History
The Destroyer
Odin, Zeus, and Vishnu, known as the Skyfathers of their respective pantheons, confronted Earth's Third Host of Celestials. The Celestials explained that their next visit would judge whether humanity was fit to continue existing and that the gods should not interfere. They threatened to seal off the dimensional pathways that link Earth to the various realms such as Asgard and Olympus. Not wanting to lose their worshipers, the Skyfathers secretly began plans to stop them. Odin created a mystic armor that could contain vast amounts of the Gods' energies in order to battle the Celestials. He used an unknown metal and enchanted it with his magic. Odin also asked the other Skyfathers to infuse it with some of their power, making it virtually all-powerful.[1] The durability of the armor surpasses that of adamantium and uru.[2][3]
The armor was stored away in the Temple of Darkness, but it was found by Loki, who sought to use it against Thor.[4] Seeing how the Destroyer was indiscriminate in what it attacks, and fearing the safety of Asgard (and therefore his own), Loki had Karnilla awaken Odin from his Odinsleep. Odin collapsed the Temple, seemingly burying the Destroyer in the rubble.[5]
It was reactivated by Loki to attack a tournament held in Asgard to determine the strongest Asgardian[6] and then by Karnilla who tricked Sif into putting her soul into the armor to aid Thor in a fight against the Wrecker. Karnilla removed Sif's soul from the armor when Balder promised to fight Ulik on her behalf. Odin then took the armor into his custody.[7]
It was found once more by Professor Clement Holmes, who reactivated the armor by unintentionally sacrificing his life energy to it. It was defeated by Thor and Hercules and the soul of Holmes returned to his body.[8] The armor then became a herald to Galactus as a replacement for Firelord.[9] In this role, it discovered the existence of Counter-Earth and was opposed by the Fantastic Four and the High Evolutionary.[10]
Thor later used the Destroyer to threaten Hela into undoing a curse she placed on him. His body was restored and the armor was encased until it was needed.
Confronting the Fourth Host
When the Celestials returned, Odin absorbed the other Asgardians (save for an absent Thor) and then entered the armor. The Eternals formed the Uni-Mind and also sought to fight for humanity. The Celestials determined Earth's fate in an area sealed by a dome. The Destroyer had sliced through and the confrontation ensued. With the Odinsword, the Destroyer was able to cut off Nezarr the Calculator's arm, but Nezarr regenerated immediately. Even with its increased powers, the Destroyer was not powerful enough to fight the Celestials and was melted down.[1]
Thor returned to find all the other Asgardians in deathlike comas. Thor was able to convince the other Skyfathers to help him restore Odin, and bravely confronted the Celestials on his own. Gaea and the other Skymothers were successful in recruiting the Young Gods and presented them to the Host. The Celestials deemed humanity fit and left with the Young Gods.[11]
The armor, however, was not completely ruined and several years later Loki reformed the armor in a bid to destroy a severely weakened Thor.[12] Thor, however, wrested control of the armor from the host - an enthralled Frost Giant named Siggorth - through sheer force of will and went on to defeat Loki and then the Death goddess Hela, who was forced to restore Thor to his true form.[13] The Destroyer was left in a crystal in Hela's realm, and was eventually animated by the goddess Lorelei. Lorelei battled several Asgardians and became trapped in the dimension of the Great Beasts.[14]
The Destroyer was later deployed by Trolls, who empowered it with the spirit of the Maestro, an evil version of the Hulk. Although the Hulk failed to defeat the Destroyer in combat, he was able to enter the Destroyer and fight the Maestro for control and defeat it from within.[15] Thor had two more encounters with the Destroyer, with the armor almost killing him on the first occasion and breaking his jaw on the second.[16][17] The armor was eventually retrieved by Loki and occupied by the entity Desak, although Thor - equipped with the Odin Power - decapitated it with one throw of Mjolnir.[18]
The armor was later under the control of the god Balder when Thor was on a quest to locate his missing brethren, the Asgardians.[19]
