SKURGE THE EXECUTIONER

Real Name: Skurge

Occupation: Warrior, formerly co-ruler of Casiolena's realm

Legal Status: Citizen of Asgard:

Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of Skurge's existence.

Other Aliases: Executioner, Hans Grubervelt

Place of Birth: Jotunheim

Place of Death: Gjallerbru Bridge on the Gjoll River in Hel

Marital Status: Single

Known Relatives: father, mother (names unrevealed, deceased)

Group Affiliation: The Masters of Evil, The Legion of the Unliving, former member of the Einherjar, former ally of the Enchantress, Loki, The Mandarin and Casiolena

Base Of Operations: Asgard

First Appearance: Journey Into Mystery #103

History: Skurge was the illegitimate son of one of the Frost Giants of the other-dimensional realm of Jotunheim and of a goddess who was born in Skornhheim, a land on the Asgardian continent. Ostracized by the Frost Giants due to his diminutive size in comparison to them, Skurge turned against them. A great warrior, Skurge gained the epithet “The Executioner” through his prowess in killing many of the Storm Giants during one of the wars between Jotunheim and Asgard. Skurge was made a citizen of Asgard, but he chose to lead a solitary life there, in part due to his grim disposition, and in part because he did not feel himself truly accepted by the Asgardians as one of them.

Although Skurge found pleasure in exercising his skills as a warrior, the only real source of joy in his life was his passionate devotion to Amora the Enchantress, whose beauty was rivaled among Asgardian goddesses. Amora was physically attracted to Skurge, who in effect became his love-slave. She never treated him as her equal and often withdrew her favors from him in order to keep him in thrall, so he would do what she commanded in hope of ingratiating himself with her.

In recent years, Loki, the evil foster brother of Thor, Prince of Asgard, asked Amora to seduce Thor as part of one of his schemes. Amora, disguised an earth woman, went to Thor in his mortal persona as Dr. Donald Blake. Her efforts to seduce Blake failed, however. Outraged, Amora ordered Skurge to go to Earth and dispose of Jane Foster, the mortal nurse who worked for Blake and whom Thor then loved. Using his enchanted axe, the Executioner trapped Foster in another dimension. Skurge then battled Thor himself, but eventually made a bargain with Thor: he would return Foster to Earth in exchange for possession of Thor's enchanted hammer. Thor agreed to Skurge’s terms and the Executioner brought Foster back to Earth, but then the Enchantress appeared. Furious at Skurge’s betrayal, she used her magic to punish him. Terrified, Skurge begged Thor for help and released him from their bargain. Thor reclaimed his hammer and used it to transport Amora and Skurge to back to Asgard.

Odin, monarch of Asgard, punished the Enchantress and Executioner for their actions on Earth by exiling them there. On Earth, the Enchantress and Executioner joined the original Masters of Evil, headed by Baron Heinrich Zemo, who sought vengeance on Thor and the other members of the Avengers. Amora and the Executioner battled The Avengers several times. They both escaped when the Masters of Evil met their final defeat by the Avengers. Soon afterward, Amora and Skurge were sent by Loki to capture Jane Foster. Thor's brother, Balder soon arrived and fought Skurge, and the Executioner and the Enchantress soon fled without Foster when Thor himself appeared. Amora and Skurge were later among many superhuman menaces assembled by Doctor Doom to attack the Fantastic Four are the day of the wedding of two of their members, Reed Richards and Susan Storm.

The Executioner parted from the Enchantress and journeyed into an alternate future of the 25th Century, where he was defeated by the Hulk, who had also traveled through time. Returning to the time he left, the Executioner's reunited with the Enchantress, and together, they aided the Mandarin in an attempt at world conquest that was thwarted by The Avengers. Still later, the Enchantress and Executioner led legions of trolls in an attempt to conquer Asgard itself. This attempt, however, was thwarted by the Hulk, whom Loki had transported Asgard, and by Odin himself. Much later, Enchantress and Executioner aided Loki in gaining the throne of Asgard, but Odin soon returned to power.

Despite their past treason, the Enchantress and Executioner nevertheless fought on the side of Asgard against the legions of Muspelheim, attempting to destroy Asgard. Following the victory over Surtur and his hordes of followers, Amora and Skurge, both of whom had once been exiled from Asgard, lived at peace with its inhabitants, at least it to all appearances.

Amora, however, soon turned her attention to winning Heimdall, the Sentry of Asgard, as a lover. Anguished at being avoided and ignored by Amora, Skurge approached the Enchantress while she was Heimdall and told her he could not bear to be parted from her for so long. The Enchantress took him aside, and, as punishment for interrupting her while she was with Heimdall, magically turned Skurge’s feet to tree trunks and rendered a mute,.

The effects of this spell soon wore off and Skurge return to his normal condition, but he still felt humiliated and betrayed by Amora. In deep emotional pain, and believing Amora to have faithlessly deserted him for Heimdall, Skurge fought to find solace in turning his attention to battle. Therefore, the Executioner volunteered to join his past enemy Thor and the Einherjar (Warriors of Valhalla) in their expedition to Hel, the realm of Hela, the death-goddess. Due to the machinations of Malekith the Accursed, Rules of the Dark Elves, the souls of various mortals from Earth had been separated from their bodies and sent to dwell in Hel. Thor was determined to rescue those souls and restore them to the living bodies.

Within Hel, the Executioner believed he saw the Enchantress, who claimed that she had been killed, and that she loved Skurge passionately and wanted him to stay in Hel with her for eternity, but then Balder who had also accompanied Thor to Hel, pointed out that the “Enchantress” Skurge saw there was not what she seemed, Skurge used his enchanted axe to destroy the illusion, revealing the seeming Enchantress to be Mordonna, an ally of Hela. Hela then tried to persuade Thor that Executioner that the Executioner was in league with herself. Halo declared that Skurge would sail with her warriors, the spirits of the damned, aboard the ship called Naglfar, which had taken millennia that build, to conquer Asgard. Infuriated at thus being manipulated by Hela and Mordonna, the Executioner refused to serve the death-goddess and used his enchanted axe to cleave through the dimensions, thereby releasing titanic energy that destroyed the Naglfar. In a process, Skurge’s axe was also destroyed.

Thor, Balder, the Executioner and the Einherjar and the rescued mortals souls left along the Hellway, the path leading out of Hel, with Hela's forces in pursuit. Thor and his forces soon finally reached Gjallerbruil, the golden bridge spanning the river Gjoll the boundary that marked the boundary of Hela’s domain. Thor decided that he himself would remain to hold off Hela’s hordes while the others others escaped, but the Executioner then knocked Thor down from behind, rendering him unconscious.

Skurge then told Balder that everyone - including Hela, Mordonna and the Enchantress, except the kind Balder himself - laughed at him, causing him great pain. Skurge said he felt as if he perhaps he died a bit each time he was laughed at, and that now it was if it was already dead. Therefore, Skurge asserted he himself would stay behind to face Hela’s legions, and “that last one laugh will get mine.” Balder consented to Skurge’s wish. Taking the unconscious Thor with him, Balder, the Einherjar and the rescued mortals souls departed.

Skurge remained alone at Gjallerbur, armed with automatic weapons that the Einherjar had brought from Earth. When Hela’s forces arrived, Skurge single-handedly defeated held them off as long as he was able, and not one of his opponents set foot upon the bridge. Ultimately Skurge perished heroically in the great battle.

Perhaps to the surprise of many, the Enchantress was torn by sorrow upon learning of Skurge’s demise. Hela finally sent Skurge to Valhalla, where heroic Asgardian Warriors went after death, and, fulfilling their promise to him, Balder and Thor drank a toast to Skurges’s memory.

Sometime later during Seth's attack on Asgard, Lorelei, Amora's sister, died and Hela came for her. Skurge offered Amora the chance to take her place so that they could be together, but she refused. Amora later gave Skurge's axe to a mortal called Brute Benhurst as her new partner. Thor soon believed him to be Skurge as he wore a mask and tried not to fight him until the Executioner hit Kevin Masterson, son of his mortal friend, Eric Masterson. Thor now realized it could not be him Skurge as he would never hurt an unnamed person. He easily defeated Brute Benhurst. Skurge's spirit was freed from Valhalla again when he led the the New Mutants to escape during a battle between the Einherjar and Hela's forces,

When Odin's secret long-lost firstborn Angela set her sights on overthrowing Hela, Skurge joined forces with Balder and Tyr in an attempt to quench the rebellion, but they failed and were defeated. Angela, who became the new Queen of Hel after defeating Hela in combat. However, since she only wanted to use that power to set free the spirit of her lover Sera, she abdicated as soon as her true goal was achieved. Afterward, she handed over the crown to Balder, who became Hel's new regent.

Not long afterwards, Niffleheim became the target of Muspelheim's new ruler, Sindr, the Queen of Cinders as part of an alliance between her realm and Malekith during the War of the Realms. Skurge helped Balder's resistance, but as the war marched on, they were overpowered. With Thor and Loki's help, Sindr's forces were defeated.

When the incarnation of Loki known as Kid Loki set out to secure the Naglfar Beacon to use it in the War of Realms, he assembled a group of Asgardian misfits that became known as the Asgardians of the Galaxy and tricked Skurge into joining his cause, disguising himself as the Enchantress to recruit Skurge and free him from Hel. Even though Loki as the Enchantress promised a merciful new existence, Skurge was upset that he had been manipulated once more and returned to Valhalla.

Height: 7' 2"
Weight: 1100 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black (partially shaved)

Strength Level: Skurge possesses superhuman strength and can lift (press) around 65 tons under optimal conditions.