Chapter Summaries

Skye alerted the Order that Asgard’s Destroyer had arrived, and Richard prepared to turn its landing in New Mexico into a battlefield and trap for forces coveting Earth. Thor remained unaware of the plan, though he suddenly felt an ominous premonition while drinking with his friends.

• Skye sent an emergency report that the Destroyer had arrived and was likely targeting Thor, prompting Strucker to open a portal to the New York Sanctum.
• Richard told The Ancient One he planned to lure Mephisto out of Hell to obtain a spatial fragment for Valhalla, and learned that an unknown outsider had once severely injured Odin.
• Strucker reported the Destroyer’s arrival, and Richard ordered her to reinforce the New York Sanctum and direct dimensional forces into the New Mexico desert.
• Richard placed the Mjolnir base under the protection of the Human Sovereign Banner and told Strucker to use the desert as a hunting ground while keeping outsiders from entering the base.
• Thor sneezed while drinking with the Warriors Three, then told Sif that he had a sudden ominous feeling.

Thor and his companions were drinking peacefully in the Town of Hockum when the Destroyer attacked. Thor confronted the Destroyer and ordered it to stop, but it suddenly swung at him.

• Thor, the Warriors Three, and Sif shared food and drinks while adjusting to life in the Town of Hockum.
• Explosions sent the townspeople fleeing, and Thor rallied his companions to defend their new home.
• Thor and his companions recognized a golden energy blast as the Destroyer's attack and ran toward it.
• Thor confronted the Destroyer outside town and ordered it to stop attacking.
• The Destroyer paused, looked at Thor, then raised its right hand and swept it toward him.

The Destroyer struck Thor and the Warriors Three as Loki attacked the town, but Thor believed his heartfelt appeal had stopped the attack. The Destroyer then hit Thor again, leaving him motionless as Sif unleashed the power sealed within her.

• Thor was blown into a house, and Sif checked that he was alive.
• Volstagg charged the Destroyer but was blasted backward, with Fandral and Hogun landing on top of him.
• The Destroyer fired on Hockum, prompting the residents to flee, while Thor confronted it and appealed to Loki as his brother.
• Loki rejected Thor’s understanding and revealed that his blood belonged to the King of the Frost Giants.
• The Destroyer struck Thor again, leaving him motionless, and Sif’s sealed energy erupted.

Sif broke Odin’s seal and dismembered the Destroyer, but it reassembled and resumed its attack. Morgan, Fandral, and Volstagg also regained their powers and fought alongside Sif as Thor began to wake.

• Sif broke Odin’s seal, regained her power, and cut the Destroyer apart with her sword.
• Hela watched Sif’s victory and approved of Odin’s choice of a wife for Thor.
• The Destroyer reassembled and attacked Sif, while Loki felt the pain of its dismemberment and Odin realized the weapon had a weakness.
• Morgan broke his seal and blocked the Destroyer’s fist, then Fandral and Volstagg regained their powers and joined the fight.
• Sif and the Warriors Three held off the Destroyer as Loki unleashed its attacks, and Thor faintly woke up under the gazes of the Ancient One, Richard, Odin, and Hela.

Thor learned that Sif and the Warriors Three had regained their powers through intense emotions, and tried to awaken his own Divine Power by working himself into a fury at Loki. He charged the Destroyer but was knocked unconscious again, leaving Sif and the Warriors Three facing the fight.

• Thor found Sif and the Warriors Three battling the Destroyer and learned they had regained their powers through intense emotions.
• Sif suggested that anger had helped restore her power, and Thor tried to summon his own by recalling Loki’s provocations.
• Thor charged the Destroyer and demanded a fistfight without Divine Power, while Loki watched through the machine.
• Loki made the Destroyer strike Thor, leaving him unconscious in a pit in the sand.
• Sif checked that Thor was still alive as the Destroyer turned back toward the Warriors Three.

Loki used the Destroyer to overwhelm Sif and the Warriors Three while Phil Coulson’s team treated Thor with Jemma Simmons’s experimental potion. Thor woke weakened and powerless, and Coulson refused his plea for help, leaving him to watch as the battle turned against his friends.

