Mortal Thor, The (2025 series) #5

Odin and Lukki meet in a diner where the ex-All-Father explains that, as he was he one who built Valhalla, he could just as easily walk out of it. The down side is that now he can never return there. Odin accuses Lukki (a/k/a Loki) of trying to control everything, endangering Thor, with Odin’s raven calling for judgment. But Lukki denies it, claiming he is trying to free the universe. The conversation turns to Sigurd Jarlson, the mortal Thor, with Lukki revealing that Thor’s tormentor is Donald Blake, created by Odin to teach Thor humility. But Odin snaps back that it was Loki who turned Blake evil. But Lukki admits he is helpless to aid Sigurd and asks if Odin can help. Odin points out that Sigurd fought when the bad guys came to him (issue #1), which is just, but he continued to fight those who took Thor’s name in vain (issue #2) which is not what Thor would do. Odin declares that Sigurd is not Thor for he has not learned humility so Odin will be watching to see if he must intervene….

At the police station, Sigurd is questioned by a pair of detectives playing “good cop, bad cop.” They say that Sigurd’s co-workers were attacked with ammo that contained a sleep drug but the Sons of the Serpent attacked Sigurd with the standard lethal kind and so want to know if Sigurd claims self-defense. He asks for his lawyer. One cop reveals all the evidence they have against him, tying him to the attack on the three hoods in the alley (issue #1) and the Rough House bar (issue #2), especially his possession of a hammer on a bungee cord. As they try to trick him into an admission, his lawyer, the slick Kenneth Krask arrives, warning him about the police tactics and advising him not to speak. The cops show their evidence, Krask merely produces a letter signed by the Police Commissioner ordering Sigurd’s immediate release. They leave and encounter Sigurd’s neighbor Kris Seok and Sigurd assumes she sent Krask. But no, she is there with her lawyer, Mike Hyun. Krask takes Sigurd to a parked limousine where the client awaits. The client is the mysterious Blake a nattily dressed man who looks into Sigurd’s eyes and asks in return what Sigurd sees in his. Sig replies “tomhet,” the Swedish word for the void/emptiness. Blake reveals that the alley attack (issue #1) was a test to see if Sigurd is the man Blake believes him to be. But Sigurd angrily denies being anyone special, he is just a man. Blake says that Sigurd has something he wants—and then he uses his serpent staff to extract Sigurd’s soul, in the form of a green mist. On the final page we see that Blake’s eyes are once again missing….