As if his life wasn’t complicated enough, Matt Murdock has somehow convinced his business partner, Foggy Nelson, he has a twin brother – Matt vaguely disguised as ‘Mike Murdock’ – who’s secretly Daredevil! And now ‘Mike’ is about to become the target of the Trapster and find himself framed as a foe of the Fantastic Four!
Meanwhile, Thor, Balder, Sif and Loki have been stranded on Earth with the godly powers removed by Odin for disobeying his direct instruction not to return to Midgard. Loki’s efforts to gain new powers will lead to the transformation of criminal Dirk Garthwaite into a new superhuman threat for the God of Thunder, as well as Sif being trapped in a ‘living prison’ of her own in the form of the Destroyer!
Crossover/Related Events: The Daredevil story arc leads directly into the Fantastic Four issue, making this a crossover; the storyline featured in Thor also weaves in and out of the Fantastic Four issue, but can actually be read without the tie-in and still make perfect sense, making that a related event.
Must-Reads: Issues in bold in the Core List or marked with a ✔ in the Full Reading Order are must-read stories from this event; in the Fallout section, issues marked with a ✔ are the stories that are most heavily impacted by this event; the main crossover is between Daredevil and the Fantastic Four, so the Thor issues are optional.
Spoilers: The issue descriptions and fallout section contain spoilers, so be warned!
Previous events that directly impact this story:
- DOOMSDAY (1966-1967) – Doctor Doom stole the Power Cosmic
Want to keep it simple? Here’s the chronological reading order without story descriptions, or spoilers:
- Daredevil #35
- Daredevil #36
- Thor #148 [1/2]
- Daredevil #37
- Thor #149 [1/2]
- Daredevil #38
- Thor #150 [1/2]
- Fantastic Four #73
- Thor #151 [1/2]
- Thor #152 [1/2]
- Thor #153
| Must Read | Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Daredevil #35 The Trapster assaults the office of Murdock & Nelson to get free legal advice – namely if he can kill Daredevil and get away with it! With the Trapster’s seeds sown, Matt Murdock goes after him as Daredevil. After sending the Man Without Fear skyward using Anti-Grav Discs, the Trapster disguises himself as Daredevil in order to get into the Baxter Building. He pastes the Invisible Girl and sets an explosive that will go off when it picks up more body heat in the room. |
| ✔ | Daredevil #36 Daredevil senses the bomb and hurls it out the window. After freeing the Invisible Girl, Daredevil convinces the Fantastic Four to let him handle the Trapster alone! Daredevil hurls them both down a subway where DD loses consciousness. He wakes on the tracks, discovered by Doctor Doom! Meanwhile, Foggy Nelson is offered the role of District Attorney for New York City, but his infatuation with released convict Debbie Harris could jeopardise his career. |
| ✔ | Daredevil #37 Doctor Doom overpowers Daredevil, intending using him in his next revenge plot against the Fantastic Four. Taking him to the Latverian Embassy, Doom explains how he survived his collision with Galactus’ barrier around Earth (during DOOMSDAY, 1966-1967), then switches bodies with Daredevil! 1st appearance: Transformatron/Body Transferral Ray |
| Thor #148 [1/2] Balder, Loki, Sif and Thor disobeyed Odin’s order not to return to Earth. For their defiance, Odin has stripped all four of their godly powers! Away from the others, Loki summons Karnilla, the Queen of Norns, to aid him. But the thief dubbed ‘the Wrecker’ bursts in and floors Loki with his crowbar, then dons the God of Mischief’s horny helmet! When Karnilla materialises, she grants the Wrecker her power, instead! The Wrecker goes on a rampage in New York and is opposed by the powerless Thor, Sif and Balder. The latter two are teleported to Asgard, leaving Thor to get pummelled. And Odin seems content to watch his son die! 1st appearance: Wrecker/Dirk Garthwaite (real name unrevealed) | |
| Thor #149 [1/2] Somehow, the powerless Loki returns to Asgard to steal the crystal from the Chamber of Visions used by Odin to monitor of events on Earth. Meanwhile, the Wrecker drives a bulldozer into Thor, then drops a building on him! |
| Must Read | Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| Thor #150 [1/2] (pp.1-2) Believing the battered Thor is dead or about to die, the Wrecker walks away from him… | |
| ✔ | Daredevil #38 (pp.1-4) With his consciousness now in Doctor Doom’s body, Daredevil tricks the guards into freeing him, convincing them he’s the real Doom! Daredevil contact’s the Fantastic Four, but they’re unsure what to believe… |
| Thor #150 [1/2] (pp.2-10) Balder defeats the Karnilla’s warrior Barbaric, but Sif is now missing. On Earth, Thor’s astral form refuses to go with to Valhalla with Hela and he tries to fight the Wrecker, despite being intangible. 1st appearance: Barbaric | |
| ✔ | Daredevil #38 (pp.4-13) Doom’s goons attack Daredevil, not realising it’s Doom in Daredevil’s body! Doom convinces them to back to the Embassy to attack Daredevil, currently inhabiting the form of ‘Doom’! The police interrupt the fight and allow ‘Doom’ to go free… |
| Thor #150 [1/2] (pp.11-14) In Nornheim, Balder is captured by Forest Trolls. Karnilla manipulates Sif into sending her life force into the Destroyer, then sends her to Earth to take on the Wrecker and save Thor… | |
| ✔ | Daredevil #38 (pp.13-20) Debbie Harris approaches ‘Daredevil’ on the street! ‘Doctor Doom’ declares war on every country neighbouring Latveria. To resolve this, Doom returns to the Latverian Embassy and switches their bodies back! Daredevil leaves, but the real Doctor Doom tells the Fantastic Four that Doom – disguised as Daredevil – is about to lay siege to the Baxter Building! |
| Thor #150 [1/2] (p.15) Thor’s astral form returns to his body and he wakes… |
| Must Read | Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Fantastic Four #73 Daredevil heads to the Baxter Building but the Fantastic Four now believe he’s Doctor Doom! He finds allies in the passing Spider-Man and a powered-down Thor. The FF continue to fight back, believing Thor and Spidey are Doom robots! Odin restores at least some of Thor’s might to aid him against the Thing. The Human Torch is caught in a chimney blast at a chemical plant thanks to Spider-Man. And Mister Fantastic is prevented from pummelling Daredevil by the Invisible Girl, due to her seeing the real Doctor Doom alive and well on the news (presumably handling the international crisis Daredevil set him up with). Thor heads off to deal with the Wrecker, while the heroes make up! |
| Thor #150 [1/2] (pp.15-16) The Destroyer materialises on Earth and obliterates the Wrecker’s crowbar, soundly defeating him. But Thor thinks the Destroyer is a threat and attacks it! | |
| Thor #151 [1/2] On Earth, Sif is unable to speak from within the Destroyer, leaving her the target of Thor’s relentless assault! Sif’s essence begins to lose control of the Destroyer as it gets the better of the depowered Thor. On Asgard, Karnilla gets a little obsessed with Balder. Ulik, Geirrodur and a host of Rock Trolls invade Karnilla’s lair. Odin decides to restore Thor’s godly might, but he’s cornered by the Destroyer who’s ready to unleash a deathly blast from his visor! | |
| Thor #152 [1/2] Karnilla pulls Sif’s life-force from the Deatroyer to defend her realm from the Rock Trolls, just before the Destroyer can disintegrate Thor on Earth! While a disguised Odin retrieves the shell of the Destroyer from the NYPD, the God of Thunder heads to Nornheim to take Balder’s place in the fight against Ulik. Though Thor is victorious, his hammer Mjolnir is missing! But is it Loki’s doing? | |
| Thor #153 The Norn Power Karnilla granted Loki has enabled him to steal Mjolnir! For saving her from Ulik, Karnilla sends Thor and Sif to Midgard to face Loki. The hammer becomes a cane again as Sif and the human Dr Donald Blake confront the Lord of Lies. Sif suffers a Norn Blast, but Blake grabs the cane and transforms into Thor who restrains Loki. Sif is hospitalised. Blake performs a procedure to save her when Loki attacks. Thor barely holds his own against Loki’s Norn powers and only Odin’s might saves Thor from afar, forcing Loki to depart. On Asgard, Karnilla professes her love for Balder and banishes Ulik beneath Nornheim. But what impending doom does Odin fear? |
See how this story fits into the wider Marvel Universe with these reading orders:
- DAREDEVIL, 1964-1976 – The Man Without Fear
- DOCTOR DOOM, 1962-1981 – World Domination
| Must Reads | Issue & Fallout | Event / Crossover |
| ✔ | Thor #154-157 (1968) Hela returns to try to take Sif to Valhalla while she recovers in hospital and tries to convince Thor to join her warriors of the dead; the threat that Odin fears is Mangog and the potential threat of Ragnarok; while searching for a power upgrade or ally in his war with Asgard, Ulik frees Mangog from his prison in the caves beneath Nornheim; the origin of Dr Donald Blake and his true connection to Thor is finally revealed. | |
| Daredevil #39-41 (1968) Debbie Harris is transported to another dimension by the Exterminator‘s Time Displacement Blaster; Debbie’s return cements Foggy Nelson’s feelings for her; Matt Murdock’s ‘Mike Murdock’ is ‘killed off’ when Daredevil is believed dead. | ||
| ✔ | Thor #159-160 (1968) The origin of Dr Donald Blake is revealed. | |
| Fantastic Four Annual #6 (1968) The Invisible Woman continues to stay out of the Fantastic Four’s adventures due to her pregnancy until Franklin Richards is born while she and the team are in the Negative Zone. | ||
| ✔ | Thor #171 (1969) The Wrecker returns, having regained his power via his enchanted crowbar. | |
| Daredevil #87 (1972) Having successfully made it as NY District Attorney, Foggy Nelson hires Matt Murdock as his Assistant District Attorney. | ||
| Thor #224 (1974) The Destroyer armour next shows up in Peru and is inhabited by Professor Clement Holmes who then goes on a rampage; again, Thor loses his hammer to the Destroyer, but he defeats it with help from Hercules. | ||
| ✔ | Defenders #17-19 (1974-1975) The Wrecker regains his powers and shares it with three other criminals, forming the super-powered Wrecking Crew. | THE WRECKING CREW |
| ✔ | Daredevil #166 (1980) Foggy Nelson and Debbie Harris get married. | |
| Thor #306 (1981) Nanna sacrifices herself to stop Karnilla from trapping Balder in a marriage to her. | ||
| Fantastic Four #260 (1983) Doctor Doom uses the alien Ovoid trick to transfer his consciousness into a random spectator to the clash between the Silver Surfer and Tyros which then destroys his original body. | THE TRIAL OF REED RICHARDS | |
| Daredevil #212-214 (1984) Debbie Harris-Nelson is swayed by Micah Synn and betrays Foggy Nelson; Foggy and Debbie’s marriage ends. | ||
| Thor #350-353 (1985) Balder finally agrees to become Karnilla’s consort, much to the dismay of his friends. | THE SURTUR SAGA | |
| ✔ | Daredevil #13-15 (2012) Doctor Doom transports Daredevil to Latveria to dissect him and learn the secret of his powers. | |
| Daredevil #606-607 (2018) The Trapster next faces Daredevil; Matt Murdock ‘resurrects’ his fake twin brother, Mike Murdock. |
| Collected Edition Title | Collects… |
| Daredevil Epic Collection: Mike Murdock Must Die! (vol.2) | Daredevil #22-41 Daredevil Annual #1 Fantastic Four #73 Not Brand Echh #4 [part] |
| Thor Epic Collection: The Wrath of Odin (vol.3) | Thor #131-153 Thor Annual #2 |
| Collected Edition Title | Includes… |
| Daredevil Omnibus vol.1 Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil vol.4 | Daredevil #35-38 Fantastic Four #73 |
| Decades: Marvel in the ’60s – Spider-Man Meets The Marvel Universe Fantastic Four Epic Collection: The Name is Doom (vol.5) Fantastic Four Omnibus vol.3 Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four vol.8 | Fantastic Four #73 |
| Doctor Doom Epic Collection: Enter… Doctor Doom (vol.1) | Daredevil #37-38 Fantastic Four #73 |
| Loki Omnibus Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol.6 | Thor #148-152 |
| Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor vol.7 | Thor #153 |
| Mighty Thor Omnibus vol.2 | Thor #148-153 |
Reading Order © Omniverse Comics Guide 2026
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