After Jane Foster became the new wielder of Mjolnir,[20] Odin desperately wanted the hammer back and sent his brother The Serpent to retrieve it while wearing the Destroyer Armor. The Serpent was close to taking the hammer, but he met with unexpectedly resistance from the previous Thor (now going by Odinson), Odin's wife Frigga, and a number of women Odinson had suspected of being the new Thor. Eventually, Odin was forced to order his brother to stand down.[21]
Following the disappearance of Odinson, Odin became a tyrant and used the Destroyer Armor to enforce his rule along with the Thunder Guard.[22] The Destroyer was animated using various Asgardians who had to be replaced constantly due to the toll the Destroyer had on their life force. When Mangog launched an attack on Asgardia to wipe out all Asgardians, Queen Frigga fought the beast alongside Odinson and Odin while wearing the Destroyer, but Mangog bit off the armor's arm with ease using his teeth.[23]
The armor was later seen being piloted by a seemingly resurrected Kid Loki.[24] The missing arm was kept in Avengers Mountain until Thor used it as his new mechanical arm.[25]
The Asgardians eventually regained possession of the Destroyer. During the Dark Council's invasion of Earth, Volstagg took to piloting the armor to help fend off the invasion[26]
When Thor discovered that something was wrong with Mjolnir's worthiness enchantment, he switched places with his counterpart Donald Blake to figure out why. However, Donald Blake had gone mad and now wanted to destroy everything Odin had created. Thor was left stranded in Blake's former illusionary world while Blake went on a rampage. Thor eventually escaped by transferring his spirit into the Destroyer Armor, just in time to stop Blake from destroying Yggdrasill.[27]
Fusing with Galactus
During the Reckoning War, all the former Heralds of Galactus, including the Destroyer, gathered to reanimate the corpse of the Galactus. The Destroyer fused with Galactus, turning him into the Destruction.[28] The Destruction fed on the energies of a self-destructing M'kraan armor, and Galactus (now fully alive and no longer hungry for worlds) and the Destroyer emerged as a result.[29]
Properties
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Powers[]
The Destroyer armor possesses numerous capabilities which are only active if the armor is inhabited or remote piloted by the spirit of a sentient being. While some of the powers might vary, depending upon the spirit inhabiting the armor, they are primarily the same for any user.
Superhuman Strength:'The Destroyer armor possesses vast superhuman strength beyond normal reckoning and can lift far in excess of 100 tons. While inhabited by the lifeforce of a sentient being, its strength is immeasurable. In fact, the Destroyer armor has frequently matched and even exceeded Thor's raw power in battle.[30][31][16] Odin, the creator of the Destroyer armor, once placed all of the combined life forces of the Asgardians, with the exception of Thor, into the armor, further enhancing the armor's strength to levels that make it's normal strength which is already incredible seem insignificant.
Superhuman Speed: The Destroyer armor, despite its physical mass, can run and move at speeds far greater than that of the finest human athlete.
Superhuman Stamina: The Destroyer armor is maintained by the lifeforce of a sentient being and is not subject to physical fatigue. While inhabited, the Destroyer possesses virtually limitless superhuman stamina in all activities.
Invulnerability: The Destroyer armor is practically impervious to all forms of physical damage. It is tougher than adamantium and uru.[2][3] The armor can withstand high caliber bullets, tremendously powerful impact forces, falls from tremendous heights, exposure to absolute extremes of both temperature and pressure, and powerful energy blasts from the likes of Thor and Odin without sustaining damage. While possessed of the lifeforce of all the Asgardians, the Destroyer was melted into slag by powerful blasts of energy from the Celestials.
Superhuman Agility: The Destroyer armor's natural agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels that are far beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete despite its great weight.
Superhuman Reflexes: The armor's reflexes are similarly heightened and are far superior to those possessed by the finest human athlete.
