Immortal Thor promised to change everything about Thor. From the start, the book had a more mythological feel than Thor comics have had in a while, as Thor has to deal with the evil gods of Utgard. Loki was at his side the whole time, helping Thor through some of his greatest challenges, helping him create new weapons and shore up his power against his foes. Loki is able to get the Enchantress an audience with Thor against Thor’s will, and Thor kicks them out of Asgard, changing the balance of power in the Golden Realm. This led Thor to eventually face off against the gods of Utgard, along with Skurge, and the two of them are able to clear their enemies and save Heimdall. It was all going so well, but as Thor finally triumphs over his enemies and believes that he’s sidestepped his destiny, everything comes crashing down.
Loki strikes and kills Thor, which leads to a strange sequence of events. Skurge breaks the Black Bridge and the Rainbow Bridge, which somehow — possibly because of a spell weaved by Loki — caused the Earth to forget about its dealing with Thor and the Asgardians. Thor’s soul is sent to the Third Heaven, and there he is encountered by the same gods that Odin saw when the All-Father sacrificed himself. They give Thor the clues he needs to move on, and it leads him to someone that readers never thought they’d ever see again — Donald Blake.
Donald Blake Wasn’t What He Seemed
Long time Thor comic fans will recognize Donald Blake. Odin decided to punish Thor for his hubris by bonding him to a human, in this case Dr. Donald Blake, who found the walking stick that would transform into Mjolnir and make him Thor. It was as Donald Blake that Thor first met Jane Foster. Donald Blake was the reality of Thor for years and years, but eventually, readers would find out that Donald Blake was a lie. Odin wanted to punish Thor by making him a human, but he didn’t bond Thor to an already existing human. Instead, Odin created Donald Blake. He gave Blake a physical disability and made him into a doctor instead of a warrior, all as part of his lesson for Thor. Eventually, Thor would move onto another human host, and Blake would live his own life for a time. Thor would bond with Blake again upon one of his many resurrections, and they were again separated. Blake would try to regain godly power several times over the years, and he would eventually be sequestered in his own dreamscape, where he could live his own life away from the machinations of the gods that created him. However, Blake was able to escape, and soon learned the truth about himself — that he was a puppet for Odin and Thor — and it drove him mad. Blake was able to escape his dreamscape and attacked Thor and Asgard. Thor was able to defeat him, and Blake would bond with the Serpent, the God of Fear, before disappearing.
Thor finding Blake in the Third Heaven is a shock to him, and he finds out that Blake has finally gained the godlike power that he’s always desired, that of the God of Lies. Thor realizes that Loki was only able to become the Skald, the God of Stories, by bolting everything they didn’t want in themself onto Blake. Blake is as much a son of Odin as Thor, and Loki has made sure that Blake is forever Thor’s opposite. This leads to a battle between the two of them, as Blake reveals that being the opposite of Thor means that he also has his own hammer, the black hammer known as Hellnir, which Thor had encountered before as the Devil’s Hammer. Blake beats the defenseless Thor, but this isn’t the muscleheaded Thor who hits first and asks questions later. No, this Thor is a thinking warrior, and he realizes the two of them are made of the same human stuff. There’s a soul between them, and Thor steals it, creating a mortal life for himself by grabbing Hellnir and slamming it against the ground. The Immortal Thor is no more.
Thor Got the Best of Donald Blake
The entire time that Blake and Thor are talking, Blake talks about Thor’s immortality. How even in death, he still exists, and that’s not fair. Thor takes this to heart, and decides to actually make himself mortal, using his connection to Blake in order to change everything that Thor ever was. Immortal Thor #25 ends with Thor on a Earth that no longer remembers him, without his powers. He is a man, for the first time ever.
Al Ewing promised huge changes to Thor, and making Thor mortal is one of the biggest of them all. The return of Donald Blake in Donny Cates’s Thor run was a huge shock, and it was even more shocking to see him again. Blake is seemingly another part of Loki’s plan for Thor, placed in his way for a mysterious reason. Thor is now mortal, and where the story goes next, only Loki knows.
Immortal Hulk #25 is on sale now.
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