Rangarok

Asgard up in flames, falling to ruins. And you, Surtur, are at the center of all of them.
— Thor, Chris Hemsworth, Thor: Ragnarok

Beneath the shadowed sky so dire, Ragnarok's dread did rise like fire,
Nine realms entwined in fate's embrace, A world in ruin, gods' grim disgrace.
Loki, trickster, sly and unkind, Deceived Hodr with a mistletoe pike,
Baldur fell, the brightest god, In shadows deep, the realm was flawed.
In Midgard's heart, the Hulk's rage bore, Thor, the thunderer, met him once more,
With shattered ground and skies that weep, Heroes rose, their vigil deep.
Asgard trembled, Odin's crown did wane, Volla's curse, a dark refrain, Hela's wrath, unleashed from Niflheim, Her deadly touch, a mournful knell.

In Utgard's cruel twisted core, The shadow gods' will, a shattered roar, Asgardians trapped, in endless strife, Einherjar and heroes, locked in life.

Hela's dark legions, Frost Giants' might, Surtur's fire demons, endless night, But heroes rose, with courage fierce, Their hearts aflame, their spirits pierce.

Thor led the charge, with hammer high, Wonder Woman's lasso reached the sky, Captain's shield, a beacon bright, Black Widow's skill, a deadly fight.

Hawkeye's arrows, swift and true, Wasp and Ant-Man, fighting through, The Amazons, with strength divine, Together fought, their powers aligned.

Fenrir's howl, the battle grim, Odin fell, by Fenrir's whim, But heroes stood, against the dread, With valor strong, they fought and bled.

From depths of dread, a hero's gleam, Inspired by hope, a daring dream, They fought through night, with hearts so bold, A tale of heroes, legends told.

In end, through sacrifice and pain, The realms were saved, a hard-won gain, But Surtur's flames, relentless burn, Asgard in ruins, to ash did turn.

Summary

The few Asgardians privy to all the knowledge about Ragnarok believed it was a curse upon the gods to end the reign of Odin Borson and his lineage, and to see Asgard in ruin. It was both a doomsday prophecy and a death curse on every living thing in the 9 realms. The curse, as known to Asgardian and mortal scholars, was placed on Odin by Volla the Prophetess, a witch with a grudge against the All-Father, a grudge lost to history with no record ever found. After sacrificing his eye to learn the truth of Volla's curse, Odin dedicated his life to stopping Ragnarok, first by conquering the 9 realms, ensuring any rebellious force would face Asgard's allies first. The All-Father forged mighty weapons for his children and cast out those foretold to bring armageddon in his visions. As a last resort, he prepared his sons Baldur and Thor Odinson to become monarchs, an heir and a spare, hoping to abdicate and end his reign before the deaths of those who relied on him for protection. In the end, Thor succeeded in ending Ragnarok where Odin failed, but not in a way Odin could have ever understood.

Historical Basis

Loki Laufeyson had fathered three children with the Jotunn Angrboda, raising them among the giants of Jotunheim between the last glacial period and the dawn of the current era. The first was Fenrir Lokison, the Wolf, whose size and power grew daily. The second was Jörmungandr Lokison, the World Serpent, a dragon capable of encircling Midgard’s oceans and biting its own tail to form an ouroboros. The last was Hela Lokisdottir, their only daughter and humanoid, who was fearsome, talented in witchcraft, and had a kinship with the dead. During the reign of Buri and Bor, Loki's children caused great concern among the Aesir, but no action was taken as they remained among the Jotunn. When Loki and Odin solidified their brotherhood through bloodletting, Loki brought his children to Asgard. This only heightened the fear of Loki's offspring among the Aesir, as the great beasts and Loki's witch joined their midst. Odin initially took no action to honor his blood brother, as the children had committed no crimes.