Flight: Through self-levitation, the Destroyer armor is capable of flying through the air at mach 32.[32]
Energy Manipulation: The Destroyer armor is capable of firing extremely powerful bolts of energy, primarily for destructive purposes. It has such power that the energy it crackles within can shatter planets.[33] The armor can project beams of intense heat, electricity, plasma, anti-matter and magnetic force. Its energy blasts are powerful enough to slice through uru, such as Thor's Mjolnir.[4]
- Visor Blast: Its most devastating weapon, however, is a beam fired from the armor's helmet, where a person's face would be in an ordinary suit of armor, that is capable of disintegrating practically any known substance in existence. The Destroyer must keep its visor open in order to build up the energies to use in this attack.
- Matter Manipulation: The armor is also capable of manipulating the molecular structure of most materials and matter itself for a variety of purposes including but not limited to, transmutation.
Abilities[]
The Destroyer is programmed solely for battle and destruction. Only a very strong spirit, such as Thor, Odin, Cul, or Freya can resist its programming and act on their own free will.
Strength[]
Class 100+. Its strength varies depending on how powerful the person animating it is.
Weaknesses[]
While the armor itself has no weaknesses, the spirit inhabiting the armor will begin to grow more progressively violent while spending extended periods of time within the armor. Also, after a time, it becomes nearly impossible for an inhabiting spirit to maintain control over the armor while attempting to use it for non-violent purposes in non-combat situations. In time, the armor itself will dominate the inhabiting life force. Only a being of extreme willpower is able to hold control over the armor and even then, as of late, the armor has become more demanding of it's hosts. Burning through one recipient driver after the other as its drain on their life force is too extreme even for a god.[23]
Weapons[]
When battling the Celestials, the armor wielded the Odinsword.
Alternate Reality Versions
The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (Earth-8096)[]
In that reality, Destroyer was an artificial construct commissioned by Odin to act as guardian. Amora The Enchantress used the armor, possessed by Loki, when she deprived Iron Man, Thor and Captain America of their powers by orders of Surtur. Once their powers were restored, the three heroes, along with Hawkeye, took the construct down easily, to Surtur's displeasure.[34]
Ultimate Spider-Man and Avengers Assemble (Earth-12041)[]
They find the Asgardian weapon known as the Destroyer. There they meet another little boy with snot coming out of his nose. The boy is revealed to be Loki out for revenge. They are rescued by Thor who had also been transformed into a child. The team escape D.A.Y.C.A.R.E. only to be attacked by the Destroyer armor, and Nick Fury orders the team to leave in a Quinjet, which is destroyed forcing them to parachute to a rooftop. Loki then possesses the Destroyer as the battle leads to a nearby Toy store. They are able to retrieve the Norn Stone, and with Loki released from the Armor they transform him to a childlike form and return themselves back to normal.
Doctor Doom takes control of the Destroyer armor where he drives away the Hydra Agents and the A.I.M. Agents. The Destroyer then attacks the Avengers. With help from Loki, Thor, Captain America, and Falcon were able to track Doctor Doom to Helheim where he is using the Helhorn to control the Destroyer. Iron Man then gets through to Doctor Doom and convinces him to deactivate the Destroyer. When Loki tries to take control of the Destroyer, Hulk ends up throwing it into the sky where Iron Man blasts it into the moon's orbit.[citation needed]
Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers (Earth-14042)[]
Destroyers and Sabretooth
Multiple copies of the Destroyer appear to exist in this reality, though not as formidable as the singular one from elsewhere. During the Avengers' battle against Sabretooth, Manino Giordani sent three of these to help Sabretooth; however, since he explicitly stated that he didn't want any help, Sabretooth angrily destroyed one of the three before storming off. The other two continued to fight the Avengers and Wolverine, but were easily dealt with.[35]
Later, when the X-Men came to Jotunheim to get the Avengers' DISKs back, Loki sent another three Destroyers to fight them, but they were likewise quickly dealt with.[36]
When the Avengers lured Manino Giordani to Techno Isle in order to steal the DISK containing Dr. Strange from him, Manino fought back with three Destroyers and Diablo. Diablo used his alchemy to make the Destroyers much stronger and durable than any had seen so far, thus making them actually a match for the Avengers. Since the Avengers could no longer defeat the Destroyers themselves, they targeted Diablo instead. When Dr. Strange also entered the fight, he used his teleportation spell to trick the Destroyers into defeating each other and all three were D-Secured along with Diablo.[37]
Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999)[]
Destroyer of Earth-199999
In this reality, The Destroyer was an artificial construct created to act as a guardian. It was used by Odin to protect his vault, and did so with cold efficiency during a ceremony when several Jotuns entered the vault with the intent to steal the Casket of Ancient Winters.
