Date unknown. Pre-Christian Europe.

The village walls came into sight over the hill, he was almost there. He was almost safe. The invaders were so close behind him that he could hear their footsteps and the sounds of their grunts. Their blades clattered off their bronze shields as they chased him. The boy felt his legs grow tired and the blood drip from his shoulder where the arrow had pierced. He kept running. Despite his youth he understood the importance of the moment. He had to warn the village. He reached the gate to the village and knocked on its wooden frame.

“Let me in!” the boy screamed in the Old Gutnish dialogue.

The gates opened and the boy fell in. An old man ran to the boy’s side and caught him as his legs went limp. The boy’s lips moved but no noise was made. The old man leaned in so that his ear was almost touching the boy’s mouth and he listened for anything.

“Invaders...Under Attack” the boy uttered.

The town walls shook. The gates crashed open. They were here. With knives and swords, shields and spears they came, killing and destroying everything they saw. The old man pulled the boy to his feet and dragged him as fast as he could deeper into the settlement.

“May the Gods have mercy on us.” The old man whispered.

The Captain of the invaders, Ymir laughed hard. He pulled his sword out of a corpse’s gut and cleaned the blade with his trouser legs.  

“What great sport!” he yelled to his men, who cheered in response. The captain noticed the sky going dark. The sky was blue when they docked their ships but now the weather had taken a turn for the worst.

“My captain!” said the captains first mate Omar, “The weather!”

“What of it?” growled Ymir.

“The lads think it might be the work of Th-”

“I’ll hear no more of your fool’s words!” Ymir grunted “There is no such thing as Gods and Goddesses! There is only this!”

Thunder cracked through the air. The invaders all stopped their plundering. They looked to the sky and held their breaths. Lightning flashed and in the quick illumination a man appeared to come through the clouds.

“Impossible,” thought Omar.

“I SAW NOTHING!” Ymir shouted, “Get back to work! I want to get home to my women!”

The men were no longer listening. An invader screamed in the distance. Ymir squinted to see what had happened but it was too dark. A wind blew around inside the town walls. Another invader screamed out but the noise was almost lost in the storm. In that moment Ymir knew he had to run. He still wouldn’t allow himself to believe in the “Aesir” clan and the other myths but still he felt himself begin to move. His feet began to run. His hand tightened its grip on his sword. To his left: a bolt of lightning hit one of his men. He looked to his right: His first mate was still at his side.
“Captain! What do we do?” Omar shouted.

Ignore him, thought Ymir. Keep running. Make it to the ship and get the hell out of here.

“MY LORD!” screamed Omar. Something in his voice forced Ymir to look back. There stood a man almost seven feet tall. His arms as big as a bears. His hair as wild as the storm and his eyes as bright twin stars. In his hands was a weapon that even the invaders knew the name of, a mighty hammer who’s very presence proved the impossible – that Gods walked among men.

“Thor!” Ymir whimpered.

Thor raised his mighty hammer and laughed. Omar kneeled in front of him. Ymir stood frozen in the spot. The hammer swung and Ymir felt Omar’s jaw bone slap against his cheek. Thor raised his hammer again but this time he took aim for a throw. Ymir begged his legs to move but to no avail. Thor let loose his hammer and its massive weight collided with the captain.

From his place beside the child, the old man watched the mayhem. The storm began to die away and the clouds parted. Sunlight hit the ground again. The old man’s eyes never blinked, never turned away. This was the moment of his long life. Thor, son of Odin, God of the lightning and the thunder; Thor – the God he prayed to – had saved him and his town.

“Milord Thor!” the old man called out, getting quickly to his feet.

Thor turned did not look at the old man.

“Milord Thor,” the old man repeated, “You are a kind and noble God. My people cannot repay you!”

Thor lifted his head at last to look at him. “Are you the one who called me?” his voice boomed and echoed around the walls of the settlement.

“I – yes - my lord, ‘twas my prayer that drew you here.”

“Thank you, old man.” And Thor began to smile, “This was more fun than I have had in a long time.”

With that, Thor raised his hammer and his body lifted into the air. In a moment he was gone out of sight. The old man looked at the child, still exhausted on the ground.

“Are you alright son?”

“Thor is terrifying!” the boy said.

“Is the wolf’s bite any better than the snake’s?” The old man said and felt himself shiver. 
 

Present Day.

The Doctor handed the security guard his passport.

