Biography of Thor, 1964

The following is a biography of Thor for the year of 1964, in which Thor struggled like never before to balance his romantic desire for Jane Foster and his duty as an Asgardian hero.

Biography

Return of the Tomorrow Man

Thor was overwhelmingly distraught over seemingly losing all hope of marrying Jane Foster. By the beginning of the year, Thor had become actively irritable, taking out his anger on anyone who came in his path and attracting the concern of his fellow Avengers. Odin observed him from Asgard, and with Loki in his ear, was convinced that Thor's continued obsession was an act of disobedience, having told his son to forget the mortal woman. Odin partly stripped Thor of his power, removing his power over the elements and his ability to enter Asgard until he gave up loving Foster. Thor stormed onto the Bifrost, but was stopped at the entrance to Asgard by Heimdall. His power halved, Thor was easily defeated by the bridge's guardian. Returning to Earth, Thor soon learned of the return of the Tomorrow Man, Zarrko. The villain from the future had returned to the 20th century, his memory having been recovered due to mental influence through the centuries (and a different universe) by Loki. The Tomorrow Man was backed up by a giant robot, and minus half his strength, Thor could not defeat it. Zarrko gave Thor an ultimatum: to come with him to his own time and do his bidding, or let the robot run roughshod on the people of Earth. Believing that no one else could match up to the machine, Thor agreed, following Tomorrow Man into his time machine and to the future.

Arriving in Zarrko's time, Thor was quickly put to work as the Tomorrow Man's underling, causing chaos for the first time in centuries in the peaceful utopia. With Thor's assistance, Zarrko confronted the World Council, the governing body in that period. The people of Zarrko's time recognized Thor's power, remembering him from his previous confrontation with the Tomorrow Man, and his presence proved an effective bargaining chip. Zarrko demanded of the World Council that they give him access to the Master Machine, the artificial intelligence that was superior to the Council themselves. He gave them an hour to make their decision, threatening them with Thor's might, as Thor slipped the Council a piece of paper requesting that he be allowed to handle Zarrko in his own way. Before reading it, the Council triggered the release of a robotic octopus in an attempt to stem the tide of Zarrko and Thor's attack. Still lacking half his strength, Thor used his wits to defeat the robot, and the Council conceded to Zarrko's demands. Zarrko and Thor went to the designated location, a deserted isle where lay a hidden room with the Master Machine, a large control panel enacting various algorithms. Zarrko set the machine to follow his own orders, effectively becoming the ruler of the world. With his oath fulfilled, Thor turned on Zarrko, incapacitating him long enough for the Council to come and take him into custody. Thor returned to his own time, the Tomorrow Man once again defeated.

Enchantress and Executioner

Returning to work the following day, Dr. Blake was approached in his office by a woman claiming an allergic reaction. Getting a closer look at her, he realized that it was none other than the Enchantress, a remarkably beautiful and deceptive Asgardian. As Jane walked into the room, Enchantress suddenly kissed Don on the lips, causing Jane to storm out. The handicapped Dr. Blake attempted to chase after her, as Enchantress was dumbfounded at the fact that Blake had left her embrace. Unbeknownst to Thor, Enchantress had been sent by Loki and Odin to rip him away from Foster. As he searched for Jane, Thor soon witnessed the arrival of the Executioner, another Asgardian who had been sent by Enchantress to do away with Foster. Executioner found Jane and used his magical axe to open a rift in space-time, sending her into Limbo. He and Thor did battle, with Thor gaining the upper hand, but Executioner warned him that he would gain nothing by defeating him. In exchange for returning Jane to Earth, he requested Thor's hammer. Thor begrudgingly accepted, willing to do anything for Jane's safety. Executioner dutifully returned Jane, but found that he could of course not lift Mjölnir. Enchantress soon returned, angry at Executioner's failure and turning his limbs into tree branches. A panicked Executioner relieved Thor of the deal they'd made and begged for protection. Retrieving his hammer, Thor created a whirlwind that sent Enchantress and Executioner back to Asgard once again.