The shadow god that presided over their table, the table of the gods above gods, was hurled across the great hall of Utgard-Loki, landing with his head dangling over the portal opened from Asgard. Beneath him, Loki Laufeyson and Hela Lokisdottir clashed fiercely with Surtur over the fate of the so-called realm of the gods. The cacophony of shattered plates, mugs, tables, and chairs marked the intense battle between Earth's Mightiest Heroes and a Princess of Themyscira against the malevolent beings who sit above in shadow. The once mighty god attempted to rise, only to be pinned down by Thor, the god of thunder, who landed on his chest and thrust Gungnir, the lance of the All-Father, to the shadowed being’s throat. The hero of Vikings and modern Terra bellowed, "Is this what you wished for? Look around you! Asgard will be destroyed! The cycle of Ragnarok will end! You will no longer prey upon my people! Is this what you sought?"

"If you do this, then your world can never be reborn, Asgardian. Baldur. Your brother. He shall be lost forever, too," the shadow god hissed, struggling to lift its head to meet the enraged Thor's eyes. Its monochrome visage was a twisted mockery of Thor's father, Odin, or perhaps his grandfather, Bor. This only fueled Thor's thirst for vengeance.

"So be it."

Antiquity

When Bor Burison fell in the war with The Dark Elves at the last Convergence of the realms, Odin ascended to the throne, transforming from future king and Loki's blood brother to the guardian of Asgard. Fenrir had caused no trouble in Asgard, despite his potential for chaos. Odin, believing it uncharacteristic of Asgardians to punish exceptional beings, nonetheless ordered Fenrir bound and exiled. This decree cost Tyr Odinson his hand when they tricked the winter wolf into wearing the fetter Gleipnir. Biting off Tyr’s hand was the cost of betrayal from the winter wolf’s only trusted friend. Jormungandr, having consumed cattle and spread illness with his toxic breath, was cast into Midgard's oceans by Odin. He believed the serpent would wither without sunlight, but Jormungandr encircled the world, causing earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as he grew. Hela was exiled to rule over Niflheim, where the spirits of the wicked, ordinary, and unambitious resided, and there she was meant to stay unless summoned.

For Odin's long-forgotten sins, the witch Volla the Prophetess cast a dark curse on all Aesir and Vanir, dooming them to the agony of Ragnarok. She declared the Asgardian lands would be obliterated and all gods would perish. Midgard would endure catastrophic natural disasters before the world ignited, with flames raging until oceans engulfed the land. Odin's peers mocked the curse, but the future All-Father sought the truth. He journeyed to the Well of Mimir on Jotunheim, sacrificing an eye to see the future clearly, and hung himself from the world tree to gain the sacred runes' power. The knowledge he gained changed him, but he kept the details secret. The All-Father then set out to erase all traces of Ragnarok in Asgard, confiscating ancient stories and tomes, covering murals, and removing statues to prevent discussions among his people and the Einherjar. Over 2 millennia, he amassed legions from Asgard, Vanaheim, Alfheim, Niflheim, and Midgard to conquer the 9 realms for Asgard's security and dominance over the Bifrost.

Diana, princess of Themyscira, stepped through the line of Amazons to confront the impending dread at the heart of her island paradise. A thief had come to Paradise Island to plunder the catacombs below but was caught and imprisoned. Initially, the thief seemed harmless. Diana's blue eyes scanned her sisters, some bruised and bloodied, others holding Harley Quinn and a few other women who had come to free the thief and injured Amazons in the process. The princess cursed them for weakening Amazonian defenses before unleashing this apocalyptic threat on the world.

"You are she who stands against my husband and sons," the presence intoned, its voice deep, dark, yet unmistakably feminine. The torches around the circle at the center of the Amazons' home flickered, but the presence that flowed from the thief as ribbons of soot and ash absorbed all light and heat. Those ashen ribbons coiled together to form a woman's face, flickering with the burning embers of past sieges. "Will you stand against me and the forces of the coming winter?"