• Sif carried the injured Thor away as she and the Warriors Three fought Loki’s shape-shifting Destroyer, whose attacks rapidly exhausted them.
• Phil Coulson arrived with Jemma Simmons and Fitz, and Jemma gave Thor her experimental Wizard of Oz Potion after finding his injuries.
• Thor woke up weak and thirsty, and Jemma questioned him about the potion’s effects before Coulson called her back.
• Volstagg was flung into the town, leaving Sif and the others struggling to evade the Destroyer as Thor demanded help from Coulson.
• Coulson refused to involve Earth in Asgard’s political struggle, and Thor watched the battle in fear as the situation worsened.

The Destroyer grievously injured Sif, but Fandral disabled it and Hogun found that she was still alive. Thor brought Jemma Simmons to treat her, while Volstagg arrived and learned how badly she had been hurt.

• The Destroyer seized Sif, smashed her into the ground, and blasted her with Odinforce as Thor watched in horror.
• Hogun knocked the Destroyer off balance, and Fandral drove his Uru Metal sword into its neck, disabling it and causing Loki to cry out in Asgard.
• Hogun pulled Sif from the ground, found a faint heartbeat, and carried her to Thor.
• Thor asked Jemma Simmons for medicine, and she brought out three vials of The Wizard of Oz Potion and prepared to treat Sif.
• Jemma told Hogun to lay Sif down, and Thor explained that Jemma was a doctor who had saved him.
• Volstagg returned from the town, saw Sif's injuries, and was told by Thor and Hogun to be quiet while Jemma examined her.

Thor’s companions treated the gravely injured Sif with Jemma’s experimental potion while Thor set out to confront Loki. Loki secretly reactivated the Destroyer and attacked Fandral, crushing him in its grasp.

• Jemma examined Sif, described her severe injuries, and assured Thor that her experimental potion could treat her.
• Thor approved giving Sif the potion, which triggered intense heating and cooling reactions as Jemma explained its effects.
• Thor, Hogan, and Volstagg left to confront Loki, trusting Coulson and Jemma to watch over Sif.
• Loki secretly reconnected to the Destroyer and spotted Fandral standing nearby.
• The Destroyer blasted Fandral’s lower leg, seized him, and crushed him as Loki declared, “Farewell, Fandral!”

The Destroyer killed Fandral, Hogan, and Volstagg, driving Thor into a furious confrontation with Loki. As Loki prepared to strike Thor, Mjolnir flew toward the Town of Hockum, while Richard prevented Odin from intervening so Thor could be tested.

• The Destroyer crushed Fandral, then killed Hogan and Volstagg as they charged to avenge him.
• Thor collapsed in grief and rage, then demanded that Loki face him and answer for killing his friends and harming Sif.
• Richard spoke to Odin in his Sea of Mind and persuaded him not to wake, insisting that Thor needed to face the Destroyer’s attack.
• Hela mocked Thor, while Loki privately resolved to kill him so he could become King of Gods.
• The Destroyer’s eyes gathered golden energy as Thor realized Loki meant to kill him, and Mjolnir flew from its crater toward the Town of Hockum.

Thor regained his divine power and fought Loki’s Destroyer, while Phil Coulson’s team shielded themselves from the catastrophic clash. The battle’s blast devastated Hockum and overwhelmed the Crimson Veil, leaving Phil badly burned as the team struggled to survive.

• Mjolnir returned to Thor, broke the seal on his power, and restored his armor and thunder abilities.
• Thor battered the Destroyer and shattered its arms, while Phil Coulson’s team discussed recovering its remains.
• Thor’s final strike collided with the Destroyer’s Odinforce blast, creating an enormous explosion that reduced Hockum to ruins.
• Phil Coulson shielded his team and the unconscious Sif with the Crimson Veil, but the shockwave began tearing it apart.
• Melinda, Fox, and the spontaneously awakened Skye poured Crimson Mana into Phil to reinforce the veil, but energy flames broke through and burned much of his body to charcoal.

