The three brothers led the Asgar dians in a war against the Frost Giants, and killed the giants’ leader, Ymir. The remaining Frost Giants were exiled to the other-dimensional world of Jotunheim.

The brothers then set out to explore another of the Nine Worlds, Muspelheim. This demonic realm was ruled by the gigantic Surtur. The brothers learned that Surtur some day intended to destroy the Nine Worlds with his huge sword, which would ignite the Eternal Flame of Destruction. The three Asgardian brothers merged into one giant being and destroyed Surtur’s sword.

Fleeing Surtur’s hordes, the brothers came to the Nexus between Asgard and Muspelheim. Odin went through the Nexus, but his brothers stayed behind to make sure that Surtur could not follow them. Vili and Ve told Odin to rule Asgard well, and then the Nexus disappeared in a flash of light. A few moments later, young Odin found himself possessing his brothers’ powers. This collec tive power is known as the “Odin Power.” Occasionally Odin must enter a year-long sleep so that the Odin Power can be recharged. This sleep is known as the “Odin Sleep.”

Odin married the Asgardian goddess Frigga, but he felt that he need ed a son of who was of both Asgard and Midgard (Earth). He mated with the goddess of the Earth, Gaea, who bore him a son. The son, named Thor, was then raised by Frigga.

Odin led his people in another war against the Frost Giants of Jotunheim. After slaying the leader, Laufey, Odin adopted Laufey’s son, Loki, who was normal-sized. Loki was raised alongside Thor, but he al ways resented his foster brother.

Odin later learned of the coming of the Third Host of the Celestials. The Celestials were a race of aliens with great powers who had influenced the evolution of human life on Earth. The Third Host was to judge humanity’s worthiness to survive when the Fourth Host was to arrive a millennium later.

Odin, Zeus, and Vishnu met the Third Host, who were about to seal the interdimensional passages between Earth and the various realms of the gods. The gods agreed not to interfere with the Celestials for one millennium, in return for the Celestials agreeing not to seal the passages to Earth.

Odin went ahead and began planning a way to stop the Fourth Host from destroying Earth, if they decided to. He made a powerful suit of armor, called the Destroyer. He also transformed the legendary Ring of the Nibelung into the Destroyer’s weapon, the Odinsword.

In the 20th century he became concerned by his son Thor’s arrogance. He decided to teach him humility by giving him a mortal form, that of a crippled surgeon named Donald Blake. He then stripped Thor of his memories. A few years later, the successful surgeon was visiting Norway on vacation. