The Immortal Thorsday Thoughts 16

The villains that Al Ewing chooses for Dario Agger’s group of “Gods of Midgard” are amongst the oldest to appear in Thor stories in the comics. Not a complete list of the oldest – even the oldest human villains – but amongst them. All four predate other human villains like the Absorbing Man or the Wrecking Crew. In most cases, the four chosen have gone on to actually be villains more for other heroes than memorable as “Thor villains.” Mr. Hyde is probably thought of as a Daredevil foe more than Thor’s – while the Radioactive Man has had a lot of appearances over the past couple of decades in a variety of places, most notably as a member of the Thunderbolts. Grey Gargoyle even had a moment as a bit of a major Iron Man villain thanks to turning Paris to stone in Fear Itself. Looking through their respective histories, all four are very much characters of the Marvel Universe at large with only the Grey Gargoyle actually appearing in a Thor comic proper in the 21st century. Basically, after their first appearances in Journey into Mystery, they all went off to be villains at large rather than staple Thor villains.

Their first appearances, both in comics and as Thor villains, occur over a 21-issue span of Journey into Mystery, beginning roughly a year into Thor’s time headlining the title. During that first year and interspersed were a variety of other villains like Loki and other Asgardian threats, several low-level human threats that kind of fizzled away, and one human threat that remained a somewhat recurring Thor villain, Zarrko the Tomorrow Man. Radioactive Man is a bit of an outlier, but, once Human Cobra (as he was originally known) is introduced in issue 98, nine of the ensuing 16 issues featured Human Cobra, Mr. Hyde, and Grey Gargoyle in some combination:

Journey into Mystery #93 – Radioactive Man

Journey into Mystery #98 – Human Cobra

Journey into Mystery #99-100 – Mr. Hyde

Journey into Mystery #105-106 – Human Cobra and Mr. Hyde

Journey into Mystery #107 – Grey Gargoyle

Journey into Mystery #110-111 – Human Cobra and Mr. Hyde

Journey into Mystery #113 – Grey Gargoyle

Their order of appearance in Journey into Mystery is how they show up in The Immortal Thor #16: Radioactive Man, Cobra/Mr. Hyde (same panel, teaming up), and, then, Grey Gargoyle. There are other allusions, like Radioactive Man’s arrival in New York recalling his original arrival in the city, walking through customs with impunity – or the way he tries to discredit Thor in front of the police being a variation of his original hypnosis of the hero, or even Thor throwing Mjolnir away. And the attacks of the other three are pretty much what those three do. It’s all very effective. Further disrupt the idea of Thor as a hero on Earth and, then, kill him. But, why these four? Of all of the superhumans that Dario Agger could recruit, why these four who have failed so many times before?

As Thor follows the body of the Radioactive Man across town as it’s propelled by Mjolnir, he thinks “[...] I AM MADE TO SEEM THE VILLAIN--AND HE THE HERO. NOT AN AUSPICIOUS START, THOR.” And so we return, once again, like a broken record, to the teller of the tale. Part of Thor’s identity is tied in his superhero persona on Earth and, if Loki is to destroy all that makes up Thor, then that part must be targeted as well. Amora, Skurge, and Dario did part of the job with their Roxxon Thor, but that still left lingering doubts. What Thor is real? If there are two, which one is good? Which one bad? There’s no way to know. So, you go back to the beginning and his earliest superpowered human villains, all working together to, first, make Thor seem the villain and, then, kill him – at least in a manner that will last on Earth. They supplant the God of Thunder as Gods of Midgard, filling the void his absence leaves. That seems important somehow: something for something.

I know, I remain fixated on this approach to reading these comics, but I can’t see any other. It’s all one story with one direction and purpose. For any of these issues to be throwaway stories that don’t contribute to that larger story seems wrong. Maybe it’s right, who knows. I’ve decided to give Ewing more credit than that with respects to this story.

The way that Thor’s image is meant to be remade before some of his earliest villains kill him is a variation on a retcon. By reliving those early days, it’s like a retcon in real time. It doesn’t change the past at all, but it does change the perception of the past. Like, maybe Thor was always bad and these four were always good, that everyone misinterpreted what happened. A spell that travels back through time, remaking history. It’s not entirely dissimilar from Skurge destroying the bridges and that disconnecting Thor (and Asgard) from Earth. The events remain, but something shifts. This would be more of a collective delusion than that, though. Like a reinterpretation of history where the facts aren’t so much in dispute as what they mean is. It fails, of course. I’m not convinced that it was ever meant to work completely, its true purpose to add to the cumulative effect of knocking bits off Thor until nothing is left, reducing him to bits and pieces, literally here.

Next issue, we’ll keep on following this path with a look at the human side of Thor’s soul in The Immortal Thor #17 and what exactly Donny Cates did to Donald Blake.