Thor (1966 series) #485

Thor and Sif are busy cleaning up the High Evolutionary’s damaged lab beneath the streets of New York City. As they work, they grow playful and toss a huge ball of metal scrap back and forth at one another, unaware they are being watched. From Hel, Lorelei and an unseen companion are spying on them; Lorelei has decided she loves Thor and her companion has promised that he can get Thor to charge into Hel and carry her away. As they watch, Ben “The Thing” Grimm arrives to help with the work, payback for the Godpack assisting the FF earlier. The companion explains that Lorelei had once brewed a love potion for Thor when she was in mortal guise as Melodi; Thor did not drink the potion so she should be able to recover it. So Lorelei, naked but for a carefully placed curtain of red hair, approaches Thing and asks him to retrieve the love potion for her, as a gift to Thor and Sif, to ensure their loving happiness. So Ben heads to the apartment Lorelei kept as Melodi, smashes his way in, scaring Melodi’s roommate who wonders where Melodi has gone and if she is going to pay her share of the rent. Ben brings the potion back to the lab where Lorelei’s voice tells him to drink it. Lorelei discovers her companion Malekith has been manipulating her and he strikes her, having planned to get Hela out of the way then manipulate Lorelei. Thing has drunk the potion so Malekith, in the guise of Lorelei, tells him that “she” was murdered by Thor and Sif and now wants Thing to avenge her by destroying the two Asgardians. So Ben attacks Thor while unawares, with Thor wondering if Ben has gone mad or if he is possessed by Loki as was War Machine in the previous issue. Thor pulls his punches as he suspects something is wrong with his old ally; Ben doesn’t, putting the Thunder God at a disadvantage. Sif is returning from the store when Thor and Thing come crashing up through the sidewalk. Thor is briefly incapacitated so Ben tries to kill Sif—but can’t bring himself to deliver a fatal blow. Thor returns and together the Asgardian pair clobber and restrain him until his madness passes. Ben remembers nothing since arriving to help with the cleanup and has never heard of Lorelei. Feeling a bit peaked, Thing goes home to recuperate while Thor and Sif are pleased that they work so well as a team….

Malekith pitches a fit because his plan has failed. So he seeks out a new champion, one stronger than Thing but whose mind is more easily manipulated and he settles on…Kurse….