Journey into Mystery #109
When Magneto Strikes!
Thor has been invited to an advance showing so sculptures of Earth’s mightiest heroes. Other than a statue of himself, there are carvings of his fellow Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Daredevil, and the X-Men. He is impressed by the level of work put into them and promises to make the opening ceremony if he can. As Thor leaves the building he remarks about how peaceful things have been.
However, things will not be quiet for long as a submarine carrying the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants has just arrived off the shores of Manhattan. Their leader, Magneto, is continuing his search for their foes — the X-Men — and has detected powerful mental emanations from the city. After scolding Mastermind for teasing the Toad, Magneto sends them along with the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to find where the X-Men are hiding. Once they are off, Magneto muses how his minions all hate each other and how they only remain because they fear his power. The master of magnetism then climbs into a device to boost his magnetic powers so he can terrorize humanity.
By this time, Thor has returned to his mortal guise of Don Blake. Seeing patients at his medical practice, Blake and Jane Foster are shocked when all of his metal instruments begin floating in the air. Looking out the window he sees that the same thing is happening all over the city. However, the phenomenon stops moments after it began, leaving Jane to dismiss it as some kind of mass hallucination and thinks that she and Don have been working too hard. After seeing his last patient, Don says he is going home for the night. Jane then reminds him that they had dinner plans and he is forced to cancel them. Jane is not happy about it but it can’t be helped because Don wants to investigate the strange phenomenon as Thor.
Using Mjolnir, Thor is able to trace the cause back to its source, uncovering Magneto’s hidden submarine. The vehicle is disguised as a floating tree branch. He quickly finds the opening hatch and goes inside. There he confronts Magneto and the two engage in a brief battle before Magneto calls a stop to it. Suspecting that Thor might be a mutant he invites the thunder god to join his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, telling him about their goal to conquer the human race. Thor flat out refuses, telling Magneto that he is a defender of humanity. This starts up their fight anew, with Magneto encasing Thor in metal with his magnetic powers. Thor breaks free and throws his hammer, but Magneto makes it stop and fall to the ground. Thor races toward it but Magneto repels him and tries to crush him with the walls. Thor breaks free again, but when he chases after Magneto, he seals a door between them. By this point, Thor has been away from Mjolnir for sixty-seconds and reverts back to Donald Blake.
On the other side of the door, Magneto finds Don Blake’s walking stick and briefly wonders where it came from before tossing it aside. Fearing that Thor might be setting a trap for him, Magneto uses his powers to fire rivets out from the door. Don Blake evades these and begins fleeing through the sub, narrowly evading the various traps that have been rigged inside. Meanwhile, Magneto has been contacted by his minions who inform him that they found the X-Men, but they were spotted and now being chased by the mutant heroes. Magneto gets their location and tells them to hold on for him to arrive. By this time, Don has recovered his walking stick. Magneto hears movement behind him and goes to check it out just as Blake turns into Thor again. Magneto quickly puts up a shield to defend himself from Thor’s opening blow but is shocked by how powerful it is.
Thor then uses Mjolnir to absorb the magnetic energy protecting Magneto. Realizing that he is out of his depth, Magneto flees through a trap door and sets a proton bomb to destroy the ship. Luckily, the X-Men arrive and Iceman uses his powers to deactivate the bomb by freezing it in a solid block of ice. Chased by his foes, Magneto manages to get to an escape pod and flees the scene. Thor then watches as Magneto’s pod is chased by a submarine piloted by the X-Men. Unaware of who is chasing Magneto, Thor leaves the ship and summons down lightning to destroy them. Magneto manages to evade capture and heads out to recover his team, vowing that he will rule mankind some day.
Don Blake then pays a visit to Jane Foster’s apartment and makes up with her. She is pleased that he came over and cooks him a meal. Spending the evening together, Jane wonders when Don will finally express his love for her.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (Magneto, Toad, Mastermind, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch), Jane Foster, X-Men (Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Iceman)
Banished from Asgard!
Years ago, Thor had gotten involved in a duel against Odin’s orders. As a result, Odin has ordered Thor banished from Asgard. Odin’s advisers question if this is a good idea since they are currently at war with the Storm Giants. Odin silences them, saying justice has been done.
Overhearing this is Arkin the Weak who leaves to report this to the mountain queen known as Korda in order to win her favor. Riding head of Thor, he succeeds in reaching his love. Korda is pleased to hear the news and says that defeating Thor will spell the end of Asgard.
Later, when Thor rides through the mountains he is ambushed by Korda’s armies. Thor leads them on a chase into a box canyon. Before they can catch Thor, the thunder god crawls through a cave that the giants cannot follow through. Reaching the top of the canyon, Thor finds Odin and his armies waiting for him. As it turns out, Thor’s banishment was a ruse to sniff out the traitor in their midsts. Now they know that it was Arkin the Weak. Surrounded by all sides by Odin’s men, Queen Korda rejects Arkin and then surrenders to Odin, vowing to cease all hostilities.[1]
With that, Odin and Thor ride side-by-side as they lead their victorious army back home to Asgard.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Odin, Queen Korda, Arkin the Weak
Continuity Notes
Following this defeat, Korda attempts to alter history and almost succeeds in creating another reality where she rules the planet Earth. Reality was restored to normal thanks to the combined efforts of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. See Domination Factor: Avengers #1.2-4.8 and Domination Factor: Fantastic Four #1.1-4.7
