Journey into Mystery #94
Thor and Loki Attack the Human Race!
At a US missile testing site located on an island in the Pacific Ocean, a missile is launched into orbit. However, a malfunction causes them to lose contact with the missile putting it at risk of falling from orbit and destroying innocent people. A call is quickly sent out for Thor to stop this from happening.
Don Blake hears the call from his radio and immediately changes into Thor. After getting the missile’s coordinates from the authorities, Thor flies into space to intercept it. This whole ordeal is being watched by Loki in Asgard. Although he is shackled to a wall, he has been using his magic to manipulate events for his latest scheme against Thor. When Thor uses Mjolnir to destroy the missile, Loki uses the last of his strength to create the illusion of a dragon. This causes Thor to turn his head and when Mjolnir comes back it strikes Thor in the back of the head.
As Loki planned, the blow to the head was powerful enough to change Thor’s personality, making him evil. He then implants a thought in Thor’s mind, compelling him to return to Asgard to free Loki. At the Bifrost Bridge, Hemindal greets Thor upon his arrival but is knocked aside as Thor flies by. By the time Thor has found Loki and crushed the Uru chains that restrain him, Heimdall has gathered an army of Asgardian’s led by Odin. Odin demands to know why Thor is freeing Loki and Thor says that he has come to free his brother, whom he has pledged allegiance to. Odin can hardly believe it, but Thor fights back against his own father. He then decides to return to Earth with Loki and lay waste to the world that Odin has grown to love.
On Loki’s command, Thor begins using his powers to destroy landmarks all over Earth and cause natural disasters. They destroy dams and bridges as well as landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, and the Leaning Tower of Pizza. Loki also joins in, using his magic to create a giant serpent to attack ships, animating the Sphinx to attack Cairo, causing the Empire State Building to sink into its foundation, and making Dinosaurs in museums to come to life. Eventually, their destruction has caused a delegation of the United Nations to approach them and invite Thor and Loki back to the UN Building in New York to discuss the terms of Earth’s surrender and to petition Odin to surrender the throne of Asgard.
There, Thor tries summoning Odin by smashing the massive United Nations logo in the center of the delegation chamber. Suddenly a trap door opens under Thor. For a moment, Mjolnir hovers suspended over the pit before falling down and hitting Thor in the head. That’s when the UN delegation reveals that they are actually Odin and a number of Asgardian elders in disguise. Thor has been restored to normal and he quickly knocks out Loki. After Odin restrains the mischief god, Thor apologizes to the world for all the damage and chaos he caused. Odin tells his son not to worry as he will use his magic to repair all the damage and make everyone forget what happened.[1]
Recurring Characters
Thor, Loki, Odin, Heimdall
Continuity Notes
For a different accounting of these events see Thor: First Thunder #4-5.
Topical References
Don Blake hears this distress call from a radio that visibly appears to powered with vacuum tubes. This should be considered topical because this technology is positively ancient. I shouldn’t have to tell you this.
Junk Science
Loki states that Thor was struck in the “chromosomic gland” which he claims determines and changes personality and that it is located at the back of the head near the brain stem. This is not accurate in the slightest. This is the product of a writer in 1963 not knowing shit about the human brain and just writing some bullshit. Human personalities are determined by the frontal lobe which is at the front of the brain (hence the name).
Reconciling This Story with Thor: First Thunder
As stated above, Thor: First Thunder #4-5 re-tells this story in a vastly different way. Rather than the goofy “blow to the head” plot contrivance, Thor: First Thunder established that Thor continued to be arrogant even after getting his power back and saw himself as superior to the humans he protected, his main motivation to helping others was due to Don Blake’s humanity. Loki casts a spell suppressing Blake’s persona, and Thor seeks revenge against his father by decimating the Earth and even killing its heroes. The crisis ends when Don Blake breaks Loki’s spell and his humanity reasserts Thor’s nobility. The story still ends pretty much the same, with Odin using his power to undo all the death and destruction while also erasing everyone’s memory of these events.
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 #94 being the “fictional account” and Thor: First Thunder #4-5 being the “true” story.