Diana instinctively recognized the Olympian possessing the young thief, naive to what she had unleashed and surrendered her body to. Yet even Enyo's darkness couldn't extinguish the light emanating from the Princess of Themyscira, crafted from clay, given life by Zeus, and blessed by gods Chthonic and Ge. Wonder Woman drew her Lasso of Truth, readied her shield, and nodded. "Diana, daughter of Hippolyta, stands against you, Enyo."

Medieval Times

Thor and Jormungandr shared an antagonistic relationship whose origins remained unclear. After the Elder God Utgard-Loki tricked Thor into believing he couldn't lift his cat, which was actually the world serpent, Thor sought out Jormungandr repeatedly. Each time, less impulsive souls intervened to prevent an apocalyptic disaster. Jormungandr had no qualms about involving himself in schemes against Asgard or Thor, and the two clashed twice. The first battle occurred when Loki enlisted his serpent offspring to steal the golden apples that granted Asgardians long life and vitality, and when Jormungandr entered the Bifrost to assist in the overthrow of Asgard, he was battled back to Midgard by Thor.

The second battle between the world serpent and the god of thunder erupted when Jormungandr's sister, Hela, cursed Thor with immortality at the cost of healing his wounds. This occurred during her attempt to break free from Niflheim. Odin sought to keep her escape a secret and dispatched the Valkyries to return the goddess of death to the guilded bonds of Hel’s throne. Hela slaughtered all the Valkyries save Brunnhilde, forcing Odin to summon Thor, and together they confronted the goddess of death. Upon her defeat, Hela cursed Thor to live forever, his body slowly chipped away, never to heal. Seizing the moment, Jormungandr tried to slay his immortal foe but was ultimately vanquished, and Thor was ultimately restored after the world serpent’s venom had destroyed the thunder god’s entire body. Neither Hela nor Thor foresaw that Jormungandr's death would unleash catastrophic consequences for Ragnarok. By the time Odin and Thor avenged Brunhilde's fallen sisters, the last Valkyrie had departed Asgard, burdened with grief and guilt for surviving where her comrades did not.

Thor Odinson wandered Asgard in search of his father after placing Surtur's crown in the vault. He was second in line to inherit the throne of Asgard, behind his eldest brother and Frigga's favorite child. The Asgardian witch was the only mother Thor had ever known, making Thor and Baldur as close as any brothers. Baldur was always exceptional, and though Thor was his better in war, he was assigned as the defender of Midgard. The two Asgardian men mourned Frigga's death as sons and brothers when she was killed by Malekith's minions, along with their father and Loki. After a walk in the late day sun, Thor found most of his family enjoying their favorite pastime of needlessly endangering Baldur by throwing deadly things at him. Frigga had heard that Baldur would be killed at the start of Ragnarok, so she asked every deadly thing she could find to swear not to kill her son. Everything she asked agreed, in exchange for her blessing, and any deadly thing hurled at Baldur bounced off harmlessly. It was like a children's game that Thor once participated in, but something about the influence of the Avengers made such things less entertaining than they had been.

Odin hadn't noticed Thor yet and seemed far more entertained by the game than usual. He had a strange smile on his face and his fingers to his lips. Thor glanced between Odin and the game before it struck him as odd that blind Hodr held an unusually large sprig of mistletoe shaped into a spear. Something about what Thor had gleaned from Odin's eye when he went to the Norn sisters made his heart break before anything had occurred. The mistletoe. Thor attempted to leap down and grasp Hodr, "No!"

It was too late. Hodr had thrown the spear with a deftness few mortals could know, even those with the benefit of sight, and it struck true. Center mast in Baldur's chest, piercing his heart, and poisoning his blood. Baldur collapsed within moments as a disquiet came over the crowd. Thor held Baldur in his arms, but he faded so quickly that there were no last words. Thor looked to Odin, the only one who had not rushed in to help. He stood there with an uncharacteristic doe-eyed and shocked expression. "Father?" Thor growled, but this false Odin turned and scrambled over the hill where the spectators sat. Thor knew the truth of who it was and whipped Mjolnir around to take flight after the guilty party, identifying them by a howled name, "Loki!"

