Asgardian Wars is the given title to a pair of 1985 X-Men Crossovers written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Paul Smith (first parts) and Arthur Adams (second parts). Both stories involve the X-Men teaming with first Alpha Flight and then The New Mutants to stop the villainous Loki. The title comes from the book that collected the two stories.
The first story, X-Men and Alpha Flight #1-2, begins with Scott and Madelyne Summers air traveling to the Arctic Circle with a group of scientists. The plane is engulfed by a blizzard storm that reminds Scott of the machinations of Shaman in their first encounter with Alpha Flight. The plane is struck and crashes. A psychic distress comes all the way to Westchester, NY, contacting Rachel, Scott’s daughter from an alternate future. She and the X-Men head to Canada and fight Alpha Flight. After calming down, the two groups swap notes like Alpha’s own problem with Snowbird who has suddenly become weakened. The groups team up and head to the scene of the crash. They find a beautiful palace and the crew alive and well and transformed. Madelyne has become priestess to a magic fountain of light that gives her the gift to give them power as well as cure affliction. Cyclops, Rogue, Sasquatch can control their powers. A wish come true? When it is learned Loki is involved, it becomes a dream too good to be true.
The situation is resolved and everything returned to what it was, for good or ill. The next story, New Mutants Special Edition and X-Men Annual #9, is a few months later. Loki becomes interested in the X-Men's Storm. Learning of her depowerment he sees an opportunity to use her in his bid to get the throne of Asgard, left vacant by Odin’s disappearance in the The Surtur Saga. Under oath not to attack the X-Men, Loki has Amora the Enchantress kidnap Storm and the X-Men. What neither knows is that Ororo is on a leave of absence, guiding the New Mutants on vacation for rest and relaxation; at least most of them, as Karma is suffering over her present obesity from being possessed by Amahl Farouk for a year. Amora kidnaps the Mutants, who accidentally split up all around Asgard, meeting new friends, suffering transformations good and bad. Eventually they regroup to try and free Storm from Loki, a situation that brings the X-Men into the fold.
Asgardian Wars contains Tropes such as:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: In the first story, the fountain of light appears to be a good thing, curing afflictions and giving Super-Empowering. Unfortunately the Fountain destroys magic. It will kill any magical person and destroy the normal magic of creativity (for instance, the now empowered Science Team can make reality any preconceived idea but can no longer make any original ideas).
- In the second story, Storm will get her weather powers back if she becomes the Norse Goddess of Thunder with a magic hammer, but it means being beholden to Loki.
- Big Bad: Loki.
The first story:
- Bittersweet Ending: The Fire is extinguished, restoring everything. The crew are back to normal with their creativity. Snowbird and Shaman are well again. However Cyclops, Rogue, Aurora, Puck, and Sasquatch have their problems back.
- Chekhov's Gun: Paul Domeinic’s scrapbook of architectural sketches.
- Conflict Ball: Averted in the sense that both sides conflict with a point. Alpha Flight, the Science Team, Madelyne, Colossus, and Rachel will defend the Fountain for the good it will bring. Northstar, Talisman, and the X-Men want it gone for its anti-magic properties will kill their eldritch friends. The defenders eventually come around when they see other consequences.
- Divine Intervention: The Norse Elder Gods intervene with Loki when they see how he has manipulated the mortals into his Gift. They cancel his boon and further force him to swear no harm on the mortals whom he blames for the aforementioned cancellation.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Had Loki accepted the mortals’ refusal of the Fountain in good faith, the Gods would have granted his boon.
- Heel–Face Turn: Beastmaster. Initially he was for eliminating mutants as a threat to humanity. After becoming the savage Beastmaster, he hasn’t altered his prejudice but will not play a part in letting them die, rescuing Shaman and Snowbird from a cave in.
- Innocuously Important Episode: Another of Loki's schemes of the week for him, but the story introduces Those Who Sit Above in Shadow, who become somewhat important to the Thor mythos a decade or so later.
- Interquel: The story is set during the Time Skip in Uncanny X-Men #192 and before the events of Alpha Flight #23.
- Killed Offscreen: Pathfinder. It is unknown if he was killed by Wolverine, by Beastmaster, or killed in the crossfire.
- A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: After a savage fight, Wolverine warns Professor Xavier not to read his mind.
- Never My Fault: Loki grants his gift on the Fountain to the mortals so the Elder Gods can grant him a boon for good services. When he forces the gift on the mortals under duress, the Gods cancel his boon. Instead of recognizing his fault, Loki is ready to unleash horrible fury on the “maggots” for costing him the boon. Fortunately the Gods force him to stay his wrath.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Loki shuts off Madelyne's healing powers after Sam Ross is mortally injured. With proverbial guns to her head, Loki forces Madelyne to swear absolute loyalty to him to get her powers back.
