THE MIGHTY

THOR

Screenplay by

Ron Friedman
(Writer of multiple TV shows)

Based upon the Marvel Comics
Character created by

Stan Lee

PAGE
(to make it easier to read at different sittings)
10   20   30   40   50   60   70   80   90   100

Fade in

A turbulent night sky

Thunder peals and lightning flashes but there is no rain.  As the wind howls we move down to:

Ext. bleak countryside, parched California hills - moving

Isolated old oaks creak and rustle in the wind as we go to

ext. locked, foreboding iron gates to a large estate

Close in on a bronze plaque on the gate post as lightning flashes again.  Plaque reads "House of the good shepherd orphanage."  Move in through gates and pan up and along a neatly landscaped driveway

Super over:  "California - 1968"

End pan at

Ext. the main house - a well kept, ominous Victorian mansion

Wind blows across the scene.  The orphanage's 1960's station wagon is parked in the courtyard.  Tilt up and close in on

The window of an upper story room

We see the shrouded figure of a woman looking out the window as lightning flashes and we go to

Int. the upper story room - on the shrouded figure

Lightning outside puts the back of shrouded figure's in silhouette for a beat, then the figure turns to the camera and lifts a lighted candle which illuminates her face.  It is

Sister Rosemary - close up

Sister Rosemary, a pale, harsh nun of middle age, glowers and strides toward the camera, her habit billowing behind her like a giant bat, a large ring of keys jingling softly at her belt as we pull back to reveal we are in

A stark, high ceilinged boys dormitory

The unlighted room is bare except for row upon row of small sleeping boys in identical cots.  Follow Sister Rosemary as she walks to a cot at the far end of the room where a lighted candle on a bedside table shows a young nun (Sister Angela) tending a feverish, sleeping little boy with long golden hair.

The young nun and the sleeping boy

She takes a washcloth from a basin, wrings it out and tenderly puts it on the boy's forehead as he writes in his troubled sleep.  His hands are beneath the covers.

Sister Rosemary
(voice low, curt)
Well?

Sister Angela
(softly, worried)
I think he's hallucinating, Sister Rosemary.

Sister Rosemary
Nonsense!  Little boys with fever always have bad dreams.

She brusquely removes the washcloth and peers down at him.  We close in on the little boy who tosses, knits his brow, and mumbles incoherently.  We close tighter and go into

The boy's dream - wild, high mountain terrain - day

In a shimmering surround, the sky is a strange, unearthly blue.  We are moving fast, rushing past a waterfall and soaring fir trees.  A hunting horn o.s. and we go to

Horses' hooves - galloping, racing onward

O.S. lusty male voices shout unintelligibly.  We go to

Men's legs, feet, running through underbrush

The legs and feet are encased in Viking footwear.  Go to

A tangle of underbrush

A ferocious, enormous wild boar breaks clear and charges

A hunt party of three Norsemen in a mountain clearing

A dashing rider (whom we will later know as Fandral) tries to rein his frightened horse which rears and blocks a fat Norseman (Volstagg) who is ready to spear the boar.  The third Norseman (Hogun) crouches and fires a crossbow.  His arrow hits the boar's shoulder but doesn't slow it down.  It charges Hogun, knocks him over, rips his arm with his tusks, and runs off.  Wounded but undaunted, Hogun leaps up, joins the other two Norsemen who shout and run after the boar.  But they stop and react when they see

The little boy with long golden hair

In his dream, the sleeping orphan wears princely Viking garb and steps into the scene right in the path of the wounded, charging boar!  The Norsemen shout warnings at him.

Volstagg, Fandral, Hogun
Flee!....Stand Back!....Beware!

The boys shows no fear.  He raises a small battle hammer, cocks his arm, winds up, and hurls it with a yell.  The hammer flies off frame

The hammer zooming through the air at incredible speed

A pulse of energy trails after it as it goes toward

The charging boar

As the boar leaps, the hammer strikes it square on the head.  It drops like a shot and the hammer flies back to

The boy with long golden hair

The hammer returns to his hand.  He puts his foot on the boar's head, lifts his arms, shouts triumphantly to the sky.

The Boy with golden hair
Odin!!!!!!

Thunder and lightning rend the sky as the three Norsemen enter, laughing and cheering for the boy and stand aside as Odin rides in on his 8 legged horse, and scoops the boy up

Odin
(laughs, voice booming)
What a son!  Aha ha ha ha ha.

Odin spurs his horse which gallops away and up into and across the sky as the boy laughs, thrilled and proud.  Close in on the boy as the scene shimmers and he becomes

A mighty warrior with long golden hair

The boy grown to manhood is caped, large and powerful, incredibly muscular, with long golden hair and a gleaming, winged helmet, blue Viking tights and fitted war boots.  Majestic and radiating strength, he circles warily, his hammer raised for battle, as we wide to reveal we are in

A Storm Giant village

The warrior is being stalked by four storm giants, huge, muscular, hairy brutes with braided beards and bestial, pinpoint eyes.  A fifth Storm Giant, the cook, turns the roasted body of a partly eaten man over a fire on a spit using a trident as a barbecue fork.  The second giant lunges at the warrior's left with a sword just as the first giant raises a battle axe and runs at the warrior from the right.

The warrior

He swings his hammer in a circular motion.  It shatters the first giant's axe, hits the second giant and sends him flying into the fire where he lands unconscious, and continues around to smash the first giant in the face, crushing his iron helmet around his head before he can throttle the warrior.  The first giant drops to the ground, writing, unable to loosen his crushed helmet.

The two remaining Storm Giants

Fearful, they back off a pace as the warrior circles warily

The fifth storm giant - the cook

He cocks his arm and hurls the trident at the warrior's back.  The trident flies off frame

The warrior

As trident flies into frame the warrior wheels around, catches its tines on the handle of his hammer, whirls it around his head and flings the trident back.  It flies off frame to

The cook

The trident flies in and catches him in the throat.  He falls

Back to scene

The two remaining storm giants turn and run.  The warrior laughs heartily, raises his hammer, winds up and heaves it skyward.  It pulls him up and he zooms across the sky in an arc, laughing heartily as we change to

Close shot - The warrior standing with arms folded, defiant

Wide to show we are in

The throne room of Odin's palace in Asgard

In the shimmering dream vision we get only a subliminal look at the incredible room as a sad but furious Odin sits on his throne and glowers at the warrior standing before him.

Odin
Again and again hast thou defied me and yet thou showest neither guilt nor remorse for thy disobedience!

The Mighty Warrior
(arrogant)
I command the thunder.  The lightning strikes at my behest!
(raises hammer, shouts)
I am the breaker of mountains!  I do what I will and none may say me nay!

Odin
(rages, thunder and lightning clash)
Silence!  Hast thou no humility?

The Mighty Warrior
(shouts back)
None!  Nor need I any for I am the Mighty Thor!

The warrior (Thor) points his hammer skyward and even more thunder and lightning clash.  Then close in on Odin who roars and causes everything to shake as lightning racks the scene.

Odin
They arrogance profanes thy godliness!  And of this taint shalt thou be most harshly purged though thou be my best loved son!
(raises his arms, intones)
Hear thy fate and mark it well!  I cast thee now from this golden realm eternal!  Henceforth shalt thou be god no more!

The words "No more" echo and re-echo.  Odin gestures and an energy field appears around the warrior (Thor).  He tries to push out of it but cannot.  His face contorts in pain.

The Mighty Warrior (Thor)
No!  No, father.....

The energy field pulsates and Thor begins to regress in size and age, turning from man to boy as the energy field glows and expands to become a burst of lightning which fills the screen and then dissolve through to

Close up - the little boy in the orphanage cot

Thunder and lightning strike outside.  He wakes deliriously.  Sister Rosemary feels his forehead unsympathetically.

Sister Rosemary
(to Sister Angela)
He's just overheated.  You put on too
many covers.
(she pulls covers back abruptly and reacts)
What's this?

She points to a toy hammer the boy has been holding in both hands beneath the covers.  It looks like the hammer in his dream.  She tries to take it from him.

Sister Rosemary
(continuing, angrily to the boy)
Toys are not permitted in the dormitory!

The boy
Please.

Sister Angela
The child's not well, sister.

Sister Rosemary
(snaps at Sister Angela)
A house without rules is a jungle.
(pulls at toy hammer)
Give it to me!

The boy
No!  It's mine!

Sister Rosemary
(wrenches hammer from him, pulls him from bed)
There is no private property here,
boy!  Everything belongs to his
institution.

He cries, resists, limping as she drags him across the room.

Sister Angela
(follows, pleading)
Please, let him stay in bed.  His
fever is so high.
(sharply)
Sister Rosemary!  He needs this.

She gets a distinctive cane, like a walking stick, from under the cot and hands it to the boy who looks at her in gratitude.  The cane is big for his size but he uses it well.

Sister Rosemary
(snorts to Sister Angela re: the cane)
You insist on coddling the child!

Sister Rosemary drags the limping boy to a cupboard beneath a dark stairway and opens the door with a key from her ring.

Sister Rosemary
(continuing, looks back)
See to your duties, Sister!
(no response, hisses)
Do as I say!

Sister Angela stops, nods and walks away.  The boy uses the distraction to grab his toy hammer from Sister Rosemary and dash into the dark cupboard.

Sister Rosemary
(furious)
Wha...?  You'll pay for that!
(she shuts door, locks it, keys jangling)
You can just stay there until you're prepared to behave properly!
(crosses herself, looks skyward piously)
Forgive him for his insolence!

She turns and walks off, keys jangling softly.  We close in on the cupboard door

Int. the cupboard - the boy with golden hair

Tearful, shivering, fearful, he bites his lip, then forces himself to be resolute and slowly begins to beat his hammer on the floor, beat, beat, beat, his defiance growing with every measured stroke.  The hammer beats become louder and more metallic as the screen goes to black and we go to

Title sequence

End sequence on

Aerial shot - vast, snow covered glacier - moving - day

The tiny figures of five skiers

They race down the steep snowfield in a row.  We move in and change angle to

A small gully in their path

The skiers enter the shot and easily take the jump.  They are beautiful girls.  (Mai, Diane, Clare, Jo, Inga) and all wear ski caps except Inga whose red hair streams in the wind.