An unseen caster reversed time after Thor’s final strike destroyed Hockum and killed Phil Coulson, Sif, and the others. The Destroyer vanished during the restored battle, and Thor prepared to return to Asgard while Phil’s team cared for Sif.

• The Destroyer’s explosion destroyed Hockum and killed Phil Coulson, Melinda May, Sif, and the town’s residents, leaving only Thor alive.
• A mysterious caster reversed time across the devastated area, restoring the dead and the town, then removed the Destroyer just before Thor’s final strike hit.
• Jemma Simmons treated Sif with the Wizard of Oz Potion, healing her external wounds and broken bones but finding her internal injuries still severe.
• Thor entrusted Sif’s care to Phil Coulson and Jemma, asked Phil to recover the Warriors Three’s bodies, and announced he would return to Asgard to investigate the Destroyer’s arrival.
• Thor called for Heimdall.

Richard and the Ancient One agreed to end Asgard’s protection of Earth and launch a counteroffensive against the demons probing its defenses. Richard’s forces opened a deliberate gap in Earth’s defense formation, which Mephisto decided to investigate despite suspecting a trap.

• Richard told the Ancient One that he would pursue demons reaching into Earth, and they agreed that Earth and Asgard would become equal allies.
• The Ancient One asked Richard not to let Thor die on Earth, and Richard said Thor had already failed to meet their agreed demands.
• Richard authorized Strucker to begin the operation, and Sorcerer Daniel lowered the New York Sanctum’s Defense Weave to create a gap in Earth’s defenses.
• Demons from several dimensions discovered the apparent gap and reported it to their leaders, but Dormammu dismissed the news as a trap and ordered Orini to find Umar.
• Mephisto’s Clone heard from a Winged Demon that a gap had been found, suspected Richard had set a trap, and ordered Blackheart to send subordinates to invade through it.

Richard trapped Mephisto’s clone in a mirror dimension and sealed it in crimson amber. Meanwhile, Blackheart’s party entered Earth through the magic array gap, unaware that Mephisto had ordered him back.

• Mephisto recognized Richard’s trap but entered the mirror dimension and tried to negotiate; Richard refused and overpowered him.
• Richard shattered Mephisto’s spine sword, immobilized him, and captured the clone as a piece of amber.
• Thor could not summon the Bifrost, so Phil Coulson brought Thor and Sif to the Mjolnir base and evacuated the Warriors Three’s bodies from Hockum before the town vanished.
• Mephisto learned that Blackheart had gone to Earth and ordered a winged demon to bring him back.
• Blackheart sent Wind Demon to clear the dimensional minions near the magic array gap, then encouraged rumors that Mephisto was going to marry the Sorcerer Supreme.
• Blackheart led his party through the gap to Earth, and the Little Winged Demon followed after arriving too late to stop him.

After the Warriors Three died fighting the Destroyer, Phil Coulson told Thor that his trial was tied to an agreement between Odin and Richard, and that Thor would have to survive a coming battle on Earth. The Warriors Three awoke in a dark realm instead of Valhalla, where a goddess and a giant wolf brought them back together.

• Phil Coulson told Thor that Richard was the Lord of Crimson and that Thor could return to Asgard only after completing a trial.
• Phil Coulson warned Thor that Richard planned to open Earth's Magical Defense Barrier and draw hostile factions into a battle confined to the desert.
• Phil Coulson said the base was the battlefield's only safe zone and told Thor he had to survive until the battle ended, but Thor left to nap.
• The Warriors Three awoke in a dark realm, and Hogun guessed they had arrived in the vanished Helheim.
• A cold goddess riding a giant black wolf appeared and tossed Fandral before Volstagg and Hogun.

Hela brought the Warriors Three to her Death Palace in Helheim after reviving Fandral and forcing the three to climb the mountain. She revealed that she had intercepted them from Valhalla for her own amusement and declared that Helheim would be their eternal resting place.

• Hela ordered Volstagg and Hogun to carry the unconscious Fandral and follow her.
• Hela forced the Warriors Three to climb to the Death Palace, waking Fandral by stabbing him with a black longsword.
• Fandral identified Hela as Odin's daughter, the Goddess of Death, whose history Odin had sealed away.
• Volstagg, Hogun, and Fandral reached the Death Palace and met Hela in its main hall.
• Hela said she had brought them to Helheim because it was fun and told them they would never leave.

