Journey into Mystery #93
The Mysterious Radio-Active Man!
Doctor Donald Blake has come to India in order to provide his medical skills to the Indian army which is in conflict with the Chinese at the border between the two countries. When the Chinese launch another attack, Blake changes into Thor and begins deflecting their mortar shells. Next, he rounds up a number of Chinese tanks and pulls them into India where the Indian soldiers can use them against the attackers. Lastly, he causes an avalanche, cutting off the invading army’s path, and then uses Mjolnir to summon a powerful storm. Beaten back by torrential rains and pounding thunder, the commanding officer of the Chinese forces radios back to headquarters to inform his leaders that Thor has gotten involved in the conflict.
The next morning, the leader of China meets with his top military and scientific experts. He demands that they need to do something about Thor, who threatens their communist nation. One of the generals recommends Chen Lu, one of their best scientists, for the job. Chen Lu agrees to take on this task, promising his masters that he will destroy Thor once and for all. Chen Lu then retreats to his private lab where he has been working on transforming himself into a being of pure radioactivity. Unable to trust others with this secret, Chen Lu has been working in secret, using robots to assist with his experiments. After months of exposing himself to radiation, he then prepares himself to be bombarded by another concentrated dose. While this would have killed a normal man, Chen Lu’s body absorbs the energy transforming himself into a green glowing figure. Dubbing himself the Radioactive Man, Chen Lu then destroys his labs so that his government cannot duplicate his process with others. He then presents himself to the military and presents a plan on how he can use his newfound powers to destroy Thor.
A week later, a Chinese sub arrives three miles off the shore of New York City. There, the Radioactive Man is fired from a torpedo tube. Once he arrives at the Port Authority, the Radioactive Man increases his radioactivity and begins terrorizing the city. As he does so, he orders the authorities to summon Thor so that they can fight one-on-one or else he will cause his body to hit critical mass and blow up the entire city.
While Donald Blake is back in the United States, he is in the middle of a delicate surgery when the news about the challenge reaches him. After completing the surgery, Blake turns into Thor and confronts the Radioactive Man. To Thor’s surprise, his foe can deflect Mjolnir and absorb lightning bolts. Chen Lu then warns Thor against physically attacking as it could cause a violent chain reaction making his body explode. The Radioactive Man then uses his power to hypnotize Thor and orders the thunder god to toss away his hammer. However, Thor tosses it far away, prompting his foe to run after the weapon. Once sixty seconds elapses, Thor reverts back to Don Blake, freeing him from Radioactive Man’s hypnosis. When Chen Lu returns he demands to know where Thor went. Blake, needing time to recover Mjolnir, sends Radioactive Man on a wild goose chase.
Rushing back to his office, Don tells Jane Foster not to disturb him for the next two hours. In the privacy of his lab, Blake builds a device that can detect the location of Thor’s hammer. He discovers that it landed in the Hudson River and races to the pier to recover it. Diving into the water, Blake hopes he is strong enough to reach his hammer in time. Luckily he manages to grasp Mjolnir before he runs out of breath. Thor then tracks down the Radioactive Man and catches him in a whirlwind that sends his foe flying back to China. The Radioactive Man’s body has hit critical mass by the time he arrives and when he crashes into a mountain range he explodes.[1]
Later, Jane Forster reads the newspaper report about Thor’s battle. She can’t believe that Don would still carry out his boring lab work while Thor was saving the city. Amused by this, Don tells her that not everyone can be a hero.[2]
Recurring Characters
Thor, Radioactive Man, Jane Foster
Continuity Notes
The Radioactive Man survives this explosion and will resurface again in Avengers #6. His survival is detailed in a flashback in Untold Tales of Spider-Man #13.
A slightly different account of Thor and Radioactive Man’s clash is detailed in Thor: First Thunder #4.
Topical References
This story contains a lot of Cold War references, such as referring to China as “Red China”. These references should be considered topical.
Likewise, the leader of China is depicted as Mao Zedong. This should be considered topical for a number of reasons. Mainly because Mao Zedong has been dead since 1973. Secondly, he is referred to as the Chairman, a position that was once held for life until it was abolished in 1982 when it was deemed by the Chinese government that one individual should never be above the Communist Party.
Images of the Chinese flag are depicted as being a red flag with a hammer and sickle. This flag was replaced in 1996 replaced the hammer and sickle with one large star semi-circled by four smaller stars.
This story also features a great deal of dated military technology, particularly the radio sets that the Chinese soldiers are using.
Reconciling This Story with Thor: First Thunder
As stated above, Thor: First Thunder #4 retells Thor’s clash with Radioactive Man. This story states that the Radioactive Man was smuggled into the United States after Thor clashed with Chinese forces at the border between India and China. First Thunder #4 states that Radioactive Man gained his powers before Thor’s involvement in the Indian/Chinese border dispute and fought him there. Marvel has not provided an official explanation for these conflicting accounts. Additionally, the original story states that Chinese forces were attempting to invade India, while the account in First Thunder states that the conflict was merely a border dispute.
A possible in-universe explanation can be provided when considering other unrelated series, specifically Captain America: Forever Allies, Marvel Boy: The Uranian, and All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes. Those stories state that old Timely era comics weren’t “true” accounts of wartime heroes but adaptations created by Timely/Atlas Comics that adapted the adventures of superheroes to match the sensibilities of the time. It’s been established in Fantastic Four #10 that Marvel Comics exists in the Marvel Universe and publishes officially licensed comic books detailing the adventures of super-heroes, with creative teams using artistic license to embellish stories or fill in narrative gaps. I would like to think that this is a reasonable explanation for the two different accounts with Journey into Mystery #93 being the “fictional account” and Thor: First Thunder #4 being the “true” story.