Surtur and Skagg attack Midgard

Shortly after the Enchantress and Executioner's defeat, Thor remained uneasy, anticipating the arrival of an even graver threat. Indeed, he was soon visited by Balder, who warned him that Odin was coming to speak with him, and more importantly, Loki had taken the throne of Asgard in his stead. Loki looked to defeat Thor and Odin once and for all, and to that end had freed the demon Surtur and the Storm Giant Skagg from their respective confinements. Thor met with Odin in the office of Dr. Blake and warned him of what was to come. Odin recognized the threat and used his immense power to transport the entirety of the human race to another dimension so that they would not witness the events that were to unfold (and wouldn't remember their transportation). Soon the enormous Skagg came stomping through the bay, and Thor, Odin, and Balder took the fight to him. Surtur soon joined Skagg, and the two enacted catastrophic damage, remotely strengthened by the will of Loki. Odin used much of his own strength to disable Skagg, and Thor knocked Surtur deep into space, clinging him to a magnetic asteroid. Odin returned humanity to Earth and himself returned to Asgard, punishing Loki by sending him to "serve the trolls."

Pursuing the Hulk

Soon after, the Hulk joined forces with Namor the Sub-Mariner to fight the Avengers on a remote island, but the two were eventually fought off, and Hulk went into hiding. During the battle, Thor and Hulk separated from the others and fought one-on-one, but the fight was indecisive as they became separated by a cave-in. The Avengers then found the legendary hero Captain America frozen in the sea on their way back to New York, and the five of them teamed up to fight Namor once more. Cap officially joined the Avengers afterward. The Avengers went on to search for Hulk through the southwest, only to find that he had come to New York seeking revenge on them. The Avengers returned to New York and teamed with the Fantastic Four to bring Hulk under control. In the end, Rick Jones proved to be the deciding factor, feeding Hulk an anti-gamma pill that caused him to transform back into Bruce Banner as he fled. A few days later, the Avengers stopped an attempted attack by the Lava Men in the southwest (fighting the Hulk once more along the way). Returning to New York, they fought off a team of supervillains led by Baron Zemo called the Masters of Evil, including Thor's old foe Radioactive Man.

Cobra and Hyde unite

After a routine meeting with the Avengers, Thor patrolled the city and witnessed the Cobra on the loose. Cobra used his extensive gadgetry to fight him off, quickly escaping the hero's sight. Returning to his office, Thor later heard over the radio of Mister Hyde robbing a jewelry store. Thor arrived on the scene and chased after him, but Hyde was able to escape. Unbeknownst to him, this was all part of a scheme by Hyde and the Cobra, the latter of whom was using Hyde's "time-reversal ray" to track whence Thor had come. Thor again returned to his office having failed to catch a criminal, and pondered giving up the Thor persona so that he could finally be with Jane. But Hyde and Cobra tracked him down, demanding that he tell them where Thor was and taking Jane hostage. Through a fortuitous series of events, Blake managed to transform into Thor under the pretense of the former having escaped to call the police. The villains fled, but Thor chased them into a trade show for heavy machinery. Cobra took control of a machine that was able to circumvent Mjölnir's enchantment, taking it into its grasp and stowing it in its storage compartment.

Unable to retrieve his hammer in time, Thor maneuvered away from the villains into the throngs of people at the trade show. When the minute elapsed, he transformed back into Don Blake, perfectly blending into the crowd. He investigated the machine that held Mjölnir (now his cane) inside, but couldn't get in to retrieve it. Cobra and Hyde angrily demanded that Thor show himself or they would harm those in attendance. Blake stepped forward and agreed to give them Thor once again in exchange for retrieving his cane from the machine. The powerful Mister Hyde ripped it open and gave it to him, and Blake dashed off out of sight to transform into Thor. The thunder god fought the two villains, easily overpowering them until Hyde made his escape and Cobra was incapacitated for the police to take into custody. Later, Thor was ambushed by Hyde, who knocked Mjölnir and attempted to defeat him once and for all. An unarmed Thor was still the superior fighter, defeating him in under a minute and allowing the police to take him in as well. Returning to his office, Blake was met by Foster cursing him out for attempting to sell Thor out.