Cold War Era

Emergency calls went to The Baxter Building when the Hulk attacked a trainyard in Kolkumyrar, Iceland. Loki used his magic to divert those calls so Thor would hear them, but they also reached Tony Stark. The Fantastic 4 were unavailable, so Stark recruited Janet van Dyne and Hank Pym to stop Hulk. When the confusion and short scuffle ended, all 5 heroes realized Loki had orchestrated the whole event as a diversion. That's when Stark received a call that Loki led an army of Frost Giants to attack Tønsberg, Norway as if he was trying to trigger Ragnarok. The original Avengers formed at that point, and they thwarted Loki's scheme. Then The Beyonder tore Earth-196169 apart and formed Battleworld, trapping the Asgardians, einherjar, Hela, and Fenrir in an endless loop of Ragnarok. The Justice Society of America sought answers found only in the battle of Ragnarok, joining the devastation as the 9 realms fell repeatedly. The heroes tried numerous strategies to end the cycle once they had the information they needed, but it wasn't until they merged their powers with the Asgardians that they saw the outcome. Even with Thor surviving until the final battle after Jormungandr's death, only merging with those locked in the battle saved that world.

Superhuman Registration Era

Odin saw the Ragnarok Cycle stirring, its signs unmistakable. Loki’s schemes to claim Asgard’s throne and conquer Midgard marked the beginning. Just as Odin prepared to enter his long slumber, weakened from wielding the Odin-Force against an unknown foe, Loki lured Thor into attacking Jotunheim, tarnishing his honor. Thor redeemed himself just in time to thwart Loki’s coup and fell from the Bifrost into the black hole beneath Asgard. Loki’s fall led him into the grasp of The Mad Titan, Thanos, who armed him with the Chitauri for an invasion of Midgard. The battle that followed in New York City, New York was dire, but Thor and the Avengers turned the tide, crushing Loki’s ambitions once again. Now, Odin worked tirelessly to halt the genocide he foresaw when he sacrificed his eye and connected himself with the power of the runes. The genocide of his people and the people of Midgard. Yet he knew the truth: Ragnarok was coming, and the time for readying was nearing its end.

After Baldur's death and the shadow of Fimbulwinter descending upon the realms, Thor’s purpose narrowed to a singular, burning desire: to thwart the doom awaiting his people. But how does one halt the grinding wheel of fate? Only one man had spent his life defying the impossible and emerged victorious—Steve Rogers.

Thor's quest to find him was short upon his arrival on Terra, only to be met with whispers of the Captain's demise. His search bore grim fruit when he recovered Captain America's shattered shield, a silent testament to a fallen hero. If Rogers had perished, Thor reasoned, his soul should reside in Asgard—unless his god, Cathol, had not claimed him.

Thor scoured the grand halls of the honored dead. Valhalla stood empty of Rogers' unyielding spirit; Freya's great hall echoed only with the hammers of her masters. Yet, hope kindled anew when the smiths of Fólkvangr agreed to reforge the shield with divine precision. With the shield restored, Thor sought Heimdall, whose all-seeing gaze pierced the 9 realms.

Heimdall revealed that Rogers was not in Asgard but trapped in the shadowed depths of Limbo, a prisoner of Mephisto himself. Unease churned in Thor’s heart as he set out for the realm of the lost souls.

The desolate expanse of Limbo swirled with ash and crimson mist, the very air thick with despair. Thor descended inside the Bifrost, a rainbow-colored column of light shimmering in defiance against Limbo’s dreadful gloom. Before him loomed Mephisto's throne, a grotesque mockery of power in the absence of Limbo’s queen.

"Prince of Asgard, what a delightfu—" Mephisto's honeyed greeting was sliced short by the thunder god’s voice, sharp and unyielding.

"Where is Steven Rogers?"

Mephisto smirked, his forked tongue curling around false innocence. "Captain America? Whatever would make—" But his deceit was exposed in his devilish grin and eyes scant. Thor's grip tightened around Mjolnir, a storm brewing in his gaze.