Super: Trondheim glacier, Norway - today

Strange dark clouds move across the scene as we move ahead of the girls to:

A sudden avalanche on the slope

The avalanche leaves a precipice in their path and we go to:

The lead skier - Mai

She sees precipice ahead, makes a sharp turn and stops at the last instant, kicking up a shower of snow and making chunks of snow break and fall over the edge.  Mai shouts, frantically motions the incoming girls.

Mai
Turn! Turn!

Diane, Clare, and Jo make the turn and stop safely but Inga loses control and heads for the precipice.  Mai pulls Inga away from the edge just in time and more snow breaks off but Inga's momentum carriers her sideways, she loses a ski and tumbles down a steep side slope.  Diane grabs Inga's loose ski and she and the others ski down after her into

A cleft in the glacier - Inga

Scared but unhurt, Inga gets to her feet as the other girls ski in after her and stop on a level area inside the towering, ominous cleft.  Diane waves Inga's loose ski.

Diane
(an All American girl, to Inga)
It's only the binding.  I'll fix it.

Mai
(Norwegian accent)
The avalanche cut the trail.  We'll
have to take the north face down
before the weather closes in.
(looks skyward, frowns)

Her P.O.V. - strange dark clouds moving in fast

Back to scene - Inga

The wind howls as Inga looks into the cleft, points, and gasps in fear.  The other girls turn to look and see

Their P.O.V. - a tree partly imbedded in the glacier's ice

A hideous ancient tree.  Its branches are grotesquely twisted in writhing, almost human forms.  A sudden sharp wind makes the branches rattle and sigh and the mournful, frightening musical theme of the tree comes up under.

Back to scene

The girls move in for a better look at the ominous tree

Inga
(awed, in Norwegian)
"Odin's Tree of Souls."

Clare
(British accent)
What did she say?

Mai
Inga called it Odin's Tree of  Souls.
From Norse mythology

Inga
The ancient gods would imprison an
evil being in a tree and his release
came only when a beautiful virgin
willingly exchanged places with him.

As she speaks, wind howls and blows snow across the scene

Diane
(working on Inga's ski)
Give me a break.

Mai
You don't believe in mythology, Diane?

Diane
I don't believe in virgins.

The girls laugh.  Diane gives repaired ski to Inga who crouches near a gnarled tree root to put it on.  The root end twists up and turns as if watching her but no one notices as more wind and snow blow into scene.

Mai
We must go at once.  Stay together.

Mai skis out of the cleft and off followed by Clare, Jo, and then Diane who stops, turns, skis back and calls to Inga.

Diane
Inga!  Will you move it.....!

Diane reacts in horror

Diane's P.O.V. - Inga and the tree

Just as Inga fastens her binding and starts to ski off, the tree root coils around her ankle.  Startled, she tries to pull free and a gnarled tree limb cracks out of the ice, bends across her upper body pinning her arm to her side, and binds her against the tree trunk.  A twisted burl from which a withered branch protrudes is next to her.  She screams, tries to pry the tree limb loose with her free hand.  Howling wind muffles her cry.

Inga
(shouting)
Diane!  Help!  Hel...

As Inga shouts, a small branch grows out of her open mouth.  Horrified, she reacts and screams harder but more branch emerges instead of her voice.  The harder she screams, the thicker and longer the branch grows.  She turns her head as she hears a cracking, groaning noise beside her and sees:

The adjacent burl and its withered branch

The withered branch is noisily being sucked into the other burl.  It disappears into the center of the burl and the burl then opens, "puckers," opens again and becomes a screaming, human mouth!  The scales of bark around the burl distort, crack, and fall away and the burl transforms into the head of a malevolent man.  His eyes are close d and then they open suddenly and the head turns and smiles wickedly at

Inga

Her eyes roll in terror.  Scales of bark now cover much of her upper body and free arm and are beginning to creep up her face.  Her red hair is becoming tree bark.  Intercut to Diane for reactions as Inga screams and more branch grows out of her mouth.  With all her might, she pulls her free arm away from the tree limb that binds her and reacts in terror.  Her hand and arm are becoming a twisted tree branch.  As she watches aghast, her hand and arm complete the transformation to branch and lock stiffly into position.

At the same instant as Inga's arm becomes a branch, a tree branch near the Malevolent Man's head moves and transforms itself into his arm.

The tree - Inga and the Malevolent Man

Inga struggles, twisting her legs, body and head to get free but becomes increasingly "absorbed" into the tree.  For every move she makes, the Malevolent Man makes a parallel move which increasingly frees his limbs and transforms him from tree to man until he finally pulls away from the tree entirely and stands triumphant, roaring with evil laughter.  Large and well muscled, he wears a strange horned helmet and a Norse God's costume with a battle axe at his side.  He looks at Inga and his eyes glow with malice and lust.

Malevolent Man
Thank you, virgin!

He gestures at the tree root.  It curls up, stiffens and moves up between Inga's spread legs toward her crotch

Tight on Inga's head

She reacts in terror and tries to scream as the root slips it to her O.S. then bark scales quickly grow over her eyes and face and she is completely "absorbed" into the tree

Back to scene - Diane

Paralyzed with fear, she screams and tries to ski off but the Malevolent Man leaps into their path and smiles.

Malevolent Man
Don't be afraid.

In her panic, Diane hopes desperately that he means her no harm.  Then the Malevolent Man snorts flame from his nostrils

Close on Diane

The flames ignite her and instantly burn her to ash where she stands.  The Malevolent Man then blows on the ash "statue" of Diane.  It crumbles to dust and blows away in the wind.

Malevolent Man
(roars with laughter, then shouts)
Free!  Free!  After ten thousand years!
Now shall I be revenged against Thor!

A sudden flash of lightning and thunder from on high startles him.  he gestures and dissolves in a sheet of flame.  Hold on Inga in the tree and tighten on the writhing branches which go out of focus leaving only dark, spidery branch outlines against the snow.  The go back into focus to

Dark spidery lines of veins and arteries on an x-ray plate

We pull back and widen to reveal we are in

Int. hospital - x-ray viewing room, Dr. Nathan Salter

Salter, and aged, distinguished chief of surgery, peers at an x-ray on a monitor screen and purses his lips thoughtfully.

Salter
The angiogram is ambiguous.  I know
you're fatigues, but I would
appreciate your opinion.

He steps back and looks over at

Dr Don Blake

Weary, lost in thought, Don resembles the Mighty Warrior in the boy's dream but his hair is short and his clothing and demeanor mark him as an overworked, modern doctor

Salter
(continuing)
Donald?

Don shakes off his reverie, smiles, nods, and limps over to Salter using that distinctive cane.  he is the boy grown up.

Don
Can you run it back for me, Nate?

Salter
Of course.

Salter touches a button and the spidery lines of veins and arteries animate on the monitor screen showing the blood supplying a living heart.  As Don watches he starts to sweat, he looks, the spidery arteries and veins become the tree of souls.  As the music of the Tree of Souls rises, its branches reach out from the x-ray screen, write, claw the air, and try to grab Don.  Terrified, he pulls back but a sharp branch rakes his cheek and draws blood.  He puts his hand to the wound and we go back to:

int. x-ray viewing room - Don

No Tree of Souls.  No cut cheek.  Just the angiogram on the monitor screen.  Salter watches with concern as Don shakes off the terrible vision he has just seen.

Salter
Are you al right?

Don
(recovering)
Fine.  Just a slight case of temporary
insanity.  Probably too many all
nighters in Emergency.....
(mops his brow with a handkerchief)
I think surgery is warranted, Nathan.
I can assist you tomorrow if you like
but right now I need some rest.

Salter
(concerned)
Yes, that's an excellent idea.

Don looks at the x-ray monitor screen and shakes his head.  He was imagining things.  He limps off.  We follow him to:

Int. hospital corridor - the nurse's station

Mattie Flynn, mid-fifties, a crusty nursing supervisor, studies Don disapprovingly.  Emergency patients, mostly poor, desperate people, sit in the background on chairs lining the corridor.  Two of them, John Saunders a powerful man in mechanics overalls, and his wife, Marie, react to Don's arrival

Mattie Flynn
You're looking worse that your
patients, Dr Blake.  Why don't you go
home before you fall down?

Don
I'm on the way, Mattie, I just want
to see Jane first.

Mattie
She's on break

Don nods and heads toward the nurse's lounge but John and Marie block his patch.

John
(deeply agitated, indicates Mattie)
Dr Blake?  I heard the nurse say your name.

Don
Yes?

John
They told us my son was dead when the
paramedics brought him in but you
wouldn't give up.

Don
The hit and run this afternoon?
You're Teddy Saunder's parents.

John
(fights emotion, loses)
His name and phone number were in his
schoolbooks but nobody thought to
look there and call us until now.
Thank you, for saving my boy.

Don
(gently)
I just performed an operation.
Teddy's recovery was beyond medicine.

Marie
(hugs him)
God bless you.

Slightly embarrassed, Don nods thanks modestly and goes into

Int. staff lounge - Jane Foster

Jane is alone having coffee as Don enters and closes the door behind him and smiles wearily.

Don
Hi.

Jane kisses shim then looks him over compassionately.

Jane
You need to go to bed.

Don
I hate to sleep alone.

Jane
(smiles)
My shift's over in four hours.  Think
you'll be rested by then?

Don
(growls kiddingly)
Grrrrrmmm.

Jane
Hold the thought.

He nods, kisses her deeply, opens the door

Don
Later.

