Thor #159
The Answer at Last!
Don Blake has just come out of another successful surgery. One of his colleagues notices how tired he looks and suggest that he take a nap in the lounge before his next patient.[1] Once alone, Blake’s mind begins to focus on his current identity crisis. He has been wondering recently if he’s actually Thor, and if not, what happened to the original. He falls as sleep and dreams of Thor traveling to Asgard for the answers. He wakes up from his dream just as he asks Odin about his true identity.
Don soon discovers that Odin was listening in on his thoughts and decides it is now time to reveal the truth and begins showing him images from Thor’s past.
Some time ago, the kingdom of Asgard made a truce with the the Storm Giants of Niffelheim that no immortal shall cross their borders. Despite this agreement, Thor disobeyed this treaty when he spotted a birdbeast across the border. Thinking he was helping the Storm Giants by slaying this beast, he was attacked by the first Storm Giant he came upon. Soon an army of Storm Giants joined and Thor was forced to flee. On his way back, he ran into Balder and asked for his assitance. However, wise Balder was not willing to break the treaty as Thor had.
Seeing these events, Don Blake notes that Thor was brash and headstrong, but doesn’t understand what they have to do with him. Odin asks Blake to be patient as everything will make sense. Odin then shows him a scene in Asgard where Thor engaged in an arm wrestling competition with another warrior named Gondolff. There Volstagg accidentally knocked some other patrons into the middle of the match while getting out of his chair. Gondolff then accuses Thor of cheating because he was about to lose. This heated argument quickly becomes a full on bar brawl. Seeing this, Odin orders everyone to stop fighting and asks Thor to visit him on a mountain peak high above the kingdom.
There, Odin expresses his anger and disappointment in Thor’s recent behavior and decides the thunder god needs a lesson in humility. Showing him the world of mortals, he decides that he is going to banish Thor to Earth.[2] Stripping Thor of his godly power and memories, he is deposited on Earth in the form of Donald Blake. Blake appeared on the campus of the State College of Medicine where he then enrolled there in classes. Reliving this memory for the first time, Blake realizes that “Don Blake” with his lame leg and desire to become a doctor to teach Thor humility.[3]
With the secret finally revealed, Odin reveals that once he was satisfied that Thor finally learned humility he arranged events for Don Blake to find the hammer of Thor.[4] With that, Odin takes his leave and Don Blake taps his cane to change into Thor, to celebrate the revelation that he was and always will be the mighty thunder god.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Odin, Heimdall, Balder, the Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg), Loki
Continuity Notes
Blake remarks to himself that he is still exhausted after Thor’s recent battle with Mangog. See Thor #154-157.
Thor reacts like this is the first time he has seen the planet Earth. However, Thor has had a long history of interacting with humans, particularly during the period where the Asgardians were worshiped by vikings. The earliest recorded instance was depicted in Thor: The Rage of Thor #1, which dates back to about the 14th Century. One possible explanation for Thor not remembering Earth prior to this point is provided in Thor: God of Thunder #3, which reveals that Asgardians have a limited capacity for memory in their brains and due to their immortality older memories can become lost or faded as new ones are formed.
There is more to Donald Blake than meets the eye here as there have been numberous follow up stories reveal that the situation was much more complex than it appears here:
First of all, Don Blake was actually a real guy, as revealed in Thor #479. Thor was merged with him until the moment he taped the enchanted walking stick to first transform into Thor. The real Don Blake was then transported to a secret cavern within Wundagore Mountain where he was to remain in suspended animation. Odin kept this all a secret.
Shortly after this, as explained in Thor #483, Sigyn found Blake and tried to kidnap him to use as blackmail against Odin to avenger her husband Loki. She accidentally killed Blake and replaced a construct instead. From there, Thor was led to believe that Blake was merely a figment of his father’s imagination.
According to Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Thor and Thor (vol. 3) #1, the real Don Blake ended up in a “shattering void” and all of Thor’s experiences as Don Blake were later transferred to him when Thor was briefly killed off circa Thor (vol. 2) #85 and entered that same void. When Thor died he entered the shattering void was merged with Blake again.
Those events were detailed in Journey into Mystery #83.
