimately make him unpredictable to Those Who Sit Above. Odin hoped that this would one day allow his son to break the cycle that he and his people found themselves perpetually trapped within. Odin's dreams would not be realized until many centuries later.

Past Cycles

Thor during the Third Ragnarok cycle

The earliest incarnation of Thor recorded to date was during the third Ragnarok cycle. This incarnation of Thor was a ruthless warrior who had little time or interest in the revelry of his fellow Asgardians who during this cycle lived opulent and hedonistic lifestyles between battles. The people of Asgard were not immortals, but enjoyed an extended life span and vitality from the Golden Apples that came from the World Tree Yggdrasil, which were picked by the Enchatress. While the other warriors gorged on these apples, Thor rationed him, choosing only to consume his supply before going into battle. Following a battle against an army of Frost Giants, won thanks primarily to Thor, a Frost Giant posing as a mortal human offered to fix the gates of Asgard, promising to complete the task within six months. If he succeeded, he would be given the Enchantress as a bride. Odin accepted this bet thanks to coaxing from Loki. When the giant nearly succeeded it was denied and revealed itself. When it attempted to attack, Thor slew the giant. Although his trick was foiled, during the eleventh Ragnarok cycle, Loki tricked the Enchantress into willingly going to the leader of the Frost Giants. When the Asgardians realized this and that they were cut off from the power of the Golden Apples, they attempted to get more from Thor he refused them. Thor did not act until Loki attempted to save the Enchantress and was hunted by the ruler of the giants. Thor slew the Frost Giant, though he was none too impressed with how careless his fellow Asgardians had been.

Tor the Farmer

What followed was a long and bloody war against the Frost Giants where Thor battled along side Balder the Brave, Loki, and the Warriors Three. Seeking revenge against the gods of Asgard, a clan of Dwarves used one of their own who resembled Thor to frame him for slaying his fellow gods. Thor was presumed guilty by all including his father after an investigation was carried out by the Warriors Three. Thor soon found himself an outlaw. Thanks to the Warrior's investigation Thor was able to determine who was responsible for framing him. Thor found the leader of the Dwarves and slew his impostor. Although Thor began assisting his father in battling Surtur, he is still held a grudge against his father and his people for being quick to condemn him for crimes he did not commit. Growing fed up with this, Thor decided to leave Asgard. He spent the next four living in a small village on Earth. He took on the name Tor and began a relationship with a widow named Atali and helping her raise her son Elof. Although he lived the life of a simple farmer, he frequently came to defense of the village from marauders. His peace and tranquility was quickly ended when Balder came seeking his aid in helping repel Surtur once again. After succeeding in forcing Surtur back to his realm, Thor had no interest in returning to Asgard and returned to his wife. However, upon his arrival Thor found that Elof had died of a plague and Atali was in the final stages of the illness. She told "Tor" to go to her sister before dying herself, but Thor found that none of Atali's family had survived. After using his godly might to repel another army of invaders, Thor came to realize that he could no longer call Midgard home and grudgingly returned to Asgard.

Thor battles Odin in the Destroyer armor

During the twenty-third Ragnarok cycle, the daughter of the Frost Giant slain by Thor over the life of the Enchantress came seeking reparations from Odin for slaughtering her daughter. Thor was present when Odin agreed to present three gifts to the female Frost Giant and sent Loki to Nidavellir to have them constructed by Dwarves known as Grerr, Alfrigg and Dvalin. One of these items was a sword that could slay Frost Giants and Odin used it to kill the Frost Giant. The Dwarves then returned to Nidavellir with the other two items, a golden arm band and necklace. The Enchantress sought to claim the necklace for herself and had sex with the Dwarves in order to claim it for her own. When Odin discovered this he angrily took the necklace from her. Furious at this affront, the Enchantress then put a curse raising the dead and unleashing them upon Midgard. Thor was sent to Midgard to defend Odin's followers. He traveled there on his chariot pulled by his horses Slaughterbit, Swamptooth, Snow Harpy and Warhoof. He then had his followers make a number of sacrifices so that Thor could control the massive Blood Colossus, warning the humans not to eat his horses no matter how hungry they became. After Thor destroyed the army of the dead he found that the people disobeyed his command and ate his horses. Thor angrily caused massive flooding to the land of his followers before returning to Asgard. There Thor used magic to create a new horse, the mighty Sleipnir.

Arkin Torsen

Giving into his rage, Thor began waging war across the Nine Worlds of Asgard. Over the next 40 days and nights Thor shattered the roots of Yggdrasil, spat in the Well of Mimir, laid waste to Jotunheim, stricken Midgard with floods and famine, and waged war on both Svartalfheim and Hel. This so angered Odin that he commanded Brunnhilde and the Valkyrie to stop Thor's rampage. The thunder god was brought low as he battled in the realm of Neffelheim. However this attempt to apprehend Thor quickly ended when a massive Frost Giant attacked them and Thor helped vanquish the creature. Afterward, abandoning his previously dislike for revelry, he celebrated his victory with the Warriors Three and the Valkyrie much to the anger and irritation of Odin. Odin easily bested Thor in combat and then stripped him of his godly stature and send him to Earth in the mortal guise of Arkin Torsen, a village doctor with a lame leg who required a walking stick to move about. This, Odin hope, was to teach his son humility.

File:Thor Odinson (Earth-616) succumbs to the poison of the Midgard Serpent from Thor Vol 1 293.jpg

Thor succumbs to the poison of the Midgard Serpent

Eventually, Thor was restored to his godly form, however these and details of subsequent Ragnarok cycles are largely unrecorded. According to a tale recounted by Odin's eye, the next recorded incarnation of Thor was over 2000 years ago. This incarnation of Thor was unique compared to others in that he was depicted with red hair, as opposed to the more common blonde hair that all other recorded incarnations. This version of Ragnarok completed it cycle in much the same fashion as Norse myth: Odin was slain by the Fenris Wolf, followed by Thor who died by the poison of Midgard Serpent. Ultimately, Asgard was burnt to a cinder by Surter, leaving nothing of the old kingdom behind. There were survivors, that cycle's Balder, Odin's brothers Vili, Ve, Odin's other sons Vidar and Vali, the elder Hoder, and Thor's children Magni and Modi. On the day Jesus Christ was born in the town of Bethlehem, these last survivors of the last Ragnarok cycle began to recreate Asgard for the next cycle.

The (Re)Birth of Thor

Among the remains of old Asgard, the remaining gods found that those who perished during Ragnarok had been transformed into small wooden statues. Modi and Magni also located Thor's hammer Mjolnir, and deciding that they must live out this new world in peace tossed the hammer to Earth where it landed in the Rhine River in Switzerland where it transformed into gold. Odin's spear Gungnir was later found by Vili, Ve, Vidar, and Vali who all sought to claim its power. However, when all the men touched the spear at once they all merged into the current incarnation of Odin. With the knowledge of the Ragnarok that came before, the All-Father used his great power to resurrect all the Asgardian gods into new forms, all save for Thor. This account also states that Odin implanted memories of Norse mythology into their minds. Asgard was soon rebuilt and the Bifrost bridge to Earth was reconnected before Odin went to recreate his favored son. While this is the only recorded account of this point of time, the specifics recounted have been refuted. The possibility for this deception may have been intentional on Odin's part, as a means of covering up the existence of the Tenth realm of Heven following the war with that realm's Angels which led to the apparent death of Odin's first born daughter Aldrif .

Thor as a baby

In this cycle, Odin decided that his son Thor should be born with a direct connection to Earth. In order to facilitate this, Thor sought out the Earth mother Jord. Jord gave birth to Thor, and after a few months of weaning, Odin took the boy to Asgard where he was given into the care of his wife Frigga. It was not long after Thor's arrival in Asgard that Odin allowed his father Bor to seemingly perish battling Frost Giants by being turned into snow so that he could rule the kingdom himself. Growing up as a child, Thor often heard tales of his fathers various quests.

Childhood

It was during this period of time the Asgardian people discovered the existence of the so-called Dark Gods. When Odin's explorer Lonkarr accidentally slew the Dark God known as Tserron, her husband Perrikus the ruler of the Dark Gods declared war against Asgard. When Odin was defeated by Perrikus and his forces, he found new strength to fight back when young Thor refused to surrender. Odin and his warriors soon defeated the Dark Gods, but so traumatic the experience was the All-Father erased everyone's memories of the battle, including those of Thor. It was around this period which Odin also began raising Thor's adopted brother Loki after slaying his father Laufey. Early on Thor and Loki had a tight brotherly relationship, however this was soon tested thanks to Loki's constant mischief making. One day while Odin and his warriors were feasting, Loki convinced Thor to steal a bow and arrow and use it to shoot down a deer. Thor complied, but he was heart broken over killing an innocent creature that he confessed the deed to his father, who comforted the boy.

There are two differing tales of the events leading to the creation of Mjolnir. The first account occurred during one day of story telling, Odin told both Thor and Loki about how his spear Gungnir was forged by the Dwarves Brokk and Eitri. When the two boys were left alone, Loki attempted to handle the spear, but its mystical defenses caused it to transform into a serpent and attack him. Thor went to his step-brother's aid until Odin returned to stopped the attack. Having planned on sending both Thor and Loki on a quest to have three mystical items created, Odin decided to send only Thor as punishment to Loki. Loki followed Thor to the home of Brokk and Eitri disguised as a butterfly. While the two Dwarves attempted to create the golden bore Gullinbursti, a magical arm band, and Mjolnir, Loki attempted to ruin these creations. Loki failed in all, except that his interference resulted in the fabled Uru hammer to be cast with a shorter than standard handle. None the less, when Thor brought the three gifts to Odin, he chose Mjolnir over all. Odin then cast his own enchantments on the hammer so that it could only be lifted by one who is worthy, intending that his son Thor would one day become worthy enough to wield the hammer with the power of the storm.

File:Thor Odinson (Earth-616) as a child from Journey into Mystery Vol 1 113.jpg

Thor as a child

The second account states that the inciting incident leading to the creation of Mjolnir was while Thor and Loki were playing with their female friend Sif. After losing a game with Sif, Loki sought vengeance by cutting her hair as she slept. He only succeeded in removing a braid before Thor caught him and a fight broke out between the two. Odin interrupted this fight, punishing Loki and sending Thor to have the three artifacts made. Events recounted in this tale are more or less the same, although Loki later made a new head of dark black hair for Sif, in penance for cutting her original blond locks. After Mjolnir was enchanted so that Thor could only lift it once he became worthy, he became obsessed with trying to lift it to the point of frustration. Odin would tell his son that it would take time and patience to prove himself worthy enough to wield the mystic hammer.

Another tale from this period states confirms that Thor began his association with Sif as a young child. This story also accounts for Loki cutting Sif's hair and having blacken hair made to replace her ruined tresses, but this recounting does not involve the construction of Mjolnir. Shortly thereafter, Thor and Loki witnessed a fight between the warriors Uller and Volsak and the two made bets on who would win. However when it was clear that Thor's choice, Uller, was going to win, Loki used his magic to interfere with the match. Getting caught, Uller and Volsak were about to punish Loki when Thor intervened saying that he should be punished as well as he was guilty by association. Impressed with Thor's honor, the two men decided not to punish the young boys. The experience cemented Loki's growing hatred of Thor, and he soon began plotting to revenge for the first time.

In spite of Loki's hatred of his step-brother, Thor often came to his defense and helped get him out of serious punishment for his acts of mischief. Loki got into another hair cutting trick when he sheared all the hair off the beautiful goddess Gilmda. When Loki was caught, Thor convinced Odin to allow Loki to make amended. The pair then traveled to Nidalvellir to seek out the Dwarves who could spin new hair for Glimda. They found the sons of Ivaldi who needed gold to spin new hair. Thor gladly sacrificed a golden belt to make the hair which was later used to restore Glimda's beauty. When Odin realized what Thor gave up to resolve Loki's problems, he was proud of his son, while Thor continued to draw Loki's hire. Not long after this, the Wolves of Ravenswood began terrorizing the people living within them. When Thor asked to join the hunting party he was rejected. Thor was later convinced by Loki to go on his own, with Loki giving Thor an enchanted sword that would break the instant it was used. This is exactly what happened when he found the Wolves terrorizing Sif. The pair managed to get to higher ground and while holding the wolves back made enough noise to draw the war party who slew the wolves. Thor was then praised for his finding the wolves, much to Loki's chagrin. Thor dealt with some of Loki's mischief directly later while out hunting for geese with Sif. After a clean kill, Thor had his goose stolen by Loki.

Thor as an adolescent

Adolescence

By the time Thor was a teenager, he, Balder, and Sif entered into warrior school to hone their battle skills. Thor still continued to try and lift Mjolnir, but to date his attempts were in vein. During one of these attempts, Loki used his magics to set three massive spiders against the youths. Using teamwork, Thor, Sif and Balder slew the spiders and were commended by Odin who decided that the youths had proven themselves capable of being put on a quest. When Odin offered them to go on this quest, Thor spoke for all three in accepting it. They were to collect three items for the crafting of an enchanted weapon, a scale from the dragon Hakruei, a feather from Gnori the eagle, a jewel from the lands of Jennia, and a vial of water from the Lake of Lilitha. The trio soon began their quest, unaware that not only was Loki following them to cause mischief, but they were also being watched by Karnilla the Norn Queen

The quest got off to a rocky start as the three young heroes entered the land of Nastrond to collect the scale from Hakruei. Balder and Sif were not impressed with Thor volunteering them without their say, even though they would have accompanied him on this quest anyway. Their bickering was quickly cut short when Hakruei attacked, having been tipped off by Loki of their arrival. The trio put aside their differences long enough to work together and knock out Hakruei and claim the scale they required, thanks to the battle tactics of Balder. Later in the frozen realm of Jotunheim the trio almost parted company after fighting over the harshness of the winter cold when they were suddenly attacked by tiny ice creatures. Balder realized the creatures weakness, allowing the trio to destroyed them. They were soon met by Gnori who deemed them worthy of an audience and he gladly gave the group on of his feathers. They took a break in the tropical region on Jenna where Loki tricked Thor into stumbling upon Sif while she was swimming in the nude. This was the very moment that Thor and Sif came to realize that they were attracted to each other. Continuing their quest, the trio traveled into the desert region of Jenna where they were swallowed up by the desert. They were then attacked by the desert creatures there until Balder came up with the solution to stop them. Finding the gem they sought they managed to flee the creatures. In the realm of Lilitha they sought the waters from the Lake of Lilitha when they were confronted by Loki, who revealed his past tricks to them. He also warned them of Karnilla's attempt to stop their quest as part of a grander invasion of Asgard. Thor sent Sif and Balder back home while he quested on for the water. Arriving at the lake he found it dried out, although his quest was a failure he took some of the sand and rushed back home as quickly as he could. He arrived just as an army of Trolls attacked the gates of Asgard. Thor, Balder and Sif assisted in repelling the invaders and when the battle seemed won, Thor feel when he was struck by an arrow shot by Karnilla, fatally wounding the young god. After Odin defeated Karnilla in battle he found his son seemingly dead. In grief, Odin spread the vial of sand from the Lake of Lilitha on Thor, and Sif's tears caused the sand to transform into the lake's healing waters. These waters then revived Thor. Karnilla was not vanquished and when she threatened to slay Loki it was Balder that convinced her to end her hostilities. Seeing something in the young man, Karnilla let Loki free and teleported away. In the aftermath of the battle Odin used the gathered items to forge the sword Svadren and gift it to Balder.

Thor is enchanted by the Enchantress for the first time.

Thor, Balder and Sif then resumed their warriors training and eventually the romantic tension between Sif and Thor soon came to their breaking point. Their budding romance was then threatened by the sorceress Amora the Enchantress and the addition of Brunhilde to the warrior class. Loki and Amora sought to use Sif's jealousy against her and Loki tricked Sif into stealing the Mirror of Mycha which, combined with Loki's magic, could make whoever looked into the mirror fall in love with the one holding it. Sif stole the mirror in the hopes of forcing Thor to fall in love with her. However when she attempted to use it against Thor, it was taken from her by Amora who used it to make Thor fall in love with her instead. When Sif attacked Amora the Enchantress was defended by Thor. Sif's was also stymied from revealing the truth due to her involvement in stealing the mirror. However Brunhilde offered to help Sif and realizing that Amora tossed away the protective cloth that covered the mirror they used it to try and force her to reverse the spell on Thor. Loki and Amora tried to prevent this from happening but the two warrior women recovered the mirror and shattered it, freeing Thor from its spell. When Thor learned how Sif intended to use the mirror herself he was upset with her, but the two eventually reconciled with a kiss, starting their long brewing relationship.

Jarnbjorn

Thor armed with Jarnbjorn.

