Thor #485: Review

Apr 1995

Roy Thomas, M. C. Wyman

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Story Name:

Things Ain't What They Used To Be

Review & Comments

Rating:

Thor #485 Review by Peter Silvestro (February 20, 2024)

Review: Hmmm. Two consecutive issues wherein Thor and Sif fight a hero under the control of an enemy only instead of War Machine and Loki, it’s Thing and Malekith. At first this looks like an author playing Mad Libs with comic book characters but it does have one quality that sets it apart from the previous issue: the dialogue. Rhodey was silent through his battle with Thor but the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing is not. It can be argued that Ben Grimm’s speeches are the best part of his appearances. And herein they are, Benjy spouting his usual tough-guy rhetoric makes the issue while the two heroes continue whompin’ on each other. The other creative bit is the return of Malekith, a villain so superior to Loki that they stole his personality and gave it to Tom Hiddleston’s Loki in the MCU while giving MCU Malekith the mean and humorless disposition that was classic Loki. Which is why Malekith is the most boring villain in the MCU and we should all sympathize with Christopher Eccleston for being trapped in the role. But here he’s classic Mal and we look forward to his occupying the next few issues.

Oh, and nice pun in the title.

Comments: Part one of five parts. Thor and the Godpack allied with the FF in FANTASTIC FOUR UNLIMITED #9. Lorelei first made her play for Thor in THOR #343-348. Malekith previously battled Thor in the classic THOR #344-368 and now he’s back. Lorelei has been imprisoned in Hel since issue #476. A footnote inaccurately claims that Thor fought War Machine in issue #483.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor #485 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Thor and Sif are busy cleaning up the High Evolutionary’s damaged lab beneath the streets of New York City. As they work, they grow playful and toss a huge ball of metal scrap back and forth at one another, unaware they are being watched. From Hel, Lorelei and an unseen companion are spying on them; Lorelei has decided she loves Thor and her companion has promised that he can get Thor to charge into Hel and carry her away. As they watch, Ben “The Thing” Grimm arrives to help with the work, payback for the Godpack assisting the FF earlier. The companion explains that Lorelei had once brewed a love potion for Thor when she was in mortal guise as Melodi; Thor did not drink the potion so she should be able to recover it. So Lorelei, naked but for a carefully placed curtain of red hair, approaches Thing and asks him to retrieve the love potion for her, as a gift to Thor and Sif, to ensure their loving happiness. So Ben heads to the apartment Lorelei kept as Melodi, smashes his way in, scaring Melodi’s roommate who wonders where Melodi has gone and if she is going to pay her share of the rent. Ben brings the potion back to the lab where Lorelei’s voice tells him to drink it. Lorelei discovers her companion Malekith has been manipulating her and he strikes her, having planned to get Hela out of the way then manipulate Lorelei. Thing has drunk the potion so Malekith, in the guise of Lorelei, tells him that “she” was murdered by Thor and Sif and now wants Thing to avenge her by destroying the two Asgardians. So Ben attacks Thor while unawares, with Thor wondering if Ben has gone mad or if he is possessed by Loki as was War Machine in the previous issue. Thor pulls his punches as he suspects something is wrong with his old ally; Ben doesn’t, putting the Thunder God at a disadvantage. Sif is returning from the store when Thor and Thing come crashing up through the sidewalk. Thor is briefly incapacitated so Ben tries to kill Sif—but can’t bring himself to deliver a fatal blow. Thor returns and together the Asgardian pair clobber and restrain him until his madness passes. Ben remembers nothing since arriving to help with the cleanup and has never heard of Lorelei. Feeling a bit peaked, Thing goes home to recuperate while Thor and Sif are pleased that they work so well as a team….

Malekith pitches a fit because his plan has failed. So he seeks out a new champion, one stronger than Thing but whose mind is more easily manipulated and he settles on…Kurse….

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