Tales to Astonish (vol. 3) #1
Loki’s Dream
The city of Oslo, Norway, has been plagued by a deranged serial killer named Knut Cain. Obsessed with Asgardian mythology, he kidnaps the judge who previously convicted him and his wife. He then forces them to relive the tale where Loki was chained under the dripping maw of a viper and his wife, Sigyn, had to keep the venom away with a dish.[1] However, in this instance, he had to substitute a live snake with one that drips a highly corrosive acid. As Cain intended, the death trap was set up to fail and Judge Svalbard is horribly killed. As he flees in a stolen car, Knut has the bad luck of getting into a collision with a police car. Shooting the officer, he steals his squad car to escape. The wounded officer stumbles into the apartment building where Judge Svalbard’s widow tosses acid in his face mistaking the cop for Cain.
This bizarre crime happens just as Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, aka the Wasp, arrive in Oslo. They have come so Hank can give a lecture on how super science can benefit law enforcement in investigations. They meet up with Hank’s old friend Kurt Hamsun, who is a detective on the police force.[2] Although Hank and Janet were expecting a carefree visit to Norway, when news of Knut Cain’s murder spree becomes common knowledge, Hamsun asks the two superheroes for their help.
Using Hank’s Rover ship, the pair track Cain down to some nearby Fjords. Spotting the madman scaling the cliffs, the Wasp decides to go out and confront him directly, ignoring Hank’s orders. Knut still has his gun and tries to shoot her but misses. Janet responds by zapping him with a wasp’s sting, knocking him out. However, when she tries to carry him back to the Rover, Cain smacks her in the head, making her drop him. Given the length of his fall, both Hank and the Wasp assume that Cain was killed on impact with the lake below.
However, as Knut sinks to the bottom of the lake a fish happens by and tells him to grab hold. Amazingly, the fish manages to swim him to a hidden underground cave. There he is visited by the image of Loki, the Norse god of mischief. Loki has taken a liking of Cain and led him here to this hiding place. This is where Loki has hidden a dagger that will given one the powers of the trickster god himself should Loki consider them worthy. Accepting the dagger, Knut Cain is transformed into a horned being in Asgardian warrior’s garb.
Believing himself to be Loki, Cain resurfaces from the cave and attacks Hank and the Wasp as they are trying to head back to the city. When the Wasp leaves Rover to attack him, Knute assumes the form of a bee and gives her chase. This allows Janet to lure him close enough to Hank to capture Cain in one of their shrunken suit cases. However, this is not enough to stop the mortal incarnation of Loki as he then enchants Rover and makes it attack the pair. After toying with them for a bit, Cain then causes an avalanche in an effort to bury the pair alive.
Hank and Janet would have been buried alive if not for the timely arrival of the Hulk, who is able to shield the pair with his impervious body. Presuming his pursuers death, Knute uses the Rover to fly back into the city so he can continue living out his twisted Norse fantasies.
When Cain arrives in Norway he casts a spell that causes it to snow. He then heads to the local zoo seeking the Fenris. Finding a wolf he uses his magic to increase its size. That’s when Kurt Hamsun and his fellow officers arrive on the scene. They try shooting the “Fenris” but the wolf is impervious to their bullets. Hamsun is then incapacitated when Cain kisses him on the forehead, causing the officer to become frozen solid.
Meanwhile, the Hulk has dug himself, Hank, and Janet out of the rubble. Climbing about his ship, the Hulk explains that he was warned of the danger from Delphi, the Pantheon’s precognative.[3] When the Hulk reaffirms that he is no longer the mindless brut he once was,[4] the trio agree to work together to stop Cain. Hank suggests that their first stop should be to find Kurt Hamsun.
By this time, “Loki” has forced a group of women to become part of his harem. However, after a while Knute grows bored, wondering when Ragnarok is going to be upon them. When one of the women suggests that he go looking for the Aesir he is impressed with her knowledge of Norse myth and uses his power to transform her into the mortal embodiment of Hela, the goddess of death.[5]
Later, Hank, the Wasp, and the Hulk return to town and find the frozen body of Hamsun and take him someplace warm to thaw out. After they find out what Cain has been up to in town, the Hulk deduces that Knute must be trying to recreate Ragnarok and they quickly come up with a plan to try and stop him.
Dressing up like Heimdall, the Hulk smashes his way into “Loki’s” fortress and challenges him to a duel. Joined by Hank and Janet, they manage to slay the “Fenris”, throwing Knute into a fit of rage. He uses his magic to not only increase his size but also create a proxy for Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent. As Hank and Janet deal with “Hela”, the Hulk tries to wrestle “Jormungand” under control. He succeeds and forces the massive serpent to bite Knute. The snake venom begins working quickly causing Cain to die and reverting everything back to normal. With Cain now dead, the Hulk finds the enchanted dagger given to him by Loki. The trickster then appears before the Hulk as an astral projection and tries to tempt him into accepting the power the dagger can give him.[6]
However, rather than be tempted, the Hulk rejects Loki’s offer and throws the dagger with enough force to send it into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean where it sinks to the bottom and is lost among the silt.
Recurring Characters
Hank Pym, Wasp, Hulk, Loki, Delphi
Continuity Notes
Loki was forced to endure this torture in the Modern Age, as we saw in Thor #277. He has endured this in past Ragnarok cycles as well as seen in Loki (vol. 2) #4. Ragnarok cycles are periods of where the Asgardians go undergo a death and rebirth, for more on this see Thor #293.
When Kurt asks Hank and Janet if they are back together again, they assure him that they are only friends. Hank and Janet got married way back in Avengers #60. Unfortunately, the marriage ended after Hank struck Janet in a fit of rage in Avengers #213. Over time the two reconciled and even started dating again in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42. However, they eventually decided to just be friends in Avengers West Coast #69.
At the time of this story, the Hulk had recently joined the Pantheon, as seen in Incredible Hulk #382. He will remain a member until issue #426.
Mention is also made as to how now Bruce Banner is in full control of the Hulk’s body. This became the status quo in Incredible Hulk #377 and will remain the status quo (more or less) until Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1.
Here, Knute Cain refers to Hela as the daughter of Loki. While this is part of Norse Mythology, this is not necessarily the case on Reality-616, at least with the current incarnation of the Asgardians. Over the course of Journey into Mystery #624-641 Hela had a maiden servant named Leah that served by her side. Escaping Hela’s realm she would form a friendship with a reformed and de-aged Loki in modern times. When the pair recovered the Holy Grail it was at the expense of Leah’s life. Later, in Journey into Mystery #645, Hela implied that Leah was banished into the past where she would become Hela. However, this claim has yet to be independently verified as of this writing in January, 2023.
Loki muses that he and the Hulk are meeting again for the first time. The Hulk first encountered Loki back when the trickster framed him for an act of sabotage, an act that would lead to the formation of the Avengers in the very first issue of their series. Loki states that they are meeting for a “first time” because Bruce Banner was not in control of the Hulk like he is in this story.
