Marvel: Reincarnated as Superman

"What?"

Frigga shot to her feet the moment Odin finished speaking. Her first thought was Thor.

"Then we need to contact Heimdall immediately and open the Bifrost," she said urgently. "We should bring Thor back at once. He and the others have no idea how dangerous this man might be."

Thor could summon the Bifrost with Mjolnir, but Frigga knew her son too well. If he happened to get along with this stranger, Thor might do something reckless, like invite him back to Asgard as a guest.

And according to Odin, Daniel was frighteningly powerful. Powerful enough that the combined strength of Asgard might not be enough to stop him.

Odin did not easily admit that anyone was stronger than he was. So, if he had described Daniel that way, Frigga knew he meant it.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Odin asked calmly, taking another sip of tea.

"Five years ago, when he awakened me from my sleep, I began watching him. Not long after that, he left Earth and traveled into space. I also spoke with the Sorcerer Supreme. She told me about some of the things Daniel had done."

Odin smiled faintly.

"He’s a good kid."

Compared with Odin, Daniel really was just a child. Thor was thousands of years old, and Odin still considered him a child.

Odin was well aware of the Ancient One and the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj. Earth had once been part of Asgard’s sphere of influence, but over the past several thousand years, the Asgardians had rarely interfered in Earth’s affairs. Eventually, their deeds had faded into myth and legend.

A major reason for that was Kamar-Taj and more specifically, the Sorcerer Supreme.

Otherwise, why would Odin willingly surrender control over what he considered his own domain? The Asgardians still traveled throughout the other realms and made their presence known whenever necessary.

Earth was different, because the Sorcerer Supreme was simply too powerful to ignore. Whatever agreement had been made between Odin and the Sorcerer Supremes of the past, the Asgardians had largely stayed out of Earth’s affairs ever since.

"It wouldn’t hurt for Thor to become friends with him," Odin added.

"But..." Frigga stopped herself, and a moment later, she nodded, "I understand."

She finally saw what Odin was getting at. Frigga had lived for thousands of years. She was hardly naive.

A moment ago, her concern for Thor had simply overwhelmed her judgment. Now that she had a moment to think, everything fell into place.

Why had the prophecy of Ragnarok disappeared? It had been passed down for thousands of years, and the chances of it coming to pass had always been frighteningly high.

Odin would soon enter the Odinsleep, yet Thor still had a long way to go before he was ready to take his father’s place.

And then there was Thor’s sister. At the thought of her, a chill ran down Frigga’s spine.

’Her strength is probably already close to Odin’s.’

Frigga glanced at her husband.

As long as Odin remained awake, they could still keep things under control. But once he entered the Odinsleep, who in Asgard would be able to stop her?

Thor was still too weak. He hadn’t even awakened the true divine power within himself.

She, on the other hand, had possessed that power for thousands of years. Once she escaped her prison, the hatred she held for Asgard would make the consequences impossible to predict.

And then Daniel had appeared. According to Odin, Daniel should be powerful enough to deal with her. But why would he help Asgard?

After thinking it over, Frigga smiled. "It wouldn’t hurt for Thor and Daniel to spend some time together. They might even become friends."

"Mm." Odin nodded. "I plan to contact Thor and invite Daniel to Asgard."

...

"So, where are we?"

Daniel looked around curiously. Judging by Thor’s presence, he knew they were probably somewhere within the Nine Realms, but that was about as far as his knowledge went.

In his previous life, Daniel had only watched the Marvel movies. He knew the major events, but he wasn’t exactly an expert on all the lore and history behind them.

"Muspelheim. The realm of the Fire Giants," Thor answered almost automatically.

He was still distracted, after all, his beloved hammer had just betrayed everything he thought he knew about himself.

Hearing it Daniel just repeated the name.

"Muspelheim?"

The strange-sounding name triggered a memory.

Wait! Wasn’t this the realm ruled by that enormous Fire Giant? The one who destroyed Asgard in Thor: Ragnarok?

Daniel’s eyes lit up.

"Is the ruler some giant made of magma?"

"Surtur..." Thor answered without much interest. "My father defeated him long ago and imprisoned him here."

"How about we go take a look?"

Daniel’s curiosity immediately grew, as he’d always wanted to see what Surtur was actually like.

Thor opened his mouth, apparently about to agree. Then he looked up at the burning red sky. For some reason, he suddenly remembered the time.

"Maybe another time," Thor said. "It’s getting late. We should head back."

There was complete silence for a while as Daniel stared at him. Thor just stared into the distance, and the others said nothing.

Daniel really wanted to see Asgard, but Thor hadn’t invited him, also Daniel couldn’t exactly say, ’Hey, can I come to Asgard with you?’

That would be weird. If someone didn’t invite you, you couldn’t just invite yourself along. Daniel still had his pride. Thor, meanwhile, had genuinely forgotten to invite him.

Having watched Daniel casually lift Mjolnir, Thor’s entire understanding of himself had taken a serious hit. The normally loud, confident prince was unusually quiet, his head lowered as he tried to make sense of what had happened.

And from Asgard, Odin was watching the whole thing. He was practically going insane.

’What’s wrong with this boy? Invite him to Asgard! Just invite him! Bring him back and show him some Asgardian hospitality!’

Odin had practically laid everything out for him. So why was Thor standing there like an idiot?

This wasn’t like him at all. Odin watched the two of them in silence, his patience rapidly running out.

’Thor, you fool, just say something and invite that guy to Asgard!’

Seeing that Thor stubbornly refused to open his mouth, Odin finally stepped in himself.

A massive vortex appeared above the fiery red sky of Muspelheim. Crackling with thunder, it resembled a giant eye peering down from above. Below, Daniel, Thor, and the others felt something and looked up together.

"Thor," Odin’s majestic voice echoed across the sky of Muspelheim.

"Get back here," Odin spoke in his usual stern tone.

"Yes, Father," Thor answered obediently. He was feeling thoroughly defeated today, so his spirits were low. On any normal day, he wouldn’t be so submissive and would have definitely argued back a bit.

Thor raised Mjolnir, preparing to summon the Bifrost, when Odin spoke up once more, "Bring your new friend along as well."

After issuing the command, the vortex in the sky slowly faded away. The clouds turned back to a fiery red, as if nothing had happened at all.

"Heimdall." Thor raised Mjolnir and shouted, without even asking for Daniel’s input. As a pillar of rainbow light descended, the group vanished from Muspelheim.

If Daniel hadn’t already wanted to visit Asgard, he definitely would have resisted the pull of the Bifrost given Thor’s careless attitude.

Considering how badly Thor had been shaken today, Daniel decided not to hold it against him. Once they got to Asgard, Thor could just apologize with a few divine artifacts and call it even.

Shortly after Daniel and the others disappeared, deep within the dark underground space of Muspelheim, Surtur, whom Thor had just mentioned, stared with uncertainty at the spot where they had been standing.

The magma warriors that had fought Thor’s group were sent by him. Even though he knew they couldn’t beat Thor, causing them a little trouble was fine. Besides, magma warriors were plentiful, so Surtur didn’t care about the losses.

This kind of thing happened all the time, and Surtur was well used to it. What truly unsettled him was the sudden appearance of Daniel.

’That man is extremely dangerous,’ Surtur thought, before vanishing back into the darkness.