The Destroyer is an enchanted suit of armour in humunoid form which, when animated by the lifeforce of a sentient being, wielded vast powers which made it virtually invincible. It was composed of an unknown metal of Asgardian origin and was enchanted by Odin to be harder even than uru or adamantium and was therefore almost totally indestructible. Ordinarily the Destroyer stands at a height of 6 1/2 feet and weighss 850 pounds; however when it was animated by the combined life forces of all the gods of Asgard the Destroyer grew to a height of 2000 feet. No one can physically wear the Destroyer, nor can the Destroyer's armour be disassembled by any known means. Rather, one projects one's life force into the Destroyer's form, leaving his or her own body in a state of entranced paralysis. Usually, the transfer of life force was accomplished when a willing subject stands within arm's length of the Destroyer. Masters of mystical powers, such as Odin or Loki can accomplish the transfer over great distances.
The Destroyer was mystically endowed with personality and consciousness, by Odin and was mystically "programmed" to battle and to destroy, especially to Destroy the first person it sees on becoming actived. The Destroyer will allow the personality of the animator to remain active if the animators goals concide with the Destroyer(i.e a human or Asgardian who projectes his or her life force into the Destroyer is best able to control it if he or she is using the Destroyer for destructive ends,) for instance when hunter Buck Franklin animated the Destroyer, his consciousness and the Destroyers worked as one to destroy Thor. A human or Asgardian who has no clear purpose in mind, or plans to use the Destroyer for peaceful ends will inevitably lose control of it. That person's or God's life force will then remain entrapped within the Destroyer, helpless to control its actions as its destructive "programming" to over. Worse, if the human or Asgardian unwillingly has his or her life force projected into the Destroyer by a mystical spell, his or her personality will take on the destructive urges of the Destroyer. Only by a tremendous act of will can the human or Asgardian manage to reassert his or her personality and thus take control of the Destroyer under such a circumstance. Only Odin Loki and Thor have proven capable of controlling the Destroyer, after each used their life force to animate the Destroyer. The first time Thor animated the Destroyer his consciousness was submerged beneath that of the Destroyer and only achieved control after a great effort of will, the second time Thor animated the Destroyer Thor's consciousness engaged in combat with the Destroyer, finally submerging it's consciousness beneath his own. Odin has animated the Destroyer with no apparent struggles. Once Loki animated the Destroyer and he allowed the Destroyer's own personality to remain active.
When animated the Destroyer remains psychically linked to the body of the person whose life force it contains, thereby preventing that person from lack of a life force. The body of the consciousness animating therefore is the Destroyers sole weakness against any force less powerful than the Celestials. A sufficiently powerful spell directed towards the mind of that body can reverse the transferal of life force, causing the Destroyer to become inanimate.
The limits of the Destroyer's superhumanoid strength have never been measured (presumably that stength was greatly increased when Odin projected his and the combined life forces of all the Asgardians into the Destroyer). Because the Destroyer is not itself a living being it is not affected by Odin's enchantment that prevents anyone but Thor from lifting his hammer. The Destroyer can fly through the air through self-levitation. The Destroyer can project bolts of many different types of energy, including an unknown form of energy that can shatter any known substance, including uru, the Asgardian metal from which Thor's hammer is made. The Destroyer can project magnetic energy and flame that can reach solar levels of heat. The Destroyer can transmutate and rearrange atoms and molecules so as to change one form of matter to another. The Destroyer can also alter the density of an object so as to turn solid matter into liquid or vice versa. The Destroyer's most forminable is its disintegrator beam which, is said can annihilate anything. To disintegrate something, the Destroyer lowers its visor; the destructive energy than builds atop the visor and then fires outward from it. The Destroyer cannot fire disintegrator blasts in rapid succession rather it must wait for the disintegrator energy to build up again.
The Destroyer was created little over a thousand years ago by the greatest Asgardian craftsmen on order of Odin, lord of Asgard, to battle the enormous alien Celestials. The Celestials had conducted genetic experimentation on what would become humanity. They intended to return in a millennium, when superhumanly powered beings would have begun emerging in large numbers on Earth, to begin their judgement of the human race. Odin and Earth's other gods were determined to prevent the Celestials from destroying Earth, but the Celestials had demonstrated that the power of even one of their number vastly exceeded those of Earth's gods. Upon the completion of the Destroyer, Odin, Zeus, and the other leading gods of Earth bestowed a fraction of their powers upon it, thereby giving it great strength and energy-manipulating abilities. Once the Third Host had left; Odin concealed the Destroyer within a temple he himself created in Indochina, and then concealed the temple within a plateau. Thus he hoped, the Destroyer would stay out of the reach of anyone who would use it for evil.