With a dismissive wave, Mephisto relented, rising to his feet. "Very well, Thor Odinson. If it weren’t for your exploits with Surtur, this conversation might have ended differently. But I wonder—are you prepared for what you’ll find?"

Thor followed the fiend into a barren valley where wandering souls drifted like shadows. Steve Rogers sat amid the withered and hollow-eyed specters, as vibrant as in life. Thor strode to his friend’s side, his voice a quiet thunder. "Rise, Avenger. Your service is needed."

Steve looked up, startled by the towering figure beside him. Thor thrust the repaired shield toward him. The star-spangled emblem gleamed in the dim light. Yet, beneath its surface, the shield was forever changed—stitched together with enchanted Uru.

Steve’s fingers brushed the shield, tracing its familiar contours. The desire to bear the shield was apparent in his eyes before he handed it back. "I’m sorry, Thor. You have to find someone else." Mephisto’s laughter slithered through the air and the flickering light from distant hellfire fled the devil’s face.

"There is no one else!" Thor bellowed. "You are Captain America. The First Avenger. The man out of time!"

Steve planted the shield into the cracked ground when Thor didn’t accept it. "I am out of time."

Thor bristled, his voice rising like a tempest. "Rogers, you are a warrior! A leader! You are a man of virtue and your fate cannot lie in Limbo. This is deception!" His words crackled with divine fury, heedless of Mephisto’s smug presence.

Steve’s voice was calm, burdened. "I’m not perfect, Thor. I’ve made mistakes—ones I thought were patriotism but weren’t. If I’m here, it’s where I belong. I’m sorry." He extended a hand, and Thor clasped it, their mutual respect unbroken. The thunder god turned, leaving the shield behind.

Mephisto’s laughter turned to a cold, gleeful malice as he gestured. From the ground erupted N’Garai demons, their twisted forms salivating for blood. The wandering souls screamed, scattering into the darkness. "Touching, truly," Mephisto sneered. "But no one leaves Limbo today." Thor’s eyes ignited with lightning, his muscles taut with divine power. As he raised Mjolnir, the air crackled with electricity. Mephisto prepared to unleash his horde but then hesitated. Steve stood tall, the shield grasped in his right hand. His gaze met Thor’s, resolute and unwavering as he slid his arm into the straps on the inside and adjusted them with resolute yanks. First at his forearm, then over his palm. "Looks like we’re fighting our way out after all," Captain America said, his voice cutting through the despair like a blade.

Thor found himself shaken after relentless conflicts threatened the mortal woman he loved and the friends he had made in the shadow of Loki’s schemes. His brother’s apparent death only deepened the storm within him. Thor’s love for Doctor Jane Foster grew as fate conspired against them. While studying The Convergence, she became the unwitting host of The Aether. It poisoned her body and made her the prime target of Malekith and the Dark Elves, who sought its power to extinguish all existence. In a desperate move to save Jane and the realms, Thor freed Loki from Asgard’s dungeons and made an uneasy alliance with him. Together, they saved Jane and defeated Malekith. But victory came at a devastating cost: Loki’s apparent sacrifice. Odin, meanwhile, withheld the Asgardian forces, focusing instead on preparations for the looming Ragnarok—a decision Thor could not comprehend. Clarity came when The Scarlet Witch hexed Thor’s mind, flooding his vision with harrowing images of Ragnarok. These apocalyptic revelations drove Thor to leave the Avengers while they battled Ultron. While his comrades wrestled with the specters of their own pasts, Thor was tormented by visions of events he could not recall. He reclaimed his father’s missing eye and immersed himself in the Urðarbrunnr, the Well of Fate. There, under the guidance of the Norn sisters, Thor saw the terrible truths Odin had glimpsed.