By 893 AD, Thor had began using an enchanted ax known as Jarnbjorn as his weapon of choice during this period. He also began a period of time living in Midgard among his worshipers. His earliest recorded exploit during this period was hunting down and slaying a Frost Giant that was terrorizing a village off the coast of Iceland. However the festivities following his slaying of the Frost Giant ended abruptly when the villagers discovered the severed head of a Manidoog god. The murder of this god deeply troubled Thor, but he hid this under a layer of false bravado. Thor later led his followers on a quest across the Baltic Sea, unaware that he was being stalked by Gorr the God Butcher who sought to destroy all the gods in the universe. Three days later Thor and his warriors arrived at the banks of the Neva River in what would later be called Russia. There they clashed with the Slavics, whom Thor challenged to summon their gods. When they called upon Dieva gods Perun and Chernobog, only their corpses were found. Thor investigated and was attacked by Gorr for the first time. Gorr would have overpowered and slew Thor, who was seriously injured by his attacker, if not for a last minute lightning strike by Thor.

Thor seemingly slays Gorr the God Butcher.

After a few days recovery, Thor went on an expedition to try and find and destroy Gorr. Along his hunt across Russia, Thor encountered the brutally mutilated god Hinkon and put him out of his misery before following Gorr to a nearby cave. Clashing with Gorr once again, Thor was easily over powered. Thor was then tortured by Gorr for days, as the god slayer attempted to learn the location of Asgard from Thor. When Thor refused to talk, Gorr prepared to slay the thunder god when his followers located the cave and attacked. During the course of the battle, Thor broke free and recovered Jarnbjorn and seemingly slew Gorr by striking him in the back of the head. Returning to Iceland, Thor was plagued by nightmares of Gorr. He was soon attacked by dark constructs created by Gorr's future self. Thor was then pulled forward in time some 4000 years into the future to Reality-14412 where Gorr had slain most of the gods of the universe and enslaved many others on his Black World. There the more powerful Gorr enslaved Thor and forced him to work with his other god captors to construct the Godbomb a massive weapon that was being constructed to destroyed every god across time and space.

Among those enslaved, Thor worked alongside the Goddesses of Thunder, the grand-daughters of his Earth-14412 counterpart. When the gods began plotting to fight back against their master, Thor offered to lead them, agreeing to take a supply of the explosive material used to construct the Godbomb and use it against the weapon. The material proved insufficient in destroying the Godbomb, but the resulting blast sent the Thor into Black World's orbit. There he was recovered by two of his future selves, a much older Thor from the modern era of his own reality, and King Thor of Earth-14412. The trio of Thors agreed to work together to destroy the Godbomb and vanquish Gorr once and for all. The trio of Thors attacked the Black World, and although they had the advantage of surprise, they failed to stop Gorr from taking a heart from one of the enslaved gods to use as a triggering device for the Godbomb. Attacking Gorr head on the three thunder gods pushed him into the heart of a nearby sun, but even with their combined strength, they were defeated by Gorr. While King Thor was crucified to a comet and Thor's future self left to die in the core of the Black World, the younger Thor was taken prisoner by Gorr to face more torture before the Godbomb was detonated. Thor fought back until his future counterparts managed to free themselves and strike back. While Thor clashed Gorr, his future self attempted to destroy the Godbomb. With the Godbomb destroyed, the older Thor -- armed with two Mjolnir's -- stripped Gorr of the All-Black the Necrosword, the source of his power. With his foe stripped of his neigh invulnerable power, the young Thor decapitated his foe, killing Gorr once and for all. With the threat of Gorr over, Thor was returned to his native era. Thor's memories of his battles against Gorr eventually faded with time. Thor returned to his people in Iceland, enjoying a lifestyle debauchery for a time.

Thor was later summoned by the women of the Faroe Island who believed the dragon Skabgagg was responsible for terrorizing their people. Thor hunted down the dragon, and discovered that it was not responsible for terrorizing the people. They then found that Rock Trolls were responsible. The two slew the trolls but got drunk off off grog until they blacked out. While Thor returned to Asgard to sleep off his drunk, Skabgagg was disowned by his people and returned to Faroe Island to party some more. The dragon drank all their mead, ate all their food, and accidentally slew one of their maidens. Thor was summoned once again, and was forced to slay his onetime ally. Also during this period, Thor led an army of Vikings to battle against Frost Giants who were active in the area attempting to resurrect their fallen leader Laufey. Thor and his warriors slew these giants, preventing the resurrection of Laufey, his skull lost at the bottom of the sea for centuries.

Thor and Sif's relationship begin

Worthy

Thor finally began making progress with Mjolnir, after he and Loki succeeded in a quest to rescue the eagle Gnori and a bounty of Golden Apples that were captured by a pair of Frost Giants. Thor was surprised to find that when he attempted to lift Mjolnir he was able to lift it a few inches off the ground. When Asgard was under threat from the so-called Forces of Evil, young Thor attempted to join in the battle, but was rebuffed by Heimdall the guardian of the Bifrost Bridge. Seeking someway to help Thor discovered a hole in the kingdom's defense wall (secretly created by Loki). His discovery coincided with the attack from the enemies of Asgard and Thor held his own against the Norn Hag, Ulfrin the dragon, the Rime Giants, the so-called Last of the Ice Giants, Geirrodur the troll, and the wolf gods Skoll and Hati. The Forces were then sent into retreat when Odin and his warriors arrived. In the aftermath of this battle, Thor found he could lift the hammer a little higher. Still Thor could not lift the hammer all the way, and the fact that Balder had his own enchanted weapon and he did not drove Thor with near insane determination.

Thor lifts Mjolnir for the first time.

Thor then traveled out to the Norns to learn when he would finally be worthy enough to wield Mjolnir. The three fates told Thor that he would finally prove worthy enough to carry the Mjolnir once he had faced death. Unsure what the Norns meant, Thor returned to Asgard to puzzle over it. It is here where accounts of what happened next greatly vary. In one account, Thor returned to Asgard to find himself too late to stop an attack from Frost giants. In this account, Thor was able to lift Mjolnir and got to Sif's rescue. Another account states that Thor returned in the middle of the battle and assisted in repelling the invaders. After learning that Sif was kidnapped, Thor petitioned his father to join the rescue party and was refused. It was then that Thor decided to try and rescue Sif on his own and was able to lift Mjolnir. A third account states that upon seeing the giants invading his home, Thor rushed to the royal armory where he caught Loki trying to lift Mjolnir. Pushing Loki aside, Thor was able to lift the enchanted hammer and use it to repel the invaders. Yet another account states that Thor did not obtain Mjolnir at this time.

Thor and Sif kiss for the first time.

Thor then stormed the castle of the giant known as King Rugga to rescue Sif. He learned that Rugga merely kidnapped Sif in order to turn her over to Hela the queen of Hel. There are also varied accountings of Thor's battle with Hela. In the original account, Hela had no clear motivation and would only surrender Sif if someone took her place. When Thor offered to sacrifice his own life for Sif, Hela was so touched that she allowed both to leave. Two other accounts state that Thor had actually clashed with Hela. In the first account Hela revealed that her motivation for kidnapping Sif was due to Thor cheating death. After Thor proved incapable of defeating Hela in battle he offered to sacrifice himself to Hela in Sif's place. Before Hela could take Thor's soul to Hel, she could not bring herself to do so because the pride Odin would feel over such a sacrifice would override any sense of loss Odin would feel. Accepting defeat, Hela returned to her own realm, allowing Sif and Thor to go free. In the account which states that Thor did not have Mjolnir for his battle with Hela, Thor was awarded the mystical hammer by Odin upon his victorious return to Asgard. This tale states that it was during a celebration feast of Thor's victory that the boar god Gullin who was attempting to invade Asgard. Thor secretly repelled this invasion with Mjolnir before returning to the festivities.

File:Thor Odinson (Earth-616) sent on a diplomatic mission from Thor Vol 1 466.jpg

Odin send the now adult Thor on a diplomatic mission

Early Adulthood

The next series of adventures of Thor that have been recorded all took place during his early adulthood sometime between the ages of 18 and 20. With the upcoming wedding of Lord Mord and Princess Una, Loki was not invited to the festivities. In revenge, Loki kidnapped Lord Mord and transformed him into a goat. Challenging the Warriors Three to recover Mord before the evening transpired making the transformation permanent. When the Warriors Three finally tracked down Loki, Thor accompanied them and helped defeated the trickster god in battle. Thor attended the wedding after Lord Mord was restored to human form. Odin then sent Thor out on a diplomatic mission across the golden realm to familiarize himself of the many lands of Asgard. Thor traveled to the Sea of Marmora where he established relations with the mermaid Udine, he ventured through the Forests of Enchantment, and Sigurd before venturing into Nidavellir where he passed through the Skornheim Mountains and beheld Skornheim Stronghold. After travelling beneath the roots of Yggdrasil, Thor headed home through the realm of Vanaheim where he encountered a troll drinking from a pond. When Thor attempted to drink as well the troll attempted to claim ownership of the water. Thor managed to keep his cool up until the troll insulted his father. Thor soon learned to not always rely on Mjolnir to win his battled during one venture when he crossed paths with a Storm Giant seeking to fight him. During the course of the battle Mjolnir was knocked out of his hand. Without his hammer, Thor realized that the Storm Giant's strength was tied into his contact with the earth. Thor then trapped the Storm Giant in a deep pit and escaped his defeated foe.

The next recorded tale states that Thor was sent on another quest for Odin, wherein he traveled to the realm of the dwarves and requested their king Sindri construct him a ship to use on his quest. Thor traveled to a mysterious realm where he clashed with the dragon Skord, as well as Gullin the boar god. He finally reached the realm of King Mirmir to deliver a branch of Yggrasil. With this branch Mirmir cast a spell that created Aske and Embla, the first humans to live on Earth. The validity of this tale is questionable. Another tale from this period of time states it was at this point that Loki cut Sif's hair. In this tale the adult Thor forced Loki to seek out Brokk and Eitri to weave new hair for Sif. However this tale is likely mistaken given the number of tales that state that these events took place during Thor, Loki and Sif's youth.

The Ring of the Nibelung

By this time Thor had entrusted the gold at the Nibelung river to the Rhinemaidens who failed to stop the Gnome known as Alberich from stealing the gold as he was able to get past the spell protecting the Rhinegold from all but those who do not know love. At that time Odin had entered a bet with two Storm-Giants named Fafnir and Fasolt to reconstruct the walls of Valhalla, offering to give them Idunn in exchange for completing the job. This bet was goaded on by Loki who swore that the giants would not succeed. However when they did, Odin was forced to honor his deal. As her was turning Idunn over to the giants, Thor and Frey attempted to stop this exchange from happening, attacking the giants. Odin stopped Thor from battling the giants, but soon realized that without Idunn his people could no longer obtain the Golden Apples that kept the Asgardians young and vital. Odin then made a concession with the Giants, to trade Idunn for something they considered equal of value. Learning that Alberich had stolen the Reingold, Odin sent Thor and Loki to recover it.

Thor in the mortal form of Siegmund

On Midgard, the two gods found that Alberich had fashioned the gold into a ring called the Ring of the Nibelung and a helmet called the Tarnhelm and used his new found power to force his people to mine gold for him. Thor and Loki clashed with Alberich who used the the Tarnhelm's ability to shapeshift to keep the two gods at bay. When Alberich was tricked into turning into a frog, Odin claimed the Nibelung and banished Alberich who put a curse on the Nibelung. Odin then turned the Nibelung over to Fafnir and Fasolt. Fighting over possession of the ring, Fafnir slew Fasol and teleporting away. During the fight, Odin, Thor and the others were visited by the fate known as Erda who warned that the Nibelung could bring about Ragnarok itself. Realizing the danger that Asgard now faced with the Nibelung loose, Odin erased Thor and Loki's memories of these events and began plotting to find a means to recover the Nibelung, which could not be recovered by Asgardian hands due to the promise Odin made to Fafnir. Odin then transformed Thor into a mortal Siegmund. Odin posing as a man named Wulf, raised Siegmund with a wife. Siegmund was also had a twin sister, Seiglinda. Wulf trained Siegmund and the pair often went hunting until one day when Siegmund was an adult they came home to find his mother and sister dead, slain by their apparent enemies. Wulf and Siegmund avenged the death of their family by slaying their foes, but when Siegmund awoke he found his father had departed to points unknown. While searching for his father, Siegmund came upon a woman being forced into a marriage by a group of barbarians. Siegmund threw himself at the warriors and began slaying them, but tragedy struck when the woman attempted to stop him from slaughtering those she called her brothers she fell under his sword as well. Shamed by what happened, Siegmund continued on, now calling himself the Woe-King.

File:Thor Odinson (Earth-616) as Siegfried from Thor Vol 1 297.jpg

Thor as Siegfried.

During a raging storm, Siegmund took shelter in a home owned by the warrior Hunding, invited in by his wife. When Siegmund explained his previous exploits, Hunding revealed that it was his family that Siegmund slaughtered, but the two stayed their hands when Hunding's wife reminded Hunding of his oath of hospitality to their guest. Hunding vowed that he would slay Siegmund in the morning once he was released from his oath. In the middle of the night Hunding's wife woke Siegmund and revealed that not only was she his long thought deceased sister, that their father Wulf had briefly stayed in Hunding's home and left a sword embedded in the tree that grew in the middle of the house, enchanting it so that only one who was worthy could remove it. Siegmund was able to remove the sword, and he called it Needful. The pair, having fallen in love with each other, then fled the home of Hunding. The pair fled to a nearby cave where they had a romantic interlude. Unknown to Siegmund this brief moment impregnated Sieglinda and Thor's essence was transferred to this unborn child. Soon Siegmund was visited by Brunhilde who warned him that he would die that day. Sure enough, Hunding managed to track them and during the battle Odin interfered ensuring that not only did Needful shatter in battle, but Hunding slew Siegmund. Killing his own son left a sour taste in Odin's mouth and he slew Hunding, but the essence of Thor lived on to complete Odin's plans.

Brunhilde fled with Sieglinda to Asgard and tried to hide her among the Valkyrie, but was forced to return her to Earth with shards of the shattered Needful, telling her that whoever reforges the sword would be known as Siegfried the Victor. Odin punished Brunhilde by stripping her of her godhood and leaving her in an eternal slumber upon a flaming mountain on Earth where she could only be awoken by a bravest of men. Meanwhile the pregnant Sieglinda was found by the gnome named Mime, who incidentally enough was the brother of Alberich. After Sieglinda died giving birth to young Siegfried, Mime took to raising the boy. Siegfried grew up to be a bold warrior who feared nothing. When Mime could not forge a sword that Siegfried could wield, Siegfried decided to solve the problem himself by reforging the remains of Needful. When Siegfried succeeded, Mime decided to use his adopted son to claim the Nibelung and convinced the brash warrior to face the Storm Giant Fafnir, who had long since taken up residence in Alberich's old cave and used the Tarnhelm to transform himself into a dragon. Siegfried battled the dragon Fafnir, and slew it. During the battle some of Fafnir's blood got in Siegried's mouth giving him new awareness. Dying Fafnir reverted back to his Storm Giant form and gave the Nibelung ring to Siegfried, which shrank in size so that he could wear it. Mime then attacked Siegfried in order to claim the Nibelung and the treasures inside the cave, but he landed in Fafnir's blood and died himself as it was poison to him. Taking the Tarnhelm as well, Siegfried then sealed the cavern with Fafnir's body, finding the gold of no interest to him. Suddenly having the power to understand birds, Siegfried was told of a beautiful maiden on a nearby flaming mountain top. He went to claim the woman, clashing with Odin along the way. Fighting past Odin, Siegfried reached the top and fearlessly passed through the flames. Waking Brunhilde with a kiss, the pair instantly fell in love with each other.

Using the last of her godly powers, Brunhilde endowed Siegfried with invulnerability from harm, as long as he was facing the danger, and he gave her the Nibelung to wear. Siegfried then left Brunhilde on the mountain while he went to seek out a quest. He found himself in the kingdom of King Gunther and his sister Queen Gutruna. Incidentally, Gunther's half-brother was a gnome named Hagen -- yet another relative of Alberich -- informed Gunther of Brunhilde and convinced both the king and queen that they could have the mates they desired. To this end when Siegfried came to the kingdom, Hagen tricked Siegfried into drinking a drugged drink that made him fall in love with Gutruna. In order to get Gutruna's hand in marriage, Siegfried was ordered to bring Brunhilde to Gunther to be married. Siegfried did so, using the Tarnhelm to make himself appear as Gunther and forced Brunhilde to return to Gunther's kingdom, taking the Nibelung off her finger in the process. When Siegfried resumed his true form during the wedding, Brunhilde revealed their relationship, which Siegfried did not remember due to the potion he was forced to drink. Thinking that Siegfried defiled his "bride to be" before their wedding, Gunther ordered Siegfried killed. However the warrior proved harder to kill due to the magics that protected him, however Hagen overheard Brunhilde talking of Siegfried's weakness. Eventually hostilities were ended when Gutruna ordered the battle stopped and convinced Gunther to let Siegfried live provided that she and her new bride promised to leave the realm.