When Loki usurped the throne of Asgard he took control of the Destroyer and sent it to kill his brother Thor. Temporarily waylaid by several of Thor's friends, it continued its advance through the New Mexico town of Puente Antiguo until Thor stepped forward to face it alone. Thor appealed to Loki through the Destroyer, asking him to take Thor's life, but leave the nearby populace alone. The Destroyer then dealt him a mortal blow, but Thor's act of self-sacrifice caused his lost power to be restored, and with it he turned the suit's power in on itself, damaging it beyond its ability to function.
The remains of the Destroyer were salvaged from Puente Antiguo and used to craft a powerful energy weapon by S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists as part of their "Phase Two" mandate to counter exceptional threats. The gun featured a conventional scope and could power up to discharge potent bolts of fiery energy.[38]
Earth-TRN1093[]
Destroyer of Earth-TRN1093
This version of the Destroyer, decorated as a heavy knight's armor, is part of King Thor's forces, led by Sir Harold Hogan, and was used to try and capture a fleeing Captain Carter.
Earth-TRN1364[]
This version of the Destroyer was sabotaged by Loki, causing it to go haywire and kill both Thor and Happy Hogan. The damaged remains of the Destroyer was later used by Tony Stark to create the first Iron Man suit.Trivia
- The Destroyer is the only item known to have a Power Grid.[32]
See Also
- 199 appearance(s) of Destroyer (Enchanted Armor)
- 18 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Destroyer (Enchanted Armor)
- 29 minor appearance(s) of Destroyer (Enchanted Armor)
- 28 mention(s) of Destroyer (Enchanted Armor)
- 5 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Destroyer (Enchanted Armor)
- 118 image(s) of Destroyer (Enchanted Armor)
- 1 quotation(s) by or about Destroyer (Enchanted Armor)
- 1 item(s) used/owned by Destroyer (Enchanted Armor)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Thor #300
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 #2
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Marvel Fact Files #6
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Journey Into Mystery #118
- ↑ Journey Into Mystery #119
- ↑ Thor King-Size Special #2
- ↑ Thor #150–152
- ↑ Thor #224–225
- ↑ Thor #228
- ↑ Fantastic Four #172
- ↑ Thor #300–301
- ↑ [[Reduced to pulp after killing the Midgard Serpent in Thor (Vol. 2) 38|Reduced to pulp after killing the Midgard Serpent in [[Thor (Vol. 2) #38|Thor (Vol. 2) 38]]]]
- ↑ Thor #381–382
- ↑ Mighty Thor #437–441
- ↑ Incredible Hulk #461
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Thor (Vol. 2) #1–2
- ↑ Thor (Vol. 2) #36
- ↑ Thor (Vol. 2) #79
- ↑ Thor (Vol. 3) #5
- ↑ Thor (Vol. 4) #1
- ↑ Thor (Vol. 4) #6–8
- ↑ Mighty Thor (Vol. 3) #1
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Mighty Thor #703
- ↑ Asgardians of the Galaxy #1
- ↑ War of the Realms #4
- ↑ War of the Realms #3–5
- ↑ Thor (Vol. 6) #9–13
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #41
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #45
- ↑ Journey Into Mystery #118–119
- ↑ Thor #151–152
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 Thor: Asgard's Avenger #1
- ↑ Thor Annual 1
- ↑ Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes S2E15
- ↑ Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers S1E17
- ↑ Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers S1E21
- ↑ Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers S1E46
- ↑ Marvel's The Avengers
- ↑ Thor: Asgard's Avenger Vol 1 1