Hela explained to Fandral, Volstagg, and Hogun that Odin's promise of Valhalla was a lie and that she had saved them from Hell. Richard arrived in Helheim and asked Hela to lend him Fenris for his plans concerning Midgard, but she refused.

• Hela told the three warriors that Odin had sealed Helheim and that fallen warriors went to Hell instead of Valhalla.
• Hogun thanked Hela for saving him and his brothers, and she sent the three warriors to Velanos Palace to recover.
• Richard revealed himself to Hela and teased Fenris before asking to take her out of Helheim.
• Hela refused to lend Fenris to Richard, who then acknowledged his plan to draw the forces targeting Midgard into a fight.

Richard recruited Fandral and two other Asgardians for the coming battle, while a magical fog sealed off part of the New Mexico desert and drew Tony Stark into the investigation. In Dallas, Johnny Blaze sensed Blackheart’s demons and confronted them on a deserted highway as Blackheart appeared.

• Richard failed to persuade Hela to lend him Fenris, but Hela sent Fandral and two other Asgardians with him to Earth.
• Fenris asked Hela if they were really not going to help Richard, and Hela said the man she had chosen would not be defeated easily.
• A white fog in the New Mexico desert erased a year of memory from local investigators, prompting the United States government to seal off the area and seek help.
• Rhodes brought Tony Stark to a government meeting about the fog, and Tony recognized it as a magical barrier concealing an unseen war.
• Johnny Blaze sensed Blackheart’s presence during a Dallas motorcycle show, then rode to a deserted highway and called out the Hell Demons.
• Wind Demon and Rain Demon revealed themselves, and Blackheart appeared beside a Succubus.

Johnny Blaze transformed into Ghost Rider and fought Blackheart’s demons, Wind Demon and Rain Demon. After killing both with Hellfire and the Penance Stare, he faced Blackheart’s next attack as the Succubus approached.

• Blackheart ordered Wind Demon to attack Blaze, but Blaze seized him and burned him with Hellfire.
• Blackheart sent Rain Demon to douse Blaze with black rain, but Blaze used a blue flame whip to pull Rain Demon down from the clouds.
• Blaze forced Wind Demon’s eyes open and killed him with the Penance Stare.
• Blackheart shoved the Succubus toward Blaze and threatened to kill her if she refused to fight.
• Blaze captured Rain Demon and killed him with the Penance Stare as the Succubus advanced.

Blaze confronted Blackheart, who used the souls of Roxanne Simpson and Barton Blaze to try to force him to kill Richard. After Blaze refused and Blackheart destroyed the souls, a surge of spatial mana froze everyone in place, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Blaze spared Succubus after discovering her soul was pure, then faced Blackheart alone.
• Blackheart unleashed thousands of souls and revealed that Roxanne Simpson and Barton Blaze were among them, tormenting Blaze with their pleas for help.
• Blackheart demanded that Blaze help him kill Richard, but Blaze refused.
• Blackheart crushed Roxanne Simpson and Barton Blaze into ash, and Blaze attacked him with blue flame whips.
• Blackheart escaped as black smoke, but deep blue spatial mana suddenly froze Blackheart, Blaze, and Succubus in place.

Blaze fought Blackheart after Richard rescued the souls of Barton Blaze and Roxanne Simpson. Blaze trapped Blackheart in a cocoon of blue flames, leaving his fate uncertain.

• Richard told Blaze that he had taken in the wandering souls of Barton Blaze and Roxanne Simpson, and urged him to attack Blackheart.
• Blaze used blue flame whips and Hellfire to pursue Blackheart, trapping him in a barrier and blasting away much of his smoke form.
• Blackheart emerged behind Blaze and stabbed him, but Blaze clamped onto his claw and transformed into the Ghost Rider.
• Blaze's blue flames spread across Blackheart and coiled around him, sealing him inside a cocoon as his screams faded.