Siegfried and Gutruna went into hiding as Hagen and Gunther still sought them out, although they only sought to claim the Nibelung. Siegfired had an opportunity to give the ring back to the Rehinmaidens, but he refused. Soon Hagen and Gunther caught up with them, and they convinced Siegfried that they came in peace. It was at this point that Odin's highly convoluted plan came to fruition and he sent his two ravens Hugin and Munin to distract Siegfried long enough for Hagen to impale him with a spear from behind. Because the attack came from behind it fatally wounded Siegfried and he died. His body taken back to the kingdom of Gunther, Hagen slew his half-brother trying to get at the ring, but was taken away by the king's men to be executed. Brunhilde then held a Viking funeral for her slain lover. When the funeral pyre was lit, Brunhilde jumped into the flames to die along with her lover. Their bodies were then recovered by the Valkyrie and brought to Odin in Asgard. There Odin restored the pair to their godly forms, Odin then took the Nibelung from Thor and broke it in half, ending its threat. He then sent both Thor and Brunhilde away, erasing their memories of everything they might have remembered of what had transpired.

Thor battles Hercules for the first time

Epic Quests

Upon his return to godhood, Thor began actively coming to the aid of those who worshiped him, the vikings. One of these incidents involved a battle between the Norse and the Greek. It was on this battle field that Thor first became aware of other pantheons of gods when he clashed with the Olympian demi-god Hercules. After a brief struggle, Thor stopped the fight and suggested that the gods fight in the place of their followers to see who was supreme, this challenge was accepted by Hercules and they agreed to meet with their respective armies soon. However when Thor returned to Asgard to petition Odin, he was refused. Loki meanwhile overheard this and posing as Thor traveled to Olympus to insult Hercules and his father Zeus. Zeus then declared war against Asgard and send Hercules and his armies. Thor responded in kind bringing an army of his own. Thor and his men won the battle and the Olympians retreated back to their realms, while Odin and Zeus met and made a peace pact. With his victory, Thor went to Greece to claim the people there as his new followers, but found that since the Greek did not worship the Asgardians and did not believe in them, Thor and his men had no power over them. Troubled by this, Thor paid a visit to Karnilla the Norn Queen to see what visions of the future she could show him. Karnilla showed him a glimpse of the distant future where he would fight among a group of champions who called themselves the Avengers. This gave Thor the drive to face the trials to come in the years ahead.

When it was learned that Balder left a battle to save some birds, he was put on trial. Odin had found him guilty of abandoning his post. Thor was one of the many selected to try and slay Balder for his crimes, but when nature itself came to Balder's aid while he bravely faced his execution, Odin deemed him worth and spared his life. Thor was next sent on a mission to the Troll kingdom of King Sindri and freed the slaves that were captive there. Later when Odin suspected that one of their own was betraying the Asgardians to their enemies the Mountain Giants, Odin pretended to banish Thor from the kingdom in order to flush them out. The traitor proved to be Loki's cousin Arkin the Weak who was smitten by the Mountain Giant's leader Queen Knorda. When Arkin informed Queen Knorda of this banishment, they attempted to slay Thor prior to the giants planned invasion of Asgard. Falling right into the trap, Thor led them into a box canyon where the Asgardians surrounded the Mountain Giants, who surrendered to Odin. During this mission Thor was possessed by the spirit of his future self, who had come to this era to obtain a sliver of a mystical golden apple. On his quest to search for the apple slice, Thor was attacked by his half-brother Loki. Breaking free, Thor learned that Loki sought revenge because his cousin Arkin was slain and Odin decided to give Knorda one of Idunn's golden apples and planned to send her to Earth to live as penance for trying to conquer Asgard. The spirit of Thor's future self realized that the apple, which had been sliced into portions and turned into gold by Odin, was what he sought. Learning that Loki tipped off the vengeful Mountain Giants to Knorda's mission on Earth, he rushed to her rescue. While the spirit of the future Thor recovered a slice of the golden apple, his past self was slain in the battle. However history was changed thanks to the future version of Knorda, who prevented Loki's betrayal saving Thor's life and allowing her past self to travel to Earth with the golden apple intact. Following these events, Odin provided advice to his son, telling Thor that sometimes the most simplest and obvious solution to a puzzle is likely the key no matter how impossible it may seem.

Around the year 900 AD, Thor went on a picnic with his mother, a rainstorm threatened it but Thor -- still learning how to control the storm -- used his powers to banish it, but not before soaking Loki. Furious, Loki traveled to Cragmouth where he convinced the Godstorm that Thor had no respect for the storm. Later when Thor went to assist some of his followers along the northern sea against a clan of Berzerkers, the Godstorm unleashed a powerful storm, goaded on by Loki. Thor meanwhile channeled all his power to control the storm and then banished the Godstorm beneath the waves where it would be trapped for many centuries. When Rampok the Rebel died in combat, Thor join his father in a war party to battle his surviving son Rivvak. Much to Thor's surprise, Odin called a retreat in the middle of the battle. After Odin explained to his son that he did so that there would be some legends of Odin being defeated so that their foes would have hope for victory, as none would fight an opponent they believed unbeatable. When returning home from a quest with Loki and Balder, Thor was tricked into entering the domain of Sigurd who attacked them for trespassing. The reclusive warrior had the upper hand against Thor until he discovered that Sigurd's power was drawn from the grown and used Mjolnir to toss Sigurd onto a passing asteroid before continuing the rest of the way home. While passing through Jotunheim, Thor and Loki came across some Giants trying to access a cave that would lead them to the realm of Olympus. Thor bested the creatures but fell into the cavern and found himself in Olympus. There he crossed paths with Hercules and the two fought it out over the right to cross a bridge. The pair were an even match and the battle was cut short by Zeus before a victor could be decided. Zeus then used his powers to teleport Thor back to Jotunheim and sealed the cavern to prevent Loki from accessing it.

Thor later led a number of Asgardian warriors against the giant known as Ghan, but the giant managed to escape thanks to some secret assistance from Loki. Later when Thor was sent on a diplomatic mission to the kingdom of King Hymir, Loki tricked Hymir into issuing a challenge to Thor in the hopes of gaining the king as an ally. Thor succeeded in capturing a massive fish from the Sea of Eternal Darkness and later -- thanks to some assistance from Hymir's suster Princess Rinda -- was able to smash a virtually unbreakable goblet. This made Hymir believe that Loki betrayed him, thus ruining any attempts at an alliance between the two.

Warriors Three

Thor next began a series of quests alongside the Warriors Three: Fandral the Dashing, Hogun the Grim and Volstagg the Voluminous. The earliest of these recorded adventures saw the trio accompanying Thor and Loki back to Asgard after a quest. Along the way Thor was challenged by the embodiment of Fear. Thor sent the Warriors Three back home while he and Loki ventured forward to meet the Dark Man's challenge. Along the way they encounter Fear's bride Desire and she attempted to seduce Thor while Loki fled. Thor resisted Desire and went on to battle Fear, whom he defeated. Fear then teleported Thor back to Asgard, warning him that they would meet again. Thor was next summoned along with Loki on a quest into Olympus after reports that Edda the Elder sought to eliminate Odin with the powerful Crystal of Blood. Knowing of the Crystal's location, Odin sent the two brothers to recover it. On their quest Thor was nearly seduced again, this time by the sorceress known as Shamballa. Thor resisted this and rescued Loki from Trolls who were in Shamballa's employ. Learning that the Crystal of Blood was located in the Cavern of the Screaming Skull they ventured in and battled an army of Titans as well as a massive dragon that protected the crystal. Loki got hold of the crystal first and boasted about using it to erase Odin from existence and rule over Asgard, but Thor smashed the crystal before he could do any harm. The pair returned to Asgard empty handed and Thor explained what happened, omitting Loki's attempted treachery. Later Odin took Thor aside and revealed that Odin had been monitoring the entire quest and that it was really a test to see if Thor was worthy of succeeding Odin as ruler of Asgard, a test that Odin believed his son passed.

Soon the threat of Ragnarok threatened Asgard again as the Odinsword began to crack signaling the beginning of the end. Seeking to halt Ragnarok, Odin summoned Thor and Loki and assigned them on a quest to prevent it from happening. Thor first paid a visit to Morduk who fashioned a map for Thor and also gave him the Crimson Hand a gauntlet that forced whoever shoot Thor's hand tell the absolute truth. This worked out well when Loki brought Braggi to be part of their crew. When Thor shook Braggi's hand he revealed that he was hired to assassinate Thor and was set fleeing. Soon Thor and Loki selected a crew, which included Balder, the Warriors Three, as well as Kroda the Dueler and Magrat the Schemer, the latter two loyal to Loki. After setting sail, Loki began trying to disrupt the voyage, first by picking a fight with Volstagg, but Thor and Hogun quelled the discord. Soon their ship voyaged across the Sea of Fear and began coming to the Pillars of Utgard which destroyed any ship that passed between them. As they approached they were hit by a storm that was forcing them toward the pillars. Initially the crew panicked, but Thor took command of the crew. As they drew closer still, Loki convinced the crew to mutiny, forcing Thor to fight his own men, but he was assisted by the Warriors Three. However all their efforts were for naught as they got too close to the pillars and the dragon Utgard attempted to swallow the ship. At the last minute Utgard was destroyed thanks to Balder the Brave, who blew a mystical horn that caused the massive stone dragon to shatter. The danger was not yet over, as they passed the realm of Thryheim where Queen Ula and her Flying Trolls resided. As Thor and his crew recovered from their battle with Utgard, Queen Ula unleashed her hords to attack their vessel. While Thor attempted to talk the Flying Trolls into peacefully dealing with the situation, Loki created a magical vapor that knocked out the first wave. Queen Ula then sent a second to capture Loki and bring him back to her castle in the hopes of luring Thor to her home. Thor did approach the queen as planned, but when Ula asked Thor to join her as her king, he refused and fought free, returning to his ship with Loki. Upon their return, Odin appeared before the crew and told them to return home as their quest was now over. Returning to Asgard, Thor and his crew were brought before Odin and the prophet known as Volla. Volla told them what Ragnarok would bring and then revealed the one who would be responsible for the coming apocalypse: Loki. After Loki was put in a state of suspended animation to prevent Ragnarok, Odin assigned Thor and the Warriors Three to a new quest: stop the barbarian known as Harokin who had captured the powerful Warlock's Eye.

Thor and the Warriors Three.

Thor and the Warriors Three then traveled to Harokin's stronghold in the realm of Muspelheim. A battle soon erupted, and Thor tracked down and battled Harokin. The thunder god easily defeated his foe, and quickly noticed that they shared a striking resemblance and decided to use this to gain access to the Warlock's Eye. Posing as Harokin, Thor had Fandral and Hogun taken prisoner. However before he could find the Warlock's Eye, it was recovered by Volstagg. When his obese ally caught up with him, Thor revealed his deception and Volstagg used the Warlock's Eye to defeat Harokin's army. With Harokin's defeat his armies surrendered to Thor and the Warriors Three. It soon became apparent that Harokin was going to die, and Thor and the others witnessed as the Stallion of Doom came to claim Harokin. The Stallion was quickly joined by Hela and the Valkyrie who took Harokin to his reward in Valhalla. Once Harokin was gone, Thor and the Warriors Three celebrated the brave warrior.

Thor and the Warriors Three were next sent by Odin to investigate the land of Nastrond which had since been wiped clean of all life by Odin. They soon discovered that the realm still had one inhabitant, it's riler the dragon known as Fafnir, who captured Volstagg in the night. Fafnir then attacked Thor and the others, who fought to free Volstagg from the dragon's clutches. Fafnir was ultimately defeated when Thor struck Mjolnir to the ground, causing a massive chasm that swallowed up the dragon and buried it alive. With Fafnir's defeat, rain began to fall in Nastrond and life once more began to grow.

On their way back to Asgard, Thor and the Warriors Three found one of Hogun's people tied up and left to die. Freeing the mortally wounded warrior, they learned that he was left for dead by the mystic known as Mogul, who was responsible for slaughtering Hogun's family and enslaving his people. Upon cursing Mogul, Hogun summoned the mystic who briefly battled the heroes before being pulled from the scene by his Devil Jinni, issuing a challenge to Hogun and his friends to try and find the location of his realm, the so-called Mystic Mountain. On their quest to find Mystic Mountain Thor and the others clashed with the one-eyed creature known as Ogur to find the mystic known as Wazir who provided them with the location of Mystic Mountain. Upon arriving at the mountain's location they found no trace of it. However, Thor correctly deduced that Mogul hid it below ground and used Mjolnir to make an opening. Their path was initially barred by the Jinni, but they held their own against the creature until nightfall, the Jinni's only weakness, forcing it to flee the scene. With the Jinni gone, Thor and the Warriors Three entered Mogul's kingdom of Zanadu. As Thor and the Warriors Three battled the forces of Mogul, they were separated from Volstagg who wandered off to flirt with Mogul's sister Shezada. Meanwhile, Mogul sent the thief Alibar to lead Satan's Forty Horsement to battle the invaders. Mogul then unleashed powerful fireball cannons on the warriors and then prepared to unleash the so-called Spotted plague upon the land. Thor and the others eventually defeated Mogul's minions when Alibar and the Demon Riders arrived. While Thor, Hogun and Fandral fought with these warriors, Volstagg encountered the creature known as Mutaurus and vanquished it with the Wizard Power. Thor and the others were assisted in battling Satan's Warriors by Alibar. When things began to look hopeless, they were rescued at the last moment by Volstagg who defeated the Demon Riders with the Wizard Power as well. Thor and the Warriors Three then stormed Mogul's throne room. They found it empty, by Alibar was able to conjure up Mogul's location in a viewing crystal. Seeing that Mogul was about to unleash the Spotted Plague, Hogun and Alibar cast a spell that seemingly slew Mogul, ending his threat. With their foe defeated, Thor and his friends put Alibar in charge of Zanadu.

Shortly after Thor's return to Asgard, the golden realm was attacked by Mogul, who was trapped within the Wizard Power and managed to free himself and invade Asgard. Thor, Fandral, Volstagg, Sif and Balder clashed with the resurrected Jinni, Ogur, Mutaurus, and the Devil Warriors. Meanwhile, Hogun and Alibar were being held prisoners within Zanadu. Breaking free they managed to recover a magic lamp which Alibar obtained during his days as a thief. By this point, Thor and his allies had defeated Mogul's forces and Thor was now battling Mogul himself. During the clash, Alibar used his magic to trap Mogul in the lamp ending his threat seemingly once and for all.

Return to Midgard

Thor and Loki once again found themselves in the realm of Jotunheim where they were attacked by giants once again. Fending them off, Thor realized too late that they were near the portal to Olympus that Thor entered in the past. He then failed to stop Loki from entering another cave. Following after his half-brother, Thor found that the tunnel transported him back in time to ancient Greece circa 1251 BC. Stripped of his memory by strange mists found in the cave, Thor came to the aid of Prince Aeneas of Dardanus who was hunting wild boar. He then learned of the conflicts between rulers King Menelaus of Sparta, King Odysseus of Ithaca, High King Agamemnon of the Argives, King Diomedes of Argos, and the warrior Achilles in what was later known as the Trojan War. Thor and Aeneas became fast friends and Thor was brought to the city of Troy where he witnessed a battle between Prince Paris of Troy and King Menelaus of Sparta, an attempt to end the war early. However during the course of the battle Paris was rescued by the Olympian goddess Aphrodite who invisibly pulled Paris from the battle before fleeing the scene. Seeing this due to his godly nature, Thor followed Aphrodite back to Olympus. There Thor's memory was restored by Zeus who told him not to meddle in the affairs of his followers. But learning about Aphrodite's interference Athena interfered with the conflict ensuring that the war continued on. When Aeneas was injured in battle, Thor stood in his place in the ensuing conflict incurring the wraith of Zeus. Zeus then subdued Thor in battle and forced him to return back to the cave and return to his own time. On his way back, Thor found Loki and brought him back to their rightful time as well.

Hyroglyphics of Thor after his adventure back in time to Ancient Egypt circa 2500 BC.