“Business or pleasure Dr. Blake?” she asked him.

“Business.” He replied.

“Enjoy your time here.”  She waved him on and the lady next in line after him stood up and gave her passport.

“Business or pleasure Dr Foster?” the security guard asked.

“Business.” Jane Foster replied.

“Welcome to Norway Dr. Foster.” The guard said waving her on.

“C’mon Keith!” Jane called to their final travelling companion.

“Hurry up Keith – the convention only starts tomorrow!” Blake chided.

“Sorry guys,” Keith replied coming just two steps behind them “hate to think you were missing all of Norway just for me!”

This phenomenon appears pretty often and it, for me, ruins the ending of a story. Think of any supervillain, especially the "superintelligent" ones. They carefully put long term strategies in place to become ruleroftheworld/eliminate manking/ kill a certain enemy/ get revenge etc. These plans devestate the lives of heroes and give them an antagonist to fight against for the duration of the story. The more impossible it is to overcome the villains challenge the more heroic the good guy appears. Yet then it gets to a point where the villain must be defeated and he/she (i'm going to say "he" for simplicity) starts acting ridiculously stupidly. This is normally explained "instory" by saying that the villain has a huge ego or 'well, they were crazy the whole time so it was just a matter of time until they messed up'.  
 
But i say thee nay!  
 
A good villain should not be that easy to defeat - he should not make irrational decisions that somehow allow the hero to save the day. How many stories involve the villain making a mistake that allows the hero to capitalise and win. I am thinking here of all the James Bond villains that kill without hesitation throughout the story and then leave Bond in a cell ... I am also thinking of Marvel's recent events and how they quickly wind up. The skrull invasion ended because those sneaky shape shifters created many strategies to divide and conquer the heroes but in the end decided "why not just take them all on in a big field". Its not like they had a biological weapon they could fire off at any time .... 
Or Siege 3 where Norman Osborn who has been written pretty consistently over the course of Dark Reign as being a brilliant strategist and coping admirably with his Green Goblin persona, this made him a worthy opponent not just for the avengers but for the entire set of marvels heroes. Then what does he do? He goes into battle with green goblin face paint - ? That alone is something so stupid it is bound to loose him his top dog position. Then the heroes show up and he is depicted as crumbling. Once his IronPatriot costume is removed he pretty much gives up, its not like he has a backup plan or other superpowers... wow, superheroes: that was really difficult.  
I wont talk about siege 4 but i am pretty sure that the heroes dont overcome all odds to win, its the villains taking sudden U-turns that allows the heroes an easy victory.  
 The same goes for House of M, Civil war, or any story where the villain crumbles because they have a sudden change of heart "I never really wanted to destroy asgard...." 

There are probably examples in DC stories too but i dont read them.   
 
There are examples of stories where the bad guy remains badass to the end, they just dont seem to happen in an Event. Look at the end of the Dark Knight movie, Batman confronts Joker on the roof and everyone knows that in a one on one combat Batman wins everytime - but the creators didnt make it easy for him. In fact it seems that Joker will win for a time. Batman struggles on and despite the odds he wins. Cue kids in audience saying "wicked cool" or whatever.  
In the authority where the rogue doctor fights the good guys on an empty planet this is sorta of parodied, the villain is undone by the very empathetic powers he has taken from the hero, the difference is that this made some bit of sense as the empathy was often mentioned in the story before this. I guess i still like it because in the end they kick the villains head off. Back the the "wicked cool" reaction.  
 
Does anyone agree with me? Or like the time I thought I knew how grant morrison would bring back Batman am I waaaay off?

free ideas i have that are just floating through my head, warning value of these ideas may vary. dramatically. 
1. (already discussed elsewhere) What if both uncle ben and aunt may had both been killed, Spider-man grows up to be a villain - who can stop him?
 
2. (removed this idea for being crappy after re-reading it)
 
3. Alternative Banshee from X-men story. Banshee and his brother Black Tom Cassidy are mutants in the IRA. Banshee can use his voice to set off a sonic boom which deafens anyone in the area and causes blackouts and Black Tom can turn wood into a lethal weapon. The story set in the 70s sees the two irish men travel over to London as part of a terrorist plot. Banshee naively believes the target of the attack is the British Military, when he finds out that Tom is actually planning to attack a tourist hot spot, Banshee must decide what sort of man he wishes to be. Rebelling against his brother, Tom is caught and Banshee returns to  Ireland. While there Banshee marries the girl that both brothers had fought over before. Tom returns setting up a mighty battle but what neither irishmen know is that Tom was followed by the first British super-soldier - UnionJack. A racist englishman who hates the Irish, with the ability to track the men across the country. The two brothers must try to escape the soldier before they can settle their own score. 
 
