Recap Of The Wrecker!

Having previously explored the villainy of the super-criminal known as the Wrecker in a number of PPC posts, his story only needs a few details of his origin to fill out his profile. So why not start with his awesome premiere cover from Mighty Thor, circa 1968?

We already know that it was the Norn queen, Karnilla, who was responsible for giving this lunatic the power of the gods; yet even before then, the Wrecker was setting the New York City police force on its collective ear, in a one-man crime wave that had victims and authorities alike at their wits' end.

But if we were to follow the paper trail, we'd really have Odin to thank for unleashing the Wrecker on the city, and ultimately on Thor--not a surprise, since Odin's plans have a way of causing more problems than they solve, and usually resulting in no small measure of collateral damage in the process. In the Wrecker's case, we have to revisit the story where Odin felt the need once more to punish his son, Thor, this time by stripping him of his Asgardian power. That ultimately led to Loki seizing the opportunity to attack Thor while his half-brother was at his weakest; only when Odin gets wind of it, he extends the same punishment to Loki. As a result, Loki is forced to call on Karnilla for an infusion of her own power to tide him over (and allow him to strike back at Thor and his comrades).

But before Karnilla arrives, Loki is mistaken for a fellow thief by the Wrecker, who attacks with the intent of hijacking his loot. And while Loki's natural strength would probably allow him to take the Wrecker, he doesn't get the chance.

And then, talk about a case of mistaken identity:

In the crime spree that follows, let's just say that the wave of destruction the Wrecker undertakes with his newfound might makes his previous petty thefts look downright nostalgic to the N.Y.P.D. trying their best to collar him. Thor, now shorn of his own power, doesn't fare much better.

We also learn the true aspects of the Wrecker's crowbar, which, when all is said and done, is no more than a typical crowbar you could pick up at any hardware store until the Wrecker takes it in hand, whereby it becomes an extension of his might.

And so we have to call "phooey" on later stories which were in the habit of making this bar the repository of the norn power the Wrecker was given.

In fact, the crowbar wasn't set out to have much of a history at all--thanks to the Destroyer, who put both the crowbar and its wielder out of commission.

Even so, when the Wrecker breaks out of police custody nearly two years later and once again wants to go rampaging with his trademark accessory, it never occurs to his creators (Stan Lee and Jack Kirby) to simply have him get his hands on another crowbar; rather, they discard their previous version of its fate and instead show it to have been confiscated and put in storage while the Wrecker has been on ice.

From there, the Wrecker and his Crew went on to make life miserable for any number of characters and super-teams--until Loki had the last laugh by reclaiming their stolen power as part of a scheme against Thor. Whether he hung onto the crowbar as a souvenir is a question we'll have to ask Loki sometime. But I doubt he gave it a second thought.