He turns and walks out across the threshold to

Ext. the top of a high, icy fjord - a dark, stormy day

Amazed, Don stands on the crest of rugged, rocky height as winds blow, lightning and thunder crash around him and snow an drain lash his face.  Afraid, he turns to go back but there is no door.  Desperate, he turns around and around, looking for a way back to the world he knows, shielding his face from the storm.  He slips, rock crumbles under him and he falls down the icy heights, falling, falling.  We go to:

Int. hospital nurse's station - Don and Mattie Flynn

Don stands before Mattie, his eyes glazed, surgical gown soaked with perspiration, his hand poised to sign the duty roster clipboard.  Jan enters as Mattie reaches out to Don.

Mattie
Dr Blake?.....

Jane
(to Don)
Why are you still here?  You left ten
minutes ago.

Don
(coming out of it)
Uh...I have to sign out first, don't
I, Mattie?

Mattie
You already did, and from the look on your face,
your brain checked out ahead of you.  If I ever saw a
case of galloping burnout, you're it!
(to Jane)
Make him take you on a long vacation.
Quick!

Mattie exits briskly.  Jane looks worriedly at Don.

Don
Vacation.

Jane
I've only been saying it for months!
All right, where are we going?  And
don't tell me you'll think about it!
Decide now.

Don
(a beat)
Some place warm.  Tropical.
(an inner vision, sounds
like another person)
Away from the fjords and dark
mountains where the snow never melts
and the cruel wind can turn even a
warrior's heart to ice.

Jane
(thinks he's putting her
on, does Swedish accent)
Ja?  Vot fjord is dat, Ingomar?

Don
(recovering, tries to
roll with it)
I just want to go where the sun shines bright.

Jane
Like my old Kentucky home?

Don
Like Hawaii!  Pack a grass skirt and
call a travel agent!
(starts out)
I'm definitely serious.

Jane
(pleased, does a hula move)
Well a-lo-ha!

Don smiles at her, walks to the door, pauses, gathers his courage before opening it, then walks out onto:

Ext. hospital parking lot - night

Don's relieved to find himself fin the right world.  A sputtering, neon sign in b.g. reads "Los Angeles General Hospital."  As he crosses the lot to his car, Don passes a paving repair crew working under flood lights.  He reacts to hammer sounds, turns, looks at

A burly, bearded jack hammer operator

The jack hammer operator smiles strangely, menacingly to Don and nods.  We close in on the jackhammer pounding away then go to slo mo to show the hammer in extreme close up as it beats, beats, beats in mournful rhythm.

Back to scene

Jack hammer operator
(to Don, odd accent)
You like hammers?

Don
Not particularly
(a beat, looks harder)
Do I know you?

Jack hammer operator
The hammer.  So much power.
(makes hammer sounds)
Rau tau tau tat.  Rau tau tau tat!
Once you feel it, it never lets you
go.  Rau tau tau tat!  Aha ha ha ha ha

He laughs ominously.  Uneasy, Don gets into his car and drives off.  We go to extreme close up of the hammer striking repeatedly:  Rau tau tau tat!  Rau tau tau tat!  Then on to:

Ext. Los Angeles street - Don's car - night

He drives away from the hospital and we go to

Int. Don's car - moving - night

Don turns on his radio.

Mellow announcer (voice over)
Strange to see great works of art in
a mortuary?  Not at Forest Lawn the...

He dials through static and country music to cool jazz.  The streets are quiet.  He exhales, loosens his collar, drives for a long beat and starts to relax.  The jazz beat becomes the ominous hammer beat.  he tries to change the station but every station is the same.  He his the radio to no effect, then looks out at the road and reacts, astonished

The side of the road - the jack hammer operator!

The jack hammer operator smiles, raises his thumb for a rise and motions Don to stop.  Frightened, Don speeds up and roars down the roadway a long way then looks back cautiously.

His P.O.V. - the road is deserted - no jack hammer operator

Resume in  Don's car - moving

Relieved but now sweating heavily, Don again tries to change stations.  This time, the hammer beats face and cool jazz returns.  Relieved, he drives around a curve and there stands

The jack hammer operator

He steps out into the roadway and again smiles and motions Don to stop.  Intercut to Don.  Fighting panic, Don swerves around the jack hammer operator and floors it.

The street - Don's car - moving

Racing along surface streets, weaving through traffic, Don's car makes a sudden, hairpin turn up a ramp and onto

The freeway - Don's car - night

Doing 90, the car roars down the freeway

Int. Don's car - Don - moving

Breathing hard, Don fights for control and forces himself to slow to 55.  He shakes his head, inhales deeply, almost recovered and then terror!  He hits the brakes.

His P.O.V. - middle of the freeway - the jack hammer operator

He stands dead ahead of Don's speeding car, beckoning and smiling as before.  Intercut to Don.  Panicked, he hits the brakes and steers wildly to avoid hitting the operator.

The freeway - Don's car

His car scrapes the guard rail, striking sparks, then careens across four lanes of freeway and shoots onto a rising exit ramp which leads to another freeway at a higher elevation.  Jazz becomes hammer beats again.  As don looks through his windshield, the freeway ramp transforms into

The rainbow bridge to Asgard!

Intercut to Don for reactions.  The rainbow bridge spans the cosmos and Don rockets along, unable to steer the car which climbs the bridge over the heavens and heads toward the distant, gleaming towers of Asgard!

Don's P.O.V. - closer and closer to a tower

Hammer beats increase.  He's going to crash into it.

Resume on Don

He screams, puts his arms across his face, ready for impact and suddenly he is back

On the freeway - in his car -a hearse ahead of him

Bathed in sweat, Don swerves to avoid rear ending the hearse. then weaves through traffic and pulls over onto the shoulder of the road as hammer beats slow down and blend back into jazz.  he stops the car, rests his head on the steering wheel, gasping and exhausted as we go to:

Ext. Don's house atop hills overlooking L.A. - night

Don's car is parked out front.

Int. Don's bedroom

Don gets into bed warily, afraid to sleep.  A clock ticks softly, then louder and slower.  As we close in on Don, he drifts to sleep and his bed slowly tilts up and spirals up into an infinite void which becomes

A swirling sky high above the icy fjord of his daydream

For a beat, Don hangs suspended in the sky, then we move with him as he flies swiftly around the fjord, following a steep, curving road which goes through a strange tunnel in the rock and becomes a rising mountain footpath which leads to a rocky pinnacle.  Wind howls.  Thunder and lightning clash about him as he flies.  The he looks down at

The rocky pinnacle atop the fjord - a beautiful Valkyrie

Zoom in of Sif, a beautiful, dark haired Valkyrie.  She lifts her arms and flies up to him.  Don opens his arms.  She flies into his embrace.  They kiss passionately, she puts her lefts around him and they start making love.  The ticking clock becomes the sound of hammer beats as they soar up and away from the fjord at incredible speed, up, up, up into

A galactic void

They soar up over the rainbow bridge to Asgard kissing, writhing, pressing into each other and as they reach a tumultuous peak of ecstasy we go to

Int. Don's bedroom - Don in bed

He sits up sharply, bathed in sweat, and turns to find Jane just getting into bed beside him.  She looks at him with concern and alarm.  He cannot turn off what began in his dream.  He puts his arms around her, pulls her down onto him.

Jane
(amused, pleased)
I see part of the patient has made a full recovery.

He kisses her.  She responds and they start making love with her on top.  He turns her over and reacts to see

Sif in bed with them

Sif smiles, moves to him, caressing him as Jane presses to him.  He screams.  Sif vanishes and he pulls away from Jane.

Don
Sorry!  I'm tired.  Crazy.  I don't know
which

He runs naked from the  bedroom and out onto

Ext. The terrace overlooking the lights of Los Angeles

Don dives into his pool and swims for all he's worth.

Don in the pool.

The image of Sif materializes in the air above him, hovers, then dives in and swims beside him.  He closes his eyes and swims harder and the image of Sif dissolves in the water and vanishes.  As we change to:

Angle on the pool - Jane

She pulls a robe around her and watches Don swim harder.  She's very worried.  Tilt up to the night sky and go to:

The sky over London - a rainy day

Move down to

The city of London - establishing shots

We close in on and follow a London taxi which pulls into the

Motor Court of the British Museum

The taxi stops.  An impeccably tailored British gentleman in a derby hat and an umbrella gets out.  We don't see his face but a flash of lightning casts his shadow briefly.  His umbrella handle and hat brim hive his shadow the form of a man in a horned helmet.  As lightning fades out, he turns and we see he is Loki!  He pays the taxi and goes into:

Int. the British Museum - the Norse wing, Leona Haversham

Leona Haversham, a prissy Miss Marple type, leads a class of scruffy University students through displays of Viking villages, ships, etc.  As she speaks, Loki surreptitiously joins the back of her entourage.

Miss Haversham
Stay together, class.  Quickly now

She stops in front of a fierce Viking mannequin in battledress.

Miss Haversham
(continuing, gets a sexual tickle out of this stuff)
The Norsemen.  Brutishly virile,
seafaring marauders with a taste for
English women, the Norsemen wrecked
havoc along the coast of Britain for
fie hundred years, scattering both
their language and their seed with
reckless abandon.
(recovers her decorum)
Unfortunately, the left few clues to
their culture with this notable
exception.  The Gateway to the Kingdom
of Darkness

She directs class attention to

A massive, freestanding, ancient stone archway

As Miss Haversham speaks, we pan to show runic stone tablets mounted atop the archway which is sealed by thick, ancient wooden gates.  The gates are locked with an interlocking, complex iron lock on which is stamped a strange runic seal.

Miss Haversham
(continuing)
Legend has it that in a great battle
at the dawn of time, the god Odin
drove the forces of evil into the
foul netherworld and barred their way
back into our world forever with
these gates.  He then made them fast
with a lock bearing his unbreakable
seal and so enables mankind to live
in the light, free from the powers of
darkness.
(sniffs haughtily)
A metaphorical tale, to be sure.
(motions class to follow, starts off)
X-rays show the lock is solid iron
and therefore never could be opened.
The runic tablets over the arch tell more of the story but no one's been
able to decipher them.
(claps hands briskly)
Come along now.  Don't dawdle.

