Thor #168 — Nick Peron

Feb 28

Feb 28 Thor #168

Galactus Found!

As punishment for succumbing to the warrior’s madness, Thor has been sent on a mission into deep space to try and learn the origins of Galactus. Although this punishment weighs heavily on the heart of Odin, the All-Father insists that even his son must pay the price for such a transgression. Aboard the Cosmos-Ship, Thor soon leaves Asgard for deep space, leaving him to wonder how long this voyage will take.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Balder has awoken after receiving life-saving surgery from Don Blake, Thor’s mortal alter-ego. The doctor gives him a clean bill of health and he is discharged from the hospital. As he leaves the hospital, Balder is surprised to see the Warriors Three have arrived to help Balder defend Earth while Thor is away on his mission. Outside, they ask to borrow a newspaper to see what is happening on Earth. The front page story is about nuclear tests that have been on going in China, raising concerns among the international community.

At that moment, Thor’s voyage comes to an abrupt end when something causes his ship to violently stop. Opening the ship’s escape hatch, Thor realizes that his ship has been captured by a larger vessel.

Back on Earth, Chinese scientists have activated their latest weapon, a powerful robot they call the Thermal Man. However, the robot begins running amok, destroying everything in its sights. With its power increasing exponentially, the scientist manage to incapacitate it with a sonic blast before it becomes too powerful. With that, arrangements are made to have the Thermal Man loaded into a drone which is then sent into American airspace. As anticipated, US Air Force planes are scrambled and blow the the drone out of the sky, causing the Thermal Man to fall to the ground.

Meanwhile, Thor discovers that he has been captured by Galactus himself. The world devourer has been aware of Odin’s quest to learn his origins. Thor thinks this is an attack, by Galactus defelects his attacks and then envelops him with a visi-cloud that incapacitates the thunder god and allows Galactus show him events that led to his creation. The first thing that Thor sees is an event that happened centuries earlier when the universe was still young. One of the Watchers had come upon a strange alien ship. Examining the inside of the ship, the Watcher discovered that everyone on board was killed off by some kind of plague.[1] However, this is only part of the story and now that the thunder god is no longer trying to fight him, Galactus frees Thor from the visi-cloud so he can hear the rest of the tale.

Back on Earth, the Thermal Man has arrived in New York City and begins to go on a rampage. By this time, Balder and the Warriors Three have taken shelter in Don Blake’s apartment. When they catch a news report about the Thermal Man’s rampage, they all agree to go into battle to stop this automation from destroying the city. While back in space, Thor finally awakens and Galactus begins telling him the rest of his amazing origins.