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Thor Vol 1 279

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Appearing in "A Hammer in Hades!"

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  • Mjolnir (Main story and flashback)
  • Pounders of Ulik (Only in flashback)

Synopsis for "A Hammer in Hades!"

Having exiled himself from Asgard, Thor is back on Earth, flying through New York City, when he sees a couple on the street below that he briefly mistakes for Jane Foster and Dr. Kincaid. Although he instantly realizes his error, Thor is still startled enough to land on a nearby rooftop where he then recalls his history with Jane Foster, including how their relationship had ended when she failed to become a goddess and the fact that Jane's very essence was now melded with that of the goddess Sif.

Thor then recalls something that happened soon after Jane had made her fateful visit to Asgard. One afternoon, while getting a cup of coffee in his office, Dr. Don Blake noticed that his walking stick had started glowing. When he grabbed hold of it, the enchanted cane began to guide him out the door and up to the roof where, since Blake couldn't fly, he changed to Thor and allowed Mjolnir to guide him.

Arriving at an area outside the city limits, Thor was surprised to find that Jane Foster was there as well and, as she told him that something had drawn her to that spot, the ground opened beneath her and demonic tentacles pulled her down into the pit which then sealed itself. Determined to rescue Jane, Thor used Mjolnir to smash open a chasm so that he could follow, but he was soon swarmed by intangible lights which drained his strength and rendered him unconscious.

When he awoke, Thor realized that he was now in Hades, and soon discovered that Pluto was holding Jane hostage, suspended over a pit of lava by mystical chains. Pluto explained that he wanted vengeance upon Thor, something that Zeus had forbidden him to do, so to get around that decree, Thor's death would be accomplished through the powers of another. Pluto then showed Thor that Loki was his ally. Speaking from Asgard, Loki revealed that he was not physically present because he lacked the brute strength to defeat Thor so he was now conjuring forth a champion to do the deed. At that moment, Ulik appeared in Hades, enraged that someone had brought him there against his will, but Pluto quickly redirected his rage by pointing out the presence of Thor.

Pluto then stated the challenge: Thor and Ulik would battle, whoever was victorious would claim Jane Foster and the loser would remain a prisoner in Hades forevermore. If both died in battle, then Jane would be dropped into the lava. Ulik immediately attacked Thor and the battle began. However, when the battle went on longer than he had expected it would, an impatient Pluto made the mistake of wondering aloud if he and Loki should have used some more formidable champion. Hearing that he was being used caused Ulik to abandon his attempt to kill Thor so that he could claim as his victim the one who tried to use him. Being attacked by Ulik caused Pluto's concentration to weaken and the chains holding Jane aloft to fade away, but Thor saved her before she could fall into the lava. When Ulik caught hold of Pluto and declared that he was going to throw Pluto into his own enchanted flames, a fearful Pluto revealed that those flames could consume even his godly form. Hearing this, Thor realized that Pluto was the only one who could show them the way out of Hades and so he saved Pluto from death. Now having a reason to attack Thor, Ulki tried to grab Jane to use her as a living shield but Thor quickly used Mjolnir to blast him, sending him back to Asgard where he appeared in close proximity to Loki.

Since Thor had saved his life, Pluto rewarded him by transporting Thor and Jane out of Hades and back to the location on Earth they had been when they were abducted. When Jane assumed that Thor must have been the one who called her there, Thor realized that Pluto had erased Jane's memory of her hellish ordeal and instead claimed that he was just feeling sentimental. Jane then pointed out that a certain doctor would be upset if she was late for their dinner that night so Thor flew her back to her home so as not to tempt the ire of her Dr. Kincaid.

As the memory concludes, Thor reflects on how Jane, whom he once did love, is now one in being with Sif, the one that it was written should be his beloved, and this has resolved the turmoil in his heart.

Notes

  • Most of this issue's story consists of a flashback to an event that happened well before the part that occurs in the present day. Of the five major characters involved, Thor is the only one who appears in the framing sequence which is set between Thor #278 and Godzilla #23.
  • As for that extended flashback, the two relevant in-story temporal references indicate that it took place on a day shortly after Jane Foster visited Asgard in Thor #136 but also after Zeus had banished Pluto back to Hades in Thor #164. However, the Marvel Chronology Project, which covers character appearances, has the following information about those five characters:
  • The one-panel flashback that shows Jane Foster being close with Dr. Kincaid is a bit problematic. After failing to become a goddess in Thor #136, Jane Foster was transported by Odin to a hospital on the West Coast where she met the blond Dr. Kincaid to whom she seemed to be instantly attracted, and it was presumably Stan Lee's plan that the two of them would become a couple. However, when Thor glimpsed Jane in the audience at a circus in Thor #146, she was sharing popcorn with a brown-haired man, and when Thor was called upon to rescue her in Thor #172, she was romantically involved with her boss, the brown-haired Dr. Jim North. Although this change in Jane's love interest was probably unplanned, and was presumably the result of Stan Lee having forgotten the name of the doctor with whom he had paired Jane off, it could easily have been explained away by establishing that Jane had gotten involved with Jim North after nothing had actually developed between her and Dr. Kincaid. The fact that this story does establish that Jane was involved with Dr. Kincaid at this time makes her in-story relationship with Jim North into a continuity error, one that has never been resolved.

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