As Miss Haversham leads her class off, a pair of unlikely young lovers - he short, she very tall - duck into a corner, and drop their books, and start making out passionately.  Move to

Loki

Seeing that the lovers are unaware of his presence, Loki goes to the archway and stares magically at

The lock

It starts glowing, getting red hot.  With a mournful groaning and creaking like the wail of the tree of souls, the iron components of the lock start to slide and the lock begins unlocking itself under the power of Loki's gaze.  Intercut to Loki who strains and sweats with effort, struggling to overcome some unseen force which is resisting him.  The lock is almost undone.  Loki reaches for the red hot iron to open it all the way.  As he touches sit, the iron becomes white hot, searing his hands and welding them to the metal.

Loki
(screams in unholy pain, looks heavenward)
Father!

Lightning and thunder strike.  The tablets above the arch start to glow and a thin line of blue lightning plays around them and "traces" the runic letters carved on them.  The building shakes.  Loki cannot let go and starts to shake, too, vibrating so hard it looks as if he will be shaken to bits.  he screams in fury and vanishes in a sheet of flame which dissipates at once leaving archway, lock, tablets, etc. as if nothing had happened.

The young lovers

Oblivious, they come out of their clinch, reach down for their books and react.  Their books are on fire!  They beat at the flames as we go to:

Torrid love scene from "The Young and the Restless"

Pull back to show the soap is playing on TV and we are in

Int. Dons living room - Jane

As Jane watches TV and eats a pizza, Don staggers out of the bedroom, unshaven and worn.  H yawns and stretches.

Don
Do I smell pizza?

Jane
It's my new Calvin Klein perfume.
Obsession with anchovies!
(kisses him)
I was letting you sleep.

Don
My stomach woke me up.
(takes slice of pizza, eats messily)
Sorry about last night.

Jane
It's okay.  I understand.

Don
(gobbling pizza)
You do and you don't.  It's no just
overwork that got to me....

Jane
(wipes his mouth with a napkin, feeds him pizza)
You're having bad dreams and seeing
things again.

Don
I didn't say anything about that.

Jane
You didn't have to.
(takes pizza away, uses napkin on him, smiles)
I made the arrangements.  We leave for Hawaii tomorrow

Don
I'm supposed to assist Nate in surgery....

Jane
Rest today.  Fly tomorrow.  No
arguments.
(kisses him)

Don
(a beat, sings tune of "Aloha Oi" imitating Hawaiian steel guitar)
Da nung nung nung, da nung nung nung...

They hula as Jane sings similarly in a high falsetto.  They kiss and things are heating up when Don stops abruptly

Don
(continuing)
What time's the flight?

Jane
Ten A.M.

Jane reaches for him romantically.  he steps back, serious.

Don
We have time for a visit this afternoon.

Jane
To where?

Don
(darkly, saying the name upsets him)
The House of the Good Shepherd.

Stunned, Jane reacts with concern and we go to:

The gates to the orphanage - Don's car - day

The gates are broken and rusted and the driveway rutted and overgrown as Don and Jane drive through.  Lightning and thunder play in the sky.  Close in on the "House of the Good Shepherd" plaque.  It is now almost overgrown with ivy.

Int. Don's car - moving - Don and Jane

Deep in thought, Don stares ahead grimly.  Jane looks at him.

Jane
(beat)
You always said you hated this place.
Why come back now?
(hand on his arm)
Talk to me, Don

Don
(shakes off reverie, takes a deep breath)
My crazy dreams and all?  Last night I
remembered I had them before, when I
was a kid here.  Funny how it slipped
my mind.

Jane
But what are you hoping to find after
so many years?

Don
Somebody who knew me then.  Maybe they
can clue me in on my childhood
traumas.....
(a beat)
No, that's not true.  I don't know
what the hell I'm doing here.  I just
know I had to come.

Jane
(looks out)
Terrific.  I always wanted to meet the
Addams Family.

Her P.O.V. the main building - now ruined and spookier

As Don and Jane get out of the car, an aged grim caretaker moves up behind them with a scythe in hand, startling them.

Caretaker
No visitors!  We're closed.

Don
I'm not a visitor.  I grew up here.
(beat, agitates)
Any of the staff still around?

Caretaker
(suspicious)
Some of them stayed on when we shut
down because they had no place to go
but most of them are gone now.  Dead.

Jane
(takes Don's arm)
I'll drive us back.  You can sleep.

A beat, Don nods.  He and Jane start to go

Caretaker
Sister Rosemary, now, she's all
that's left but she never sees
nobody.  They'll sell the place for
condors soon as she kicks the bucket.

Don
Where is she?
(takes out money)

Caretaker
(shrugs, pockets cash)
Back stairs.  The old organ loft.
You're wasting you money.  She's
crazy as a bedbug.

The caretaker motions Don and Jane to the mansion.  Lightning and thunder rumble ominously overhead as they go into

Int. main hallway in the mansion - Don and Jane

Follow them.  Don leads the way.  The hallway opens onto dusty, deserted classrooms littered with books and toys left where they fell.  Close in on Don as he walks and remembers.

His P.O.V. - a classroom

Scene shimmers and becomes classroom of his past.  The shadowy, indistinct figures of Sister Rosemary and Don as the boy with long golden hair appear.  The boy holds his toy hammer.  She reaches for it angrily.

Sister Rosemary
(stern, shrill, echoing)
Hand it over before you break
something!

Don as a child
No!  It's mine!

Sister Rosemary
(screams, tires to take hammer away)
Nothing belongs to you!  Nothing!

The scene shimmers and changes to

Int. a moldering back stairway - Don and Jane

Don stops on the dusty stairway, held by his inner vision.

Jane
(touches his arm)
Sweetheart....?

Don nods, continues up the stair and Jane follows him to

Int. a junk crammed organ loft bed sitting room

Don and Jane enter and lightning flashes outside momentarily illuminating Sister Rosemary who sits in the darkness.

Don
Sister Rosemary.....?

Sister Rosemary
(hoarse, frail voice)
There's a candle on the pier table.

Don finds candle on pier table, lights it, looks, reacts.

His P.O.V. - Sister Rosemary

She is now blind, a shriveled hag of a nun, her sightless eyes scarred and white.  She turns to Don excitedly.

Sister Rosemary
Donald Blake!

Don and Jane exchange a look of surprise

Don
(to Sister Rosemary)
Yes.  How did you know?

She suddenly seizes his wrist in a vise like grip and turns her head as if trying to see him through her blind eyes.

Sister Rosemary
I prayed for your return!  I was cruel
to you when you were a child!
(sobs hysterically, clutches at him)
I beg you forgiveness.

Don
(pulls free, coldly)
I stopped hating you a long time ago,
Sister Rosemary, but I didn't come to
forgive you.  I came to learn about
my childhood.

Sister Rosemary
(moans, writhes)
I punished you for your dreams!  You
wouldn't say your prayers because you
dreamed you were a god.  You said you
didn't see why you needed to pray to
yourself!
(turns, unexpectedly seizes Jane's arm)
I had to punish him for hat, didn't
I?  I couldn't tolerate blasphemy!

Jane
(tries to pull free)
Let me go!

Sister Rosemary
I'd say, "You're not a god.  You're a
boy!  A wicked, wicked boy!  God will
punish you for sacrilege!"
(releases Jane, clutches at Don)
But you wouldn't speak.  You'd stare
at me and strike the floor with your
hammer.  Strike!  Strike!  Strike!  Until
I locked you in the cupboard beneath
the stair.  You didn't like that...
(she picks up key ring, jingles it, cries)
No!  I was wrong to do that!  Forgive
me.  Forgive me and restore my eyes!

Don
I have nothing to do with your
blindness.

Sister Rosemary
The day you left to accept the
scholarship you'd won, the heavens
opened and vengeance rained down>
(a beat)
I was struck by lightning!
(rummages through junk, finds a box, hands it to Don)
I saved it for you all these years.
You'll forgive me now, won't you?

Don
Tell me about my dreams....

Sister Rosemary
(vague, crazed, tearful)
Forgive me or I'll burn in hell!

Don and Jane exchange a "She's crazy" look.

Don
(takes the box, then to her in pity)
I forgive you, sister.

Sister Rosemary
(she turns her head side to side, shouts in joy)
The light!  My eyes are returning.
Bless you, my son.  Bless you

Laughing, sobbing hysterically, she shakes her head side to side as if straining to see.  Don and Jane walk out of to

Int. top of stairway

Don opens the box.  Inside is his little toy hammer.  On his and Jane's reaction we go to:

Stonehenge - night

Pan to establish.  Clouds cover the moon.  Loki appears in a flash of flame in the center of the ring of great stones.  He looks up to the sky magically and the clouds part and the moon shines down casting weird geometric patterns which interlock on Loki and begin to spiral.  There's a rumbling subterranean noise and the spiral opens the ground to reveal

A rock cut spiral stairway descending into the earth.  Loki laughs tauntingly as thunder booms overhead.  he starts down the stair and the ground closes over him as lightning strikes harmlessly where he had stood.  We go to:

Ext. Los Angeles Airport (stock) - establishing - day

Hawaiian music plays O.S. as we go to

Int. "Hawaiian Express" lounge - Don and Jane

Hawaiian decor.  Excited travelers.  Music continues as Don and Jane enter.  He is subdued.  She tries to cheer him up.

Jane
Did you know that how bad you need a
vacation is directly proportional to
how good you think Hawaiian music sounds?

Don
I must be desperate.  It sounds great

They laugh, walk past two carpenters hammering, installing wall panels.  Don reacts.  Hammering becomes ominous hammer beats he heard before.  Don suddenly grabs the first carpenter's arm to stop his hammering.

First carpenter
What's with you, man?

The second carpenter moves toward Don menacingly.  Jane steps between them and tries to loosen Don's grip.

Jane
Don....!  Sweetheart, please.

