Loki Fact — November 2, 2026

Today's Fact

One of Thor's most durable enemies began as a beverage Loki tampered with from another realm.

LOKI CREATED THE ABSORBING MAN WITH A SPIKED DRINK — A PRISONER'S WATER, LACED WITH ASGARDIAN HERBS, BUILT TO BEAT THOR!

The Featured Fact

Frustrated by failed schemes against Thor, Loki decided in Journey Into Mystery Vol. 1 #114 (1965) to manufacture a mortal weapon instead. His chosen vessel was Carl 'Crusher' Creel, a violent boxer serving a prison sentence — strong, angry and conveniently unobserved at mealtimes.

Loki laced Creel's drinking water with a potion of rare Asgardian herbs. Creel drank, and discovered he could absorb the properties of anything he touched: bullets turned him to lead, his own ball and chain became a wrecking tool, and he smashed his way out of prison as the Absorbing Man.

The creation nearly worked too well. Creel absorbed the properties of Thor himself and of Mjolnir, pressed the thunder god hard, and later had to be retrieved from space by Loki and set against Thor again — a pawn who kept developing ambitions of his own, up to absorbing Asgard itself.

Why It's Obscure

Loki did not recruit a henchman in #114. He bottled one, shipped him, and lost the receipt.

Journey Into Mystery #114 (1965)

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's recipe — the debut issue, 'The Stronger I Am, The Sooner I Die,' spells out the spiked-water origin in Creel's prison commissary.

The ball and chain

Prison hardware, kept as a signature — Creel carried his shackle and iron ball out of prison and kept them as his trademark weapon for decades.

Absorbing Mjolnir

A pawn who copied the king — Creel absorbed the properties of Thor and his hammer, briefly becoming a copy of the very god he was built to destroy.

Cast into space

Disposal by Odin — after Creel absorbed Asgard's own properties and towered over Odin, the All-Father hurled him into space, and Loki later fetched him back for another round.

Gallery

Comic art of Loki and the figures named in today's fact.

**The schemer's era**Loki on a Journey Into Mystery collection cover — the title where, in 1965, he stopped merely plotting against Thor and started manufacturing opponents.

Loki in his horned helmet in comic art — **Loki in horns**Loki in his horned helmet and green regalia, the portrait of a god whose preferred weapon in this story never left a prison water glass.

The Absorbing Man glowing gold and absorbing energy in a comic panel — **Absorbing Man, mentioned by name**Carl 'Crusher' Creel mid-absorption, body glowing as he takes on the properties around him — exactly the unstable effect Loki's potion was designed to produce.

Sources

Every fact on this page was checked against at least two independent sources before publication.

Bullpen Bulletins

Absorbing Man — WikipediaOrigin: Creel drinks a liquid Loki laced with a mystical potion in Journey into Mystery #114 (March 1965) and gains matter-absorption powers.
Absorbing Man — Multiversal OmnipediaConfirms Loki added an enchanted potion of rare Asgardian herbs to Creel's prison drinking water to create an agent against Thor.