- Poor Communication Kills: Rachel, only getting her father’s thought of Shaman, goes after the doctor and Alpha Flight with a vengeance. Fortunately Xavier calms her down.
- Power Incontinence: The Fountain averts this trope for Cyclops’ uncontrollable optic blasts, Sasquatch’s berserk rages, and Rogue’s absorption powers. All prove temporary when Loki extinguishes the Fountain.
- Power at a Price: Magic superpowers, at the cost of creativity. And it kills anyone who was already magical.
- Split Personality: Aurora. Rachel telepathically snaps her to her repressed Jeanne persona. Xavier does the other way.
- Super-Empowering: The Fountain grants powers to:
- Madelyne becomes Anodyne, who can cure afflictions.
- Sam Ross becomes Lore Lord, Sage of recorded knowledge.
- Paul Domeneic becomes Master Builder, able to create architecture.
- Carla Bailinger becomes Cornucopia, who can create food and clothing.
- Heather Hudson becomes a superpowered Guardian of Alpha Flight.
- The Science Team are granted powers based on their fields:
- Geologist Jeanne Chretein becomes Earth-Mover.
- Botanist Phil Descard becomes Lord of the Plants.
- Cartographer Nick Rodriguez becomes Pathfinder.
- Animal biologist Boyd Wilson becomes Beastmaster.
- Surprise Pregnancy: Attempting to read Madelyne’s mind, Xavier discovers a new mind in her. She’s pregnant! She blushes at the reveal.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: Rachel and Colossus support the Fountain. For Rachel, it will make everyone alike and avert the dark future she came from. Colossus, who witnessed the poverty in his hometown, is willing to defend the fountain even if its anti-magic properties will threaten his beloved sister.
- Written-In Absence: Storm is absent, having gone to Africa. She will not return to the team until the events of the second story.
The second story:
- Amazon Chaser: One of the reasons Loki goes after Storm. When she regains her free will and flatly turns him down, despite claiming this would turn him off her forever, Loki thinks to himself that he is if anything more charmed by her.
- Bar Brawl: Sunspot lands in a bar and gets into an arm-wrestle with a local tough. When the guy starts putting unwanted advances on another girl, Roberto puts him through a wall. And then the building behind it. This kicks off a bar brawl which Roberto wins.
- Bittersweet Ending: The X-Men and New Mutants wreck Loki’s plans, free Storm, and return to Earth. Karma is thin again and Magma gets restored to her human form. However, Wolfsbane has to part with her wolfen friend, Mirage is now a Valkyrie, Sunspot has to bid goodbye to a place that accepted him, and Storm has to give up a chance to get her powers back.
- Blunt "Yes": When Eitri outlines his plan to unveil the new hammer he's made at Loki's investiture, where it will inevitably cause a ruckus, Sam notes it'll also happen in Asgard, not Nidavellir, and Eitri admits that's also his motivation.
- Call-Back:
- To get to Asgard, the X-Men use the lightning bolts they got from a prior encounter with Arkon.
- Kitty gives Lockheed to Madelyne to babysit for her, which she also did when they first met back in Uncanny X-Men #173.
- The Cameo:
- The Hall that Doug is transported to is owned by an Asgardian who resembles Popeye. Bluto and Olive Oyl are also there.
- Rahne encounters a trio of giants, one of whom resembles Martin Short's comedy character Ed Grimley.
- Warlock takes on the appearances of Longshot, Gumby, the refitted USS Enterprise, and Hagar the Horrible.
- A Hawkman and Steppenwolf can be glimpsed among the Asgardians at Storm’s christening.
- Chekhov's Gun: Before Cannonball sets out to deliver Ororo's new hammer, Eitri gifts him a sword which won't harm any living being.
- The Chessmaster: It is revealed that Norn Queen Karnilla sent the visions to Kitty and ensured the X-Men successfully teleported to Asgard to stop Loki.
- Chick Magnet: One of the things that draws Roberto to Asgard is that he's swarmed by adoring maidens.
- Clothing Damage: Of the NM who got their uniforms on time:
- Magma only wears the torso and belt after her Elf transformation.
- Cypher ends up ripping off the sleeves and gloves.
- On a different note, Shan rips off the sleeves and skirt from her maternity gown during her wilderness journey.
- Cross Through: Hela comes to claim the injured Wolverine. Thunder Goddess-Storm, Cyclops, Phoenix-Rachel, and Mirage fight her off. Hela then realizes Thor has invaded her realm of Hel (in The Mighty Thor #360) and she needs all her power to fight him. So she forfeits her claim and retreats.
- Didn't See That Coming: Loki enslaves Wolfsbane and Hrimari with magic collars that cannot be broken or removed by any mortal. Good thing Sam has a magic sword.