Thor next led Sif, Balder, and the Warriors Three into the Menhir Mountains in Jotunheim where they clashed with Queen Nerda and her Storm Giants while investigating reports that Nedra had a mystical portal that allowed her to travel to Midgard. When Volstagg accidentally fell through the portal, Thor and his allies went after him and found themselves transported through time and space to Egypt around the year 2500 BC. There they clashed with the demi-god Hosaain Tarree, as well as pharaoh Neb-Maat and his Children of Heliopolis. They found Volstagg about to be sacrificed to a mystical griffin. Thor slew the creature in order to save his friend, and with Neb-Maat and his minions defeated, Thor caused a storm to rage, helping the famine stricken region before he and his allies returned to their native home in time and space. Later when the Viking village of Redhangir was threatened by Hela and her minion Skald, Thor was sent to Midgard to come to its people's defense. Along side Redhagir's youthful ruler Einar, Thor vanquished Skald and forced Hela to flee. After a romantic interlude with Einar, Thor then returned home to Asgard. Shortly after this, Thor began to see the folly of coming to the aid of mortals. Seeing a Viking tribe living in poverty, Thor went against the wishes of his father to go to them and provided them with everything they needed. However, this proved to be more than Thor bargained for when he discovered that his aid had limitations, such as when he could not bring back an infant who died of illness. When the woman spat in his face, the other villagers killed her to avenge their god. Disgusted, Thor realized what Odin was trying to teach him and returned to Asgard. Thor then resumed his questing in Asgard along with the Warriors Three. But Thor was not entirely finished with his followers yet. When Viking tribes began exploring North America, they were besieged by Vampires under the rule of vampire lord known as Varnae. Thor was summoned by one of his followers and he defeated Varnae in combat, who fled. Thor was then forced to eliminate the Vikings that the vampire lord had turned into vampires.

Back in Asgard, Thor was one of the guests attending the wedding between Sigyn and Theoric. After the nuptials were completed, "Theoric" revealed himself to be Loki in disguise. Much to the shock of Thor and the others, Sigyn decided to honor her marriage to Loki despite his deceptions. Later Odin sent Thor on a quest to stop the warrior known as the Flame who was terrorizing the Nine Realms. The son of the fire demon Skulveig the light elf Aeltri, Thor unmasked the Flame in combat. When Thor tried to convince the Flame that he was not as hideous as his father claimed, the Flame seemingly committed suicide by tossing himself into a pool of molten lava, which Thor then cooled with rain. There the Flame remained trapped for centuries. Thor returned to Midgard shortly after this and crossed path with the wind Elemental known as Zephyr who was questing for the mystical Ruby Scarab. This encounter resulted in a brief romantic tryst. But the two nearly tore the Earth asunder by the resulting storms and parted amicably.}

Thor is celebrated by a Viking tribe

Worship's End

Loki and Thor found themselves lost in a previously unexplored region of Jotunheim, while there they were tested by the giant known as Utgard. Using magical illusions, he tricked Thor and Loki to participate in seemingly impossible tasks. Although they failed to complete the challenges, Utgard revealed that he was really testing their determination, and seeing their unwillingness to surrender, decided not to go ahead with his planned invasion of Asgard and teleported the two Asgardians home. Thor briefly returned to Midgard, where he was later celebrated by a Viking tribe. During that years Midwinter's Feast, Asgard was threatened by the troll known as Grylak the Greater. Thor was sent by Odin to destroy the asteroid that Grylak targeted as Asgard, and the thunder god then dispatched the troll. Thor later went to the aid of the Viking named Earl Harald Bloodax, who was caught in a storm. Dispelling the storm, Thor and Earl were attacked by a massive sea creature. While Thor slew the creature, it killed Earl in the attack. In the aftermath of this failure, Odin ordered Thor to visit the Fates every year and relive these events so he could be reminded of the folly of interacting with mortals.

Thor as Sigurd

In the year 950 AD, Thor returned to Midgard once again to defend his worshipers from the Annunaki god known as Marduk. Thor stripped Marduk of his godly powers, but cursed him to continue living on as an immortal. Thor returned to his followers once again, and bore witness to the brutality the Vikings were capable of when they slew the innocent woman D'Asai and her husband Egil in cold blood. Thor punished the band of marauders and resuced D'Asai's son Thialfi. Odin warned his son that it was time to turn away from their followers. In answer to Thor's concerns, Odin transformed young Thialfi into a god himself and took him to Asgard to be raised by the gods. Back in Asgard, Thor fell prey to an attempt by Loki, the Enchantress, and Executioner to enthrall Thor and trick him into opening a sealed gate into Jotunheim. Becoming aware of this deception, Odin sent Volstagg to prevent the trio from succeeding in their plan. During this adventure Thor wielded a sword, this was likely due to the fact that at the time Mjolnir went missing. As it turned out Loki orchestrated its theft with the Frost Giant known as Thrym in an effort to force a marriage between Thrym and the goddess Freya. In one of his more embarrassing efforts, Thor posed as Freya in order to sneak into Thrym's castle and recover Mjolnir. Thor once again was granted permission to return to Midgard to fight along side his followers. This proved to be yet another harsh lesson on the brutality of humanity when he witnessed his own Viking followers slaughtering innocent Christian monks. Thor vowed to swear off Midgard, but this proved a short lived vow. Not long after this, Thor was tricked into accepting a wager into joining an expedition on Midgard and not use his powers or face exile from Asgard. Thor accepted, and taking on the name Sigurd he joined an expedition leaving Norway. On board, Thor became fast friends with Baldric a member of the crew. While exploring an abandoned Atlantean tomb, the crew were attacked by mummies, and other mystically enhanced rodents and lizards. After Baldric was slain in battle, Thor realized that Loki was cheating and revealed his godly identity to destroy Loki's creations. Thor then returned to Asgard to get revenge against Loki, but Odin stayed his hand, chastising Thor for recklessly endangering Asgard by potentially getting himself banished.

Ten years later Thor returned to Midgard, resuming his identity of Sigurd he went to the village of his friend Baldric to check on his son Cedaric. Thor was surprised to find that Cedaric was a pacifist. But convinced the boy to learn how to fight when the warriors of Garmund the Grimm threatened to attack the village if their challenge to Cedaric's father was not answered. Garmund and his minions appeared to have the upper hand when using what seemed to be a dragon, but turned out to be a catapult disguised as a dragon. Cedaric disabled the device and stood up to Garmund until he and his minions fled. Although Thor was proud of Cedaric, the young man still renounced violence. Around the year 1013 AD, Thor returned to Midgard and began wielding his enchanted ax Jarnbjorn in favor of Mjolnir once again. While drinking in Scandinavia, Thor was attacked by the immortal mutant known as Apocalypse, who was manipulated into attacking Thor by the time traveler known as Kang the Conqueror. Thor was shocked to find that Jarnbjorn was unable to harm Apocalypse and he was forced to flee. Thor petitioned Odin to resume his attack on Apocalypse, but Odin denied this request, telling Thor that Apocalypse was chosen by the enigmatic Celestials as their agent and thus were unable to interfere. Kang, as part of his manipulations, disguised himself as Loki and offered to aid Thor in his quest for revenge. "Loki" then showed Thor one of Odin's secret spells that would empower Jarnbjorn enough to cut through the Celestial armor worn by Apocalypse. After casting the spell, Thor then traveled to London where the eternal mutant and his Four Horsemen were attempting to slay the pagan known as Folkbern Logan. Thor slew the Four Horsemen and mortally wounded Apocalypse, who was seemingly destroyed in the battle. When Thor returned to Asgard, he was chastised by Odin who warned that his actions that day would have grave repercussions in the distant future and he took Jarnbjorn away.

Back in Asgard, Thor was introduced to his half-brother Vidar, and assisted him in avenging the murder of his wife Solveig at the hands of the Storm Giants. Later when the golden realm was threatened by an invasion of Frost Giants led by Bjorn the White, the pair stopped the invasion, defeating Ymir himself, by trapping him below the surface of Asgard.

File:Thor Odinson (Earth-616) during the American Frontier from Black Panther Vol 3 45.jpg

Thor circa 1875

Modern History

American Frontier

Thor and his fellow Asgardians were not seen again for many centuries, having withdrawn from Earth. Thor next appeared in the state of Texas in the year 1875, during the days of the American Frontier. During this period, Loki had convinced a Troll to steal the Golden Apples of Idunn and secret them away to Midgard. However the Troll had second thoughts and offered to return them to the people of Asgard. Thor was dispatched to Texas to recover the apples, although without the apples he began to age rapidly. His attempts were complicated thanks to the Loki trying to obtain the apples himself as well as the baggage claim ticket for the trunk containing the apples was given to a gambler named Sundance. Also complicating matters was the arrival of the modern era hero the Black Panther, his Earth-1145 counterpart, and their allies Everett Ross, Monica Lynne, Queen Divine Justice, and Henry Peter Gyrich who were inadvertently transported to that era by King Solomon's Frogs. Everett ended up getting arrested for crimes committed by Sundance, Everett's apparent ancestor. Sundance freed Everett and the two ended up crossing paths and joining up with Thor to recover the apples. Meanwhile, the Black Panther and his partners accidentally tipped Loki off as to what the future had in store for them and so they called in some of their allies from that era, the western heroes the Rawhide Kid, Kid Colt and the Two-Gun Kid. Thor and the gathered heroes attempted to stop Loki from stealing the apples from the train they were on board, but failed to do so. Loki, restored to youth by the Apples then attacked the heroes with an army of Trolls. He then returned to Asgard to try and take the golden realm over. This plan was thwarted when Thor managed to obtain one of the stolen apples thanks to his allies and they followed Loki back to Asgard. There they stopped Loki, and with the apples restored the Asgardians to normal. Odin then returned the time displaced heroes back to their own era and erased everyone's knowledge of the future, altering the memories of Thor and Sundance in the process. Thor recalls the entire incident, however with no memory of his encounter with the future Black Panther and his allies, believing that he defeated Loki on Earth instead of in Asgard.

World War II

Thor was not seen again until the early days of World War II in the year 1942, thanks to the machinations of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. Obsessed with Richard Wagner's opera based on the Golden Ring of Neblung, he had his scientists develop a device to pull Thor into Earth's dimension. Hitler then tricked Thor into going to Russia on a mission to assassinate it's leader Joseph Stalin. This led to a clash between Thor and the wartime heroes known as the Invaders who were in the region to deliver tanks to the Russians to help the allied war effort. Thor seemingly slew Stalin, but it was really the Invader known as Union Jack. By this time the Dr. Olsen, the man who developed the device that brought Thor to Earth, suffered a heart attack and died. His assistant "Hans" then betrayed Hitler by using his radio to tip off Thor to the fact that Hitler planned on using Thor and the Asgardians to conquer the world and destroyed his device. Thor realizing how he had been tricked saved the Union Jack's life before departing back to Asgard. Thor returned to Earth again during the war in 1944 when Loki unleashed the Fenris Wolf in Belgium. There Thor rescued Captain America and his partner Bucky from the wolf, returning it to Asgard. In September of that same year, Thor was once again tricked into working for the Nazis. This time he was enslaved by Red Skull who obtained the Cosmic Cube and used it to alter reality. Thor was summoned along side Nazi warriors U-Man, Baron Blood, Master Man, Warrior Woman, and Iron Cross and battled the Invaders as well as the modern era heroes the New and Mighty Avengers. Eventually, the heroes recovered the Cosmic Cube and used it to restore reality to normal, Thor was returned to Asgard and his memories of events -- particularly those of the heroes from the future -- were erased by the Cube in order to preserve history.

Post-War

File:Thor Odinson (Circa 1951) (Earth-616).jpg

Thor Circa 1951

By the 1950s, Thor had become a regular ally of the Olympian goddess Aphrodite, who at the time was operating on Earth using her Roman name Venus. During this period, Thor apparently lived in Olympus and altered his appearance to more closely resemble Norse mythology. His brother Loki also became obsessed with winning the heart of Venus. In 1951 Venus became a prisoner of Sultan Khorok, ruler of the nation of Cassarobia, gods were barred from entering the realm thanks to a spell cast by Loki. Loki agreed to lift his spell in order to allow Thor to rescue her from the Sultan. Later when disgraced soldier John Dark attempted to take over New York with his army of robotic drill tanks, Venus enlisted the aid of Thor and Mars to fight back against the menace, foiling Dark's plans. Resuming his normal appearance, Thor was later seen in Seattle battling the Midgard Serpent when it was unleashed there. In the 1960s Thor was sent to Earth by Odin when it became learned that Venus was under the control of Nazi war criminal known as the Rumor. Thor worked side-by-side with the hero team known as the First Line. After the Rumor's attempts to turn the youth of America against their parents, an increasingly arrogant Thor returned to Asgard.

Pre-Modern Age

A decade prior to the modern age, Thor briefly appeared before the youth Eugene "Flash" Thompson frightening him out of stealing the umbrella belonging to his classmate Peter Parker during a storm.

Thor appears on Earth as Donald Blake

It was about this time that Odin was told by the prophet Volla that should Thor remain among the gods, he would die, triggering Ragnarok. Odin decided to step in and prevent this from happening. By this time Thor's arrogance had gotten the better of him, and he had began a campaign across Asgard, battling its foes regardless of various peace treaties that were in place. Thor later tracked a bird beast into the realm of Niffelheim clashing with Storm Giants, violating yet another treaty. Deciding that Thor needed a lesson in humility, Odin decided to banish Thor to Earth to teach him a lesson in humility. To this end Odin created the mortal guise of Donald Blake and merged Thor with this mortal guise, submerging his memories. Mjolnir was then placed in the cave where Thor was born, disguised as a walking stick, for the time that Thor had finally learned his lesson and was ready to regain his birthright. Blake was given a limp and required a cane to walk as part of the lesson in humility. Blake was also given memories of a father who held him in contempt due to his disability as a means to push Blake to strive to overcome his limitations. Thor then teleported Blake to Earth on the campus of State College where Blake began to study medicine where he studied to become a doctor and surgeon. Blake eventually graduated from college and became a successful doctor and surgeon. Moving to New York City, Blake opened his own practice, hiring Jane Foster as a nurse.

Modern Age

Preface Two: Sliding Timescale

A number of the details regarding events in the life of Thor during what is referred to as the "modern age" are subject to the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. As such certain events may have been occurring during times that, in context of the date the story was published, were topical during that time. As such these instances will be generalized but explained in more detail in the reference section. Generally speaking all events described beyond this point should be considered as having occurred within a 14 year span relative to the current date of the reader.

File:Thor Odinson (Earth-616) Donald Blake transforms into Thor for the first time in Journey into Mystery Vol 1 83.jpg

Donald Blake transforms into Thor for the first time

Thor Returns

Eventually the danger that Volla had predicted had passed, Odin decided it was time for Thor to return. Detecting that the aliens known as the Kronans were coming to invade the Earth, Odin influenced Donald Blake to take a vacation to Norway.. There are two accounts as to what happened to Don Blake while in Norway. The original account states that Blake was compelled to go exploring the mountains after hearing one of the locals recounting his encounter with the Kronans. Another states that Blake was already mountain climbing in order to prove himself. It was while doing so he met two other mountain climbers when they were all attacked by the Kronans. Whatever the case, Blake fled into a nearby cave when chased by the Kronans. Within the cave he became trapped and came across a wooden walking stick. Striking the stick triggered Blake's transformation into Thor. Original accounts state that Donald Blake believed himself to be endowed with the power of Thor. While other accounts state that Thor and Blake were separate entities, their consciousnesses still active in the other's mind between forms. This account states that Blake's mind instilled a new sense of humanity in the still arrogant Thor. In both accounts, Thor easily trounced the Kronans and forced them to abandon their invasion plans and retreat. During the battle one of Blake's fellow mountain climbers was knocked off a cliff and was struggling for purchase. Thor would have left her to fall to her death if not for the humanity in Donald Blake pressing Thor into rescuing her. Thor's return became sudden knowledge to Loki, who had spent the years imprisoned, and he began plotting to escape.

File:Thor Odinson (Earth-616) battles Loki for the first time in the modern age from Journey into Mystery Vol 1 85.jpg

Thor battles Loki for the first time in the modern age.

By this time, Blake was attempting to forge a romantic relationship with Jane Foster. When he returend home from Norway he brought her home a statue of Loki, the god of mischief. Not long after his return to the Untied States, Blake volunteered to provide medical aid to the nation of San Diablo, that was currently under an oppressive communist regime ruled by Santiago Rivera, also known as the Executioner. Rivera refused to allow the doctors to treat his people, but Thor tore down his government and the Executioner was ironically gunned down while trying to flee. Once Blake was back in the United States, Loki was freed from his imprisonment, although there are two accounts of these events. The original account states that Loki managed to free himself from the tree he was imprisoned within on his own by tricking Heimdal to cry. This account states that Loki ran amok on the streets of New York and briefly hypnotized Thor and commanded him to relinquish his hammer. Because of an enchantment placed by Odin, when away from his hammer for about a minute, Thor reverted back into Donald Blake and recovered Mjolnir and used it to capture Loki and send him back to Asgard. The second account states that Thor attempted to return to Asgard and was barred by Hemidal. Because Heimdal shed a tear for Thor, it broke the spell that imprisoned Loki. Loki then attacked Thor directly at the office of Dr. Donald Blake, and took Jane Foster as a hostage. Thor defeated Loki but he managed to escape after a battle across Manhattan. In either case, Jane Foster became smitten by the thunder god, much to the chagrin of his alter ego.