Carpenters are ready to fight when Don reacts to P.A. voice

P.A. voice (over)
Aloha.  The Hawaiian Express is now
ready for boarding.  Please have you
passes ready....

The spell broken, Don releases the carpenter and starts toward the gate.  Jane reacts and follows him.  We go to:

The descending rock cut stair in the earth - Loki

He almost flies down the stair, down, down, until the stair widens into a grand stone stairway flanked by flaming iron braziers in the form of serpents intertwined.  Loki smiles and slows his descent to make an entrance and brazier flames hiss and burn brighter as if to herald his arrival into

The great hall of the Norn Queen, Karnilla

The rock cut great hall resembles a circular Romanesque crypt ringed by clustered stone columns supporting heavy rock archways, each leading into a dark passage.  The floor is paved in rectangular stone slabs set in concentric circles.  In the center is a deep, black circular pool in which stands a rock crystal stalagmite which glows with an odd light.  Karnilla, a beautiful, frightening witch Queen, is staring into the crystal as Loki enters behind her.

Loki
(mocking, smiling)
Hail, Karnilla, most noble queen of
all the Norn witches.
(bows)
I bow in veneration of thy regal
beauty and fearful power.

Karnilla
(turns to him, curls her lip contemptuously)
Loki!  I have no wish to incur Odin's
wrath by sheltering you.  Go back to
the tree of souls!
(turns away, stares at crystal)

Loki
(amused, insinuating)
This is no way to greet...a friend...

As he strides toward her, the paving stones behind him rise up to reveal a force of hideous troll guards who hiss at him and brandish weapons.  (Their uniform backs are made of rock faced armor so they look like paving slabs when they lie face down on the floor.)

Loki
(continuing, to Karnilla, unconcerned)
May we speak, or must I first
incinerate you trolls?

He snorts twin tongues of flame from his nostrils.  The trolls draw back as flame singes their feet.  Karnilla is furious, pauses, then signals the trolls with a hand motion.

Karnilla
Wan jah!

The trolls instantly obey her order and lie face down on the floor becoming stone paving slabs again.  Loki smiles and walks to her, grinding his heel into the paving stones so the trolls beneath groan from the pressure.

Loki
(kisses her hand, pulls her close seductively)
Tell me that you missed me.

With a shriek, she claws her fingers and thrusts her arm up between them breaking his grip and twists away.  Laughing, he pursues her, pulls her back into an embrace.  She hisses and they wrestle as in a primitive mating dance.  Loki forces her hands aside and kisses her.  She screams and dissolved into ghostly vapor which drifts away and the materializes back into Karnilla on the other side of the room.

Karnilla
(points at him in rage)
Leave my sight!

He laughs, crosses to her in one leap and reaches for her seductively.  She fends him off but he pursues and persists.

Loki
Do me the courtesy of staying in one
form long enough to hear me out.  I
have come seeking an alliance.

Karnilla
No!

Loki
Join with me and together we will
open the gates to the dark world and
gain the power to destroy Odin.  Then
you and I shall rule Asgard in his
stead through all eternity.

He kisses her violently.  She pulls away and slaps hi face repeatedly as she replies.  The slaps don't faze him.

Karnilla
Fool!  The forces of the dark world
will not serve our interests without
the promise of reward.

He catches her arm in mid-slap, presses against her

Loki
Then we'll give the Midgard for
spoils, that which men call Earth.

Karnilla
(resistance crumbling, still furious)
As if I agree, what reward do you
seek?

Loki
(mockingly)
Naught but thy pure and tender
love....
(face distorts into mask of evil, eyes blazing)
And the right to claim vengeance upon
my loathsome half-brother, Thor!  To
tear him asunder and cast his
bleeding limbs into the storm giants
lair to be devoured by their young.
(face returns to normal, smiles, slowly pushes her back onto a divan)
But enough talk of future pleasures.
Will you now cast your lot with mine?

Karnilla
(tauntingly kisses him then pushes him back)
No!  You cannot succeed!  No force can
break Odin's seal upon the gates.

Loki
There is one power great enough.
(whispers)
Mjolnir!  The hammer of Thor!

There's a subterranean rumble as he says it.

Karnilla
Thor would never destroy his father's
handiwork.  Oh!

Loki presses her back down slowly onto the divan

Loki
I have a plan!  Are you in or out?

Karnilla
(breathlessly)
I ask you the same question.

Loki laughs, lunges, and they go at each other wildly, like mating tigers, as the divan burst into flames becoming a burning pyre for their lovemaking as we go to:

"Hawaiian Express" - tropically colored jet in flight

Stewardess (voice over)
Please return your seats to the
upright position and fasten seat
belts for our landing at Honolulu
international Airport.....

Int. plane - Don and Jane on the Aloha Express

Pan to show Hawaiian clad stewardess checking excited, happy passengers.  End pan on Don and Jane.  He's asleep but wakes as the stewardess puts his seat into upright position.

Don
(blinks, yawns)
Huh?...We're here?

Jane
(kisses him)
Feeling better?

Don smiles and nods.  Then ominous hammer beats begin again.  He holds his head, twists in his seat.

Don
Something's wrong!  I can feel it!

Jane
(trying to calm him)
Shhh.  Everything's all right.  We're
in Hawaii...

Don
(looks out window)
Then why is it snowing?

Hammer beats increase.  Jane looks out and we tighten on snow at the window then go to:

Ext. airport - Oslo, Norway - day

Snow is falling heavily as the "Hawaiian Express" 747 comes in for a landing, hammer beats soar as we go to:

Int. passenger lounge - Hawaii bound passengers

Snow falls outside windows.  We pan stunned passengers in Hawaiian vacation attire as they listen to a disbelieving pilot who stands with the stunned stewardesses.

Pilot
We can't understand how we got so far
off course or how we made it to
Norway on the fuel we were carrying!
It's unreal, but here we are!

Chief Stewardess
We've arranged flights to Honolulu in
the morning, meanwhile, the airline
has cleared you through customs and
arranged complimentary lodgings at a
five star hotel....
(holds up vouchers)
Take a voucher and proceed to ground
transportation...

As stewardess speaks, we end pan on Don and Jane.  Don starts walking away.  Jane rushes to catch up.  We move with them.

Jane
Don.  Our vouchers....

Don
(grim, keeps walking)
This is my fault

Jane
That's ridiculous.

Don
Something's out there, something I
can't escape.  Whatever it is, I have
to face it now.  Alone.

The hammer beats begin again.  Don suddenly bolts and runs out through the lobby.  Jane reacts, runs after him to

Ext. Oslo airport - taxi area - late afternoon

Jane emerges, shivering in summer clothes, see Don getting into a taxi, runs and gets in as it pulls away.

Int. taxi - Jane and Don - moving

Don
Stay away!  This is my problem.

Jane
Like hell!  We're in this together!

A beat, Don touches her arm gratefully as the taxi moves out into airport traffic.

Jane
(continuing)
Where are we going?

Don
I don't know.  I just told him to
drive.
(on her puzzled look)
Whoever wants me will find me.

Don sits back glumly and stares in silence.  Jane shivers, pulls her jacket around her tightly as we widen to include the taxi driver who shakes his head as if to say "crazy Americans."  Hammer beats pick up as the taxi drives on to

The road to Oslo - taxi - snowstorm - later

Hammer beats continue.  Jane looks worriedly at Don who is silent and glum.  Then he looks out and reacts

His P.O.V. the jack hammer operator at the side of the road

He beckons to Don and smiles

Int. the taxi - moving - Don and Jane

Don
(with grim satisfaction)
I knew he'd be here!
(to taxi driver)
Stop!  Pick him up.

Taxi driver
Who, sir?

Don
(points off)
The hitch hiker!  Over there!  Stop!

The taxi driver shrugs and pulls over.  Don opens the door.  Wind and snow blow in.

Don
(continuing, calls to jack hammer operator)
You win.  Get in!

The jack hammer operator smiles and runs off

Don
(continuing, shuts door, shouts to taxi driver)
Follow him!  That way!

Don points, the taxi driver accelerates and we go to

A snowy, windswept road - the taxi - night

Taxi follows the jack hammer operator who runs on a path parallel to the road.  Move with them up a precipitous road, through a tunnel in the rock, to an icy fjord - the same places Don saw in his dreams.  Intercut to Don for reactions

Don
I was here before.  In my dreams!

Jane reacts as we go to:

The road - dead ends at another mountain footpath

As the taxi drives onto scene, the jack hammer operator runs onto the footpath and into the snowstorm.  The taxi stops.

Int. taxi - Don, Jane and the taxi driver

Taxi driver
The road ends.  I cannot continue

Don runs from the taxi, hobbling through the snow on his cane, pursuing the jack hammer operator into the storm.

Jane
Don!  No!  Come back!

Taxi driver
(stops her before she can pursue)
No, miss, please!  Too dangerous!

A tremor shakes the scene and Jane reacts

Taxi driver
(continuing)
Could be avalanche ahead.  We go other way around.

Jane gets into the taxi which turns, drives off.  We go to:

The rising mountain path - just like in Don's dream

Hammer beats grow louder and faster as the jack hammer operator runs up the path through the snowstorm with Don in pursuit.  Go to Don as limping and panting he runs up to

The icy pinnacle of the fjord - as in his dream

The jack hammer operator is gone.  Thunder and lightning.  Snow.  At wit's end, he raises his arms and shouts.

Don
Aaaaaaaaaagggggggggggggh!

The storm suddenly stops, the wind dies, and a cold moon shines down on Don who reacts and looks off to see

The jack hammer operator beside a crevice in the rock

He beckons to Don then goes into the crevice

Don

He runs, slips, and slides down the steep slope and follows the jack hammer operator into

Int. crevice in rock

Hammering increases as Don faces the jack hammer operator.

Don
(holds hi head, reels from the hammer noise)
Who are you?

Jack hammer operator
You know me well.  You are a stranger
to yourself.

Don
Don't play games with me!  And stop
the hammering, I can't think!

