Biography of Loki, 1965

The following is a biography of Loki for the year of 1965, in which Loki's rivalry with his brother Thor reached its greatest intensity to date.

Biography

While in Asgard, Loki heard that Odin had stripped Thor of his power due to Thor attempting to confess his identity to Jane Foster. Loki prevented other Æsir from interfering and assisting Thor on Earth, eager to see him fail, but Honir nonetheless came through and returned Thor's power to him by the regretful Odin's order.

The Trial of the Gods

In his most desperate plot yet, Loki directly kidnapped Jane Foster. He crafted a potion that he magically fed to a criminal on Earth who would come to be known as Absorbing Man, using him to distract Thor while he made off with Jane. With help from Balder, Thor learned of Loki's deeds and set out after him. Thor attacked Loki in his stronghold, and the two fought at length while Jane stood by and soon fainted from fright. Eventually, Odin arrived and put a stop to the combat, declaring that Thor and Loki would undergo the Trial of the Gods to settle their rivalry. Thor asked for 48 hours to return Jane to Earth and finish his battle with the Absorbing Man, which Odin granted him, despite Loki's protests. Thor soon overcame Absorbing Man, turning him to helium and sending him floating through space, and returned to face the trial.

Odin declared that Thor and Loki would be dropped in the dangerous realm of Skornheim, unarmed, and the first to return to Asgard would be declared the victor. With that, Odin teleported the two to the barren, frightening land of Skornheim. Loki employed a set of magical Norn Stones, which he had smuggled past Odin's gaze, to make his way through the realm's various dangers, while Thor was left with his raw power and wits. To amplify his advantage, Loki showed Thor a magical projection of Don Blake's office, where Enchantress and Executioner were "visiting" Jane Foster by Loki's request. Loki assured Thor that they wouldn't harm her, but this tactic nonetheless accomplished the goal of taking Thor's mind off of the trial. The two were soon attacked by a large being named Yagg: Loki fled, leaving Thor to defeat the foe using his bare hands and the surrounding rocky terrain. This distraction allowed Loki to get a significant lead over Thor, using the stones to creep his way through unbearable heat and killer plants. Thor's might and will allowed him to catch up, but Loki nonetheless crossed one last fiery gap and made his way through the dimensional portal back to Asgard, winning the trial. While this took place, Balder learned of Enchantress and Executioner accosting Jane Foster. He notified Odin, who agreed that this was Loki's doing. Balder came to Earth and confronted Enchantress and Executioner as they dragged Foster through the streets of New York.

Thor followed Loki through the portal, and Loki magically threw the bag of Norn Stones far off to Midgard, hiding it in an underground Viet Cong bunker in Vietnam and ditching the evidence that could prove he had cheated to win. The two were soon summoned to Odin's throne room to report the results of their trial, where Thor testified truthfully as to what Loki had done. Odin gave Thor twenty-four hours to go to Earth and retrieve the stones to prove Loki's deception. Thor, again fully equipped with his hammer, arrived in New York, where he found Balder fighting Enchantress and Executioner. The evil Asgardians fled upon Thor's arrival. Thor found his way to Vietnam using his magical hammer, fighting through communist soldiers that Loki magically influenced. In the end, Thor successfully retrieved the stones.

The invincible Destroyer

Loki remained vigilant from Asgard and magically influenced a nearby hunter to knock Thor out with a sleep dart. While Thor was unconscious, Loki persuaded the hunter to travel further into the jungle nearby, where Loki revealed the long-buried Temple of Darkness. The hunter traveled inside, where he found the Destroyer, a humanoid mechanical construct sealed away by Odin long ago to protect Midgard if need be. Thor awoke in the hunter's camp and tracked him down, arriving to find him standing motionless near the activated Destroyer. The unthinking Destroyer attacked Thor, cutting Mjölnir in half with a blast of energy. As he observed from afar, Loki realized that the Destroyer could not be beaten and would likely kill Thor if he didn't interfere. He deduced that Thor's death would bring Odin's wrath upon him, and determined that he must save his brother. Loki made haste for Odin's throne room, but found that he was deep in his annual, day-long Odinsleep. With great effort, Odin's guards restrained the hysterical Loki and imprisoned him. Left trapped in an inescapable cell, Loki felt certain that his and his brother's doom was upon them.

A desperate Loki exerted a great deal of energy to cause Thor's body to lose its physicality, causing the Destroyer's attacks to pass through him. Though the Destroyer was able to adapt his attack to hit Thor anyway, Thor used his upper hand to escape for the moment. Loki briefly passed out, and when he recovered, he sent a mental image to the Norn Queen in the hopes that she could awaken Odin and get him to stop the Destroyer. The Norn Queen granted Loki's request, visiting Odin in his dreams and warning him of Thor's peril. Odin indeed awoke, but Thor in fact refused his father's help, and instead outsmarted the Destroyer by using the hunter's mindless body as a shield and forcing his mind back out of the Destroyer. Thor went on to cave in the Temple of Darkness and seal the Destroyer inside convincingly. Loki was brought to Odin for judgment, and the guards who had watched his cell testified in his favor that he had aided Thor in the battle. With this in mind, Odin showed mercy, but nonetheless sentenced Loki to indefinite labor with his royal sorcerer, Ularic. As Loki began his punishment, he immediately began pondering how to retrieve the Norn Stones from his brother, knowing that they would prove his prior deception if presented to Odin.

Attempted usurpation

Before long, Loki outsmarted Ularic and concocted a mist using Ularic's potions that placed the warlock in indefinite suspended animation. Loki thus regained his freedom along with Ularic's large wealth of magical supplies, and set his ambitions higher than ever before: to the usurpation of Odin and, in the process, the destruction of Thor. He used Ularic's potent equipment to locate Absorbing Man as he floated through space in the form of helium vapor, and fired upon him with organic matter to return him to his human form. Loki further encased him in a protective bubble and returned him to Earth. Absorbing Man landed in Manhattan and quickly began fighting with Thor, precisely according to Loki's plan. Absorbing Man indeed proved a dangerous foe, but Thor discovered that his enemy could not "absorb" his speed, wit, and valor, and these traits gave him the edge in battle.

Absorbing Man began to lose confidence, and Loki instead decided to initiate the ultimate objective of his plan. With Balder and other impediments to his authority out on routine patrol, Loki used Ularic's attractor beam to transport Absorbing Man straight to Asgard from under Thor's nose. Loki intended to use Absorbing Man as a weapon, which he violently resisted—but Loki threatened him with powerful magic and encouraged him to submit. The two made their way to Odin's throne room, and Asgardian warriors on the way attacked. They proved no match for Absorbing Man, as he simply absorbed their power and became ever stronger. They confronted Odin, who recklessly blasted Absorbing Man with a beam of cosmic energy, thereby transforming him into that selfsame substance. Thor soon arrived to intervene and informed his father of the villain's unique power. With his victory seemingly assured, Loki demanded that Odin hand rule over to him. Odin seemingly submitted, handing Loki his ceremonial scepter. Loki insisted that Absorbing Man kneel before him, but Creel had grown attached to his own potential for power, and tried to take the scepter himself. The two soon found that their hands were magically sealed to the scepter: this was naturally Odin's doing, and he sent the scepter along with the two of them flying into space, to hurtle through the void indefinitely until it pleased Odin to stop them.

See also

• Biography of Loki, 1964