Thor Annual #9
The Great Game!
Doctor Donald Blake has been called into perform an emergency surgery on a young boy named Randy Mossberg. Randy out riding his bike when he was run over by a driver trying to beat a red light. While the other staff think they may have to amputate the boy’s leg, Blake is confident that they don’t need to do anything so dire. Blake saves the boy’s life but it will take time for his leg to heal. He then goes outside and tells Randy’s parents the news and they are relieved that their boy will live.
With the job over, one of the nurses asks Don if he has any plans for the upcoming long weekend. He politely declines her offer by saying that he is got plans to do some skiing, which confuses her since it’s the middle of summer. Little does she know that Don Blake is merely the mortal guise of Thor, the god of thunder. After returning to his true form, Thor teleports himself back to his homeland of Asgard where he and his friends are racing their sailing ships on the frozen Sea of Marmora. Joining Thor are the Warriors Three, Sif, Balder, and Hildegarde. However, the festivities are soon interrupted when large sea beasts come breaking through the ice and begin attacking the ships. In the ensuing battle, Thor sees what appears to be Sif in danger and comes to her rescue. Sif then suddenly vanishes and Thor finds himself knocked into the frozen waters. Seeing her lover knocked overboard, Sif dives in after him. With the monsters driven off and Thor saved, the Asgardians head back to home to deal with the wounded and mourn the loss of those who died in the attack.
Thor suffers some minor injuries and when they arrive in Asgard, he briefly notices the sky above the city change appearance for a brief moment. When they walk past Odin’s palace he also briefly sees the guards as demons and tries to attack them. Sif and the Warriors Three see none of these things and think that Thor is suffering from a concussion. After his friends pull him off the guards, Thor is taken back to his home and told to get some rest. When he wakes up some time later, he finds Sif has fallen asleep in a chair by his bedside. Feeling better, the thunder god goes to the balcony and sees that the sky has changed again, confirming to him that he is not seeing things. Racing back to the palace he sees that the guards once more look like demons and knocks them side.
Racing inside, he is shocked to see Odin engaging in a chess match with Dormammu, the dreaded ruler of the Dark Dimension. Above them, the cosmic entities known as Master Order and Lord Chaos watch the proceedings.[1] When Dormammu takes on of Odin’s chess pieces off the board, Thor is horrified to see Lord Chaos grow bigger and Master Order diminish in size. Realizing that his father and Dormammu are fighting over the balance of the universe itself, the thunder god tries to get his father’s attention, but Odin cannot hear him. When the Grand Vizier comes to see what the commotion is all about, he cannot see the chess game going on in front of them. Suspecting that Loki might have something to do with this, Thor takes off to confront his half-brother. Watching Thor depart, Odin orders his ravens Hugin and Munin to follow after him and report back Thor’s actions to him.
When Thor barges into Loki’s sleeping quarters he finds the trickster fast asleep in bed with his wife Sigyn. Seeing that Loki is still shackled to his wife and has no idea what Thor is talking about, the thunder god realizes that Loki has nothing to do with this.[2] Still seeking answers, Thor pays a visit to the flaming prophet Mimir to find answers. Mimir has no love for Odin and refuses to provide answers unless Thor makes a sacrifice like Odin did with his eye.[3] However, when Thor threatens to smother Mimir’s flame with a powerful storm the prophet Thor that he can prevent Dormammu from winning the game of cosmic chess by going to the Dark Dimension. Unaware that Mimir is manipulating Thor to seal everyone’s doom, the thunder god teleports himself to the domain of Dormammu. Overhearing Mimir’s boasts, Hugin and Munin return to Odin with their report. Disturbed by these events, the All-Father — who appears to be losing his match — sends the ravens to wake up Sif and send her to Thor’s aid.
