Comics character
Ragnarok is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in Civil War #3 (July 2006) and is a cyborg clone of Thor. Ragnarok was created by Mark Millar and Steve Mcniven.
Publication history
Ragnarok first appeared in Civil War #3 (July 2006), and was created by Mark Millar and Steve Mcniven.
Ragnarok began appearing as a regular character in the Dark Avengers series, beginning with Dark Avengers #175.
Fictional character biography
When the real Thor was missing in action, presumed dead, Tony Stark took one of his hairs, which he had retained from the first meeting of the Avengers, and helped Reed Richards and Hank Pym clone the Asgardian DNA within, fusing him with Stark technology. This resulted in the creation of a new, cyborg Thor. The clone was put into action during the superhero Civil War, sent to battle anti-registration heroes.[1] The heroes were easily brought down by the clone, but Hercules helped the heroes to escape. The battle got out of hand when the clone murdered Goliath by blasting him through the chest, and set out to kill the rest of the anti-registration heroes. Reed Richards deactivated the cyborg with a vocal code, and later operated on his brain, to prevent such a mishap from happening again.[2] The new Thor returned during the final battle between the pro- and anti-registration heroes. He faced off against Hercules and Storm of the X-Men who defeated the clone by ramming his own hammer into his skull claiming it was an insult to the Odinson, and yelling 'Thou art no Thor'.[3] The clone's remains were taken to Camp Hammond and stored in the laboratory for experimentation. Baron Von Blitzschlag tells Pym he admires his work, showing the Thor clone to demonstrate this.
During the Secret Invasion storyline, it was revealed that the Hank Pym who helped create the clone was actually a Skrull impostor, who had placed a program into the cloned Thor's remains as a contingency in case of the invasion's failure. Unless a special code, which only the Skrull knew, was inputted every eighteen days, the clone would reawaken. With the Skrull imposter's death during the Invasion, this event came to pass during the Dark Reign storyline. Malfunctioning, and believing himself to be the true Thor, the clone believed he had been imprisoned in Camp Hammond. He threatened Baron Von Blitzschlag into returning his hammer to him, and set out to destroy the Initiative.[4] The clone swiftly defeated the Initiative's forces and the New Warriors, who had arrived to help. During that time, he took on the name "Ragnarok", which the Baron had called him, declaring that he would "bring the end of all that is". Ragnarok was only stopped when Von Blitzschlag, whose electrical powers made him immune to Ragnarok's lightning, arrived on the battlefield. The Baron showed Ragnarok footage of his creation, and showed him that the real Thor had returned, and had formed a new Asgard above the city. Disgusted by what he perceived as Asgard's "indignity", Ragnarok left Camp Hammond to confront the real Thor.[5]
During the Siege storyline, Volstagg encounters Ragnarok after being released from jail by the Broxton sheriff, who fights him on an open field to avoid more deaths, but Volstagg is defeated.[6] Thor later fights Ragnarok and easily destroys him.[7]
Norman Osborn later has A.I.M. work on rebuilding Ragnarok so that he can join his second incarnation of the Dark Avengers.[8] Ragnarok is rebuilt under Norman Osborn's control and sent to confront the New Avengers.[9] Ragnarok is heavily damaged in the fight, suffering multiple injuries while fighting Wolverine before Spider-Man throws Iron Fist at him, where Iron Fist's chi-punch nearly destroys him.[10] Ragnarok reappears alongside the former Dark Avengers as one of the new Thunderbolts.[11]
Powers and abilities
As a cyborg clone of Thor, Ragnarok has all the powers and knowledge of the God of Thunder, (prior to Thor's recent acquisition of the Odinforce) including super-strength, extensive combat knowledge, godly stamina, high resistance to physical injury, immunity to all Earthly diseases, and superhuman agility and reflexes.
Ragnarok's hammer, though not the enchanted Mjolnir, is constructed of a vibranium and adamantium alloy. The hammer is able to absorb and discharge lightning, like the true Mjolnir, and has circuitry within its head, which allows Ragnarok to direct it mentally. However, unlike Mjolnir, it can be picked up or lifted by others.
In the Masters of Evil storyline of Dark Avengers, Ragnarok acquires an alternate universe version of Mjolnir and is accepted as worthy to wield it, changing him into what would seem to be a mortal being. Making Ragnarok one of the few characters worthy to wield Mjolnir.
Other versions
In a "What if" Civil War scenario titled "What if Iron Man Lost the Civil War," Iron Man confronted Captain America and admitted that while he felt he was doing the right thing, he was worried that he was going about it the wrong way and that he would need Cap's help. This admission prompts Captain America to not use the concealed device that would disable Iron Man's armor. Unfortunately, an agent on board the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier detected the device and released Ragnarok prematurely. Reed Richards was quickly knocked out and when Ragnarok tried to kill Bill Foster, Iron Man leapt in front of him to stop the blast. When Ragnarok attempted to kill Iron Man, Cap held him off long enough for his armor to repair itself. The two of them joined forces, which inspired every other hero in the pro/anti-registration conflict to join together to defeat Ragnarok.[12]