4. X-men story, Cyclops gets Emma Frost preggers. he sets out to hand the leadership role over to one of the x-men but which one? And in Shi'ar space the find out that another Summers child is on the way and set out to stop it (cos you know, shi'ar believe that summers kids are always vessels for the phoenix force...) Oh and if Emma turns diamond this could hurt the baby... so her defenses are low
 
5. Another x-men related story, while in Shi'ar Space, Cassandra Nova telepathically enslaved a commoner and commanded it to clone her cells with the cells of Lillandra to create a daughter for her. This child is half human-half Shi'ar. Named Lilandra Nova (yeah i like it too) this girl has it out for the x-men, especially Emma Frost. this could easily tie into number 4.  
 
6. Alternative future where Batman and Superman are both dead and the earth is almost fully enslaved by Kryptonians with only a few rebels. these rebels include Dick Grayson still operating as Robin (or redrobin i like that costume) and Supergirl, (in this world superman's daughter) and a seemingly reformed Lex Luthor. Also a one armed green arrow. The rebels attempt to travel back in time before Doomsday killed Superman. As events unfold only Supergirl and robin travel back. This leads them to confront Bats, Supes and a young robin. But it also shows that Lex luthor really was evil - so what changed? At this time it appears that Lex luthor was communicating with kryptonians in space (pirate kryptonians of course who were never on krypton when it 'sploded) and he tries to bring them to earth to use them to overthrow the world and become the ruler. However the Kryptonians dont want to serve luthor so luthor makes a kryptonian hybrid - one that can survive kryptonian radiation - dubbed "Doomsday". The present and future characters have to race against time to stop the future from happening again! 
 
7. Cyclops from the early days of the x-men (just pre-phoenix saga) is transported into the future where he finds Wolverine now running the x-men. Cyclops immediately tries to overthrow wolverine believing that wolvie must have done something suspicious to future cyclops. Cyclops easily defeats the old wolverine and humiliates him thus usurping him as leader of the x-men. Wolverine admits that in this time, he has lost most of his healing power and is slowly aging. Cyclops begins to discover that the future ... isnt that perfect.... and that wolverine isnt his real enemy
 
8. Alternative green lantern, Hal Jordan is an average man until the bright light hits him and turns him into a prophet for an interstellar religion called the Green Light. The light grants him  a ring to help humanity discover the power of the religion. Hal develops his own religion dedicated to teaching the world about Justice and Equality and a new method of living that just might save humanity. The only problem is that the world thinks he's nuts. Including the worlds other messiah - superman.  
 
 
9. Sentry pre-dark reign.  
Bob reynolds is the sentry but he has forgotten his past. Trying to pick up the pieces with his wife Lindy, he tries to reconnect with the people he saved. He finds a website dedicated to him that retains information that failed to get wiped out when the Sentry was repressing himself. He tries to meet the people who have left messages on the website but ... they are all dead. Except for one woman and her son who are still alive. Somehow, Sentry knows that this is the work of the Void. He believes that the void is killing off every person he ever saved and that this woman is next. obsessively he watches over the woman and child like a pagan god watching over a small tribe. Although initially uncomfortable the woman begins to relax around the Sentry as the boy takes a liking to him. This does not sit well with Lindy who begins to wonder why Bob is spending so much time with them. before things get too Jerry Maguire the sentry sleeps with the woman, the void shows up and tries to kill the mom and son. Sentry fights with him but the void launches an attack on the son. The son defends himself with a bright light shield. The sentry is convinced that this power is similar to his own. The void flees realising that leaving the woman alive will cause more problems for sentry and Lindy. Sentry tries to figure out what the boy is but the woman seems unusually defensive about him suddenly. Sentry is convinced that the boy is in fact his own son. In a panic he kidnaps the kid and takes him to the Baxter building. Reed reluctantly agrees to test the DNA but warns Sentry that this could ruin his marriage to Lindy, Bob gets frustrated with reed and tells him that he doesn't appreciate his family enough and that Bob has always wanted kids more than anything. Reed retorts that only a month ago this would never have been on his mind.  The results show that the boy's DNA is similar to Bobs. But the possibility that Bob gave the boy powers to make him feel like a son is also possible. Sentry confused (as usual) returns the child to his mother and pretends that the test conclusively shows that he is the father in order to trick her into a confession. the woman says that she will take bob to the court if he tries to make a deal out of this as super heroes families are walking targets. Sentry out of shame and depression agrees to this. In the final scene he is sitting on the roof of the watch tower. The void appears sitting beside him. Instead of launching into a battle the two discuss who the void is, the sentry noticing that the void's timing is too good to be true. The void admits that he isn't real and that the Sentry keeps bringing him back not to complicate his life but to simplify it. "When I'm not around, you have to deal with your own actions." Void says "But when I am out there killing - you can simply escape into your own fantasy where you are the only one who can save the day." The Sentry sits silently looking out into the evening sky. He has no answer. "Want to fight about it?" the void says with a grin.  
"Yes." 
 
