Thor, The Mighty Avenger

Thor, The Mighty Avenger is a digital comic that serves as a prequel to Thor and was provided by on their website.
==Synopsis==
Thor, Sif and Loki enter the Virtue Challenge.
==Plot==
===Part 1: Valor===
In Asgard, Haldier the Blacksmith encounters a snake as he travels on his horse. His horse bucks in fear and he tumbles down a mountain. At the bottom of the mountain he finds the legendary Cup of Glory. He returns to his shop without the treasure, choosing to leave it behind in the Old Mine.
Days pass and Haldier thinks out loud to himself, deciding he will bring it back from the Old Mine where they hold the Virtue Challenge every year later, so that all Asgard will see him as a mighty warrior. However, Loki overhears him, and come up with his own plan.
The next day, Thor is training with Mjølnir. Suddenly, Loki comes running through the Palace Courtyards, chased by Brunok, the son of Haldier, because Loki insulted his father. Thor stops the chase by grabbing the two of them. Loki suggests they hold a contest of virtue, cleverness and skill tomorrow to settle the matter. They should choose teams.
The next morning, Thor states that the contest will follow the traditional rules of the Virtue Challenge which they all passed when they became adults. Lady Sif joins a team with Loki and Thor, against Brunok's team of three. They set off riding, until they reach the first challenge of valor - they have to retrieve a treasured bone from the Treasureyard of the Wolves. Sif gets lost on her own, alone in some mist in the forest, left behind. Meanwhile, Loki trips and grabs onto a branch to stop himself from falling into an unseen pit of flames below. However, Loki realizes they are in the Veil of Illusion. Thor, alone, starts seeing visions of his family and friends telling him he should be ashamed of himself, and that he has let down Asgard. However, Thor overcomes this and retrieves the wolves' bone. Thor saves Loki from the tree, which does not actually have any fire beneath it, but is just an illusion. They then ride on and find Sif, and together, the three ride on to the next challenge.
===Part 2: Wisdom===
Fandral, meanwhile, is trying to acquire a Hawk's Egg from a tree high up a mountain, as his test of wisdom is to bring it back down without it cracking. He is in his own team with Volstagg and Hogun. Volstagg calls up advice while Hogun lures the hawk away from its nest. Fandral messes up and the egg falls, cracking on Volstagg's head as he catches Fandral, and Hogun lands on both of them.
Thor, Loki and Sif discover the Warriors Three, surprised that they are secretly participating. The Warriors reveal that they too already have a bone. Together, Thor, Loki, and Sif scale the mountain and try to retrieve an egg. Loki and Sif slip, but Loki catches Sif's leg, and Thor catches Sif's arm. Sif retrieves two eggs in her satchel.
Meanwhile, on the ground, the wolves appear and chase the Warriors Three because Volstagg cheated, retrieving a second bone to sell when he gets back to Asgard. He throws it back into the woods, and the wolves go away. Thor, Loki, and Sif get back down the mountain, and Sif gives Fandral one of the eggs. She states that in this case, retrieving two eggs was not cheating, because it was not selfish, but showing mercy upon a friend. The six ride on to the final challenge.
===Part 3: Truth===
The teams arrive at the Old Mine. They have to take for their team as much gold as the challenge requires. Volstagg is greedy and takes loads of gold, but Thor berates him for it. However, Loki goes ahead, individually looking for the Cup of Glory. Loki finds it, exactly where Haldier had said it would be.
Soon, Brunok's team (him, Siegrold and Hilda) catch up with the Warriors Three, Thor and Sif. The three teams boast about who found which items, when suddenly Loki appears, holding in his hands, to everyone's amazement, the Cup of Glory! Sif drops her hawk's egg in awe, and it cracks, while Loki exclaims that the cup, the glory and the honor are all his. Brunok, however, disagrees and says it should be his due to the insult to his father being the cause of the contest. Fandral also goes for it, and a brawl begins over the cup. Thor, however, on Sif selfish advice, steps in and takes the cup himself, saying that only he is worthy of it. Thor loses control in his crazed glory, and accidentally summons a storm, bringing the whole mountain down on them.
A while later, everyone is uninjured and sitting around a fire, but trapped, surrounded by rubble. They all realize that the cup had brought out the worst in them, and Thor blames himself. Fandral tells the legend of the cup: Long ago, an ancient Norseman thought destiny was against him, so he confronted the Fates, and they gave him three threads, symbolizing the glory of his deed, the envy his accomplishment would bring to others and the rage that comes from glory and envy combined. He spun the threads together into one pure gold color, from which he crafted the Cup of Glory, with the intention that it would cause the effects of the three threads on people. It was a cup of glory, envy and rage.
Loki admits to conspiring the whole contest just to get the cup, and earn some of the respect his brother Thor is always receiving. Thor stands up for his brother, calling his confession noble, and saying that the truth is always best. He then leads the team out of the rocks, and Sif calls him "our Mighty Avenger". He pulls them out, promising to get Sif another egg on the way back. He proposes that the challenge is over and they all return together, but Volstagg wonders what to do with the cup.
===Part 4: Justice===
As evening draws in, the group are stopped on the road back by Haldier, Brunok's father, who was worried because the group were due back days ago. However, when they reveal that in the bag behind their horses is the Cup of Glory, Haldier turns vicious and swipes it away, throwing Thor off the cliff. The Warriors Three and Lady Sif notice that Haldier is not himself, but crazed by the cup. He wildly attacks the warriors, outmatching them, as the warriors notice that in his rage, he is impossibly strong - as strong as Thor!
Meanwhile, Thor has caught a branch on the cliff face, and scales back up the cliff face to help his friends. Haldier starts shouting that he will topple even the All-Father Odin, when Thor emerges, engaging in a duel with Haldier. After fighting for a bit, Thor summons a storm, defeats Haldier, and steals the cup from him, leaving Haldier without his source of strength. Haldier is still angry, but his son Brunok comforts him, and he calms down, accepting his life for how it is Thor states that the cup has shown them the danger of listening to envy and giving power to your rage. They tie it up in the bag again.
That night, around a fire, Thor and Sif assure Loki that much good has come from this adventure. They reveal that Odin has dispersed the cup into the stars, to be a constellation. Thor states that they have accomplished victory together, and individually, in conquering their hearts' temptations, and that they have become legends. Volstagg just says that he is hungry.
==Appearances==
===Characters===
*Thor
*Loki
*Sif
*Volstagg
*Fandral
*Hogun
*Haldier the Blacksmith
*Brunok
*Siegrold
*Hilda
*Odin (mentioned)
*Haldier's Father (mentioned)
===Locations===
*Asgard
**Royal Palace of Valaskjalf
**Hawk Nests
**Asgardian Gold Mine
**Treasureyard of the Wolves
===Events===
*Virtue Challenge
*Battle for the Cup of Glory
===Items===
*Mjølnir
*Sif's Sword and Shield
*Fimbuldraugr
*Hridgandr
*Brandrheid Undrsigr
*Nugget of Gold
*Bone of the Wolves' Treasureyard
*Hawk's Egg
*Cup of Glory
===Sentient Species===
*Asgardians
*Frost Giants
*Vanir
*Fairies
===Creatures===
*Asgardian Horses
*Asgardian Wolves
*Asgardian Snakes
*Habrok Hawks
*Cats (mentioned)
===Organizations===
*Asgardian Royal Family
*Warriors Three
*Three Fates
==Behind the Scenes==
===Continuity===
To be added.
==References==
Category:Comics
Category:Thor (film) Merchandise