The Grey Gargoyle

Transforming into his heroic form at the end of a work day, Thor was surprised to be greeted by Jane. She asked him to have mercy on Don, and confessed that she still loved him in spite of his apparent cowardice. Thor was elated at this, overjoyed that Jane loved him even though he couldn't show her his mutual feelings. His happiness wouldn't last long however, as reports began to arrive of people in the city being turned to stone. Thor investigated one such instance, bringing a stone taxi driver back to his office for Blake to investigate. As he did so, his office was invaded by a stone villain known as the Grey Gargoyle, who had witnessed Thor's return. The Gargoyle wore bright blue gloves with exposed palms, and demonstrated that touching something with his hands would turn it to stone for 24 hours. He chased Blake to the roof, where the doctor transformed into Thor and fought his new foe. Gargoyle made it clear that he was after Thor's hammer and the immortality it would bring. He baited Thor to a nearby gas station, causing an explosion that knocked Mjölnir from his hand. Gargoyle tried to pick it up, but naturally failed. Instead, Thor retrieved the hammer but soon made contact with Gargoyle's hand, turning to stone. The police arrived and chased the villain off as the petrified Thor began to perilously fall to one side. Luckily, Mjölnir made contact with the ground first, transforming him into a flesh-and-blood Dr. Blake. Returning to his office, Blake speculated that he shouldn't become Thor again, as Gargoyle's petrification would reactivate until it wore off the following day. Instead, Blake decided to use his wits to defeat the Gargoyle, attaching a projector to a motorcycle and driving around to make it appear as though Thor was flying through the city. Gargoyle was fooled for a time, but eventually chased Blake himself. They both crashed into the river, but while Blake recovered, the stone Gargoyle sank, apparently to his death. Soon after, Baron Zemo, who had escaped imprisonment during his first encounter with the Avengers, aligned with the Enchantress and the Executioner to attempt to defeat the Avengers once more. Thor sent them through a space warp, launching them to a random place in the multiverse.

Doctor Strange assists against Loki

While flying through the city, Thor detected a magical summons from the sorcerer Doctor Strange. Landing in Strange's Greenwich Village mansion, Thor witnessed the powerful magician laying prone. Strange explained that he had weakened himself casting a spell to repel an attack from his nemesis Baron Mordo, and then collapsed into unconsciousness. Thor became Don Blake and rushed Strange to the hospital, where his own knowledge of magic helped him repair Strange's unique problem. Odin sent Blake a magical command to meet him immediately in Asgard, but Blake was in the middle of surgery and couldn't respond. Strange made a full recovery and vowed to repay Blake if he should ever have need of him. Don returned to his office, where he saw Jane and an old man holding a walking stick. The man attempted to stand and stumbled into Blake, causing their respective canes to fall to the ground. The man grabbed Blake's cane and tossed it out the window, revealing himself in a puff of smoke as Loki. He used his "slumber mist" to knock out Foster and fled with her hostage as Blake was unable to transform into Thor. Frantically running to the street, Blake was unable to find his cane, and sent a desperate mental call for help to Odin. In fact, Odin and his army had left Asgard in battle, and he had been seeking Thor's aid in this matter earlier. Unaware of this, Blake believed Odin to have forsaken him. Blake rushed into Strange's hospital room desperately looking to cash in on his promised favor, and asked for help finding his cane. The benevolent sorcerer accepted without question, and using his astral form quickly found the cane being used as a fishing rod by a pair of homeless men. Blake arrived on the scene and wrested it from them, transforming into Thor as they ran off and Strange's spirit returned to his body. Thor traced Loki upstate into the mountains, but found that Jane wasn't with him. He sent a mental message to Strange and requested "in the name of Don Blake" that he locate her. Thor engaged his brother in battle once more, and Loki revealed that he was keeping Foster in Limbo. Realizing that he could not defeat his brother, Loki tried to kill Foster instead, but Strange protected her with a magical barrier while she sat in Limbo. Thor overpowered Loki, and he begrudgingly released Jane from her prison. As Loki tried one last act of deception, he was snatched from thin air by a soldier of Odin's to return to his own confines. Odin appeared to Thor and applauded him for his valor, and the two apologized for their mutual confusion. Thor flew Jane back to Manhattan safely.

Attack of the mutant Magneto

While working in his office, Blake noticed a sudden magnetic storm all across the surrounding area of the city. All down the street, magnetic objects were flying through the air seemingly at random, and within moments, the phenomenon had stopped. Becoming Thor, he used his hammer to search for a strong magnetic signal, and found it coming from a camouflaged submersible off the bay. Thor stepped into it and found Magneto, leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Magneto believed that the powerful Thor must be a mutant, and offered him a spot in the Brotherhood. Thor thoroughly refused, and the two fought. It proved to be a grueling battle, until the two got separated and Magneto's foes the X-Men arrived elsewhere in the base. Magneto fled in an escape craft, followed close behind by the X-Men's. Thor never saw this occur, but seemed to recognize that someone had assisted him. He destroyed the base before returning to his office. Also around this time, the Avengers repeled an attempted invasion by the time-traveling Kang, and fought back the Masters of Evil once more with the help of the duplicitous Wonder Man, who died shortly thereafter.

Loki's plot and Odin's compassion

One day, Thor detected an "aura of evil" over the city, and patrolled the streets looking for it. Keeping this ominous sense in mind, Thor returned to work as Don Blake. That day, Jane was suddenly grabbed through the window by the Cobra. Blake quickly turned into Thor and chased him down to the street, where he was joined once again by Mister Hyde. Hyde told him not to pursue them or Foster would be "finished." Instead, he was to meet them again at that spot in 24 hours and surrender his hammer. Thor begrudgingly complied, not willing to put Jane's life at risk. Loki returned to Asgard and showed Odin how Thor let them escape, and Thor's apparent cowardice and continued attachment to Foster angered him. Odin appeared to Thor and declared that he was banished from Asgard. Distraught, Odin realized suddenly that, of course, Loki must be behind this plot. He traveled across the Bifrost, but was met at the entrance to Asgard by the guardian Heimdall. Bearing no malice for Thor, the noble watchman attempted to enforce Odin's banishment, but Thor blasted him aside with a powerful wind. Storming through the city against much opposition, trying not to hurt anyone, to Odin's palace. There he confronted Loki, who refused to admit any wrongdoing, but did slyly show Thor the location where Foster was being held: a palacial estate upon a hill in New Jersey. Odin himself soon arrived, and Thor attempted to explain. Withholding judgment, Odin instantly transported him to New Jersey. Thor entered the mansion and became subject to a series of traps and attacks by Cobra and Hyde, whose power had been doubled by Loki's magic. The conflict resulted in an explosion that destroyed part of the building, and Thor found Foster alive but in critical condition among the rubble. He knew she was dying, and could not be saved under normal circumstances. Swinging Mjölnir at a ferocious speed, Thor stopped time from passing within the house, allowing him to defeat his foes and keep Jane stable.

Thor indeed fought both Cobra and Hyde in conjunction, a daunting task with their increased power levels. Once he had incapacitated them both, Thor returned to Jane and realized that he couldn't keep the time warp up indefinitely. He believed his only chance to save her was to become Don Blake, thus resuming time in the mansion, and try his best to operate on her. As he released the time warp, a sword came crashing down from the heavens with a vial and a note attached. The note was from Balder, declaring that Odin had decreed that Jane was to be saved. Balder had traveled through perilous obstacles to reach the great healer Hardol, who had developed this life-saving elixir for Jane. Thor poured the contents of the vial into Jane's mouth, and in moments she awoke perfectly alive. Thor raised his hammer to the sky, gleefully thanking his father for his grace. Also around this time, the Avengers fended off the Masters of Evil and the mysterious Immortus, though the Enchantress used a spell to reverse time such that these events essentially never happened. The Avengers further followed what Thor called an evil presence in Europe, which turned out to be the alien Lucifer, though they eventually left his defeat in the hands of the X-Men. Soon after, while Iron Man was away from the Avengers investigating the apparent death of Tony Stark, the team were approached by a fake, robotic Spider-Man sent back in time by Kang. It led them into a trap in Mexico, but the robot was trailed and defeated by the real Spider-Man, foiling Kang's plans.

See also

• Biography of Thor, 1962-1963
• Biography of Thor, 1965
• Biography of Loki, 1964
• History of the Avengers, 1963-1964