Rediscovering Humanity

Thor quickly became known as a hero and began working with the United States government, assisting them in testing a new cobalt bomb. It was during this test that the bomb was stolen by Zarrko the Tomorrow Man, a time traveler from the 23rd century of Earth-6297. With the mystical assistance of Odin, Thor managed to follow Zarrko through time and recover the bomb and return it to the proper era. When Donald Blake learned that prominent scientist were apparently defecting to Russia. Suspecting that they were really kidnapped, Blake put out a newspaper report of a false discovery so that he too would be targeted. Sure enough, Russian agents captured Blake and brought him to Russia. There as Thor, Blake helped free the captured scientists and smuggle them back into the United States. Loki once again attacked Thor after learning about the mystical spell that reverted him back into Donald Blake if he was away from his hammer for more than sixty second. Loki then used Jane Foster as a ploy to get Thor to drop his hammer and then sealed Mjolnir in a force field to prevent Blake from recovering it. Blake then tricked Loki into thinking he recovered Mjolnir, prompting Loki to remove the force field to check. This left it open for Don to recover, transforming back into Thor and defeating Loki once again. Threats in these early days did not only come from Thor, but also the life of Donald Blake. Such was the case when he was targeted by mobster Thug Thatcher who needed medical attention to treat some bullet wounds after a shoot out with the police. While Thatcher's life was saved by Donald Blake, he was brought to justice by Thor. Earth soon faced another alien invasion threat, this time from the shape changing Xartans who began infiltrating positions of authority in New York City as part of their invasion plot. Thor defeated their leader Ugarth and those Xartans who did not flee Earth were forced to transform into trees, trapping them in that form.

Loki struck at Thor again, this time through a carnival mind reader named Sandu who performed his feats for Don Blake while out on a date with Jane Foster. Loki decided to use Sandu as a pawn, using his magic to boost Sandu's natural mind reading ability, granting him additional powers of, telepathy, telekinesis and teleportation. In one account Sandu used this power to rob banks, until he made an ultimatum for world leaders to make him ruler of the Earth. When Thor confronted him, Sandu dropped the United Nations Building on Thor trapping him beneath the building. Odin then sent down the Valkyrie to arm Thor with Megingjord, the so-called Belt of Strength. Thor clashed with Sandu again, but when the mind reader tried to use his power to handle Mjolnir, he shorted out his powers and was quickly captured. A second account states that Sandu instead attacked a oil processing plant. It was here that he attempted to take control of Thor's hammer, burning out his powers. Thor nearly left Sandu to burn in the flames, but was convinced by Don to spare his life. Loki struck at Thor again, this time using his powers to pull Mjolnir back to Asgard. Thor, with permission from Odin, returned to Asgard tracking down Loki and recovering his hammer. Loki was then left in the custody of Odin and the other gods of Asgard while Thor returned to Earth.

Thor's activities soon began being known to governments outside the United States, which prompted industrialist Tony Stark and Fantastic Four leader Mister Fantastic to call upon Thor for a meeting at the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building headquarters. There they warned Thor that other nations were viewing Thor's activities as a super-human arms race and were gearing up to make super-humans of their own. Donald Blake then began providing medical aid in India along the disputed border with China. When Chinese soldiers began firing across the boarder, Blake turned into Thor and stopped the attack. There are two different accounts as to what happened next. In both accounts, the Chinese government had developed their first super-human when scientist Chen Lu transformed himself into the Radioactive Man. In the original account, the Radioactive Man is smuggled into New York City where he battles Thor. Thor used a massive vortex to send the Radioactive Man back to China before he could reach critical mass and explode. The second account states that the Radioactive Man attacked Thor along the India/China border. During the battle the Radioactive Man forced Thor to recall how he was banished to Earth, causing a brief reversion back to Donald Blake. However Blake regained his hammer and defeated the Radioactive Man. In the aftermath of the battle the American government -- through Tony Stark -- thanked Thor for his assistance, but their ability to make a connection between Donald Blake and himself did not sit well with the thunder god.

Thor declares war against the planet Earth.

Thor was next tricked into turning against humanity by Loki, an event that also has two different accounts. In the original account, Thor was tricked into striking himself in the head with Mjolnir, which somehow caused him to turn evil. Thor then teamed up with Loki and attacked various landmarks across the world. Odin and a number of Asgardian gods then posed as members of the United Nations and tricked Thor and Loki into going to the UN Building in New York to accept the world's surrender. There Odin had Thor struck in the head again, restoring his personality. Thor then defeated Loki and turned him over to his father. In this account, Odin used his magic to restore all the damage done by Thor and erase everyone's memories of his rampage. In the other account, Loki confronted Donald Blake in his office and used his magic to suppress Blake's mind when he transformed into Thor. Loki then appealed to the arrogant and unhindered Thor, convincing him that the planet Earth needed to face the wraith of the gods. Thor then declared war against the entire planet. After Thor and Loki decimated many of Earth's landmarks, they returned to New York City where Thor and Loki slew the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. Inside Thor's mind, the persona of Donald Blake tried to fight himself free, but to no avail. It was not until Jane Foster confronted Thor and was aged by Loki that Don finally overcame the years of judgement by his "father". Upon this realization, Odin appeared to him and revealed that Blake was merely an extension of Thor. Realizing that he was worthy of being Thor, Blake and Thor's persona became one. With his sense of humanity finally restored, Thor then turned on Loki and defeated him in battle, banishing him to Asgard. When Thor petitioned Odin to fix the damage done, Thor offered to sacrifice his godhood to repair everything. Odin was so impressed that he restored all the damage, resurrected those killed, and erased all knowledge of Thor's war against humanity. Thor was also not only allowed to keep his power, but was finally allowed back into the halls of Asgard. Although Odin revealed that Thor and Donald Blake were both the same, Blake continued to be unsure of his true nature.

Back on Earth, Thor clashed with Donald Blake's rival, scientist Larry Zaxton who developed a duplicator machine and attempted to slay the thunder god with a duplicate of himself. While Thor destroyed his evil doppleganger, Zaxton fell off a bridge to his death. Thor then allowed a good natured duplicate of Zaxton to continue his life. Archaeologists later uncovered and freed a powerful being claiming to be the legendary magician Merlin. Thor prevented this Mad Merlin from sabotaging a missile launch at Cape D'Or missile base, and terrorizing the President of the United States. While battling in Washington D.C., Thor tricked Merlin into going back into suspended animation by changing back into Don Blake and convincing Merlin that he had powerful shape changing abilities.

File:Henry Pym (Earth-616) joins the Avengers.jpg

Thor joins the Avengers

Forming the Avengers

It was about this time that Loki wished to manipulate the gamma spawned monster known as the Hulk to attack his step-brother. To this end, Loki made it appear as though the Hulk attempted to destroy a train. When the Hulk's sidekick Rick Jones gathered his group the Teen Brigade together to try and contact the Fantastic Four for help. Loki intercepted their transmission and made it so it was reached. However a side effect of the spell the transmission was also received by Thor, Ant-Man, the Wasp, and the armored hero known as Iron Man who all tracked it back to the Teen Brigade's headquarters. The meeting was tense at first but Rick calmed nerves and convinced the gathered heroes to help in their cause. During the meeting Thor was shown an illusion of the Hulk convincing him that Loki was involved . Iron Man then took the heroes to the Stark Industries office in Sugar Land, Texas. There Thor departed to investigate his suspicions while Ant-Man was given access to Tony Stark's technology to build a device that could increase his range and be able to use ants all over the country to try and search for the Hulk. Using this device, Ant-Man was able to locate the Hulk in Canyon City, Colorado where he was posing as a robot attraction in a circus performing there. Ant-Man ordered the ants in the region to distract the Hulk while they arrived. Meanwhile, Thor traveled to Asgard and learned that Loki was hiding out on the Isle of Silence Ant-Man, the Wasp and Iron Man then traveled there and clashed with the Hulk who managed to escape. There are two differing accounts of what happened next, in one account the Hulk fled to an automobile manufacturing plant in Detroit, Michigan while the other states that the Hulk fled to the Cardiff-Grant Munitions R&D Factory in Denver, Colorado. In either case the Hulk clashed with the three heroes until Thor arrived with the defeated Loki and revealed his part in the whole ordeal. Loki attempted to defeat the heroes by becoming radioactive. In the Detroit account Loki was defeated when dumped in a radioactive waste disposal furnace beneath the plant, while the Denver account states that they placed him in a device that was used to conduct controlled explosion experiments. The Detroit account states that the group unanimously agreed to form a team and that the Wasp came up with their name: the Avengers. However the Denver account states that the group did not formally form a group until a meeting three days later at the Stark Industries plant in Sugar Land, Texas.

Iron Man invited his fellow Avengers to use his "employer" Tony Stark's mansion as their headquarters, later dubbed Avengers Mansion. There the group were given a tour and the Wasp purposely ruffled Ant Man's feathers by openly flirting with Thor. Returning to his secret identity, Don Blake was struck a personal blow when Odin forbade him to pursue a relationship with Jane Foster. Meanwhile, Jane had grown fed up of waiting for Blake to open up his feelings toward her and left his practice to go and work for Dr. Basil Andrews. Thor's attention was then turned to an Earthly menace when Loki convinced the Lava Man known as Molto to attack the surface world. After Thor defeated the Lava Man, he rushed to Jane as Dr. Blake, but found that his attempts to win her back were too little, too late. Unable to bare the fact that he lost Jane, Blake took a vacation to India. Coincidentally his visit coincided with the the costumed villain known as Cobra poisoning one of his colleagues. As Thor, Don followed the Cobra back to the United States. He traced the Cobra to the offices of Dr. Andrews. Thor arrived to rescue Jane and Andrew from the Cobra, but the villain escaped. Realizing that Dr. Andrews was a coward, Jane quit her employ with him in order to resume working for Don Blake.

Thor then returned to the fledgling Avengers to begin forming the organization. First Thor and the others then revealed themselves to the press. They then began a series of early meetings. During the first meeting the group was trying to determine who would be the chairman to the group. The Wasp used this as another opportunity to flirt with Thor. All the male members wanted to test their might to determine who led, but they all agreed to allow the Wasp to secretly be their chairperson so none of their egos could be bruised. This meeting was briefly crashed by Iron Man's future self and the Black Widow who briefly passed through the meeting room while jaunting through time periods. It was during the discussion of forming a charter with the Avengers where Thor broke up a fight between Iron Man and the Hulk. While Thor was a welcome addition to the Avengers, his teammates were not willing to believe the truth that he was the Asgardian god of thunder.

Early Avengers Missions

Thor and the Avengers were next asked by the military to assist in recovering Dr. Doom's flying fortress which had recently been stolen. The Avengers took on the case and infiltrated the ship but were caught in many of Doom's various traps. Thor and the others were all briefly captured by Doom, but were freed by Ant-Man when he utilized his new size changing powers. While they managed to destroy Doom's flying fortress they discovered the "Doom" they were fighting was one of his Doombots. The Avengers, they were targeted by the Space Phantom who claimed to be an alien seeking to defeat the Avengers so his people could invade the planet. The Space Phantom plotted to do turn the Avengers against the Hulk, using his ability to shift individuals into the timeless realm of Limbo while assuming their form. When the Space Phantom attacked the Avengers, he fled and then returned the Hulk to Earth. The group continued to fight the Hulk, but soon became aware that the Space Phantom was responsible as he began taking possession of other Avengers. . During the fight, Thor insulted the Hulk prompting him to briefly flee back to the southwest away from the battle. Thor followed after him and the two fought before Iron Man broke up the battle and encouraged them to return to New York to fight the Space Phantom. The heroes eventually learned the truth when the Space Phantom attempted to take the form of Thor and was shunted into Limbo himself. However the damage had already been done and the Hulk, no longer trusting his one time allies left the group. Later when the mutant heroes the X-Men were in a skirmish with Iron Man, they attempted to contact the other Avengers including Thor. Unfortunately, Thor was occupied in his Don Blake guise, but the crisis eventually resolved itself. Don Blake was next approached by discredited scientist Calvin Zabo for a job. When Blake refused to hire him, Zabo began experimenting on himself, creating a serum that transformed him into a monstrous form. Calling himself Mister Hyde, Zabo sought to revenge against Blake. Meanwhile, Thor continued to petition Odin to allow him to marry Jane Foster, to no avail. However Odin told Thor that should Jane prove herself to be brave, he would make her an immortal. When Mr. Hyde attacked Blake's office, Thor was there to stop him. In response, Hyde began committing robberies disguised as Thor. Later, Blake went out on a date with Jane and they were attacked by Mr. Hyde. The couple were taken to an abandoned building where Blake was tied up and left with a bomb that would detonate in 24 hours. Blake broke free and transformed into Thor and prevented Hyde from stealing a new Polaris submarine, however Hyde managed to escape. Having observed Jane Foster's apparent betrayal of Thor during the battle, Odin decreed that she be unworthy to become an immortal, much to Thor's lament.

File:Thor Odinson (Earth-616) battles the Hulk from Journey into Mystery Vol 1 112.jpg

Thor battles the Hulk.

Thor later returned to active Avengers duties and assisted the team in trying to track down the Hulk. During their initial clash with the Hulk. When they later tracked the Hulk to an abandoned island that was last used during World War II, they found that the Hulk had allied himself with the Atlantean monarch known as the Sub-Mariner and a clash between the two villains and the Avengers broke out. During the fight Thor and the Hulk were separated from the others. To test his strength against the Hulk, Thor petitioned Odin to give him five minutes free of the enchantments placed on Mjolnir. Odin agreed, and Thor fought the Hulk unbidden by the limitations placed upon his hammer. However, no clear victor was determined when the tunnel they were fighting in began to collapse. Thor quickly rejoined his comrades. Ultimately the Hulk began changing back into his alter ego of Bruce Banner who fled. Alone against the Avengers, the Sub-Mariner fled as well. While pursing the Sub-Mariner in a submarine, Thor and the rest of the Avengers quarreled with each other over losing both the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner. The Avengers eventually came across the body of Captain America a wartime hero that had been missing since 1945, frozen in a block of ice. Taking him aboard their ship and thawing out his body, they found that Captain America had been kept in suspended animation. When he was revived, Captain America battled the Avengers, who easily calmed him down and brought him back to New York. There they had Cap wait below deck while they addressed the press and while the heroes were doing so they were blasted by a ray that turned them into living stone, leaving Captain America to wander the modern day on his own. Eventually, Captain America was found by Rick Jones and they both tracked down the one responsible, a member of the D'Bari race named Vuk. They learned that Vuk was trapped on Earth and he turned the Avengers to stone for the Sub-Mariner in order to get his ship freed from the bottom of the ocean. Vuk agreed to return the Avengers to normal in exchange for the same help. With Thor and the others changed back they were good on their promise but were attacked by the Sub-Mariner and his Atlantean warriors. While Namor was distracted, Vuk's ship was freed and he managed to leave the Earth. With the battle lost the Sub-Mariner fled into the ocean. With Captain America among their ranks, Thor was part of a meeting to determine if Cap was mentally fit to join the team. Thor also expressed his dislike of dealing with the NSA to get Avengers security clearance.

Thor and the other Avengers later met the hero known as the Sentry and assisted him in battling his foe the Void. The Avengers then resumed their hunt for the Hulk and returned to the southwestern United States to search for him, only to find he had left the region. They returned to Avengers Mansion to learn that the Hulk had actually come to New York to look for them and trounced the Fantastic Four. The Avengers defended themselves at their mansion headquarters and when the recovered FF came to join them the two teams stumbled over each other to try and stop the Hulk. Both teams eventually began working together to stop the Hulk, chasing him up a sky scraper under construction. The battle ended when Rick Jones tossed a gamma irradiated capsule into the Hulk's mouth causing him to fall into the Hudson River while changing back into Bruce Banner and was swept away by the currents. Learning that Captain America was still mourning the loss of his former wartime partner Bucky, Thor came to him in Arlington Cemetery and advised him to celebrate his former sidekick's life as opposed to mourning his death. Thor later joined the Avengers in a trip back to the southwest where they battled the Lava Men from Subterranea who were attempting to invade the surface world. An invasion they managed to push back thanks in part to the Hulk whom they tricked into knocking the Lava Men's mound back into the Earth. Shortly thereafter Thor met NSA special agent James Murch who was the Avengers liason, and expressed his contempt. He continued to express his dislike of the government red tape the Avengers had to deal with, especially when they were pressed to keep Captain America in service when his mental health was still in question.

