User blog:ARTaylor/50 Years of the Destroyer

This month marks the fiftieth anniversary of the debut of the Destroyer armor. It first appeared in Journey into Mystery #118 in July of 1965. Less a character and more a weapon, whoever has their consciousness transferred into the mighty armor becomes virtually invincible with enough power to defeat Thor. It was first introduced being possessed by Loki in an attack on the thunderer. Over the years it has been used by Loki several times, Thor, Odin, and others.



The first time Destroyer appeared outside the comics was in The Mighty Thor segments of The Marvel Super Heroes. Since the series was basically motion comics, the armor's appearances were faithful adaptations of its early appearances.

The armor made a small cameo appearance in Thor: Tales of Asgard. It was inside the Asgardian armory where Algrim met with Thor.

Destroyer's next appearance came in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "Powerless". In the episode, Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America are depowered. In a scene based on the first live action Thor film, the Odinson stands up to the Destroyer as a mere mortal then regains his powers to defeat it. Both the live film and episode depart from the comics as the armor is able to be defeated with enough force.

It appeared in the Ultimate Spider-Man episode "Itsy Bitsy Spider-Man" where once again it is controlled by Loki to destroy Thor. This version returns the armor to its virtually indestructible state.

Most recently, it was controlled by Doctor Doom in the Avengers Assemble episode "The Doomstroyer". The Avengers then convince Doom to deactivate it before sending it into orbit.