Jack hammer operator
(his voice grows deeper, more strange)
Claim Mjolnir.

He gestures, hammer beats become a staccato, the word "Mjolnir" echoes, and a three dimensional image of Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, appears shimmering in space.  It is the full sized version of Don's toy hammer

Jack hammer operator
(continuing)
Take thy hammer and know all!

Frightened, uncertain, Don reaches for the hammer.  His hand goes through the shimmering image.  He cannot hold it.  Ina fury he pummels the image with both hands and then strikes at it with his cane.  As he does, a power aura surrounds both can and hammer and the two merge.  Then the aura fades and Don stands holding his cane in the air.

Don
(mystified)
The cane and the hammer are one!

Jack hammer operator
As they have ever been.  Strike thy
stick upon the ground.  Do so and thou
shalt know thyself, oh Mighty Thor

Don
Thor?  The god of thunder?

Jack hammer operator nods.  A beat.  Don laughs harshly.

Don
(continuing, to himself)
I'm having a total breakdown.
Hallucinating.  If I give into this I
might never come out of it.
(to jack hammer operator)
You don't exist!  None of this is
real!

He turns and runs from the crevice into the snowstorm

Jack hammer operator
(shouts)
Odin has summoned thee to Asgard!  Do
not deny thy father's call.  Strike
thy stick and attend him.

The icy path on the fjord - Don - night

Don runs into the stormy night, changing directions as menacing shadows turn and claw at him and huge icicles grow up in his path, blocking his way.  Panicked, he turns again and a bolt of lightning strikes a wall of snow ahead of him.  It falls and sweeps him down the face of the fjord to

A road at the base of the fjord - Don half buried in snow

He's unconscious, cane clutched to his chest.  A beat then change angle as Jane and taxi driver run into scene.  Jane's taxi, a police car and ambulance are parked behind them and policemen and a medic follow them.

Jane
(kneels, takes Don's pulse, calls)
He's alive!  Hurry!

As police and medic rush into assist we go to:

Int. hospital intensive care room - Don

Hooked to monitors, Don lies on a gurney clutching his cane.  The doctor examining him shakes his head and walks out to Jane.  Policemen from previous scene stands in b.g.

Jane
His vital signs are normal, doctor.
Why isn't he conscious?

Doctor
Perhaps a CAT scan will tell us.
(signals policeman to remove her)
Please, let us do our job.

Jane
But I'm a nurse.  Dr Blake is my fiancée.

Policeman comes to restrain Jane.  She struggles.  She, doctor and policeman don't see a shaft of light shine down on Don behind them.  The jack hammer operator, now in Viking dress, descends through the light and carries Don's spirit up while Don's body remains on the table.  Follow them up through

Ext. the roof of the hospital - a snowy night

Don and the jack hammer operator rise up through the roof and soar up with ever increasing speed to

The cosmos - jack hammer operator and Don - flying

Don
(wakes, looks around, disoriented)
Hallucinating.....Recurring dream...
(looks off, points)
That bridge!  I drove onto it from an
off ramp on the Santa Monica Freeway!

His P.O.V. - the rainbow bridge to Asgard

The jack hammer operator flies over the rainbow bridge with Don then they start to descend.  Tilt down to

Heimdall - the guardian of the rainbow bridge

Heimdall is a huge, regal Viking with light filled eyes.  He salutes as Don and the jack hammer operator fly over.

Heimdall
Hail, Mighty Thor!

Aerial view over Asgard - moving

The jack hammer operator and Don fly over the land of the gods, a monumental landscape of towering fjords and cascading waterfalls, supernaturally blue skies, majestic rock crystal palaces, gleaming towers of stone and gold.  Intercut to Don who frantically tries to analyze events.

Don
(to himself, closes his eyes)
You're having a psychotic interlude,
escaping into a fantasy universe to
avoid reality.  You did it when you
were a child.  This is a regression to
childhood.
(tightly)
Hang on!  Reject the illusion!

They approach the huge golden doors of Odin's palace, which open majestically as they fly into

Int. Odin's throne room - jack hammer operator and Don

The jack hammer operator descends with Don in a shaft of eerie light, lands on a circular stone floor set in a mystical pattern like a Mayan calendar marked in Norse Runes, then steps away leaving Don standing alone.

Don - before Odin in his throne

Lightning illuminates the scene.  The throne room is a vast circular colonnade beyond which are the heavens.  At the outer ring of the floor pattern, Odin sits on an ancient carved throne, head down, chin on his chest, with two ravens perched on his shoulders.  Columns of shimmering light rise from braziers.  A beat, the ravens scream and beat their wings, and Odin stirs, lifts his head drowsily, blinks to full wakefulness then speaks majestically.

Odin
Look upon me and know that I am the
all powerful overlord of the gods,
ruler of the heavens and master of
all that was, is, and ever shall be.
I am Odin!  Thy father.

Don
(diagnosing himself)
I wished for  a father when I was a
child.  I had none so I dreamed my
father was a god.  That way, I wasn't
an unwanted orphan, I was a god, too!

Odin gestures and the sound of hammer beats begin.  Don puts his hands over his ears, pained by the sound.

Don
(continuing)
No!  No more hammering....
(fights for sanity)
I'm not here.  Right now, I'm probably
under observation in a Norwegian
hospital.  They've given me medication
but I'm not responding because I'm
off drifting in never never land.

Hammer beats increase.  Odin holds his hands up, fingers spread on either side of his head and a strong light illuminates his face as he speaks again.

Odin
Thou seest me but know me not because
I took all memory of thy godliness
from thee when I banished thee to
Midgard to live as a mortal.

Don
No!

Don turns away, Odin points and Don's leg suddenly buckles.  He has to lean heavily on his cane or fall.

Odin
Then did I also make thee lame so
thou wouldst know the weakness of
flesh which is the lot of humankind.
All this I did out of a father's
loving heart so thou couldst learn
humility.

Odin gestures.  Hammer beats stop and Don's cane twists out of his grasp and hovers in the air in front of him glowing.

Odin
(continuing)
Take thy stick!  Strike it upon the
ground and be thou a god once more.
Be thou mighty Thor, thunderer, lord
of lightning.  Thor...
(with great emotion)
My best loved son!

Don
I am Donald Martin Blake.
(limps away without his cane, speaks to himself)
Scholarship student at Phillips
Exeter.  Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta
Kappa, Harvard University.  Yale
Medical School.  UCLA residency.....

He stops, reacts to those who suddenly block his path

His P.O.V. - jack hammer operator, Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg

They smile, greet him loudly like long lost friends.

Fandral
Know thee not thy companions of the
hunt, noble Thor?  it is I, Fandral!

Volstagg
(shoves Fandral playfully)
Dost recall this rogue put his horse
twixt my spear and the wily boar when
thou wert but a stripling!

Don - a memory flash - the boar hunt of his childhood dream

Back to scene

Hogun
Thor needs must remember thee,
Volstagg.
(eying Volstagg's gut)
There is too much to forget!

Volstagg
(puffs out his chest, annoyed)
Mock not my muscularity, Hogun, lest
thee taste of it!

Hogun playfully shoves Volstagg who bumps him with his butt.  Laughing, Fandral grabs Hogun before he can fight back.  Then the jack hammer operator slaps them both on the back and steps forward smiling.

Jack hammer operator
(to Don)
It is I!  Balder!  Thy boyhood friend.

During preceding, hammer betas begin softly and continue under.  Don resists, tries to limp away but is confronted by

Sif

Sif
(touches his cheek)
Knowest thou me, dearest heart?

Don - a memory flash - making love to Sif in his dream

Don
(remembers but resists)
We were in love....No!  You're the
personification of some adolescent
erotic fantasy.
(pulls away, torn)
If you actually exits...if I allow
any of you to exist!...I'll become
hopelessly insane!

Sif
(to Don)
I cannot bear to see thee thus in
torment!
(to Odin, kneels)
Beneficent Odin, let me restore Thor
to himself.  Let me make love with him
now.

Astonished, Don looks to Odin for his reply but Odin dozes, head down, chin on his chest.  The ravens flutter and screech and Odin wakes with a roar, causing lightning and thunder.

Odin
Time is short!  Odinsleep is nigh.

Odin gestures and Don rises in air and floats to a spot before the throne where he hangs suspended.

Odin
(continuing, to Don)
Once a millennium, an irresistible
sleep comes and numbs my powers in
slumber.  Then do the vile denizens of
the kingdom of darkness grow bold and
seek to breech the gates which bar
them from the realm of light.  Their
own degeneracy always thwarts them but
this time they have a powerful ally.
(Hoarsely)
Thy brother, Loki, is free!

The whole room trembles, thunder roars, lightning crashes

Don
(shouts in desperation)
I have no brother!  I have no father!
I am alone!

The lightning ceases.  A beat of silence.  The Odin gestures wearily and Don descends to stand before him.  Hammer beats pick up again softly under.

Odin
(resisting sleep)
While I sleep, none save Thor hast
strength enough to withstand Loki and
the creatures of darkness.  By my
design didst thou learn humility and
compassion as a mortal, therefore I
command thee now to return to thyself
and attend thy rightful duties as
both son and god.
(a beat, shouts)
Obey me!

Don
(beat, torn)
If I'm not out of my mind, if all
this is real, I still can't, I won't
relinquish my humanity to be a god!
I'm a man!  All I want is a chance to
live out my lift.  And to be with
Jane, with the woman I love.

Sif, Balder, Volstagg, Hogun, and Fandral

They react, shout adlib objections.

Volstagg
Turn not from thy destiny!

Sif
Say no so, beloved!  Be thou Thor...

Fandral, Hogun
Think on !....But thou art Thor!

Resume on Odin and Don

Odin waves for silence, slowly rises, goes to Don and raises his hands above Don's head threateningly.