Soon the Avengers had to battle a foe from Cap's past, Baron Zemo who had formed a group his own, the Masters of Evil, which included many of the Avengers previous foes -- including the Black Knight, Radioactive Man, and the Melter. While the Avengers stopped the Masters from immobilizing New York City with Zemo's Adhesive X, Cap faced off against Zemo alone, but Zemo managed to escape.. Thor and the others later learned of Cap's desire to avenge Bucky's death. Thor and the Avengers were next called to battle a new villain known as Weather-Maker who had kidnapped his unrequited love Maureen Scanlan. Thor was distracted from the battle when Odin ordered him back to Asgard to prepare for a battle against the Trolls. Thor petitioned Odin to have time to deal with the current menace on Earth and was given until sundown to do so. Thor quickly defeated the Weather-Maker and turned him over to the authorities, however Maureen was seriously injured in the battle. Thor rushed her to his medical practice where he returned to his identity of Donald Blake and perform surgery on her. As a result he was late in contacting Odin, and as punishment Odin ordered him to Asgard and forbade him from returning to Asgard ever again. Meanwhile in his jail cell, the former Weather-Marker used a device to try and summon the most powerful storm ever, and instead called upon the Godstorm who provided the mortal with is essence to get revenge against Thor. The Weather-Maker was reborn as the weather controlling Tempest who then began running amok in New York. This played into Loki's plans who convinced Odin to allow Thor to return to Earth to battle this foe so that the Trolls could have the upper hand in battling the Asgardians in a bid to take over the throne of Asgard. Thor battled Tempest and thanks to a distraction provided by Maureen, he teleported Tempest to Asgard where he used his foe to defeat the Trolls during their attack. The essence of the Godstorm was split from the Weather-Maker, and Thor was allowed to return to Earth.

Troubled Romance

Thor soon became increasingly despondent regarding his inability to marry Jane Foster and soon began lashing out against his father. In response to this, Odin halved Thor's powers and barred him from entering Asgard. Seeking to take advantage of this opportunity, Loki restored the memory of Zarrko the Tomorrow Man, who promptly traveled back int time to battle Thor. This time Thor was unable to defeat Zarrko's robot and willingly surrendered and agreed to return with him to the 23rd Century as his slave. Thor assisted Zarrko in conquering the 23rd Century, taking over the central computer that ran the entire world. Freed from his vow to help Zarrko, Thor then quickly dispatched his foe, incapacitating him with ease without his robot around. Thor then returned to his own time, and Odin -- having viewed all the events as they transpired -- restored Thor to his full strength. However Odin still sought to break up the romance between Thor and Jane Foster. He was convinced by Loki to use the Enchantress to seduce Thor away from her. Appearing before Don Blake as a patient, the Enchantress then tried to seduce him in front of Jane. While Jane became upset and stormed out, Don was still able to resist the advances made by the Enchantress. In retaliation, the Enchantress had the Executioner kidnap Jane. Transporting the Foster woman to Limbo, the Executioner than ordered Thor to give up his hammer. When Thor did so, the Executioner returned Jane, but could not lift Mjolnir. Thor then banished both the Executioner and Enchantress back to Asgard, and things between Don Blake and Jane were patched up shortly thereafter, much to Odin's annoyance. Loki then convinced Odin to go to Earth and break up the romance himself. Odin did so, but made the error of giving part of his power to Loki and left him in charge of the Asgardian throne. Loki then used his new power to send the fire demon Surtur and the giant Skagg to Earth. Seeing this, Balder the Brave rushed to Earth to warn Thor. When the pair found Odin, he used his might to freeze time and transport every human to another dimension while they fought their foes. Odin expended his energies defeating Skagg, so Thor used his father's own sword to stop Surtur from melting the polar ice caps. With the threat over, Odin thanked his son and restored the Earth before returning to Asgard to try and plot to break up the romance between Thor and Jane anew.

When Jane later attempted to date another man in order to make Don jealous, he decided that instead of getting permission from Odin, he'd give up his identity of Thor instead. However, this proved to be a short lived solution as his foes Mr. Hyde and the Cobra teamed up to get revenge against Blake's alter ego. When they kidnapped Jane, Don was forced to transform into Thor once again. Their battle raged across town to a heavy machinery show where Mjolnir got caught in the inner working of a hydraulic device. Thor then used the crowd of panicked on lookers to cover his transformation back into Don Blake. Blake then convinced Hyde and the Cobra that he would bring them to Thor if they recovered his walking stick. Once he had his walking stick, Blake used the crowd to cover his transformation once again and easily defeated both Hyde and Cobra, turning them over to the authorities. However, when Don returned to his practice, Jane chastised him for seemingly betraying Thor to his foes.

File:Thor Odinson (Earth-616) as Thor-El from Unlimited Access Vol 1 4.jpg

Thor-El

Thor and the Avengers were later pulled forward in time a few years in the future by the dimensional hopping hero known as Access. They were pulled forward along with members of the Justice League of America heroes from a distant cosmos to stop an alliance between Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and Darkseid and his Apokoliptians beings from that other dimension. However upon their arrival, Thor and the Avengers were coerced by the hypnotic Amazing Grace to battle the Justice League. However thanks to the intervention from the modern era Kal-El (New Earth)|Superman the heroes shook off this influence and worked together to stop the invasion of New York with the aid of the Teen Titans and the original X-Men. In the final battle, Access used his powers to merge two heroes from each universe into a new gestalt. Thor was merged with Superman to become Thor-El. These amalgamated heroes defeated Magneto and Darkseid and their forces. With the crisis over the heroes were restored to normal and returned to their own times where their memories of the experience faded away. Soon Baron Zemo returned with a new Masters of Evil consisting of the the Enchantress and the Executioner, who had been recently exiled to Earth. While Captain America was lured to South America to battle Zemo, the Enchantress used her powers to turn Thor against the other Avengers. Thor eventually was freed from her control, and he helped his teammates defeat the Masters of Evil

Shortly thereafter, Loki attempted to manipulate the sorcerer known as Doctor Strange into stealing Thor's hammer. However Strange saw through this plot and banished Loki, before Thor could be drawn to Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum. In order to patch things up with Jane, Thor came "looking" for his alter-ego, forcing Jane to admit that she loved Don Blake. Shortly thereafter Thor became a target of a new villain calling himself the Grey Gargoyle who believed that Mjolnir was the source of his immortality and sought to claim it. When the Gargoyle turned Thor into stone, a transformation back into Don Blake freed him. Unable to change back into Thor for an hour -- lest he be trapped in stone again -- Donald Blake managed to defeat the Grey Gargoyle by tricking him into falling into the Hudson River where he was dragged out to sea. Blake was hailed as a hero by the press, gaining him more favor with Jane Foster in the process. Thor was next called to aid Doctor Strange, who had been wounded battling his foe Baron Mordo. As Donald Blake, Thor performed a life saving operation on the mystic, who offered a favor in thanks. During surgery, Odin attempted to call Thor to assist in battle, but he was unavailable. Later, when Loki kidnapped Jane Foster and hid Donald's walking stick. With the help of Dr. Strange, Thor recovered his walking stick and battled Loki. With Jane trapped in Limbo once again, Strange used his magical powers to pull her free while Thor defeated Loki in battle. Having witnessed the conflict, Odin forgave his son and had Loki taken away for punishment. After further training with the Avengers, Thor engaged in a brief search for Spider-Man when the hero was temporarily in hiding. Thor was later sought out by Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, who erroneously believed that Thor might be a fellow mutant, in an attempt to recruit the thunder god into their ranks to defeat their foes the X-Men. Magneto lured Thor into his secret base, but his proposition was rebuffed. The two battled it out, but Magneto was barely a match for Thor, and was forced to flee when the X-Men arrived on the scene chasing Magneto and his Brotherhood away.

Not long after this the 30th century time traveler known as Kang the Conqueror arrived in the modern age and ordered the surrender of the world. The United States government responded by deploying the Avengers, with Thor accompanying. During the initial attack by the Avengers, Kang was able to overpower the heroes with his advanced weaponry and then attempted to take them prisoner. By this time, Rick and the Teen Brigade had pretended to side with Kang to gain access to his ship and they began freeing the Avengers. Freed, Thor and the Avengers attacked Kang once again, easily disarming him and forcing him to return to his own era. Shortly thereafter Baron Zemo and his Masters of Evil struck at the Avengers again. This time ionically empowering financially ruined inventory Simon Williams into the super-human known as Wonder Man. Wonder Man was then sent to infiltrate the Avengers and have them seek a cure for the ionic powers that were actually killing him. Wonder Man later led Thor and the Avengers into a ambush by the Masters of Evil. But during the course of the battle Wonder Man realized where his true allegiances were and appeared to sacrifice his life to save the Avengers, although Zemo and his cohorts escaped once again. When the Mole Man threatened to destroy New York City, Thor and the Avengers tried to go into battle against him but were convinced to step aside by the Fantastic Four who defeated their oldest foe.

Loki soon began plotting against Thor once again. This time he bailed Mr. Hyde and the Cobra out of prison and mystically increased their powers. He then sent them to kidnap Jane Foster, and when Thor was forced to let them go, Loki ensured that this surrender was viewed by Odin. Angered, Odin banished Thor from Asgard. Realizing that Loki was behind his current troubles, Thor battled his way through the gates of Asgard to face his foe. Furious at Thor for disobeying his orders, Odin stopped him from attacking Loki, and when Jane's location was revealed, sent Thor to the villain's hideout. During his clash with Hyde and the Cobra, there was a massive explosion that mortally wounded Jane in the process. In order to prolong Jane's life, Thor created a time vortex to stop all time around him. While Thor battled the Cobra and Mr. Hyde, Balder the Brave convinced Odin to allow him to obtain a potion from Hardol the Healer to save Jane's life. After Thor defeated his foes, Balder -- despite inference from Loki -- managed to get the potion to Thor, thus saving Jane Foster's life.

Passing the Torch

When the villain known as Sundown was threatening New York City, Thor joined the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange in forcing Sundown to stand down and turn himself over to the authorities. The Avengers soon were plotted against by the Masters of Evil, who had joined forces with the time traveler known as Immortus who sought to lure the Avengers into a trap using Captain America and Rick Jones as bait. Thor and the Avengers eventually caught up with Cap and were engaged in a battle against the Masters of Evil. When the battle was turning into a loss the Enchantress cast a spell turning back time in order to prevent their alliance with Immortus, erasing everyone's memories of events. Thor next led the Avengers to Europe to stop the being known as Lucifer from setting off a massive bomb. Unknown to then the X-Men's leader Charles Xavier was already attempting to stop Lucifer. Detecting that the bomb was linked to Lucifer's heart, Xavier had his X-Men hold the Avengers at bay until the circumstances could be explained. Cap and the Avengers then conceded to the X-Men, allowing the young mutants to deal with the crisis in their own way.

Thor and the Avengers next continued their hunt for the Hulk, hoping to convince him to rejoin the Avengers. Zemo and his Masters got to the Hulk first, convincing the brute to join them in attacking the Avengers. The battle ended abruptly when the Hulk turned on the Masters after Rick's life was put at risk and Zemo and his minions once again fled and the Hulk evaded capture as well. Thor and the Avengers were then targeted by Kang the Conqueror once again. Kang constructed a robot duplicate of Spider-Man who lured the heroes into a trap within an Aztec temple in Mexico. However the group was saved by the real Spider-Man who learned of his impostor and defeated him in battle. Thor and the Avengers later battled the Masters of Evil once again, although the details of this battle are unrecorded. Thor and the Avengers soon had another crisis on their hands when the Mole Man and the Red Ghost teamed up to destroy the surface world. After Thor and the Avengers fended off an invasion of the Mole Man's Moloids, the heroes foiled the two villains plot and rescued Giant-Man, whom their foes had captured. Thor and the Avengers next started focusing on shutting down operations of the Maggia crime family. This garnered the attention of their leader Count Neferia who at the time was posing as a legitimate business man. Inviting the Avengers to his castle, he captured them and then had duplicates commit acts of treason to make the heroes wanted criminals. The Avengers were eventually freed thanks to Rick Jones and his Teen Brigade. Although the Avengers helped topple Neferia's criminal operations and clear their names, the Wasp was shot and required immediate medical attention. When the Avengers learned that the only man who could cure the Wasp was Dr. Svenson of Norway, they soon learned that Svenson was a prisoner of the Kallusians, aliens hiding below the Earth's North Pole from their mortal enemies the Yirbek. Cap and the Avengers rescued Svenson and exposed the Kallusians to the Yirbek forcing both races to flee the Earth. Svenson was then brought back to the United States where he performed the life saving surgery on the Wasp. While Janet was undergoing surgery, Thor attempted to console Henry, trying to convince Pym that Odin willed her to survive this encounter. Giant-Man refuted Thor's claim to being a god, although this belief was shaken when it turned out that the Wasp was going to make a full recovery. Shortly thereafter Thor and the other Avengers were invited to the engagement party of the Fantastic Four's Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl.

Soon Baron Zemo made his final salvo against the Avengers. Freeing the Black Knight, and the Melter he increased the ranks of the Masters of Evil and launched an all out attack. During the initial assault he kidnapped Rick Jones and brought him back to his secret hideout in Bolivia.. While Captain America went to Bolivia to rescue Rick and face Baron Zemo for the final time, Thor and the others remained in New York City to battle the Masters of Evil there. Thor and the Avengers made short work of the Masters of Evil, however they only succeeded in capturing the Melter and the Black Knight. Loki soon began plotting against Thor again, empowering the prisoner Carl "Crusher" Creel giving him the power to absorb the properties of anything he touched. As the Absorbing Man, Creel broke out of prison and fled across the country side. Donald Blake learned of Creel's rampage while treating reporter Harris Hobbs. Changing into Thor, Blake went to assist the authorities in hunting down Creel. During his battle with the Absorbing Man, Thor was suddenly transported to Asgard by Balder who warned him that Loki had once again kidnapped Jane Foster. Thor tracked down Loki and battled with him to free Jane, but their battle was interrupted by Odin. He had decided that the pair would settle their differences by participating in the so-called "Trial of the Gods", but Odin allowed Thor to return to Earth for 48 hours to settle his affairs there. Back on Earth, Thor tracked down the Absorbing Man who had holed up in a home surrounded by the authorities. With the help of Harris Hobbs, Thor lured the Absorbing Man out into the open. During the course of their battle, Thor used Mjolnir to force the Absorbing Man to transform into helium, and he floated out of the atmosphere into space where he could harm none. Thor later returned Jane Foster to her apartment.

Needing to return to Asgard, Thor return to Avengers Mansion where he announced his need to depart the Avengers to Iron Man who finally confronted Thor with his inability to believe in Thor's godly stature. Thor showed him that he spoke the truth by having his teammate touch Mjolnir, giving him visions of Asgard. On his way to Asgard, Thor rescued teenage super-human Jessica Jones after an attempt to fly landed her in the Hudson River. Thor was unimpressed by the young girl's vulgar language after she threw up on his boots. Thor then departed from the Avengers, leaving the rest of the team to select a new group to succeed them. This group consisted of three new recruits: the archer Hawkeye, and the mutant twins the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, former members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. With Captain America left as team leader, Iron Man, Giant-Man and the Wasp also took a leave of absence from the group.

Trial of the Gods

Back in Asgard, Thor reported to Odin to begin the Trial of the Gods. The All-Father ordered both Thor and Loki to race through Skornheim with no weapons to see who was the better. However upon their arrival, Loki revealed that he has brought along the Norn Stones to help him through the test, and then showed Thor that he had dispatched the Enchantress and Executioner to Earth to terrorize Jane Foster to distract him. Despite these set backs, Thor managed to fight his way through Skornheim with his bare hands and wits, but he still lost the competition thanks to Loki's unfair advantage from the Norn Stones. When they both arrived back in Asgard, Thor attempted to take the Stones to prove to Odin that Loki cheated, but the trickster god teleported the Norn Stones to Earth. Brought before Odin, Thor convinced his father to allow him to return to Earth to find the Norn Stones and prove his claims. Granted 24 hours to do so, Thor went to aid Jane Foster to find that Balder had seen her plight and came to her aid. The pair forced the Executioner and Enchantress to flee. After wiping Jane's memories of the terrors she experience, Thor left her in Balder's care while he went searching for the Norn Stone. Thor tracked the Stones to a Southeast Asian country in the middle of a military conflict. Wounded by enemy troops Thor was nursed back to health by a local family before resuming his search, changing into Don Blake to travel easier. He soon found himself captured by the guerrilla forces terrorizing the area. When the family who helped him was captured, they provided enough distraction for Don to flee and change into Thor, but he was too late to save all but the youngest daughter of the family, who was killed by the guerrilla leader -- her own older brother. Thor saved the girl, and took her to safety, while her brother -- shamed by betraying his family to his communist benefactors -- committed suicide.

