This article contains spoilers for Black Knight: Curse of the Ebony Blade #3!
Marvel Comics has just revealed Thor‘s greatest defeat. The Mighty Thor has always considered himself a force of nature, battling against some of the most powerful villains in the entire Marvel Universe. His fans like to imagine Thor is Marvel’s most powerful hero – even if he isn’t necessarily the smartest.
Thor has been able to go hammer-to-face with villains ranging from Galactus to Thanos, and his personal enemies have the potential to destroy entire worlds. Even Malekith – a foe who’s been underrated ever since Thor: The Dark World‘s unflattering MCU portrayal – was responsible for the War of the Realms, triggering a conflict that saw the Earth almost conquered by an alliance of evil. What’s more, Thor is as unrelenting as any thunderstorm, meaning if he’s defeated he just finds a way to get a power-up so he can come back swinging even harder than before. Even Apocalypse learned that lesson the hard way when he decided to hunt Thor in the Middle Ages, only for the Thunder God to return with an enhanced weapon that could even penetrate Celestial armor.
But Black Knight: Curse of the Ebony Blade #3, by Si Spurrier, Sergio Davila, and Sean Parsons reveals Thor’s most embarrassing defeat – when he went up against the first Black Knight, Sir Percy of Scandia. Thor was part of a group of Viking raiders who attacked Camelot, with the God of Thunder unimpressed when the Black Knight stood in the city’s defense. What Thor did not know, though, was that the Black Knight’s Ebony Blade is essentially the anti-Mjolnir; where Thor’s hammer belongs to those who are worthy, the Ebony Blade “lightens only in shadow.” In order to access the full power of the Ebony Blade, the Black Knight must dwell upon all his inner darkness; his rage, his grief, his pain, his wounded pride. And that meant Thor was utterly outclassed.
The problem is that Thor’s modus operandi is to declare his enemies defeated from the start of battle, mocking them as he strikes with thunder and lightning. But the more he undermined Sir Percy of Scandia’s self-confidence, the more he wounded his pride and vanity, the more powerful the Black Knight became. As the comic recounts, “He toyed with his rival. Taunted him. Insulted his smallness. His loneliness. He questioned aloud why the great Arthur Pendragon deserted the Knight to so lowly a duty — gatekeeper — while his truest warriors quested in full pomp. Never suspecting, that cocksure lord of the storm, that with every word — every sore nerve he struck — he was strengthening his foe.” In the end, the power of the Ebony Blade was released like a WMD, and Thor was knocked unconscious. The Black Knight was in a blood rage by now, and he killed all those who had come with the Thunder God.
And here is the ultimate indignity; one would expect Thor Odinson to return to Camelot later, seeking a rematch, but it was not to be. Merlin had his agents strip Thor of his memories, so when he awoke it was without any thought of revenge or even of Camelot. And yet, there does seem to have been a lingering memory, a prick of wounded pride that rises whenever Thor considers the Black Knight even to this day because he cannot help but try to pick up the Ebony Blade – and fume at the fact even now he cannot, for his worthiness is anathema to the enchanted sword. And so, in an amusing way, the Black Knight‘s Ebony Blade continues to prove itself greater than even Thor Odinson right up to the present day.