After the disaster in Sokovia and Ultron’s defeat, Thor discovered a violation of trust and his very body: Tony Stark had cloned him, exploiting Thor’s divine authority to justify his authoritarian actions during the Superhero Civil War. Unable to settle this dispute then and there, Thor left Midgard and focused on a far greater threat—preventing Ragnarok. Thor journeyed across the 9 realms, uncovering fragments of knowledge his father failed to hide or destroy, piecing together the truth behind the visions. His search led him to Muspelheim, where he confronted Surtur, the fiery titan asserted that he would reduce Asgard to ash. Surtur revealed that when his crown Flame touched The Eternal Flame it would make the ruler of the fire realm unstoppable. Thor met prophecy with defiance, clashing with Surtur and his fiery hordes in a battle that shook Muspelheim. Thor emerged victorious with Surtur’s crown under the belief he had severed his connection to destiny. The thunder god returned to Asgard, locked the crown in the vault, and separated from the Eternal Flame, rendering it harmless. Though he had delayed Ragnarok, the specter of fate remained—a reminder that even triumph could not snuff out the wheels of fate.

Tony Stark had heard whispers of old Stark Industries munitions surfacing in the hands of Syrian militants, their deadly use turning civilians into casualties. Donning his cutting-edge Mark L nanotech armor, he destroyed any munitions warehouses he found. Yet none bore his company’s tech. Just as he finished his sweep, the air thickened with tension as Thor descended from the sky behind him, landing with a heavy thud. Stark glanced back uneasily.

"Hey, Thor?" Tony called, his tone forced and awkward.

"Stark," came the thunder god’s cold reply.

Tony hesitated before blurting, "Listen, I know I haven't properly apologized for using your DN—"

Thor was already charging. Repulsors flared as Tony fired, left, right, and from his chest, but Thor deflected each blast with Mjolnir and closed the distance fast enough to cause panic. His hand gripped the nanotech armor’s neck, the fibers fracturing under his godly strength. Thor slammed Tony against a crumbling wall, Mjolnir poised to strike. Stark’s repulsors whined as they powered up, desperation evident.

Then he saw Thor’s face.

"What did you do?" Tony gasped.

Thor’s hollow sockets stared back, streaks of dried blood marking his cheeks, his beard crusted with it. Before Stark could process, two figures approached: Korg the Kronan and Miek the Sakaaran. Weapons drawn, they hesitated, assessing the scene.

Korg lowered his weapon and held out his hands. "Woah, hello. I’m Korg. That’s Miek. We’re with Thor, and I’d suggest doing what he says."

Tony’s gaze darted between Korg, the jittery Miek, and the eyeless thunder god. His pulse thundered in his ears as Korg gestured at Miek to quiet down.

"Thor, remember?" Korg coaxed. "We’re not here to kill a guy in tacky armor."

"Tacky?" Tony protested, but his words only drew Thor closer to bringing Mjolnir down.

"When we first met, you assembled the Avengers," Thor growled, his voice trembling with barely contained rage. "Assemble them for me now, Stark. Meet me where we first found victory together."

Tony disengaged his repulsors, his voice shaking. "They haven’t followed my orders since we thawed out the Capcicle."

"Steve isn’t giving orders anymore," Thor snarled. "Make them follow you, like you did then."

Thor drew Stark close, then shoved him back against the wall, leaving cracks in the ancient brick. As Tony rose, his nanites repairing his armor, he nodded reluctantly.

"I’ll see what I can do. Who do you want?"

Thor began spinning Mjolnir, his sightless gaze fixed on the blistering Syrian sky. "Assemble them all."

He shot into the heavens, the air rushing in to fill the void in his wake. Korg and Miek exchanged weary glances before slumping.

"Sorry about that," Korg muttered, trudging over to Stark as Miek skittered off. “Thor’s been worked up before, but this? Never gouge-my-own-eyes-out worked up until now. Anyway, we’ve got a ginormous spaceship over there. Wanna come?"