File:Thor Odinson (Earth-616) repairs Mjolnir in Journey into Mystery Vol 1 120.jpg

Thor repairs Mjolnir

Thor continued his quest for the Norn Stones, while Loki thought up a means to stop him. Enthralling a local hunter, Loki tricked him into unearthing the hidden Destroyer armor. When the Destroyer cleaved a portion off Mjolnir, it proved too powerful for even Thor to defeat, Loki realized that should Thor die, he too would be die -- having been executed by Odin after it was learned he was responsible. When Loki attempted to warn Odin of the Destroyer he found that he had entered the Odinsleep. When he attempted to awaken Odin, Loki found himself locked in a cell. Meanwhile, Thor found himself trapped by the Destroyer who fired a beam of elemental force to destroy his foe. Thor was saved thanks to Loki who exerted all his power to make Thor temporarily intangible, allowing him to escape. Seeking a means to stop the Destroyer, Thor bluffed it by grabbing the hunter's mortal body and threatening to use it as a shield himself from the Destroyer's disintegration beam. The hunter then relinquished control of the Destroyer and the now awoken Odin caused the temple to crumble, leaving the Destroyer armor to be buried. With is mystic hammer broken, Thor found it could no longer carry him aloft, and used one of the Norn Stones to return to the United States in order to repair it. Thor then travelled to Pittsburgh where he used a metal foundry to repair his hammer. After checking the Norn Stones, Thor then returned to Asgard, unaware that he had dropped one. There he delivered the stones to Odin, proving that Loki cheated during the Trial of the Gods. Having grown restless, Thor requested to return to Earth, and Odin granted his wish returning him home.

Thor slain by Chulain.

Somehow the Absorbing Man returned to Earth and regained human form and began attacking New York City once again. Thor easily defeated his foe, this time tricking Creel to turn into wind. In the aftermath of the battle, Thor turned back into Don Blake and assisted with healing the injured. It was during this time that Jane provided Don with a profound insights on the nature of creation, that all religion and science basically tell the same story. Thor was soon drawn to Asgard after a prophetic dream to find that the Warriors Three were on trail for accidentally slaying Holth a shape shifting giant, and that his father Gnives sought punishment. Thor intervened and instead of having the Warriors executed they all agreed to go on a quest to collect various items as restitution to Gnives. First they traveled up the world ash Yggdrasil, where with the aid of the chipmunk Rattatosk they claimed the healing apples of the great eagle Lerad. They then went on to Olympus where they sought to claim the pig belonging to the Olympian god Dionysus only to learn that the sow was in the possession of a heavily intoxicated Hercules. Thor attempted to peacefully obtain the pig, but the inebriated Hercules did not want to give it up without a fight and the two came to blows. Thor eventually defeated Hercules in battle and claimed the "skin" of the pig, which was actually the cloth that the hog wore on its back. They then traveled to Earth where they were to claim the Spear of Chulain from the Tuatha de Danaans, the Celtic gods. They were tricked into battling Chulain himself, who slew both Volstagg, then Thor. Chulain was defeated in battle by Hogun who claimed the spear. They then used one of the stolen apples to restore Thor and Volstagg to life before continuing on their quest.

They next traveled to the dimension of Ama, home to the Amatsu-Kami, or Japanese gods. There the sought to claim the Grasscutter Sword, fighting through the demonic hordes of the Japanese death god Amatsu-Mikaboshi. Inside the temple where the Grasscutter Sword was kept, the Asgardians found themselves confronted by the spirits of all those who had been slain by the sword. They were shocked when the spirits willingly gave up the sword, but were quickly off to their final destination, Heliopolis the home of the Ennead, or Egyptian gods. There they were to shout three times in the halls of Toth]]. There they were opposed by the hall's three guardians but they managed to get two out of three screams out before they were attacked by the Rock Troll known as Ulik who was hired by Gnives to ensure that the heroes failed in their quest in order to guarantee a war between the giants and the people of Asgard. Their battle was interrupted by Ennead known as Thoth who banished them from the realm. They were brought back before Odin and Gnives. Before Gnives could declare war his wife Ulif who, wanting to prevent war, called the debt paid. Thor and the others than gave Holth a fitting funeral before Thor returned to Earth. As Don Blake, he was given the cold shoulder by Jane who Don inadvertently stood up at a DNA conference during his absence. When Thor returned to his practice he found that his it had long been neglected, he was behind on his rent, his patients had left, and worst of all, Jane Foster had gone missing. Thor began searching for her everywhere, but his search was interrupted when Loki used devices stolen by the warlock known as Ularic to reconstitute the Absorbing Man and return him to Earth to battle Thor. Thor battled the Absorbing Man across New York City in a pitched battle. Ultimately, the Crusher Creel got the advantage on Thor when the thunder god stopped to save a young child from danger and was knocked out for his troubles.

Thor recovered from the attack, but before he could defeat the Absorbing Man, Loki teleported him to Asgard. Thor's attention was turned to Jane Foster, who was being held prisoner by a masked man in a nearby building, when she lit a fire to get his attention. Jane fainted as Thor came to her aid, and needing to administer medical aid, changed back into Don Blake to do so. As Thor transformed his photo was taken by Harris Hobbs who then threatened to reveal Thor's double identity unless he agreed to take Hobbs with him to Asgard. Thor quickly brought Jane to a hospital and then after a show of power, agreed to take Hobbs to the golden realm provided he keep all he saw there a secret and promised not to reveal Thor's secret identity. Thor arrived to find that Loki and the Absorbing Man were challenging Odin over supremacy of Asgard. Thor attempted to stop the Absorbing Man, but he proved too powerful. Odin finally surrendered Thrudstok, his Scepter Supreme. But this turned out to be a trick, as it had no actual power, and Odin used the distraction to banish Loki and the Absorbing Man into the Sea of Space outside of Asgard as punishment. In the aftermath of the battle, Thor collected Harris and returned to Earth, a spell of forgetfulness used to erase his memories of everything the reporter saw. Back on Earth, Thor soon learned that the Midgard Vanir sought to awaken Ymir on Earth. Following leads on their location as Donald Blake, he was too late to stop the Vanir from attacking the youthful X-Men and kidnapping their teammate Iceman. With the help of the X-Men's leader Professor X, Blake and the X-Men tracked Iceman up north. But they were too late to stop the Vanir from awakening Ymir. Don then transformed into Thor, and while the X-Men distracted the ancient Frost Giant, Thor banished him back to Asgard, however the Vanir managed to escape capture. Thor was also guest to the wedding of the Fantastic Four's Mister Fantastic and Invisible Girl. However the festivities were interrupted when long time Fantastic Four foe Dr. Doom used his Emotion Changer device to send an army of super-villains to attack the wedding. Thor clashed with the Super-Skrull before joining a full on brawl between the heroes invited to the party and the villains sent to attack it. Soon the battle was ended when Mr. Fantastic used the Watcher's Time Displacement device to banish the villains away. The wedding then went off without further interruption.

To Hades and Back

File:Thor Odinson (Earth-616) reveals his double identity to Jane Foster in Journey into Mystery Vol 1 124.jpg

Thor reveals his secret identity to Jane Foster.

Upon his return to Earth, Thor began hearing news about a being calling himself the Demon who was raising an army in Asia. Checking with Jane at the hospital, he found her in a state of depression and as Don Blake had no choice but to reveal his secret identity to Jane in order to try and calm her. He then promised never to leave her side, however the threat of the Demon proved too great to ignore and Thor quickly went to Asia to face this new menace. Meanwhile, Odin had become aware that Thor revealed his secret to Jane and was furious. When Thor finally confronted the Demon, he realized the source of his power was one of the Norn Stones that had gone missing when he recovered them. Thor quickly bested the Demon in battle and recovered the Norn Stone. However when he returned to Asgard to deliver it, Odin ordered him confined to the golden realm. Unwilling to leave Jane, Thor fought through the warriors of Asgard including Balder and Heimdal to return to Earth. When he arrived he found that Jane was in the company of Hercules. When Jane and Thor began arguing over his absences, Hercules decided to defend Jane's honor and a fight soon broke out between the two gods.

Thor battles Hercules again

Hercules and Thor battled across the city showing no signs of stopping as they were both equally matched. Seeking to punish Thor and unable to do so himself, Odin passed on his power to his advisor Seidring. Seidring used the Odinpower to reduce Thor's strength by one half, allowing Hercules to best Thor in combat. Humiliated by this defeat, Thor believed he was unworthy and rebuffed Jane's attempts to make up with him. Thor then returned to Asgard to face his father over revealing his identity to Jane, only to discover that Seidring had turned on Odin and was using the Odinpower to take over Asgard. Unable to match Seidring's power, Thor rushed to the chaimber of the Odinsword and threatened to remove it from his sheath, causing Ragnarok, unless Seidring returned the power to Odin. Unwilling to face oblivion, Seidring surrendered and transferred the power back to the rightful ruler of Asgard. Thor then collapsed from his injuries into the arms of a regretful Odin. After being nursed back to health and restored to his full fighting strength, Thor asked for permission to return to Earth so he could regain his honor by defeating Hercules in combat. Odin transported Thor to a movie studio in Hollywood where Hercules was cast in a movie. Thor soon learned that this was all a trick by the Olympian death god Pluto to trick Hercules into taking over as the ruler of Hades, the Olympian neitherworld. Seeing the plight of Hercules as graver than their rivalry, Thor came to his aid fighting off the Hordes of Hades until Pluto and his accomplice Hippolyta left in order to get Zeus to force Hercules into complying with the contract. With the threat over for the time being, Thor then left Hercules to face his fate alone. Thor returned to New York City where he met Jane's strange new roommate Tana Nile before swearing to give up his godly identity to marry her as Don Blake. When Jane accepted this proposal, Thor journeyed to Asgard to inform Odin this. However his arrival coincided with the Day of the Three Worlds which required Thor to spend time in Limbo until the fates chose him to fight on the behalf of someone else. From Limbo, Thor was transported to Olympus to heed the call from Hercules to fight on his behalf to break him free from his contract with Pluto. Accepting Thor's challenge, Pluto transported the thundergod into Hades. There Thor bested Cerberus as well as the other forces of Hades. Thor caused so much damage that Pluto stopped the battle, and not wishing to see his entire empire go to ruins destroyed the contract. Hercules and Thor were then allowed to leave Hades, the pair putting aside their differences and finally becoming allies.

Genetic Curiosities

When Thor returned to Asgard he once more petitioned Odin for permission to be able to marry Jane Foster. This time, much to Thor's joy, Odin relented and granted his permission. However when Thor returned to Jane's apartment he was shocked to find Jane missing and that Tana Nile was actually a member of the Rigellian race and that she had staked a claim of the planet Earth. When Thor tried to stop her, he was incapacitated by her allies and taken into space for further study while Earth was trapped in a planetary lock. En route to Rigel, the Rigellian homeworld, Thor broke free and took control of the alien ship. When Thor began to approach Rigel, he was attacked but was able to fight through their defenses. Confronting the Grand Commissioner, Thor demanded that Earth be set free. The Commissioner agreed to do so, only if Thor agreed to explore the mysterious Black Galaxy where many Rigellians had gone missing. Thor agreed and he was sent into the Black Galaxy along with Recorder #211 a robot programmed to record his journey. Piecing into the Black Galaxy, they were shocked to find that it was a strangely organic Bio-Verse. Within they found the massive living planet known as Ego residing within. Ego invited them onto his surface under the auspices of peace but once there Ego revealed that he wished to send miniatures of himself out of his Bio-Verse to conquer the universe. When Thor tried to fight back Ego created an army of Anti-Bodies based on Thor's godlike physiology to battle the thunder god. Thor fought to free himself and the Recorder and forced Ego to let them go, the giant planet vowing to abandon his invasion plans and remain in the relative safety of the Black Galaxy.

With the mystery and threat coming from the Black Galaxy resolved, the Rigellians were true to their word and freed the Earth. When Thor returned, Tana Nile was relinquished of her possession of the planet and was selected to marry the Grand Comissioner. Before leaving she told Thor what she did to Jane and provided Thor with a device to find his lover. Thor tracked Jane to Wundagore Mountain in the European nation of Transia. There he clashed with the geneticist known as the High Evolutionary and his Knights of Wundagore which consisted of the New Men, a breed animal/human hybrids who were the product of the Evolutionary's sped up evolutionary process. The battle abruptly ended when the High Evolutionary revealed that Jane was not a prisoner but was there willingly after agreeing to teach the New Men about the outside world. Thor's interruption also prolonged the High Evolutionary's latest experiment, hyper-evolving a wolf. This created the so-called Man-Beast a wolf-human hybrid whose evolutionary was pushed forward millions of years, a process that made the best inherently evil. Thor joined the New Men in fighting back against the Man-Beast. Despite the creature's vast strength and mental powers, Thor was able to overpower the Man-Beast. When the rogue New Man was defeated, the High Evolutionary had the Man-Beast exiled into deep space. In the aftermath, the Evolutionary revealed his origins to Thor before he and his New Men left for the stars to find sanctuary elsewhere, allowing Thor and Jane to return to New York.

Goodbye Jane, Hello Sif

After the High Evolutionary and his New Men left Earth, Thor told Jane that his father had finally agreed to allow them to be married and took her to Asgard. However, this new realm was frightening to Jane. When brought before Odin, she was transformed into a goddess with the power of flight and then given the ultimate test: To see if she could endure being locked into a room with the Unknown to prove she was worthy of being a goddess. When Jane panicked, Thor came to her rescue, allowing the Unknown to escape. Deemed unworthy, Odin stripped Jane Foster of her godhood and returned her to Earth with all of her memories of Thor erased. She soon started working for doctor Keith Kincaid. Thor was hardly given time to grieve over the loss of Jane when he was sent out to hunt down the Unknown. Transported to Gundershelm, Thor battled the monster and succeeded in defeating the Unknown thanks to the timely arrival of Sif. Reunited after all the years apart, their long lost feelings were rekindled almost immediately upon their reunion, something that Odin approved of.

This reunion was soon marred when the Geirrodur, the king of the Rock Trolls, declared war on Asgard attacking Thor and Sif as they honed their fighting skills. During the melee Sif was captured and taken away to the underground domain of the Trolls. Following suit, Thor had to battle against their greatest warrior Ulik. Fighting his way through the Trolls domain, Thor learned that Sif had been transported to Earth, when faced with the choice of rescuing Sif or stopping an invasion of Asgard, Thor chose to return to Earth. With Thor gone, Geirrodur and his minions attacked Asgard armed with weapons provided to them by the mysterious other-dimensional being known as Orikal. When on Earth, Thor quickly changed back into his mortal guise of Donald Blake to more easily search for Sif. This however played right into the Rock Trolls plans as they captured Blake and took his walking stick. Blake tricked one of the trolls into tapping it twice on the ground triggering his transformation back into Thor. Although briefly reclaiming Mjolnir, Thor lost his hammer while battling Ulik when it was snared in the Orb of Orikal. The Trolls then fled back to Asgard, leaving Thor without his hammer and at risk of transforming back into Donald Blake, trapping him on Earth. Although he saved Sif, Thor was at a loss as to how to reclaim his hammer back. Luckily, Sif had the ability to transport them back to Asgard where Thor would not be bound by the enchantment that changed him into Donald Blake after being away from Mjolnir for more than sixty seconds. In the realm of the Rock Trolls, Thor recovered Mjolnir and battled Ulik who had made a replica of the enchanted weapon. Locked in battle, Thor proved to be the better warrior and defeated Ulik, destroying his hammer. Discovering Orikal, Thor and Sif freed him and the being agreed to leave their dimension, leaving the Trolls weapons powerless. With their advantage removed, the Trolls were then forced to retreat back to their domain, their invasion plans ruined.

Avengers Duties

After celebrating their victory over the Trolls, Thor soon began to sense trouble on Earth, and struggling with is feelings over both Jane Foster and Sif, requested permission to return to Midgard. Thor soon found himself assisting authorities in hunting down the so-called Growing Man that was on a rampage, only to learn that it was a weapon created by Kang the Conqueror. When Kang recovered the Growing Man, Thor battled the rogue time traveler forcing him to attempt to retreat in his time machine, a process that Thor interrupted by creating a infinity vortex around the time machine with Mjolnir, seemingly slaying his foe. Thor then returned to the Avengers where they all agreed to offer membership to Spider-Man. Thor himself contacted Spider-Man who reluctantly agreed to accept the invitation. Spider-Man almost came to blows with the Avengers but agreed to their test to try and capture the Hulk. However the wall-crawler ultimately decided to give up on the test when he felt sympathetic towards the Hulk's alter-ego, Bruce Banner and declined Avengers membership. Thor next battled the mechanical being known as Replicus, who was committing crimes on behalf mobster Slugger Sykes. Thor kept the robot at bay until Sykes learned that Chuda, the man who invented Replicus, was really an alien invader and sacrificed his life to stop Chuda. With the machines controlling Replicus destroyed the robot easily fell under the power of Thor.

Thor in golden armor

Thor later went after the hero Daredevil, who felt insulted when the hero disguised himself as Thor to try and draw out his old foes the Cobra and Mr. Hyde. After defeating Daredevil in battle, Thor warned him of imitating the thunder god in the future before departing. However this battle did attract both villains and Daredevil eventually managed to capture them. It was about this time that Odin held the annual Tournament of Titans, wherein the winner would be awarded with a golden suit of armor. Thor and the Warriors Three entered into combat with challengers Brok the Wind Giant, the troll known as Drom, and the Asgardians Tyr, and Galp. Their battle was interrupted when Loki transferred his spirit into the Destroyer armor and attacked Asgard. While Thor held off the Destroyer, Odin dispatched Balder to locate Loki's body so that the All-Father could send Loki's soul back to his body. With the Destroyer defeated, Odin proudly awarded all the warriors who battled the Destroyer with golden armor that would last for a day, and return each year to mark the anniversary of that battle.

