Here’s how the mighty Thor fought in the Vietnam War. Marvel Comics has always considered their adventures set in “the world outside your window.” The idea is that the Avengers and the X-Men operate in a world just like ours, albeit one with gods, monsters, aliens, and assorted interdimensional invaders.
Naturally, this sometimes means that Marvel writers decide to explore contemporary issues with their stories. That’s why Spider-Man comics had an AIDS sub-plot in the ’80s, and it’s why modern books have seen both the X-Men and the Avengers take on the challenge of climate change. But one of the most amusing was in 1965’s Journey Into Mystery #117, in which Stan Lee and Jack Kirby took Thor, the God of Thunder, into the Vietnam War. The issue opened with Thor losing a competition with Loki, and he believed his life was on the line. The Trickster God had triumphed through treachery, of course, by wielding the power of the Norn Stones against his half-brother. But Loki had then transported the Norn Stones to Earth in order to hide his deceit, and Thor was forced to seek them out. Naturally, Loki had set a trap - one that took Thor into the Vietnam War.
Loki knew that there were limits to Thor’s endurance. In order to take advantage of that fact, he transported the Norn Stones into a Viet Cong ammunition dump. When Thor arrived in Vietnam, he was shot out of the sky, and soon realized he would draw too much attention as a thunderous god. Thor unwisely transformed back into the human form of Dr. Donald Blake and made his way through the jungle. And that was when the jaws of the trap snapped shut.
Thor didn’t know it, but Loki had subtly influenced Viet Cong soldiers so they would discover Dr. Blake. They successfully captured Blake, and in a twist, they used his cane as a rod to bind his own arms; it was a smart trick on Loki’s part, because the cane was secretly Mjolnir, and Blake could only turn back to Thor if he struck it on the ground. Blake was marched into the Viet Cong compound, where he was assumed to be a Yankee spy. Much to his horror, though, the Viet Cong also captured a family who had briefly helped Thor when he’d been shot of the sky. Blake got a chance to escape, and threw himself to the ground, striking the cane against it. Fortunately, that was enough to allow him to become Thor once again, and he found the Norn Stones.
The emotional heart of Journey Into Mystery #117 was that innocent Vietnamese family, who had been torn apart by the war. It turned out the people who helped Thor were related to the Viet Cong soldier who managed the bunker, and in a fit of rage this villain executed his own brother and mother. Thor intervened and rescued the last survivor, a little girl, before she can be killed; he left with her promising revenge. He didn’t need to return, though, because the soldier’s bloodlust cooled and he realized what he had done. Blaming the evils of communism for twisting his mind, the soldier committed suicide by blowing up his own bunker and killing all the troops inside.
Journey Into Mystery #117 is a fascinating issue, shining a light on how the Vietnam War was perceived back then. Stan Lee’s simplistic portrayal lacks the nuance he’d later give in interviews, suggesting he still saw the Americans as heroes and the Viet Cong as outright villains. “It was communism that made me what I am,” the villain of the comic declares, “that shaped me into a brutal, unthinking instrument of destruction! To communism, then – may it vanish from the face of the Earth and the memory of mankind!” Suffice to say Stan Lee was wearing his politics on his sleeve with that dialogue from the Thor-led comic.
More: Marvel Confirms: Thor’s Big Secret is Officially Out