10. Alternative world again, Batman versus superman. Batman and Superman have agreed to set up a team for superheroes to make sure they are raised with the correct values. Superman begins recruiting Flash and Wonderwoman etc. but Batman remains out of it, prefering to be a silent partner. Clark becomes upset with Bruce and argues with him over this, Bruce agrees to help out more if Clark will let Wayne Industries experiment on his spaceship. Clark reluctantly agrees. Bruce meanwhile is forming his own team this one with only humans - Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Oliver Queen and Dinah (whatever black canary's name is) to be Batmen and to take down super people should they Become corrupt. The spaceship deal goes sour and the world blames superman who in turn blames bruce/batman. This leads to an epic fight of epicness. Jason Todd dying along the way to motivate batman like a good ol' refrigerator death cause that always helps make the fights epic.    

first of all i have never read any of grant morrisons batman books  but i have kept an eye on what is going on - read the previews and watched all the reviews. So i know that the black glove tried really hard to kill batman but then Darkseid killed him but now we see he is actually lost in time. 
Here is what i think is going to be revealed 
 
Dr. hurt who claimed to know so much about batman and thomas wayne - is actually a time displaced Batman. He came to the future (events before the black glove story) and set all these plans in motion to kill Bruce Wayne and at the conclusion to Batman RIP when the helicopter explodes he sends Bruce back in time to the cavemen. Hurt/time-lost-Bruce-Wayne then disguises himself as Batman and takes his place in the fight against darkseid and dies in his place. The Bruce Wayne we have all be following wakes up in the cave thousands of years ago and begins to travel through time until he returns home thus beating death. At what point he has to become Dr. Hurt and set RIP in motion I dont know yet but I think that idea is really coming together... 
 
Sorry Grant - your outside of the box thinking is no match for mine... 
 
Finally I am probably way off and I kind of hope that i am cause after rereading what i have so far, the idea seems pretty poor. 

Is anyone else tired of only getting 22 pages of comic book fun a month? Plus whats is with all the ads? Grr! I dont care what is advertised in my comics!  
I love when a collection comes out in paper back. I can sit for a little while and get through a full story without gaps spent waiting and without constant ad interuptions. And it helps the story, i read Jeph Loeb's hush all in one sitting and I didnt see any of the twists coming because i was too into the story to actually stop and think. I dont know if I would have been as impressed if i had to wait for the next issue and then the next. Compare this to when I read Secret invasion as it came out, each time I would have to wait until the next issue came out, giving me plenty of time to try to predict the twists and by the time the twists arrived they felt like small revelations, Like of course Tony stark isnt a skrull, why would Marvel do that? And that is not a good attitude to have, when i read it in serialised comic books, I always fall into the trap of looking at other comic books out at the time or looking at marvel as a whole. Of course they wont kill off a character if he is currently their most popular (well im not always right) but when you read it in a collected trade, you can forget the rest of the MU or DCU and actually emerse yourself in the story.  
Here is another reason I love trades more than individual issues, re-reading issues. If I go back to read x-men/dark avengers and its all in issues, then I have to remove each one from their bag and then when i am done i have to put them back, for comics that were only 16 pages long that means i spend more time with the bags then i do reading them. In trade this doesnt happen. 
Am i going crazy? My imaginary talking hammer certainly thinks so, or is this a real problem? I guess my problem really lies with the small number of pages in a monthly comic. In Ireland and the UK they have great collectors editions that allow you to read three comics for the price of one, and i never complained about having to wait for each monthly edition.