Thor was soon drawn back to Earth thanks to his duties as a founding member of the Avengers. Thor returned to Earth where he assisted the Avengers in their battle against robots from the Raggador galaxy. After he was called back to Asgard where he stopped Loki from invading his home with an army of giants. Having grown tired of the constant struggles, Thor returned to Sif and the two decided to give up fighting to settle down and have a family. Thor went so far as writing a letter to tell his father of this, but was called back to Earth where he saved the life of a child in the operating room as Donald Blake. This made Thor and Sif realize that they were still needed to battle for the weak and infirm, and Thor tore up the letter. Thor was called back to the Avengers when the group called all past and present members to stop a coalition of super-villains led by the Mandarin who were trying to take over the world. Thor and Hawkeye were then dispatched to Africa where they stopped the Living Laser from resurrecting the robot Ultimo from a volcano. They then joined the rest of the team in stopping the Mandarin from devastating the Earth from his orbital satellite. Thor remained with the Avengers when they were celebrated by the city of New York for saving the Earth by announcing an official Avengers day. Thor did not stay very long, having other business to attend to and soon departed before the celebration could officially start.

Loki continued to seek revenge against Thor, this time manipulating the Super-Skrull to return to Earth and challenge Thor in the hopes of impressing his Skrullian superiors. This attempt on Thor's life was also a failure when Thor banished the Super-Skrull from Earth by bombarding him with "anti-force" ejecting him from the planet. Thor's affiliation with the Avengers later made him a target of the cosmic being known as the Collector who enslaved Thor and used him to capture the Avengers Goliath, the Wasp, Hawkeye and Iron Man. However, the Avengers freed themselves from the Collector's captivity and Thor helped defeat their foe, who fled. After the Collector's defeat, both Thor and Iron Man went their separate ways again, but they both would be drawn back into Avengers business. Thor briefly mourned the group when they were seemingly slain by their foe the Grim Reaper but they were later restored from their near-death state by their newest member the Black Panther.

Mortality

Thor trapped on Earth as a mortal

While Thor resumed his activities in his guise of Donald Blake, Asgard came under attack by the powerful Enchanters. While the Enchanters Magnir and Brona traveled to Earth, their leader Forsung went to challenge Odin himself. Learning of the threat, Sif and Balder traveled to Earth to warn Thor. As Thor battled both Magnir and Brona, Forsung challenged Odin in Asgard. The two agreed to pit their powers against each other, utilizing the sources of their powers, stripping Thor and all the other combatants of their immortal powers. Even bereft of his power, Thor was easily able to defeat his two foes Odin also bested Forsung, and then commanded that Sif, Balder and Thor return to Asgard immediately. When Thor refused to return, a vengeful Odin stripped Thor of all his godly powers except for his strength and banished him to Earth. Seeking to find a place in the mortal world, Thor inadvertently took on a job as a strong man for the Circus of Crime, whose leader the Ringmaster put Thor under his hypnotic spell in order to force the former thunder god to help steal a 50 ton golden bull statue from a nearby museum. During a performance with the Circus, Thor witnessed Jane Foster in the crowd with Dr. Kincaid, although he was happy to see she found a new love, he was saddened by her attendance. After the show Thor was enthralled by the Ringmaster and used to assist them in the theft. However things went awry when the authorities arrived and began firing. The shots fired from their guns were enough to snap Thor out of his trance, leaving him to wonder how he got into his current situation. While the Circus of Crime fled, Thor surrendered to the authoritis and found himself arrested and placed in jail. Meanwhile, Loki was freed from his exile from Odin, and learning of Thor's fate immediately plotted revenge. Paying Thor's bail, Loki attacked him out right, using his advantage against Thor. The battle was interrupted by the timely arrival of Sif and Balder who disobeyed Odin's decrees to aid their friend.

Thor vs the Thing

When Odin learned of Loki, Sif and Balder's activities on Earth, he was furious that he also stripped them of their godly powers as well. With Loki powerless, Thor allowed him to flee while he, Balder and Sif tried to determine what to do next. This proved to be an error on Thor's part as Loki attempted to regain his power by contacting Karnilla the Norn Queen. Her transference of power was intercepted by the common thief known as the Wrecker who gained the magical powers meant for Loki instead. The Wrecker then banished Loki and began going on a rampage through New York City. When Thor, Sif and Balder attempted to battle the Wrecker, he banished Sif and Balder back to Asgard as well, leaving Thor to battle the Wrecker alone only with his strength as a weapon. Thor held his own against the Wrecker the best he could, however he was no match for the Wrecker's superior strength and was seemingly slain in battle. Thor's body was visited by Hela who sought to take him to Valhalla, but there was still a spark of life within Thor's body and his spirit divorced himself from his physical body. Thor refused Hela's embrace, unwilling to leave the Wrecker on the loose. However in his spirit form, Thor was unable to fight back against the Wrecker who continued his rampage. With Hela having departed, Thor's spirit returned to his body, and he returned to life. While trying to catch up with the Wrecker, Thor ran into Daredevil and Spider-Man who were being attacked by the Fantastic Four, who were tricked into thinking that Daredevil was really their foe Dr. Doom in disguise. Thor held his own against the Fantastic Four's Thing until the Invisible Girl broke up the fight and revealed Doom's deception to pit the heroes against each other. With the battle over, Thor quickly left to resume his search for the Wrecker. When Thor finally caught up to the Wrecker, he saw him defeated at the hands of the Destroyer. Thor then charged into battle unaware that the Destroyer was possessed by the spirit of his lover Sif, who had been tricked by Karnilla to possess the Destroyer in an attempt to save Thor, in the hopes that the thunder god would slay Sif by accident.

As Thor battled the Destroyer, Sif desperately attempted to end the battle but found that the Destroyer's natural inclination for destruction was slowly overriding her will. Witnessing the battle from Asgard, Odin had come to believe that his son had learned enough of a lesson in humility that he restored his power. With his powers restored to their peak, Thor continued to battle the Destroyer. Thor's battle with the Destroyer quickly ended when Karnilla recalled Sif's spirit back to her body. She then teleported Thor to her domain in order to assist Balder in battling Ulik who had come to claim Karnilla's domain as his own. Thor triumphed over Ulik, throwing him down a seemingly bottomless pit, however during the melee Loki managed to abscond Mjolnir and fled back to Earth. Thor and Sif returned to Earth to search for Mjolnir, even though Thor reverted back into Don Blake as soon as he returned to Earth. They were instantly attacked by Loki. During the fight Don reclaimed his walking stick and turned into Thor and defeated Loki, but Sif was gravely wounded in the battle. Changing back into Don Blake, Thor rushed Sif to a nearby hospital where he performed emergency surgery. He was able to save her life before Loki caught up with him, and turning back into Thor battled Loki once more. However, their battle was abruptly stopped by Odin allowing Loki to flee once more.

With Loki having fled, Thor was left to ponder what grave threat faced Asgard in the future. He then returned to check on Sif to find her in recovery. Still, Hela appeared before him and offered the thunder god a chance to enter Valhalla, but he refused. Thor then resumed his hunt for Loki on Earth, unaware that his foe had returned to Asgard. Thor eventually realized this and using Mjolnir to full heal Sif, the two lovers returned to Asgard. There they learned that Loki had taken the throne while Odin was in the Odinsleep, and worse the creature known as Mangog was rampaging across Asgard in order to pull the Odinsword and bring about Ragnarok, to avenge the deaths of his creators at the hands of Odin. Thor then went to join the Warriors Three in their battle against the near invincible alien. Thor and the Warriors Three fought back against Mangog, with Thor even throwing the full fury of the elements against his foe, but to no avail, Mangog kept on advancing closer and closer to Asgard. Thor was unable to keep Mangog from entering the kingdom, even with the added forces of the Recorder, Sif, Balder and Karnilla's Legion of the Lost. When all seemed lost Odin awoke from the Odin sleep and took down Mangog in a single blast, dissipating him into the billions of members of the race that supposedly created him. Odin revealed that Mangog was actually comprised of all the aliens and they had served their punishment, so Odin restored them, ending the threat.

Galactus

Following the defeat of Mangog, Thor returned to his mortal guise of Donald Blake on Earth. During this downtime he began to reflect on the fabled trip to Norway that led to his "birth" as Thor, and began to wonder the truth of his dual nature as both god and mortal. Plagued by these questions, Thor eventually sought out Odin for answers. Odin then revealed to his son the events that led to his being transformed into Donald Blake, a punishment pitted on him to teach him humility. Thor embraced the revelation that he was not merely a mortal endowed with the power of Thor, but the genuine thunder god. Seeking to get revenge against Thor once again, Loki searched Earth for a suitable pawn. There he found the exiled cosmic being known as the Silver Surfer. Enhancing the Surfer's Power Cosmic with his own magics, Loki tricked the alien into battling Thor in Asgard. The two battled it out, however they both quickly realized they were being manipulated into battle. Furious that his plan had been foiled, Loki withdrew the Surfer back to Earth, leaving Thor to wonder who set the Surfer against him. Thor was soon called back to Earth to attend a meeting with the Avengers to decide to induct the android known as the Vision into the group. After learning of the Vision's origins, Thor and the other founding Avengers unanimously agreed. Thor then celebrated with his fellow Avengers, and after catching up with the team he resumed his personal matters. However he was soon called back on more tragic matters when it appeared that Captain America was slain by the terrorist organization known as Hydra. Thor attended the funeral held for Cap with his fellow Avengers. Thor and the others were gassed by Madame Hydra and her minions and were to be buried alive in Drearcliff Cemetery. However they were rescued by the very much alive Captain America and his partner Bucky.

File:Thor Odinson (Earth-616) prepares to battle Galactus in Thor Vol 1 161.jpg

Thor prepares to battle Galactus

Thor was next visited by Tana Nile who had returned to Earth to recruit Thor's help in stopping the threat of the world devouter known as Galactus. Joined by the Recorder and followed by the Wanderers, survivors of Galactus, Thor and the others found Galactus within the Black Galaxy locked in combat with Ego the Living Planet. With their ship destroyed, Thor, and the Recorder were rescued by the Wanderers. Thor then attacked Galactus head on, but found his might alone was not enough. Thor in turn utilized the Wanderer's technologies to boost the power of Mjolnir and attacked Galactus. Faced with the threat of destruction, Galactus fled the scene, and and grateful Ego allowed the Wanderers to find a new home on his surface. Returning to Asgard, Thor learned what was known of Galactus from Odin. Thor was soon heading back to Earth after learning that Sif went there to face some unknown danger in his absence. Thor found Sif's trail led to an atomic research plant that had been eveloped in a strange energy barrier. Thor was pulled through the barrier and across time to the future of Earth-6943 a world ravaged by atomic war where humanity mutated in hideous creatures known as Mutates. After rescuing Sif, Thor learned that the entire incident was a trap set by Pluto, who was seeking revenge against Thor for his past defeat. As the battle raged, Sif, Thor, Pluto and the Mutates were all rocked back to the modern era when Balder struck the time barrier with his sword. The battle then continued in the present until Zeus interfered, banishing Pluto back to Hades and the Mutates back to their own time.

Thor and Sif

The trio then decided to investigate the atomic research center to learn that Pluto sought to gain from the facility. Inside they found the artificial man known as Him inside. Him explained his origins and after expressing his loneliness he attempted to capture Sif, leading to a battle with Thor and Balder. The fight was interrupted Haag, a minion of Karnilla, attempted to force Balder to return to Asgard. When Thor stopped to help Balder, Him escaped with Sif as his prisoner. Furious at allowing Him to abscond with Sif, Thor gave into the so-called "warrior madness" and relentlessly chased after Him. Thor battled Him viciously, forcing the artificial man to flee. His savage act greatly disturbed both Balder and Sif. When they returned to Asgard, they had learned that Odin had completed his research of Galactus, and as punishment for giving into the warrior madness Thor was to venture out and seek Galactus in order to learn his secrets. While Thor was being punished, Balder had decided to go to Earth to defend it in Thor's place only to be seriously injured by Loki. Later, Thor returned to Earth to tie up his loose ends in his mortal guise before departing on his quest. Learning of Balder's fate, Don Blake performed a life saving surgery on his life long friend. Blake was later attacked by Loki before he could change back into Thor, until Odin intervened once more. With Balder's life saved, Thor then departed for the stars to seek out Galactus. Detecting that the thunder god was seeking him out, Galactus brought Thor before him. Thor attacked instantly, but was easily felled by Galactus, who decided that Thor needed to know the purpose of Galactus in the universe. Galactus revealed to Thor that he was the last survivor of the universe that existed before his own, and that he was an integral part of the balance of the universe. With the origins of Galactus finally revealed, Odin teleported Thor back to Earth to assist Balder and the Warriors Three in stopping the menace of the Thermal Man robot. Thor led Balder and the Warriors Three against the Thermal Man who was rampaging through New York City. They kept the robot at bay until the military could drop a specially made bomb to incapacitate the machine. With the battle seemingly over, Thor reverted back into Donald Blake to give medical treatment to those injured in the battle. However the Thermal Man reactivated, calling Thor back into battle. This time, the thunder god unleashed the full wrath of the elements, sending the out to sea in a massive tidal wave, where the robot sank into oblivion.

Game of Galaxies

Soon after Thor was briefly reunited with Jane Foster when she was kidnapped by Pluto and Loki in a revenge plot against Thor. Lured into Hades with Jane as bait, Thor was forced to battle against Ulik. However Ulik soon balked at being used as a pawn and was banished back to Asgard along with Loki. With his plot ruined, Pluto allowed both Thor and Jane to return to Earth. Pluto erased Jane's memories of the ordeal, and with her past memories of Thor also lost to her, Thor decided to leave Jane to live out a normal life. Thor soon returned to the Avengers, where he pitted his strength against a nearly indestructible metal alloy called Adamantium invented by scientist Myron MacLain. The tests were interrupted when the Vision suddenly attacked the group, thanks to a program placed on his mind by his creator, the evil robot known as Ultron who sought to claim the Adamantium for himself. Thor joined the Avengers in a counter attack against Ultron, foiling his attempts to destroy New York City. Thor later kept Ultron at bay when he attacked the United Nations Building, until the robot could be destroyed by his creator, Yellowjacket. Thor later used the surgical skills of Donald Blake in order to save the life of civil rights leader Pedro Luis Lopez. While treating Lopez, the city was attacked by the Wrecker. Thor combined his power over lightning and the electrical current of the New York Subway system to short out the Wreacker's powers. He later completed his surgery, saving the life of Pedro Lopez.

Learning that the Avengers benifactor Tony Stark was injured and required emergency medical attention, Thor and Captain America soon joined their fellow Avengers at the hospital. Soon the hospital was attacked by one of Kang's Growing Men who kidnapped Stark. When the Avengers chased after the android, they found themselves transported to Kang's lair in the 40th Century. Kang explained to the Avengers that he had entered into a competition with the cosmic being known as the Grandmaster. Should Kang win he would get the power over life or death to revive his lover Ravonna, but if he lost the Earth would be obliterated. Cap brokered to have Stark returned to their own time for medical attention and agreed to help. Soon Cap, the new Goliath and Thor were transported to modern day Earth to combat the Grandmaster's champions, the Squadron Sinister.

The trio of Avengers were soon joined by Iron Man and they were each tasked with stopping a different member of the Squadron from stealing a different world monument. Thor defended the Sphinx of Egypt from Hyperion. However the first part of the competition was ended in a forfeit when Goliath's attempt to stop the Whizzer from stealing Big Ben was interrupted by another costumed hero known as the Black Knight. The four Avengers, along with the Black Knight's Ebony Blade were teleported away by the Grandmaster. While Yellowjacket, the Black Panther and the Vision were transported back to the year 1944 to battle the Invaders (including that eras Captain America) the modern day Captain and the other Avengers were placed in stasis. They were soon freed when the Black Knight used the mystical connection to his sword to pull himself into the future. After freeing the captive Avengers, they confronted Kang just as their teammates won the bout in 1944 and were returned to Kang's era. With Kang having won the challenge, the Grandmaster granted Kang with the power of life over death. Seeing this as an opportunity to finally slay his long time foes, Kang decided to use his power to try and kill the Avengers. Since the Black Knight was not a member of the Avengers at the time, the power did not work on him and he knocked out Kang before he could slay his allies. The Grandmaster then stripped Kang of his power and returned the Avengers to their own era. Upon their return Thor and the Avengers unanimously agreed to induct the Black Knight into the ranks of the Avengers.