Thor #272
The Day the Thunder Failed!
While on patrol in New York City, Thor spots a child being picked on by a bully and decides to intervene. When the bully takes off, Thor points out that all bullies turn out to be cowards when you stand up to them. However, the bullied child can’t believe that Thor ever had to deal with bullies in his life. The thunder god decides to educate the child by telling the youth and his friends a story from his younger days….
Many centuries ago, Thor and his brother Loki found themselves lost in a massive forest while on their way home from an adventure. As night began to fall, the pair found what appears to be a cave. Although Loki is frightened by the regular ground tremors, Thor convinces him that this is a safe place to stay for the night. Thor stands guard all evening to prove his point.
The following morning they discover that the rumbling was caused by the snores of the most massive giant they have ever seen. When the giant awakens he introduces himself as Skrymir and that they are in the land of Utgard. The giant is amused by the tiny Asgardians and invites them to follow him as he travels Hall of Utgard. Thor and Loki decide to take him up on the offer and follow him through the woods. The following evening, the two young gods are hungry and Skrymir offers the food he is carrying in a sack if they can untie the knot. Try as he might, the boastful Thor cannot untie the not. Skrymir, by this time, had fallen asleep and Thor — frustrated over not being able to wake the sleeping giant — strikes him on the nose with Mjolnir as hard as he can. The giant wakes up briefly and reacts as though Thor’s blow was nothing more than a fallen leave brushing against his nose. Thor is so shocked that the giant withstood his mighty blow. Awake again, Skrymir decides to continue on his journey, once again inviting the two Asgardians to follow him.
Thor and Loki lose sight of the giant, but follow his footprints to the Hall of Utgard, a massive castle just outside the forest. Inside they find King Utgard who pays them no mind until Thor angrily slams his hammer on the ground. Utgard threatens to lock the pair away in his dungeon if they fail to pass five contests. The two Asgardians accept the challenge.
Loki accepts the first challenge and a massive dining table full of food appears before him. Loki is challenged to eat more food than his opponent a scrawny man named Logi. The trickster god figures he has this made but Logi wins the contest by not only eating the food, but also the dishes and the table as well. Seeking to redeem himself, Loki also takes on the second challenge, a race against another by the name of Hugi. Once again Loki loses because Hugi moves impossibly fast despite his appearance.
That’s when Thor takes on the next challenge. Utgard gives him a massive horn filled with water and is challenged with drinking it all. Despite his efforts, Thor barely drains the horn of water and has to stop. The next challenge is for Thor to lift a simple housecat off the ground. To the thunder god’s surprise, he can barely lift the cat off the ground. For the final challenge, Utgard has Thor try and restrain his own mother, who appears to be nothing more than a withered old hag. Despite appearances, the old lady is able to overpower Thor.
As the Asgardians have failed all five challenges, Utgard intends to lock them in his prison. However, Thor and Loki refuse to surrender without a fight even in the face of impossible odds. This pleases Utgard, who reveals that he was actually testing their bravery and all of the challenges were designed for them to fail. He reveals that he was also Skrymir and that he cast powerful illusions to cloud what was really going on. When Thor tried to untie the bag of food, he was unaware that it was sealed by a powerful magic. Later, when he tried to strike Skrymir with his hammer, Thor was actually striking the side of a mountain, which he shattered. The challenges were tricks as well as “Logi” was actually animated fire, while “Hugi” moved at the speed of thought. The horn was actually drawing water from the ocean, and the cat was actually the Midgard Serpent in disguise. Lastly, Utgard’s “mother” was actually Elli, the personification of age, who made Thor temporarily old and infirm and thus unable to strongarm her.
When asked why he conducted these unfair tests, Utgard explains that he intended to invade Asgard and wanted to test the bravery of its people. Since Thor and Loki refused to surrender in the face of impossible odds, he has decided against invading their home. With that, the giant teleports the pair away and leaves them to ponder the lesson they learned that day….
…. Concluding his tale, Thor explains that one should stand up to bullies, but also not to become to boastful of one’s own strength as there will always be someone out there more powerful than they are. The bullied child gets to understand that he shouldn’t focus on beating his foe, but looking after himself. When the children leave, Thor is approached by Harris Hobbs who is now a TV reporter. Hobbs has sought out Thor for assistance as he wants to do a TV special filmed in Asgard.[1]
Recurring Characters
Thor, Harris Hobbs, (in flashback) Loki, Utgard-Loki, Jormungand
Continuity Notes
Thor previously encountered Harris Hobbs in Journey into Mystery #114-115, 120, and 122-123. The reported managed to blackmail Thor into bringing him to Asgard only to have all memory of the experience stripped from his mind.
Topical References
The bullied kid says “May the Force be with you!” to say farewell to Thor. Typically, such a pop-culture reference would be considered a topical reference. However, now that Disney owns both Marvel Comics and Star Wars, this would not be considered topical since a reference to one property in the other is considered brand synergy.