Odin
(strong emotion)
Life as a mortal has blinded thee to
thy greater obligations.
(lowers his hands gently on Don's shoulders)
When Odinsleep comes, Loki shall
destroy Midgard and wreck havoc among
the weak and arrogant humans you have
chosen as your own.  When I awake,
then shall I the ruined world remake
and once more banish darkness to its
foul kingdom.
(hand on Don's head, a benediction)
Return to that which thou hast
chosen.  Thou who once were Thor art
no less my son.

An energy field glows around Don and his image becomes fainter and fainter.  Then he vanishes completely.  Odin looks spent and fatigued.

Sif
(to Odin)
Pray give me thy leave to follow him,
my lord.  He shall have need of my
love and protection.

Odin
(roars)
I forbid it!  None shall assist him!
Thor must cleave alone to the path he
hath chosen.  Thus have I spoken!

The raven screech and flap as Odin walks off.

Sif and Balder

Sif
(to Balder)
My love cannot be bound by such an
edict.  I am bound for Midgard.

Balder
(sotto, urgently)
Odin shall smite thee for thy
disobedience!

Sif looks skyward and beckons.  As she speaks, a white horse gallops across the sky and down to her.

Sif
Odin shall know naught for I will
journey beyond his sight, through the
perilous Cauldron of Ice in the Land
of the Storm Giants.  Fare thee well,
Balder.

Balder
(hand to his heart)
And thee, brave Sif!

She mounts up and gallops off and up into the sky.  We go to:

Int. hospital room - Don and Jane

Monitor equipment beeps slowly.  Don is unconscious.  Jane dozes at bedside, holding his hand.  A beat, monitor beeps speed up, Don stirs, turns to Jane and opens his eyes.

Jane
(disbelieving, tearful)
Don.........?

Don
(vaguely)
Auntie Em?

A beat, Don smiles.  Jane realizes he's awake and was kidding her.  She laughs and cries as she embraces him.

Jane
I thought I'd lost you!

Don
Not a chance.  I'm back for good.
(holding her)
And I'm free

They embrace happily.  We pull back to

A shimmering image of Don and Jane embracing

Widen to show the image appears on the rock crystal stalagmite in the pool in Karnilla's hall.  Karnilla hangs onto Loki seductively as they watch the image.  Loki laughs.

Loki
How foolish mortals are to steal
moments of happiness from the endless
darkness.  When the light fades, as it
must, their misery will be all the
greater.

Karnilla
Spare me your poetic concerns.  What
of our plan?

Loki
(amused)
It's "our" plan now, eh, Karnilla?
Let it begin when the sun is bright
and the world seems fresh and kind to
fools.....

As he speaks, he gestures and another image replaces Don and Jane on the crystal.  It is the image of a picturesque Norwegian fishing village.

Loki
(continuing)
Let our plan begin in that time of
hopeful expectation which men call
"tomorrow"....

Close in on village image and match dissolve to:

Ext. the actual fishing village - Don and Jane - a sunny day

At the dock, arm in arm and kissing, a happy Don and Jane board a ferry with other sightseeing passengers for a ride around the harbor.  The ferry sounds its horn and we go to:

The ferry at sea

As it sails away from the village

Don and Jane on deck at the rail

As they watch the village recede, a father in the b.g. uses a video camera to film his wife and two teenage daughters.

Don
(kisses her)
I feel like a kid again.

Jane
I love you.

Don
I love you, too.

He takes his toy hammer from his pocket.  Jane reacts

Jane
Why on earth did you bring that?

Don
It's the last thing that ties me to
the unhappiness of my past.

A beat.  He throws hammer overboard.  I sinks in the sea.

Don
(continuing)
Now we can live our lives in peace.

The ferry suddenly pitches and a strange watery noise rises.  Passengers and Don and Jane react and look over the side.

Their P.O.V. - the sea

Water boils and the ferry sways and pitches as a giant water monster slowly rises out of the frothing water, seizes Jane in a tentacle like clawed hand and carries her into the sea, out of sight.  The father gets it on tape as all scream and Don shouts in helpless anguish.  We go to:

Ext. royal hotel, Oslo - night

It is snowing heavily.  The wind howls.  We go to

Int. Don's room - featuring CNN news on television set

Distraught, Don half watches the father's video of the monster seizing Jane as horrified passengers look on.

CNN Announcer (v.o.)
.....an amazing video record of this
incredible abduction.  Oslo police
would not speak for the record, but
Professor Lars Hansen of Upsala
University has a theory.....

Don shows interest as TV picture changes to show a staid, conservative Professor Hansen in his university office

Professor Hansen
(Swedish accent)
As unlikely as it sounds, I believe
that the creature which seized Miss
Jane Foster was a Kraaken.....

Close in as he holds up old illustration in ancient book.  It shows a Kraaken, the creature that grabbed Jane

Professor Hansen
(continuing)
...an evil water spirit the ancients
believed was controlled by a Norn, a
powerful witch of Norse mythology.
Legend abounds with tales of the
dragon like Kraaken claiming victims
at sea and later devouring them in
his lair.....

Don groans in torment and can in hand, opens his balcony doors.  As snow blows in, he goes out onto

The balcony - night

Don shouts desperately into the wind and stormy sky.

Don
Odin!  Save Jane and I will accept my
duties as a god even if I must give
up my mortal life to do it.
(tearful)
Odin!  Hear me!

As if in answer to his prayer, the storm stops.  A beat.  Don gasps.  Sif appears in the sky, glowing.  She flies to him.

Don
Sif?

Sif
I heard thy cry and I will help thee.
But no mortal can follow me to the
place where Loki holds thy beloved.
For this thou must become Thor.

Don
Loki has Jane?
(a beat, prepares to strike cane)
All right!

Sif
But first, know this...
(kisses him ardently)
I shall ever love thee....

She holds up a glowing ring.  Close in as she puts it on his finger, twisting it as she speaks.  It glows brighter for an instant then vanishes completely.

Sif
(continuing)
Be thou Thor or mortal, this unseen
Ring of the Spirit shall guard thee.
Now hurry!  Jane will die if long we
tarry.

Don gathers his courage and strikes his cane on the ground.

Close on the cane striking the ground

Lightning effect.  Hammer beats resound and echo.  A pulsating aura in the shape of Thor's physique forms around Don's body which pulsates and grows fainter as Thor's aura becomes stronger, more solid.  Then Don and his cane vanish, transformed in the Mighty Thor and Mjolnir, his thunder hammer.  Outwardly, he has become Thor.  Inside, he retains the human attitudes of Don.  (Denoted as Thor-Don)

Thor-Don
(his voice deeper, awed)
I am Thor!
(he breathes deep, holds it for a beat, reveling
in his sense of power, then intensely to Sif)
Take me to Jane!

Sif nods, leaps into the sky.  A beat, then Thor-Don hurls his hammer skyward, rides into the sky on its momentum, and flies over to Sif

With Thor-Don and Sif - flying across the night sky

Thor-Don exults in his flying ability, spiraling in air like an expert swimmer in water, stretching, savoring his power.  He laughs, shouts, speeds up and peels away from Sif to fly up, up, up into

Deep space - Thor-Don in flight - a meteor approaches

The meteor is on a collision path.  Thor-Don turns, sees it, reacts, smashes it with one hammer blow and flies through the smithereens left behind, laughing at his prowess.  Sif f lies into the scene, puts her arms around him kisses him.

Memory flash of Don's dream of making love to Sif

Resume on Sif and Thor-Don - kissing, embracing, flying

Sif
(passionately)
I am thine, Mighty Thor.  Take me.

Thor-Don
(about to kiss her, stops himself)
No!  Take me to Jane!

A beat.  Sif looks at him longingly then nods, points down and away and she and Thor-Don fly off in that direction.

Sif and Thor-Don - streaking into view of Earth

Sif
(loosens her belt)
Thou shalt need all they powers to
save thy beloved.

Sif's belt buckle is a pair of jeweled ellipses.  As she hurls her belt into space, the jeweled ellipses glow, blink, and become a pair of burning eyes which fly ahead of Sif and Thor-Don at incredible speed.

Sif
(continuing)
My belt will show what evil lies
ahead to thy mind's eye.

Follow the flying eye belt

It swoops down to Earth and zooms across a raging sea toward a menacing, rocky shore.  Intercut to Thor-Don in flight to show his reactions as the scenes witnessed by the flying eye belt appear in supra over his face.  The flying eye belt swoops down and closes in on

A strange, brooding island - moving shot

Pan from P.O.V. of flying eye belt to show

Hideous troll warriors

The trolls stand guard on the battlements of a menacing rock fortress.  Writing, crucified trolls line the narrow road which leads to partly open, massive wood fortress gates.

Another angle - flying eye belt

It passes through the partly open gates and emerges in

Int. fortress torture chamber

Loki watches giant cannibal trolls chain a terrified Jane spread eagled onto a torture wheel.  Loki then fondles her and laughs when she cringes.  We tilt up to feature

The flying eye belt

It wraps itself around a beam and hangs down like a camera trained on the scene below then cut back to

Thor-Don and Sif in flight - moving

Thor-Don reacts to eye belt scene of Jane's torture in supra.  Scene dissolves.  Frantic, Thor-Don flies faster and we go to

The brooding island - fortress in the distance

Sif and Thor-Don fly into scene and land on the narrow road to the fortress.  Troll warriors see the, react, hiss venomously and start running toward them with swords.

Sif
(drawing sword, to Thor-Don)
Warrior trolls!  They are worthy foes.

Uncertainly, Thor-Don hefts his hammer for battle as two troll warriors arrive and slash at Sif with their swords.

Sif and the two troll warriors

She swings her sword high and cuts off first troll's head, back swings low and cuts second troll in half through the waist.  The halves separate and the second troll's bottom half runs, kicks the first troll's severed head soccer style to the second troll's top half which catches it, leaps and slam dunks it onto the first troll's neck.  Its head back in place, the first troll picks up the second troll's top half - which is waving and shouting to him - and sets it on its bottom half facing the wrong way which doesn't bother the second troll at all!  Then it and the first troll throw themselves on Thor-Don and knock him to the ground.