The Destroyer remained inert nearly until the return of the Celestials. However, Loki, searching for a means of vengeance against Thor, magically destroyed the plateau concealing the temple within which the Destroyer stood, and telepathically led an unscrupulous hunter, Buck Franklin, to it. Loki caused the unwitting Franklin's life force to enter the Destroyer, and it battled Thor within the temple. However, by using Franklin's inert body as a shield, and by pretending to endanger it Thor bluffed Franklin's consciousness into returning to Franklin's form, by having the Destroyer project Franklins consciousness back into Franklin's human body. Thor then demolished the temple burying the Destroyer within it, rescuing Franklin. Sometime later while in exile Loki projected his own consciousness into the Destroyer and, using its power to travel dimensionsaly, sent it to Asgard to attack Odin. Odin however, locating Loki's body directed a mystical bolt towards Loki's brain, causing Loki's consciousness to be pulled back into his own body and to retreat into unconsciousness.
The Destroyer was subsequently animated by the unwilling goddess Sif in a plot by Loki and Karnilla the Norn Queen, and by Professor Clement Holmes who "entered" the Destroyer by accident. Thor not knowing Odin's plan to use the Destroyer to combat the Celestials, gave the Destroyer to Galactus for use as his his herald, in order to free Galactus's third herald Firelord from his service to Galactus. Loki later stole it from Galactus for use in another plot against Thor, utilizing first Balder and then Thor himself as the animating persona.
By this time the Fourth Host had arrived,
and sometime thereafter, Odin decided that the time had come to do battle with them. He
therefore withdrew all of the life forces of all the Asgardians except the absent Thor
into himself, he then projected this vast collective consciousness into the Destroyer. The
Destroyer grew to enormous size and wielding the enormous Odinsword, which was composed of
the Rhinegold, invaded the Celestials base, located in South America joined by the eternal
Uni-Mind. Yet inconceivably powerful as the Destroyer now was, it was unable to inflict
any serious damage upon any of the gathered Celestials, despite its best effort. The
Celestials fired bolts of unision at the Destroyer, reducing it to slag, and setting
adrift all of the Asgardian life forces. Arishem, the leader of the Celestials on Earth
then melted the Odinsword into apparent nothingness.
The Celestials were persuaded to deliver a favorable judgement by Gaea,
the elder Earth goddess, when she presented them with twelve noble young humans who had
evolved into "godhood," as examples of what humanity was becoming. By gathering
mystic force from the other Earth pantheons of gods, Thor was able to ressurect Odin, who
in turn revived the other Asgardians.
Later, seeking a means of avenging himself upon a group of Frost Giants, Loki mystically
transported the remains of the Destroyer to a place on Earth where he knew the Giants
would find it. Loki tricked one of the Giants, Siggorth into stepping onto the remains of
the Destroyer. The Destroyer immediately drew Siggorth's life force into it, returned to
normal form, and then attacked and drove off the Giants. But the Destroyer then perceived
the remains of Thor, who had recently been cursed by the Asgardian death goddess Hela, for
a humilating defeat by Thor, so that he was incapable of dying, but also unable to heal
from injuries. Thus Thor still lived after his catacylismic battle with Jormungand, the
Midgard Serpent, even through his body had been reduced to a pulped mass of organic matter
in the process. The Destroyer attempted to annihilate Thor remains (although the Destroyer
did not use its disintegration power upon them) but failed. The Destroyer was intrigued,
it realized that the body could not be killed. Therefore, if that bodies life force
animated the Destroyer, then the Destroyer would be truly invincible, and unable to be
defeated, because no one could threaten the body of its animator. The Destroyer therefore
drew Thor's life force into itself expelling that of the Giant. However Thor's
consciousness overpowered the Destroyer's, and took control of the Destroyer's form.
Thor inhabiting the Destroyer's form, invaded Hela's otherdimensional realm, Hel, and
wrecked havok, finally pretending to lose control of the Destroyer's destructive impulses,
and threatning to kill Hela herself. Terrified, Hela restored Thor's body to its normal
condition and full health. His having plan having thus succedded, Thor revealed to Hela
that his consciousness was in control of the Destroyer the whole time, and demanded that
she vow to no longer take posession of the souls of the people from Earth, as she had
recently done. Hela did so, and Thor's consciousness returned to his body. But on leaving
the Destroyer's form, Thor used its power to encase the Destroyer within virtually
unbreakable crystal, so the Destroyer could not be used evil. Hela has lifted her curse
that made Thor incapable of dying, and unable to heal from injuries.
First appearance: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #118
Destroyed: Thor #300
Reconstructed: Thor #381
Written by Mark Thomas
Image created by Lord Thanos
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