#2: Thor: Attaching a Lightning Rod to the Lightning God

If the Hulk is the most physically powerful of the team featured in the Avengers movie, Thor comes in second. If the Hulk can be stopped by a capable team of humans with no special abilities, Thor can also be neutralized. Time to open the file.

Dossier #2: Thor Odinson

Biology and powers description: Seemingly-human form features extreme levels of strength and endurance. Thor is capable of flight, apparently via willpower. Thor wears armor from the dimension or planet Asgard, and carries the hammer Mjolnir, which is impossible for any but Thor or one of an extremely select number of honor-designates to lift. If summoned, Mjolnir will physically fly to Thor’s hand regardless of where it is stored. Thor displays the ability to control or direct lightning, which may or may not be an ability of Mjolnir, rather than Thor himself. CAUTION: Thor is labeled by Scandinavian mythology as a god, and there is an ongoing debate in our organization and outside about whether he should instead be considered an alien. As Asgard is undoubtedly a real place, populated by a variety of entities from Scandinavian mythology, it is the opinion of the authors of this dossier series that the god/alien distinction is a distraction. When Thor is referred to by attribute in this document, he will be called an ‘entity.’

Psychological description: Thor, when effective, has a fixed honorable-warrior personality. When Thor fails to uphold his personal code of chivalry, the effect is palpable—Mjolnir stops responding to his commands. Thor should be considered of average but not exceptional intelligence. He is generally unfamiliar with human technology.

Capture scenario #1: Thor’s dangerousness stems from four factors: (1) enhanced strength, (2) flight, (3) Mjolnir, and (4) lightning control. Attaching a lightning rod to Thor may eliminate or impair his ability to direct lighting, but Thor is a highly mobile target, and likely has the strength to rip off any rod. Successful capture of a hostile Thor is dependent on neutralizing his strength. For this purpose, development or appropriation of a malleable and adhesive foam is recommended. This foam, if attached to Thor, should operate as a sort of balloon-shaped mobility limitation suit, hobbling his ability to walk, stand, or grasp anything, including Mjolnir (his hands should be entirely encased in balls of foam). The foam should have the distinctive property of not inhibiting Thor’s actual muscle movements, considered too powerful to directly chain. Rather, the foam should be very thick and internally flexible, preventing Thor’s movement arcs from actually accomplishing anything. If applied appropriately (perhaps through spray cannons, and in tandem with a more powerful adhesive helping the foam to stick to Thor’s skin) Thor should be unable to use his enhanced strength effectively, and should be unable to physically seize Mjolnir. Once the foam is in place, the lightning rod can be inserted, which will potentially neutralize three of four of Thor’s dangerousness factors. The final factor, flight, is linked to Thor’s will and cannot be mitigated via foam. However, using the heavy adhesive to glue the encased Thor to a prepared slab of dense material may prevent his foam-encased body from escaping. Note that an encased Thor would be not be able to use his muscles to aid in liftoff, and would not be able to build up to speed. The slab approach to restraining Thor’s flight may nevertheless be insufficient. In this case, the assault team should have a negotiator on hand to appeal to Thor’s honor as a warrior, and convince him to acknowledge defeat. The fact that Thor should be unable to grip Mjolnir at this point, and would have to leave it behind to fly, should be extremely persuasive.

Capture scenario #2: The second capture scenario purely attacks the social weaknesses that stem from Thor’s honorable warrior ethos. If Thor’s father Odin can be convinced that Thor’s dalliances on Earth have violated a part of the Asgardian warrior code, Odin may be able to convince Thor to peacefully surrender to American civil or military authority. If, as is likely, Odin is unreachable or unable to be persuaded on this point, Thor may be convinced of his violations by agency negotiators directly. The agency may be able to falsify evidence of Odin’s anger in order to encourage Thor’s surrender. While an officer posing as Odin is unlikely to be personally believable, given the distinctive physical characteristics of Asgardian entities, a letter or messenger may have sufficient apparent validity to be utilized.

Custody scenario #1: While Thor is extremely strong, his physical capacities are not limitless in the same way as the Hulk’s. It stands to reason that a prison made of bought or stolen Asgardian metal would be firm enough to withstand Thor’s potential breakout attempts, especially if foam remained on Thor’s hands to prohibit his utilization of Mjolnir.

Custody scenario #2: This scenario rests on the ability of agency technology to fully contain Thor. If the entity is contained in foam, and placed inside a large hollow ball (the cell) in turn placed on a large circular underground track, momentum from Thor’s efforts at willful flight may be converted into torque, spinning the hollow ball wildly but not rotating it open. Within the ball, Thor can be monitored by surveillance technology, and nutriment can be provided at appropriate intervals. Ideally, Mjolnir can be situated inside the hollow ball in such a way as to be useless in Thor’s foam-encased hand. Tricking the magic in this way will prevent Thor from making endless attempts to summon Mjolnir.

Political Considerations: Given Thor’s status as the child of the head of a powerful sovereign nation, steps must be taken to ensure Asgardians do not attack en masse to free him. Therefore, Asgard must either be convinced Thor’s captivity is appropriate (see Capture scenario # 2) or convinced it is not appropriate to engage with the United States. Placing the blame for Thor’s capture on a pansy set of actors outside the agency may remove the threat of Odin’s wrath, and hiding the prison where Thor is stored may outlast it (further study of Asgardian projective military capacity is needed to determine if hiding Thor while taking responsibly for his capture is feasible). During negotiations, the Asgardians, being honorable, may agree to imprison Thor themselves if we agree to give him up. This option is reasonable. Even if Thor is released from Asgardian prison, he likely will be encouraged not to return to Earth, and banishment is, for our purposes, akin to imprisonment.