The Biggest Thor Character Cut From The MCU Now Officially Has Marvel’s Craziest Arc

Everyone knows the story of Marvel’s Thor, the God of Thunder. He was a young, arrogant god, and to teach him humility his powers were bound to the hammer Mjolnir, which could only be wielded by the worthy. What people who’ve only seen the Marvel Cinematic Universe version or never dug into the history of comic Thor might now know is that this wasn’t the full story. In the comics, Thor was not only banished to Earth, but his memories as a god were revoked and he was turned into a mortal man named Donald Blake. Donald found Mjolnir, unaware that he was a false person made to teach Thor a lesson, and that’s how it was for many years.

However, everything has changed for Thor and Donald. The once mortal visage of Thor has gone from being a piece of Thor, to not existing, to a god himself, to now being the worst villain Thor may ever face. Donald Blake has had the craziest arc in all of Marvel Comics, and with his new role as the ultimate evil revealed in Mortal Thor #2, there’s no better time than now to talk about him.

From Doctor to God, and Avenger to Monster

When Donald Blake was first introduced way back in Journey Into Mystery #83, he was a doctor with a permanent limp. While on vacation in Norway, aliens from Saturn attacked, and drove Blake into a cave, where he found a walking stick. Upon striking it against the ground, the stick became Mjolnir, and he was magically transformed into Thor. Blake continued to use his power as Thor to be a hero, but as months and years passed, Thor’s memories returned and he realized they were two separate entities. In Thor (1966) #159, Odin revealed that Donald Blake was a fake being he conjured to give Thor a human identity so he could learn humility by walking amongst mortals.

Eventually, Donald Blake was erased from existence by Odin so Thor could permanently remain himself, but after the events of the “Ragnarok” storyline, was restored as the magic making him disappear faded away. He was reborn, once more bonded to Thor, and the two restored Asgard again. However, after Thor’s death at the hands of the Serpent in the “Shattered Heroes” storyline, they were somehow separated again. Blake made a deal with the Enchantress to become a god again, only for her to decapitate him and use his soul to power her construct god she called the Keep. After defeating it, Thor placed Blake’s decapitated head and spirit in an eternal dream of an idyllic life.

Unfortunately for both halves of Thor, Blake’s dream would be shattered when the Midgard Serpent invaded it. Blake managed to kill the beast and take its power for himself, but was left trapped in a fake realm, fully cognizant of it, which drove him mad. When Thor once again tried to switch places with him, Blake attempted to slaughter everyone who called themselves Thor, and for his treachery, was locked away in Loki’s care, who gave Blake exactly what he wanted by transforming him into the God of Lies, chained deep in Asgard. 

When Thor died again in Immortal Thor #25, the two had another confrontation where Blake tried to destroy Thor for all he’d done, but Thor realized there was one way left to escape. Since both of them were gods, Blake’s humanity was up for grabs. Thor stole it to be reborn as Siguard Jarlson, a normal man on Earth, while Blake was left as nothing else but the Serpent. Without his soul and blaming Thor for hurting him again, he traveled to Midgard, when he is hunting down the mortal Thor to bring down vengeance as the head of some kind of security force working for Roxxon.

No Longer Thor, No Longer Worthy

Blake’s arc from being a kind, normal man, to retconned to being a shell created to house Thor’s spirit, to an evil god that all but represents the devil in Thor’s story is utterly insane. It’s crazy to think that a person who was so intimately tied to the nature and mythos of Thor is not only not well known, but has become a mad supervillain multiple times. Blake was meant to represent Thor’s humanity, his growth in learning humility, but instead he’s come to be the embodiment of every negative aspect of Thor. Instead of a humble, kind man, he’s a power-mad tyrant focused solely on revenge.

Donald Blake is a key, yet baffling part of Thor’s mythos. He’s just as likely to go up against Thor as he is to stand beside him, despite being a part of Thor himself. In Al Ewing’s Mortal Thor, making the now soulless Blake the main antagonist and literally calling himself the Serpent could show that he is supposed to be the devil stand-in for Thor’s journey as a mortal man, given that this run and the previous draw upon plenty of inspiration from the New Testament. The link between these two cannot be broken, but it seems like it is dragging them closer and closer to their shared doom.

Thor and Donald Blake are two sides of the same coin, but because of that, as Thor became more heroic, Blake became less so. Thor became truly noble, selfless, and humble, where Blake became obsessed with power, selfish, and prideful beyond belief, thinking he is owed godhood. This is a strange yet utterly compelling character arc for both, and I am super excited to see how it develops. What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

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