- Fisher Kingdom: Illyana, already somewhat corrupted and corruptible as is, gets influenced by being in the Enchantress' study.
- Foreshadowing: After the X-Men depart to Asgard, Madelyne wonders (without explanation at that time) why she fears that her and Scott's happiness might be starting to end.
- Freakiness Shame: Karma, at the beginning of the story, is fresh off several months of possession by the Shadow King, which has rendered her grotesquely obese, so much so she's considering suicide.
- Friendly Fireproof: Sam is given a sword that will cut through anything except living things.
- Homage: The cover of X-Men Annual #9 resembles Journey into Mystery #85, Thor’s first appearance.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: Enchantress to Illyana.
- I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: Dani shoots a couple of arrows at Darkchylde-Illyana, shocked at her actions. Fortunately Enchantress’ spell allows Darkchylde-Illyana to sustain the hits.
- I See Dead People: Dani sees a skull hovering over Wolverine. She learns from Hela that she has become a Valkyrie and can now see harbingers of death on people who may die.
- It Runs in the Family: Privately, Kitty thinks how Rachel largely keeps to herself and doesn't seem to mind, just like Cyclops.
- Jerkass Ball: After having spent prior stories in civvies, Rachel finally dons a costume in Annual #9... that of the Phoenix, knowing full well it'll upset Cyclops. Kitty privately figures this is exactly why Ray chose it.
- Loophole Abuse: Loki swore to the Elder Gods no harm to the X-Men. So instead he has Amora the Enchantress do that harm, keeping his hands clean. To his fortune, Amora mistakes the New Mutants for the group. He stretches it much further later on, by having a mind-controlled Magik corrupt them, claiming that technically it doesn't count as him doing it.
- Made a Slave: Doug is enslaved by some toughs when he lands in their mead-hall. Freedom comes in the form of Darkchyle-Illyana slaughtering the whole lot of them looking for him.
- Man in a Bikini: Warlock, disguised as a human male, naively patterns his swimsuit after Illyana’s bikini.
- The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body:
- Amara is turned into a fairy by their magic, and it starts to influence her thoughts.
- Rahne loses control to her wolf-side more than once, including on reuniting with Hrimari again, the two running around one another like puppies. She's mightily embarrassed when she turns back to human.
- More than Mind Control: Although he uses some magic, it is Storm’s yearning to have her powers back that Loki manipulates her to his will.
- The Nose Knows: Hrimari's sense of smell is strong enough to track Rahne across Asgard.
- Only the Chosen May Ride: Mirage finds a winged horse in distress and rescues it, making it chose her, and already Born in the Saddle, she bonds easily with the horse. This instantly makes Mirage one of the Valkyries, though she doesn't know it until Hela tells her.
- Party Scattering: Thanks to an accident with Illyana's portals, the New Mutants are scattered all over the Nine Realms.
- Pet the Dog: At the end, Loki says nothing the New Mutants have acquired in their journey can go back with them, but he does allow Karma to retain her weight loss from her time in the desert.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: In addition to his other unpleasant qualities, Loki randomly takes the time to comment Storm is beautiful... while making an aside about the color of her skin.
- Reforged into a Minion: Enchantress's Darkchyle does this to Sunspot and Wolfsbane. Fortunately, Karma's powers cancel it out.
- Selective Obliviousness: Kitty figures this is hitting Cyke super-hard in this story. Despite Rachel being a red-headed telepath who's chosen the name "Phoenix", and later on Hela making some comments about her mother that he had to have heard, he makes no indication he heard.
- Spanner in the Works: Karnilla sabotages Loki's scheme by covertly assisting the X-Men, broadcasting a psychic flash from Magik to Kitty, then helping them teleport to Asgard. Not because she gives a damn about the New Mutants or the X-Men, she just hates Loki and wants him to fail.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Rahne and Hrimari, prince of the wolves. Cyclops even uses the phrase on hearing about them.
- Villain Respect:
- Amara is slightly impressed by the abilities of the New Mutants... but for her, this just means killing them anyway.
- When Kitty stands up to Loki and threatens that her, the X-Men, and the New Mutants will tell anyone on Asgard about his secret scheme, Loki decides to call her bluff and teleports them all back to Earth (in the process restoring Magma to her human form). Despite Storm wholly rejecting him, he is secretly impressed by her.
- Walking Swimsuit Scene: In the New Mutants Special Edition, Illyana spends the entire comic in her bikini, since the New Mutants were trying to relax on an island before everything kicked off, and she's later held captive by Amara with no opportunity to change.
- Weight Woe: Karma is depressed over being obese from her Farouk-possessed phase.
- Your Mom: When Hela tells Rachel about how her mother inadvertently served Hela's cause of bringing death, the girl attacks Hela, claiming it wasn’t her mother's fault.