Thor returned to Asgard, where he stumbled upon a grim mockery of his past joys. In the grand arena, he found what he thought was Odin, overseeing a twisted version of the brothers’ childhood game: hurling deadly objects at Baldur, the unbreakable. Something was off—the unsettling grin on "Odin’s" face. It wasn’t him. It was Loki. Thor realized the truth too late. A shard of mistletoe pierced Baldur’s heart, triggering Ragnarok. As Baldur fell, the skies darkened with unnatural clouds that swallowed the sun. Thor confronted Loki, his fury like a storm. He demanded to know why Loki did what he had done, but Loki replied it was in his nature before vanishing, likely to rally the giants of Jotunheim. Shaken, Thor turned to the one soul who defied fate regularly: Steve Rogers. But he learned Steve had died and his soul wasn’t in Valhalla, Folkvangr, or Eden—his soul was trapped in Limbo, claimed by Mephisto. Thor had Captain America's Shield reforged with enchanted Uru, then descended into Limbo. He found Steve, pleading for his help to stop Ragnarok. But Steve, burdened by his past, refused, believing himself damned. When Mephisto revealed his intent to trap both heroes, the devil triggered Steve’s inability to accept injustice. Together, they fought through Mephisto’s legions and made their daring escape.

On the island of Themiscyra, the Amazons had captured a thief who had snuck onto the island and into the lower levels of the islands vaults and dungeons. It took dozens of warriors to get her as she had made her way past the monstrous children of Echidna in her effort to loot the island, but she was eventually caught. The warriors hadn't realized that the thief was the sister of another hero that was active in Gotham City, and that she had found what she was after but it was more than she had bargained for. The goddess of sieges and terror, Enyo, had possesed the thief and broke her out of the dungeons at night. The Amazons formed up to fight, as well as Harley Quinn and a team of less-than-reputable ladies including the girl's sister. In the midst of the fight, Princess Diana was knocked away from the battle and far out to sea as if she were a discarded rag doll. The battle continued as Diana drifted but it seemed as though mighty Poseidon had a plan for the princess as she somehow washed up outside of Tønsberg, Norway.

Diana awakens to her body being tossed against the short sandbank outside a small village in the Northlands her people used to call Hyperborea. She spits some salt water from her mouth only to cough a bit more up from her lungs and deposit that on the shore as well. The evening air bites at her skin. Amazonian armor was fashioned for the Mediterranean climate but she had been sent far from that. As Diana pushed herself up onto her knees, she saw a loan man, his scalp is covered in a mane of silver, aged and battered, yet nearly 7 feet tall.

"Of all the people I did not expect the granddaughter of Zeus and princess of Themyscira," Odin laughed as he looked over the village of Tønsberg with a melancholy smile as soon as Diana was on her feet and had come close enough to converse. The elder man is clothed in a modern suit, a suit that a man his age might request to wear in his casket.

Diana did her best to hide how much the cold breeze bit at her exposed skin but Odin saw through her. He pulled off the suit's jacket and its illusion vanished to reveal a long cloak made of moose felt and collared with raven features. He offers it to the woman and she takes it politely before the Amazonian princess asks, "Why are you out here all alone and so far from Asgard, All-Father?"

"I'm afraid it's time again," Odin said as his gaze turned to the sky, which darkened faster than it should and snowflakes began to fall.

Diana looked upon his mighty face with the dread knowledge of what had come but the Amazon couldn't ask any more questions before the sounds of fire and the thunder of rolling siege engines moved up the shores. Asgardian and Amazon turn to find Enyo coming up the bank, now in her own flesh, and every step she took seared the ground. Wonder Woman whips about her Lasso of Truth as Odin summons the Power of the All-Father, though Gungnir does not come to his grip.

As Wonder Woman fought Enyo with cracks of her lasso and acrobatics, Odin goes in like a street fighter and bareknuckles her until he crushed her with one last resounding pulse of the Odin-Force. That final pulse seems to take more out of the All-Father than it would have normally, and he falls to one knee. His face brightens into a stressful red, and he breaks into a hot sweat. Diana moves over him to put a hand on his shoulder.

After the escape, Steve still wasn't sure that he believed he was the man for the job and he was having a crisis of conscience