Thor #280
Crisis on Twin Earths!
Even though he wants to go to South America to investigate the Celestials, Thor finds himself continuing his patrol of New York City.[1] The thunder god is unaware that a man has been secretly following from behind.
Thor’s thoughts are interrupted when a dimensional portal suddenly appears in front of him and Hyperion emerges from it. Unsure if this is the evil Hyperion of the Squadron Sinister or the heroic one from Other-Earth, the pair are locked in battle as the stranger continues to watch.[2] After a short battle, Thor learns that this is indeed the member of the Squadron Supreme, and asks what the other-dimensional hero wants.
As it turns out, Hyperon has agreed to participate in a film about his own life because the profits will go to a charity. Since they intend to re-enact the Squadron Supreme’s recent battle with the Avengers, he had come to Earth to ask if they would be interested in participating.[3] Although Thor has no interest in participating, he agrees to take Hyperion to Avengers Mansion to ask the rest of his teammates.[4] As they leave, the mystery man who had been following Thor leaps into the dimensional portal that was left open by Hyperion.
This other man turns out to be the Hyperion of Thor’s reality, and he appears on the Squadron’s space station headquarters. Impressed, he decides to take the place of this world’s Hyperion and use this reality as his staging ground to get revenge against the Earth that destroyed his home world.[5] However, this evil Hyperion is forced to hide when the good Hyperion and Thor arrive. Although the Avengers declined Hyperion’s offer, Thor decided to come back to the Squadron’s Earth to take a look around. They quickly teleport to Earth where Thor is introduced to LL Burbank, the producer making the movie about Hyperion.
Hyperion then leaves Thor on Earth to go back and do some work on the Squadron’s satellite. There he is ambushed by his evil counterpart who quickly ties him up and teleports the good Hyperion into deep space. As he is wearing civilian clothing, when the evil Hyperion is mistaken for his counterpart’s civilian identity of Mark Milton when he arrives on Earth. Although Thor can easily tell this is Hyperion, others such as reporter Lonni Lattimer fall for the ruse. That’s when the good Hyperion’s old foe, Emil Burbank arrives to disrupt the film production. The evil Hyperion then changes into his costume and whisks Burbank away and convinces the mad scientist that he is from another dimension. The two then agree to work together to use a massive robot to kill Thor.
By this time, the real Hyperion has returned to Earth with the rest of the Squadron Supreme and, thinking that Thor is making time with Lonni, attacks the thunder god. During the fight, Hyperion lets slip that he is in love with Lattimer. That’s when Burbank and the evil Hyperion launch their attack. However, with the added might of Thor, the Squadron Supreme are able to incapacitate the robot so it leaves the Hyperion’s doppelganging spinning around in space while Burbank is taken into custody. With the danger over, Hyperion explains that he was saved from deep space when Doctor Spectrum used his Power Prism to summon all of the Squadron members back to the space station. With explanations out of the way, Thor decides it is time to head for home, hoping that he doesn’t encounter the Squadron Supreme again anytime soon.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Squadron Supreme (Hyperion, Doctor Spectrum, Whizzer, Golden Archer, Lady Lark, Captain Hawk, Tom Thumb, Amphibion) Emil Burbank, Lonni Lattimer
Continuity Notes
Thor learned of the Celestial’s judgement of all life on Earth back in Thor Annual #6. He’s been slow to investigate because they’ve been plopping in filler stories.
The Squadron Supreme’s parallel reality was indexed as Earth-712 in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005 #1. Thor mentions both the Squadron Supreme and Squadron Sinister. About these two teams:
The Avengers first fought the Squadron Sinister in Avengers #70. As explained in Squadron Supreme #9 and All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #10, the Grandmaster created the Squadron Sinister based on the Squadron Supreme of Earth-712, after a past encounter with the heroes.
The Avengers first encountered the Squadron Supreme in Avengers #85-86.
The Avengers recently clashed with the Squadron Supreme in Avengers #141-144 and 147-149.
Thor’s refusal to get involved was because of his recent bad experience with TV reporter Harris Hobbs in Thor #272-278.
It’s later revealed that this Hyperion was a construct created by the Grandmaster. He was based on the real Zhib-Ran who will make an appearance in New Thunderbolts #15.
Topical References
Hyperion likens the Squadron’s teleportation device to that of the transporters used on Star Trek. This would not be considered a topical reference since he specifically refers to watching re-runs.