Upon her arrival in the Dark Dimension, Sif finds herself completely disorientated by and is quickly knocked out by some unseen force. Elsewhere, Thor also struggles to gain his footing in this dimension which defies all laws of physics.[4] As Thor battles the Dark Dimension’s dangerous creatures, Sif wakes up and finds herself a prisoner of Dormammu’s sister Umar. The evil sorceress has been manipulating events to ensure Dormammu’s victory, revealing that she caused the earlier sea-monster attack and Thor’s injuries, which allowed him to see through the illusions cast on Asgard in order to trick him into coming to her home dimension. Umar doesn’t explain why and teleports away, leaving Sif to be bombarded with the mystical rays of the G’uranthic Guardian. Sif manages to break free from her bonds, but exposure to the Guardian’s magics causes her to black out as she undergoes a transformation. Soon, demons from this dimension notice the unconscious woman and begin moving in for the kill.
Soon, Thor comes upon the monsters about to attack a harmless woman and comes to her aid, little knowing it was Sif. However, after the monsters have been driven away, Thor is shocked to discover that Sif has transformed back into Jane Foster.[5] However, Jane doesn’t have any memory of who she is or her past with Thor. That’s when they are attacked by Umar again. Seeing Thor fight for his life makes Jane start to remember her past. Soon, it appears that Thor defeats Umar in battle and she tells Thor that the only way to stop Dormammu is to trick him into returning to the Dark Dimension by attacking the barrier that keeps the Mindless Ones at bay. Thor begins tossing Mjolnir at the mystical barrier as Jane suspects that something isn’t right. When she tries to tell Thor to stop, she is attacked by another demon. However, Jane quickly recovers Sif’s sword and uses it to defend herself.
She manages to talk sense into Thor who agrees that Umar must be trying to trick them. When the sorceress tries attacking them once more, Thor uses Mjolnir to teleport themselves to Earth, as the way back to Asgard was blocked from Dormammu’s domain. Appearing atop the World Trade Center, the couple have a brief moment to catch their breath. As Thor tries to make sense of Jane’s return, she changes back into Sif. The two Asgardians then return to Asgard to see help Odin to discover that the chess game is already over and ended in a draw. Odin explains that his intentions weren’t to win, but to have the match end in a draw as order and chaos must always remain in perfect balance with one another. They also learn that Dormammu and Umar were trying to manipulate Thor into creating an interruption as that would have forced Odin to forfeit the match due to outside interference.
Exhausted from his ordeal, Odin heads to his bedchambers for some much needed rest. Before departing he hands Thor and Sif a gift to remind them of this great game. Each are given a chess pawn, one black the other white. While Thor is glad everything worked out for the best, he wonders how things will go in the next game a year hence, or the one after that.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Dormammu, Odin, Master Order, Lord Chaos, Loki, Umar, Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg), Sif, Hidegarde, Balder, Grand Vizier, Sigyn, Mimir, Jane Foster, Hugin, Munin
Continuity Notes
Thor recounts how he first saw Master Order and Lord Chaos during the so-called Thanos War. This was chronicled in Captain Marvel #25-33 and Avengers #125.
Loki has been shackled to Sigyn as punishment for almost plunging Asgard into Ragnarok. See Thor #273-278.
Seeking a solution to prevent Ragnarok, Odin plucked out his own eye and fed it to Mimir in Thor #274.
Thor mentions the last time he was in the Dark Dimension during the Avengers/Defenders War. See Avengers #116-118 and Defenders #8-11.
This story recounts the long, long history of romance between Thor and the Foster woman.
Thor has had a thing for her since her first appearance in Journey into Mystery #84. Odin refused to allow Thor to marry a mortal woman since issue #90 of that series.
Eventually, Thor convinced Odin to allow Jane to prove she was worthy by changing her into a god. However, she failed to pass the test and was banished from Asgard in Thor #136.
Years later, Jane was almost forced to suicide by the Dweller-in-Darkness circa Thor #230-231.
Sif later used the Runestaff of Kamo Tharnn to merge their essences together in Thor #235-236. Jane was in the drivers seat until touching Sif’s sword, giving her dominance since issue #249.
Sif will retake control in this story and remain in charge. It’s later discovered that Jane wasn’t merged with Sif, but kept trapped within the Runestaff when Sif was in control. Thor, Sif, and Keith Kincaid will finally mount a rescue mission to save Jane in Thor #334-335.
Topical References
Thor and Jane appear on the observation deck of one of the original twin towers of the World Trade Center in this story. This should be considered a topical reference as these buildings were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and since replaced with the Freedom Tower.
