Having defeated Thor, the Celestial
Gammenon enters the giant dome in the Andes, clutching the damaged
airliner. Aboard the plane, the frightened passengers do not notice
that there is a new person among them: Dr Donald Blake, Thor having
transformed as he hit the plane (last issue). The Celestial puts down
the crippled liner and goes on about his business, leaving it for the
next Celestial to analyze. Two passengers, Johnson and Lisa, leave
the plane along with Don Blake and they are met by long-lost
archaeologist Daniel Damian, accompanied by the grim Eternal Ajak.
Damian has a seizure so Ajak levitates him and Blake to a private
area of the city where Don is able to examine him, while pretending
that he hasn't already been here as Thor. It turns out that Damian
was faking so that he could speak privately to Don and fill him in on
the history of the Celestials: the First Host came in prehistoric
times and it was then that the Celestials experimented upon an ape so
that creature fathered the races to come: the godlike Eternals, the
monstrous Deviants, and Humans, midway between the two. The Second
Host came to find that the Devants had conquered the Humans and were
a threat to the universe so they were destroyed. The Third Host came
about one thousand years ago and Thor joined the Eternals in an
adventure (THOR ANNUAL #7) and then they wiped Thor's memory but the
Celestial Arishem stayed behind to await the Fifty-year Judgment of
the Earth to take place in 2026. The Fourth Host is the one currently
there and being studied by Dr Damian. Don Blake reveals himself as
Thor, hoping to prevent that judgment from taking place. Ajak was
watching and greets his old ally Thor and the Thunder God starts a
debate—but they are interrupted by the arrival of Johnson and Lisa
from the plane. Johnson reveals himself to be a SHIELD agent looking
for three missing colleagues. Damian hands them over, or more
accurately, the box in which their free-floating atoms are stored.
Lisa then reveals herself to be Ereshkigal, Deviant Goddess of
Darkness, sent to spy on the Celestials....
Meanwhile, in Manhattan, Ikaris and
Margo Damian (the Doctor's daughter) are brooding over the fate of
the planet while fun-loving Eternal Sersi tries to cheer them up by
turning a chair into a dancing dog (and a confused postman briefly
into a pig). Ikaris leviates Margo and they take off, still brooding
about the situation. And then a dark shadow is cast over them....
Back in the dome, Ereshkigal refuses to
let anyone leave. Agent Johnson tries to shoot his way out but is
subdued by Thor, who is encased in a shroud (fired from a shroud gun)
by Ajak. Thor tears free, clobbers Ajak, is frozen by Ereshkigal,
bursts free, opens the dome and escapes with Johnson and the jet liner
(Damian preferring to remain behind), while Thor whips up a storm to
hide his doings from the eyes of Arishem. Heading to America, Thor
vows to save the planet....