Thor and Loki #5: The Tenth Realm SPOILERS

[MindofShadow]

So they couldn't let it be that angela simply beat thor they just had to give him an excuse for losing come on man.

because I don't think Angela is meant to be on that echelon of power. She seems much more on the Gamora scale in GoG

[pugbuddy]

It's nice to see Odin not be portrayed as a total douche for once.

Odin's portrayal has been a problem ever since Fraction took over the title. Thor and he never had such an acrimonious relationship before then.

Yes, Thor struck Angela down with his own lightning but then, when he was ready to strike again, he heard Odin's lightning as he entered the 10th realm. The distinction is pretty clear since she is down and he is threatening to kill her just before he hears Odin arrive.

Overall, I liked the story although it ended with the entire thing being nothing more than a character set-up for whatever they have planned for the future. The one thing I found silly was Thor's excuse for losing to Angela the first time: he was "exhausted" by his previous battle with the Angels? Really? He was essentially punking them right and left. And how is that exhausting to someone who has faced off against the Hulk for hours and Zeus for months? I guess the torture revived him (which also makes no sense).

Overall, this story ended without a real conclusion. Odin (and Cul) returns and takes Thor and Loki back to 616. Angela knows who she is and runs off into the universe. The Angels of Heven are just kind of...there. Disappointing in most ways. I will say that I liked the whole "Hang on! Let's talk it all out!" way it ended but that's about it.

[jphamlore]

I wonder whose side Cul will be on when Malekith's horde attacks everyone. Is Odin back to being the boss in charge of all the Nine Realms? And does that mean Gorr with his weapon killed Odin in the future?

[Punisher007]

because I don't think Angela is meant to be on that echelon of power. She seems much more on the Gamora scale in GoG

That's not what Jason Aaron said (or was it Ewing, one of them anyway). He said that Angela is easily on Thor's level, if not higher. I don't like the idea that Thor's sister is so much weaker then him, you're already setting her up as "inferior" before her own book even starts.

[Moriarty]

It's nice to see Odin not be portrayed as a total douche for once.

agreed. i was worried he would barge in and make the situation worse.

Wait...wait. Cul is back? Isn't Cul like, a super mega "I'll eat your face" baddie?

yep. should be interesting to see what role he plays in the future.

[Raye]

I think this probably could have used another issue, some of the things that happened are potentially huge, but were glossed over pretty quickly. I mean, Cul is free. CUL. And it's barely mentioned. And the revelation about Angela's true heritage happened REALLY fast. it just... felt like a lot was left unresolved is all. Also, the art... ugh. Lee Garbett was fantastic as always, but the rest was a mess. That being said, it had some nice moments, Odin praising all his children (well, the ones still alive, I note he had nothing to say about Balder, for instance.) was nice. It felt a bit strange given his characterization at times in the past, but still. d'awwww. I did keep expecting a last minute gut-punch, but it never came.

[Black Angel]

because I don't think Angela is meant to be on that echelon of power. She seems much more on the Gamora scale in GoG

she should be on his level if you ask me don't know why you put her on gamora scale when she was kicking the guardians butts. See like a way to make thor not seem like a Job when this current thor kinda already is. Still it happens i won't complain too much.

[Minerboh]

When Asgard was rebuild?
Last time i saw it was in ruins.

[jphamlore]

The notion of death and Asgardians seems rather tenuous these days as Balder is alive enough to return to testify for Thor, Tyr is I believe Hela's consort, and Odin's father Bor is a resident of Hela's realm.

[Raye]

True, that. Thor's been dead and come back several times, Loki as well. Though I think Balder (and Tyr) is still officially dead, even if he can visit for special occasions. But I guess mentioning him as he was praising Loki would have been... awkward... (as someone above mentioned, i am fairly certain Odin knows who REALLY inhabits that body, even if Thor doesn't)

Oh, that reminds me. Yes, this ended on a sappy and happy note, big happy family, so cute, awwww. But... we know that's only a brief moment, and things will get NASTY pretty soon, which actually makes it kinda bittersweet. There is so much family drama in the wake of this and Thor 25. Angela still hates them, I bet you anything that Thor will find out what Loki did in JIM (probably already did, actually), Cul is loose, Laufey is back from the dead (or soon to be, anyway) and that whole nasty situation with the All-Mother and the Lokis. Things are going to get bad, this is just a momentary nice moment that will just make it hit a bit harder when it all falls apart.

