Imagine being friends with some one only to find out he is a god. Introduced in Thor #391 (1988) by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz, Eric Masterson was a construction worker who befriend Sigurd, who was really Thor in disguise. He would aid Thor many times, getting attacked by villains like Mongoose and having his son kidnapped. During one battle with Mongoose, Eric managed to lift Mjolnir but was blasted with energy. In order to save his life, Thor went to Odin to please him to save Eric. The two would switch places to battle the like of Dr. Doom, Juggernaut and Ulik. However after some trickery from Loki, it was believed that Thor killed Loki, breaking Odin’s sacred law. Odin banished Thor but Thor pleaded with Odin to not leave Earth defenseless and spare Eric. Heimdall arranged for Eric to gain all the powers of Thor but was in full control.

He would return to Earth, taking Thor place in the Avengers and battling his villains. Thor would eventually return and regained his powers. Odin rewarded Eric with a new Uru mace called Thunderstrike, given Eric similar powers to Thor and taking the name of the mace as his code name. After a brief tenure in the Secret Defenders and teaming up with US Agent and War Machine, Thunderstrike battle the new Bloodaxe who turned out to be his girlfriend. Wanting to save her, Eric allowed the axe to take control of him. After battling Seth, he purged the axe dying in the process. He was offered a place in Valhalla but refused. He would return as a member of the Legion of the Unliving, which was defeated. He told Thor to look after his son. He has since remained dead since, with his son Kevin taking up the mace as the new Thunderstrike.

Thunderstrike is a very 90’s character but many people have requested him for years. While he did receive a MU, He would finally receive a ML figure in the Avengers Gamerverse Joe Fixit wave.