THOR #182 (1970)
by Stan Lee & John Buscema
This was technically published between Astonishing Tales #2 and Astonishing Tales #3, but there isn’t enough space to put it in the middle of Doom’s fight with Rudolfo.
Nice cover. No surprise, since when it comes to the Silver Age the Buscema run on Thor is second only to Kirby.
We start with Thor flying around New York City, where he notices a riot in front of the Latverian embassy.
Thor decides to investigate in his original secret identity of the lame Don Blake.
That’s not an offense, by the way. He’s lame in the sense that he walks with a cane.
He’s also lame as a character, but that’s obviously unrelated.
Case in point: he stumbles into the riot and needs to transform back into Thor at the first sign of trouble.
Although this wouldn’t be Thor if his appearance wasn’t EPICALLY AWESOME.
Thor takes her back to the hospital, where she can rest for a bit until he transforms again.
I’m sure waking up to an EPICALLY AWESOME thunder blast will help her.
This French girl was protesting against Latveria because Dr. Doom kidnapped her scientist father.
There’s something weird about Doom saying “mon ami”.
Also: as usual, Doctor Doom is absolutely incapable of sitting like a normal person.
Doom doesn’t TECHNICALLY threaten the scientist’s daughter, which actually makes this little flashback much scarier.
She’s just going to be locked inside Doom’s castle until her father’s work is complete. No explicit threat, making things worse.
The most twisted part is that Doom never once threatens the girl if she doesn’t behave: he threatens to punish the staff assigned to her. Talk about psychological torture!
The girl has since escaped Latveria to find refuge in America, and she tells Don Blake that Doom’s missile silos are almost complete… once they’re ready, he’ll be able to attack any nation on Earth.
Which I would imagine is something Doom was already capable of, but obviously Doctor Doom having nuclear missiles is a bad idea.
Thor decides that he can’t just attack Latveria thanks to Doom’s diplomatic immunity, so he comes up with a plan to make Doom go to him.
After a brief detour about some subplots in Asgard that have nothing to do with the rest of the story, we find out Thor’s plan.
Thor’s really, really, REALLY stupid plan: announce that Don Blake has developed a way to cure any disfigurement, no matter how severe.
Since it’s a fake, let’s count the ways this is a HORRIBLE idea, shall we?
1) Once it’s revealed to be fake, Don Blake’s reputation is in the toilet
2) Once it’s revealed to be fake, the Daily Bugle’s reputation is in the toilet… more than usual
3) If you do have a serious disfigurement and this miracle is your only cure? Once it’s revealed to be a fake, your hopes are crushed!
I wouldn’t be surprised if #3 is the cause of more than once suicide. Way to go, Thor!
At least Doctor Doom falls for it.
And of course: MIRROR SMASH!
Doom then decides to kidnap Don Blake. WITH STYLE.
You just have to love Doom kidnapping someone with a teleporting device, just to keep them in stasis inside a car…
…driving to a tree with a secret compartment…
…that opens up a cave where he keeps a helicopter…
…that turns into a jet that can go to another continent in minutes!
There are needlessly complicated plans that exist purely to be a spectacle, and then there’s Doctor Freakin’ Doom!
Now that he’s in Latveria, Don Blake is tempted to just turn into Thor and look for the kidnapped professor… but he’s just too curious to see what Doom looks under the mask.
And the reveal is just brilliant. I absolutely love this set of panels!
The slow burn to increase the anticipation. Doom hesitating, even for a second. The creepy atmosphere given by the candlelight.
THIS LOOK.
Don Blake’s reaction is… kind of different.
Moments like this are why I can’t follow the Kirby idea that Doom’s face only has a very minor scar. If Don Blake reacts LIKE THIS, Doom’s face must be unfathomably deformed.
He’s thrown in the dungeon for his offense. Unfortunately, he needs his cane in order to transform back into Thor, and it’s out of reach.
Despite the panel showing the can much further away, Don Blake is able to reach it with his shoe.
Unlike the previous transformations, this is very understated. Which leads me to believe that Thor makes a huge spectacle only when he wants to show off. Which is quite in character, actually.
Thor escapes the dungeon and Doom shoots a missile at him.
Thor significance: 0/10
This SHOULD be the cause of Don Blake becoming a pariah in the medical field, but unfortunately his idiotic idea will have zero repercussions.
Doom significance: 2/10
This is the first serious indication that Doom’s disfigurement is WAY beyond help for modern medicine.
Silver Age-ness: 7/10
On the Marvel scale, but Don Blake’s announcement working so well and so quickly without any repercussions could only work in the Silver Age.
Does it stand the test of time? 5/10
I keep going back to it, but the whole announcement thing really works against the story. The rest is really good, but since the whole premise is based on such a ridiculous idea…
It was a Doombot all along
No indication one way or the other.
Take over the world & Destroy the FF!
The missiles are probably designed to conquer the world, but technically speaking this is yet another story where nether classic objective appears.
Crazy tech
The Molecule Dispacer ™: a short range teleporter that can keep people in stasis.
Mirror smash!
In addition to the literal mirror, Thor becomes the very first superhero to actually see Doom’s face!
Number of superheroes who have fought Dr. Doom: 18
This is the first time Thor meets Doom, but since Avengers 1.5 is set earlier he’s already included in the count.