[megaharrison]

Retconning how Angela beat Thor was necessary. Angela is Gamora-level, and Gamora can't tangle with the God of Thunder.

Anyway Odin got pretty metal this book.

[jackolover]

This could have been done another issue longer, as the fallout of Angela's revelation of being Odins daughter took hold. I thought the confrontation between Thor, Angela and Odin could have lasted a lot longer, instead of reading like a Shakespearean play. It had all the tragedy of exposing a secret even Odin never knew about, and in the end, Odin realised it was his own pride that, he thought, killed his daughter, and, he let her go when she wished nothing more to do with him. The tragedy is that Angela created a life for herself, with strong relationships in Heven, under false pretences. Everyone suffered for this. Angela's soldiers, the Queen, who was rightly indignant that Odins daughter was never disposed of, Odin for destroying the daughter he never knew, Thor and Loki for never knowing the sister that they could have grown up with, changed the history of the 10 worlds just by Angela not being there in Asgard.

Now Thor is contemplating his status as the one begotten son, first born of Odin, and realising he has just been replaced, and he must bow before the first born Angela from now on, as she will be the heir to the throne, not Thor. Thor contemplates looking at his hammer, which states only those that are worthy can hold the hammer of Thor, and wonders if he is still now worthy? Maybe Fury knew that Angela lived and was the first born of Odin and was the worthy over Thor?

This could have been drawn out as a real tragedy, involving Cul and Old Loki into a maelstrom of new possibilities, as Angela contemplates attacking the Asgard her whole existence swore to destroy, if she ever got the opportunity to do so. Now that old Asgard space has been opened, Heven has been opened, and a new Odin Spawn (a nod to Angela's emergence in Spawn beginnings?), in Angela, has been let loose on the Universe, a day of reckoning is ready to be unleashed on the Marvel Universe, like a spell broken, and lies suppressed, like Cul and Angela, to be exposed and avenged.

As simple a story as this Original Sin is, it's ramifications are about to be felt universally, because what has emerged out of the box, cannot be put back. Asgard is exposed as the dispassionate dictator of the 10 worlds, and a force as great as Asgard, Heven, is now unleashed to rectify this anomaly. Wounds have been opened with the Queen of Heven, Angela and Cul. These will not be healed easily, and may rend the Universe to pieces instead.

[jackolover]

because I don't think Angela is meant to be on that echelon of power. She seems much more on the Gamora scale in GoG

Angela can't be killed as we saw in the baby stabbing incident, so who knows how much Angela can take? She looked pretty unharmed after Thor blasted her with lightening trying to kill her. Maybe Angela just goes up a notch depending on who she is fighting and the power they exhibit. Maybe she can fight Thanos and go up that power level when she wants too? At this stage, I don't know what she is capable of. Hell, Odin bows down before her, so she could earn his respect, not just out of curtesy.

[jackolover]

So, how much was Age of Ultrons breaking of Space/Time involved in Angela's reawakening as Asgardian? Bendis seeded the idea of Angela to emerge from out of nowhere, into the 616, but how much of that was connected to Original Sin? Angela was comfortably tucked away in a land called Heven, where she was respected as the Prime Hunter, until an event occurred that sucked her out of her comfortable existence, and landed her in unfamiliar climes, where she found a new life as space traveller and team member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Angela already found a new life outside Heven, so that once she was cast out of Heven, as Odin Spawn, that's the smile on her face that we see as she returns to the place where she is accepted, as a GOTG.

[Username taken]

Retconning how Angela beat Thor was necessary. Angela is Gamora-level, and Gamora can't tangle with the God of Thunder.

Anyway Odin got pretty metal this book.

Exactly. Thor's heritage has always been cited as the reason he's more powerful than the average Asgardian and a lot of the people encounters.

Thor's father is a sky father and his mother is an elder goddess, there's no way Angela can be as powerful as him.