Civil War What If?: Doom versus Thor

Doom looked upon the smoking wreckage of the technologically advanced research facility with utter disdain. His Doombots had made short work of SHIELD's pathetic soldiers. Doom himself had vanquished the few heroes foolish enough to stand in his way. They lay scattered outside the facility. As he stood at the edge of the crater, mighty Mjolnir just feet away from his grasp, nothing could stop him. A massive storm heralded the momentous day whereupon Doom would ascend to godhood.

"This is Doom's by right, and today Doom shall claim that for which only he could have proven worthy!"

Lightning split the sky overhead, followed by a crack of thunder so loud the earth trembled in its fury. Doom's suit sensors detected an unusually large buildup of energy within the roiling atmosphere. Not just electrostatic charge but something difficult to quantify. Doom's keen scientific mind quickly recognized its similarity to the energy discharge of the dimensional rifts through which he'd gained his freedom. An interloper.

A brilliant bolt lanced down from the sea of clouds and struck down in the crater. Doom shielded his eyes when even his armor's systems couldn't filter the intense light, but he did not retreat.

"Worthy, Doom? I say thee nay."

Thor stood in the crater, clad in full battle dress. In his mighty grip was Mjolnir, the prize Doom sought. The prize Doom deserved. His jaw set, Thor brandished Mjolnir as white tongues of lightning danced about its head. "One such as you will never be worthy of this power. You claim it is your due, but such power is earned. It is beyond you, who steals power rather than earn it."

Doom scoffed, his cloak billowing in the fierce wind. "Earned? All power is taken, Thunderer. Nothing is simply given to another. One wields power at the expense of others. One claims it to the loss of others. If one is strong enough to claim their power, to the victor it belongs by right."

Clenching his teeth, Thor held the hammer aloft. "You wish to command Mjolnir?"

"It is not simply a desire, Asgardian. When Doom has broken you, his worthiness will be without question. It is inevitable. It is the will of Doom."

Thor grinned like a warrior staring death in the eye. "Then I shall bestow upon you Mjolnir's might, Doom." He raised the hammer and leaped across the crater in a mighty swing. "But perhaps not in the manner you desired!" A yellowish field of light surrounded Doom just before the blow landed, a force field nearly impervious to harm. Thor brought the hammer down in blow that rang out like a crack of thunder. The force field shattered into flickering shards of energy and Doom staggered.

"Your time has come, tyrant. Your boundless arrogance crumbles before my righteous fury!"



"Crumble before the likes of you? Asgardian buffoon, Doom would never fall prey to simple brute force. I merely took the opportunity to calibrate my armor's systems to the hammer's unique energy signature and your own strength. You have not beaten me, you have simply made Doom more dangerous!" True to his words, the force field reappeared, much more opaque than before.

"Righteous fury ... bah! You are a cretin, a boy playing at being king. By the strength of your arm would you rule, but mere strength is a tool. A blunt instrument. It is useless without the vision to guide it. Doom would rule by will alone!" He raised his gauntlets and about them burned a yellow halo of energy. He cast forth a torrent of searing energy, a mixture of technological and sorcerous power. "Be undone by the genius of Doom!"

Thor thrust Mjolnir into the streaming energy and split it in twain, a flashing bolt of his own cleaving through it to strike Doom. A great flash followed as an electric explosion rocked the facility, tearing down walls and shorting out computer banks. In the smoking aftermath, Doom's force field crackled with the strain of Mjolnir's anti-force but held. "Impressive, Thunder God. And Doom is not easily impressed."



"Save perhaps by Doom's own actions," snarled the Thunder God.

"Who greater an example than Doom?"

Thor raised his hammer to the sky. "The All-Father, whose blood flows in my veins."

"His blood will flow at Doom's feet once Doom has taken Mjolnir from you. Then even Asgard will fall, to be remade into a newer, greater Latveria!"

The storm clouds turned black as Thor's rage. "You are but a thief hiding behind a mask, armor that cannot veil the truth of your cowardice." Lightning lashed to the ground around them, poured from the clouds into Thor's hammer with sibilant snaps. "What limits to your armor's resistance? Let us see!" He bellowed and jabbed Mjolnir at Doom, lightning striking from a dozen different directions in the sky and pouring forth from his hammer. Blinding electric wrath enveloped Doom, setting the ground at his feet ablaze and melting nearby scaffolding into slag.

When the glare receded, Doom fell to one knee. He growled through clenched teeth as his armor's systems fed warnings into his ears about the power failure. Thor's strike had overwhelmed his suit's calibrations.

"So mighty Doom is not invincible, after all. Even he bends knee before Thor's power."



"You delude yourself, Thunderer. Indeed you have the power to burn, but mine is more than mere fire and wrath." Doom rose to his feet, his entire body surrounded by a pale yellow glow. "Mine is the weight of destiny!" He raised his fists amid a swirling vortex of unearthly light. "Mine is lordship over lesser beings ... even gods!" Tendrils of smoky golden vapors poured from Thor's body and swirled into the vortex. "Your hammer resists external energies, but how will it fare when Doom drains your godly life-force into himself?"

Thor felt his great strength drain away for but a moment as he steeled himself against the mystic assault. He laughed haughtily at the thought. "You think you are the first who sought to drain the vitality of Thor? I have lived for millennia, have forgotten more battles than you have ever witnessed. The Odinforce that sustains me is greater than your mortal form can handle, thief!"



"Enough, Doom. Enough of your games! Begone!" Thor hurled Mjolnir forth and Doom braced himself for the impact, but it did not come. Instead the hammer circled around him again and again, flying ever faster. The wind howled in its wake and faster it went as the pressure built up. A twisting funnel of screaming winds descended from the clouds to meet the rising gale, lifting Doom into the air. Debris sucked into the tornado whipped about, smashing into Doom's force field. His suit's sensors struggled to compensate for the roaring forces buffeting him. Doom's mind calculated the forces necessary to counter Thor's assault. He crossed his arms before his face and summoned magical energy into a fiery aura that bolstered his force field, pushing outward to ward off the storm. He looked for the weakest point to attack, try to break up the storm magic. Lightning smashed into his force field again and again, the thunder and shrieking wind combining into a deafening cacophony.

The sound, the fury ... even Doom was surprised by its raw ferocity.

"Fitting that your greed be swept away by the very object you tried to control!" Thor caught the returning Mjolnir. "Again, Doom, I say thee nay!" He threw his lightning-sheathed hammer and it flew true, cleaving through the tornado and striking Doom with an earth-shattering boom of thunder. Lightning leaped down to meet the impact and surrounded the monarch. Doom hurtled through the air, a cry of anger trailing him, the sound piercing even the high winds. He soon vanished even from Thor's sight.



The Thunder God lifted Mjolnir and dismissed the storm. Roiling storm clouds slowly dissipated. The wind died down and faded away. Though the Broxton facility was in ruins, at least Thor had held his power enough in check that he hadn't killed those agents and heroes lying unconscious outside. With their master defeated, the Doombots quickly fled the Thunder God's wrath.

Thor surveyed the sorry state of the facility and raised his eyes to the sky. All-Father, there is a storm brewing in Midgard that even Mjolnir cannot control. Would that I had your wisdom to see it through. The Odinson had a feeling that things would get much, much worse before they got better, but fear had never stayed Thor's hand before. Borne by Mjolnir, he flew to find the other heroes and help those injured in Doom's attack.

It was a long road to rebuild, but Thor's hammer was as much a tool to rebuild as a weapon to destroy. When strong arms and stronger hearts were needed, the mighty Thor was always there.