Description
Synopsis for “Trapped by the Carbon-Copy Man”
On the distant planet of Xarta, the alien warlords Ugarth and Zano wish to conquer the planet Earth and so they prepare an invasion fleet, believing that the planet will be an easy victory for their empire.
Meanwhile, on Earth, Donald Blake contemplates revealing his true identity as Thor to Jane Foster in the hopes of winning her love. However, right when he is about to tell her Odin contacts Thor telepathically and warns him against doing. Donald then quickly departs to make his rounds at the nearby hospital. Exiting his office Blake is witness to a strange spectacle: police officers ordering pedestrians to walk in the gutter while drivers are allowed to drive their vehicles on sidewalks. He also sees other strange laws being enacted such as cigarette advertisements being plastered over the windows of an apartment, and the Brooklyn Bridge being painted with polka dots.
Returning to his office, Donald receives a mayoral notice advising him that treating charity patients free of charge has now been outlawed. Blake is further shocked when Jane agrees with this new law and calls Blake a weak willed quack and storms out on him. Finding this all very suspicious, Blake changes into Thor and pays a visit to the mayors office. There the mayor denounces Thor and orders him to be arrested as a criminal, prompting the Thunder God to flee the scene. Thor comes to realize that the only logical explanation for everyones sudden change in behaviour must be that they are impostors.
Searching the city, Thor comes across an alien ship and sets his hammer down while he begins looking for an opening. He is suddenly struck with a magnetic bolt that immobilizes him against the hull of the ship. As the 60 second limit on his hammer runs out Thor changes back into Donald Blake and is found by two of the Xartans and taken aboard their ship. There he finds the real mayor and Jane Foster prisoner. The Xartan leaders explain that they are “carbon copy men” able to duplicate the appearance of anyone and are using this power to slowly subvert and take over the entire planet Earth.
When Jane and the mayor tell the aliens that Thor is powerful enough to stop them, they scoff at the idea until Blake tells them where they can find the Thunder God, which leads Foster and the mayor to think that Donald is a traitor to his people. Taken outside the ship, Blake distracts the aliens long enough to recover his hammer and change back into Thor. When he confronts the Xartans, they use their shape changing powers to their advantage.
After a battle with Zano, who tries to to freeze Thor in a block of ice and then fails to beat him in hand to hand combat, he battles their leader Ugarth decides to battle Thor. Ugarth gains the upper hand at first when he renders himself invisible, but Thor defeats the warlord by summoning a rain storm that betrays Ugarth’s location. Thor easily defeats the Xartan leader and throws him into deep space, prompting his invasion fleet to go to the rescue of their leader. With leader defeated and their invasion fleet gone the remaining Xartans are now trapped on Earth and Thor suggests taking them prisoner to prevent any invasion from happening again.
With the risk of the Xartans simply changing into anyone and escaping, Jane and the mayor are worried that these carbon copy men will cause Earth a lot of trouble. Thor offers a solution however, and orders the Xartans to change themselves into trees. The Xartans, figuring that they will simply change back to normal after the humans leave and escape comply, playing right into Thor’s hands. Thor explains to Jane and the mayor that since the carbon copy men gain all the attributes of whatever they change into, and since trees don’t think, they are trapped in the form of trees because they cannot think to change back to their normal forms. Thor then explains to Jane and the mayor that Donald Blake had aided him and was not a traitor.
Later, back at Blake’s office, Jane recounts what Thor had told her to Donald, and wonders how Donald could have been a help. Blake just wryly dismisses the episode, telling her that not everyone can be as brave as the mighty Thor.
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