Thena: Who's Your Mama?!

Shout out to faithful blog-reader arias-98105 for suggesting this topic! It's nice to have reader engagement and I greatly appreciate it! So today, I'm going to examine the MC2's Thena and try and work out who her mother could be. But first, a little background information on Thena.

First appearing in 2006's Avengers Next #2,  Thena is the daughter of Thor, the Asgardian God of Thunder. Thena grew up alongside her cousin Sylene, daughter of  Loki the Trickster God. We learn that she survived Galactus' destruction of Asgard (during the events of Last Planet Standing) and was tasked with restoring Kevin Masterson's powers as Thunderstrike.


While we know from the start Thor is her father, the identity of Thena's mother is still a bit of a mystery. Here's are the facts:

• Thena states she is 'daughter to the most honored Lord and Lady of Asgard' (Avengers Next #2).
• During the events of Last Hero Standing Thena was on a quest with her mother, thus explaining her absence during that story (Avengers Next #2).
• During the events of Last Planet Standing, Thena attempted to join her father against Galactus but was instead commanded by her mother to aid those fleeing the destruction of Asgard (Avengers Next #3).

As pointed out to me by arias-98105, prior to the events of Onslaught and Heroes Return (see here), Thor was romantically involved with the Asgardian villainess Amora the Enchantress! For those who follow this blog regularly, you will know that the late 90's are where most of the MC2's shared history with the Main Marvel Universe ends, thus making Thor's romantic entanglements around that time relevant to solving this mystery.


History lesson time! In a four-part story published in Thor #491-494 by Warren Ellis and Mike Deodato Jr called 'WorldEngine', Thor and Amora begin a relationship during their time exiled on Earth. Beware: Very 90's art!

In addition to this, the relationship storyline is continued by the following writer (William Messner-Loebs) on the book leading up to the events of Onslaught (Thor #495-502). After Onslaught the title was renamed back to Journey Into Mystery starting with issue #503 while Thor was absent and widely believed dead. From then until issue #513 the title was written by none other than MC2 co-creator Tom Defalco who also touched upon Amora's feelings for Thor while he was assumed dead.

Clearly, Amora had genuine feelings for the Thunder God despite her past of manipulation. Given the couples ongoing romance around the time, Thena's blonde hair and even some readers desire to see the two have a child together (see the reader's poll and letters pages below from Journey Into Mystery #505, #506 and #508, respectively) a case could be made for Amora being Thena's mother.

Naturally, the other major candidate for Thena's mother was Thor's long-time off-and-on love interest Lady Sif who made her first and only MC2 appearance in Last Planet Standing #2 during the destruction of Asgard. The strongest evidence for this becomes clearer when the relevant pages and panels from both Last Planet Standing #2 and the flashbacks in Avengers Next #3 are viewed in sequence:

So, Sif was given the job of overseeing the evacuation of Asgard's most vulnerable subjects, the same task Thena was entrusted with by her mother. This strongly suggests Sif is Thena's mother, but obviously we don't have any definitive answers. 

So, who do you think is Thena's mother: Amora the Enchantress? Lady Sif? Or someone else entirely? Let me know! This was fun to research and theorize about, I may just do more like this, perhaps exploring the mystery of Sylene's mother?

Until I get exiled to the Isle of Silence and can no longer produce this blog, I remain

frogoat

MC2: The Lost Issues Part 2

Just a quick entry today, this time continuing to sift through various sources for further information on MC2 comics that never saw the light of day. Previous posts about this topic include Wild Thing #6: The Untold Story and MC2: The Lost Issues.

While reading through Comic Creators on Fantastic Four by Tom Defalco, a book published in 2005 featuring interviews with various writers, artists and other creatives who've contributed to the Fantastic Four through the decades. During an interview with artist Paul Ryan, the Fantastic Five came up:

A few years after you left FF, you were reactivated to do Fantastic Five. How did it feel to be called back into service?

I remember Fantastic Five fondly. I was having problems over at DC at the time, so for somebody to call up and say they actually wanted to use me on something felt good. It made me feel wanted and the idea of doing the next generation of the Fantastic Four appealed to me. It was just kind of exciting to screw up again, so to speak: to see if my FF uniform still fit, When Fantastic Five was cancelled, I had just finished pencilling #6, which was never inked, and I was waiting for a plot for #7. The second issue had just come out.

What do you remember about Fantastic Five? Just that we were finishing up old continuity?

Yeah, there was that. We - I should say the esteemed writer - tied up the loose ends as far as Hyperstorm; what happened to him and so forth. There was a final showdown between Hyperstorm and Franklin. Didn't Reed and Sue suffer some debilitating effect from that battle? I think we found them on a space station somewhere. I still have a great spread which shows the Fantastic Five riding their space scooters to the location. There was a very emotional, very poignant ending to that story, too. Sue was still in suspended animation because nobody could figure a way to bring her out without killing her, and Reed was a mess. I remember that they were gonna turn the ship over to the kids.

It would have ended up being Kristoff, Ben's twins, Franklin and Johnny and Lyja's kid.

Right. We were gonna see that transition over the twelve issues, so that by #12 they would be the new Fantastic Five. I remember that in issue #6 we had the kids facing their baptism of fire. We had costumes for them too. And you brought Alicia back as a new herald for Galactus; I recall that the continuity of the time had Alicia dating the Silver Surfer.

It's honestly fascinating to learn that we would have seen a whole new line-up for the Fantastic Five comprised of the next generation by the end of the series twelfth issue had it not been cancelled prematurely. Despite this idea never seeing print as originally intended, it's worth noting that we do see the concept retooled in both Spider-Girl #86-88 and in the Fantastic Five mini-series years later.

Additionally, while we do eventually see Galactus in the MC2 in the Last Planet Standing mini-series, sadly we never got to see Alicia Masters as his cosmically-powered Herald. Presumably she would have debuted in the aforementioned unpublished Fantastic Five #6 as Paul mentions a 'baptism of fire' for the young heroes. It's so unfortunate that Paul's last completed issue for the series never saw print.

I'll keep my ear to the ground and both eyes open for any more information that might be found about these lost issues.

Until I become a Herald of Galactus, I remain

frogoat