Thor-Don and the two trolls

As Sif uses her sword on more troll warriors who surge onto scene, Thor-Don throws the two trolls off, bounds to his feet, and in a continuous motion, hammer uppercuts the second troll sending it flying up and away into the sea then hammers the first troll on top of the head with one blow which causes its head to fold into its chest, its chest to collapse around its hops and legs to collapse over its feet.  It then flops over pathetically, feet quivering in air.

Thor-Don
(amazed, looks at his hammer)
Jeez!

Sif screams o.s. Thor-Don turns and sees

Sif surrounded by troll warriors

She flails them with her sword but they swarm around her.  A fat troll pins her sword arm back and a salivating troll prepares to impale her on a pike.

On Thor-Don

He raises his hammer and shouts to the sky

Thor-Don
Odin!

Forked lightning crashes down, each fork attaches itself to a face of the hammer head, then Thor-Don throws the hammer and it flies off, carrying the two lightning strands after it to

Sif and the trolls

The hammer flies into the shot.  The salivating troll ducks under it and laughs as it flies over his head but shrieks as the trailing lightning strands melt his pike, then fry him until he disintegrates in a burst of electricity.  Go to:

The hammer in flight dragging lightning strands after it

It turns and comes back at the fat troll.  He sees it coming, gibbers, turn and runs.  The hammer hits his back, knocking him facedown and the trailing lightning coils around him and other troll warriors, frying them to electrical disintegration as the hammer loops and flies back into

Thor-Don's hand

With a roar, he wades through troll warriors, bashing them left and right with his hammer, clearing a path to the massive gates as Sif moves up beside him, using her sword.

Sif
(motioning ahead)
The gates!  Quickly!

Their P.O.V. - the massive wood gates

As troll guards pull the gates closed from inside the fortress, a massive iron lock drops in place to bar entry.  We go to:

The flying eye belt in the torture chamber

As Jane screams in agony o.s. we go to

Flying eye P.O.V. of Jane on the torture wheel

Loki tears off Jane's blouse, extends his hand.  It erupts in flames and he prepares to brand her with it.

Resume on Thor-Don watching torture vision in supra over

The vision dissolves and Thor-Don reacts in fury.

Sif
(points to gate lock)
Break the lock!  Hurry!

With a howl of rage, Thor-Don raises his hammer and with a mighty blow breaks the lock.  As he does, gates, fortress, trolls, all dissolve away to reveal that Thor-Don is in

Int. the British museum - the ancient Norse archway

Thor-Don reacts, disbelieving.  The iron lock bearing Odin's runic seal lies on the ground, shattered!  He looks to

Sif

Sif becomes Karnilla before his eyes.

Karnilla
Thank you for breaking Odin's seal!
Aha ha ha ha ha.

As she laughs, the gates creak, burst open and a blast of slimy black vapor accompanied by the mournful sounds of a million evil beings sweeps into the room like a swirling tornado, knocks the hammer from Thor-Don's hands, violently picks him up and casts him to the floor.  Then the black vapor spews out, exploding through the windows onto the

The roof of the British museum - in the sunlight

Sighing, the dark vapor starts to separate and take form in the light and gradually resolves itself into an army of salivating cannibal trolls who crawl down the walls onto

The front of the British museum - Great Russell Street

Pan to show a cannibal troll attack a young couple with his sword.  Another troll starts to eat them as they fall.

A jaguar coming along the street tries to stop, back up, turn and escape.  Intercut to

Int. the Jaguar - a sloan ranger girl at the wheel

Annoyed at having her way blocked, she drives through a cannibal troll, backs over another one, and is completing a turn to escape when a troll tears her door off and grabs her.  Another trolls tears in through the jag's floor and tries to pull her down to him.  The trolls start to pull her apart like a wishbone.  She screams and we go to

Ext. another street - the troll army spreads

Pull back to show trolls killing and eating people, fires now rage, cars are lying about, overturned, crushed, torn apart then change angle to feature

A thin troll at a sewer mouth

The thin troll plays an odd flute, smiles wickedly.  A beat, and hordes of rats swarm out of the sewer as we return to:

Int. British museum -at the Norse archway

Karnilla laughs.  Thor-Don is now Don and lies unconscious on the floor, his cane near his hand.  Wind blows from the open gates and increases in intensity as Don slowly comes to and shakily gets to his feet.

Don
(stunned, to Karnilla)
You tricked me!  Where is Jane?

Karnilla
She matters not!  Our allies spew
forth from the kingdom of darkness.
Soon, Loki and I shall rule and thou
who has chosen mortality, will taste
death.

She raises a clawed hand and is about to tear at the woozy Don's throat when a bolt of lightning crashes in on

The gates

Lightning closes the gates and seals them with a "lock" of pulsating lightning energy.  The gates bulge and strain as the dark forces try to get out but the "lock" holds fast.

Resume on Don and Karnilla

Karnilla
This is Odin's work!

Lightning strikes again.  Fearful, Karnilla steps away from Don and folds her arms over her chest.

Karnilla
(continuing, to Don)
He will not long withstand the
Odinsleep and when he slumbers, Loki
and I shall triumph!  Aha ha ha

She laughs and vanishes.  Dazed, uncomprehending, Don looks at the bulging, throbbing gates and limps from the museum to

Ext. London streets - scene of desolation and rampage

Move with Don as he surveys the ghastly scene in horrified disbelief.  Rampaging trolls leave destruction, fire, and corpses in their wake.  Don looks down the street and sees

London police and the British army battling trolls

Tanks fires at trolls, a commando fires a stinger missile which tears through troll troops but trolls keep coming as soldier and bobbies shoot them at point blank range.

Resume on Don in a rubble strewn Mews Street

Half limping, half-staggering, he stops, fights to clear his head, then shouts to the heavens.

Don
Could I...Could Thor have prevented
this horror?  It's not just Jane
anymore, it's mankind!  The Earth
itself!  They're all doomed!

Loki (v.o.)
As art thou, brother dear.

Don turns and reacts to see

A pillar of fire

The pillar of fire casts a long shadow of a man in a horned helmet then the fire vanishes and Loki stands in its place, draws his battle axe, strides out laughing to face Don.

Don
(uncertain)
Loki?

Loki
Thou dost not recognize me?
(beat, laughs, then sarcastic)
That must have sounded positively
archaic to a modern man like you.  Let
me try a more contemporary approach.

He suddenly swings his axe onto the street.  As the blade strikes it splits the paving which cleaves into a fissure which travels beneath Don's feet then widens.  Don leaps to one side of the fissure and leaves his cane on the other to avoid falling in.  Steam and fire shoot from the fissure.

Loki
(continuing, his face distorts into a mask of hate, eyes blazing, etc)
Now do you remember me?  Yaaaaaaaaah!

With an unholy cry, Loki raises his battle axe over his head and runs at Don.

Don

His cane is across the fissure.  With a split second to spare, the leaps over the fissure, scoops up his cane as he lands, and rolls onto his back, looking up to see

Loki

Loki is on him and swings his axe down for the kill

Don

He strikes the cane on the ground.  Lightning!  Hammer beats!  Transformation effect to Thor.  As the cane becomes the hammer it rebounds and rises up just in time to catch the axe blade in air.  Loki tries to force the axe down.  Thor-Don presses up against it.  They strain and vibrate with effort.

Thor-Don
(jaw clenched)
You're...my brother....why do...you
hate me?

Loki
(grinds teeth)
Sibling rivalry?

Loki suddenly spins away and swings his axe down at Thor-Don's ankles from the right.  At the last instant, Thor-Don inexpertly blocks it with his hammer, striking sparks.  Loki spins and swings axe down at Thor-Don's knees from the left.  Thor-Don sidesteps and pins the axe down with his hammer.  This leaves him wide open and Loki hits him full in the face then backhands him sending him flying backwards through the air and down, headfirst, into

The flaming fissure

Thor-Don falls from sight.  Smoke and flame belch up where he fell.  Loki runs to the edge of the fissure, peers down and cackles with glee.  A beat, then Thor-Don flies out hammer first, catching Loki full in the chest and taking them both off frame

Loki and Thor-Don - flying through the air to

Trafalgar Square - the Nelson Monument column

Loki and Thor-Don fly into shot and crash through the Nelson column which topples as they continue to fly off frame to

The front steps of the National Gallery

They fly into the shot, crash on the steps and sprawl, Loki tumbling up the stairs on impact and Thor-Don rolling down the stairs, landing on his back, dazed.

Loki at the top of the steps

He raises his battle axe, shrieks, and hurls himself down on Thor-Don who shakes his head, blinks and looks up to see.

Loki hurtling down on him from above

On Thor-Don

He sits up and raises his hammer handle lengthwise in both hands, catches Loki's helmet horns on the handle and flips him up and over in a series of pirouettes off frame to

Loki, turning in air, approaches a London double decker bus

As Loki plummets down toward them, assorted bus passengers scatter and scream

The top level of the bus - moving

A punker girl jumps clear as Loki lands headfirst, his helmet horns sticking into her seat.  As eh struggles to free pulls himself free we change angle to

Thor-Don - flying in toward the top deck of the bus

The bus speeds along London streets, nearly out of control as Thor-Don hurls his hammer at

Loki

Here comes the hammer!  Loki pulls, the seat breaks free, he straightens up wearing the bus seat on his helmet, turns and deflects the incoming hammer with his axe, striking sparks as the hammer veers off and flies back to

Thor-Don

The hammer lands in his hand just as he lands on the top deck and runs at Loki who shakes the bus seat off his helmet.  The seat flies in Thor-Don's face, blinding him for an instant which Loki uses to kick him in the chest with both feet, sending him flying down the bus' spiral stairway as we go to:

A bus stop near Hyde Park - a queue of patient passengers

As the bus speeds by, Thor-Don flies out the bottom of the bus spiral stair, scattering them, and lands on

The street

As Thor-Don hits the street, Loki leaps onto him and they roll over and over,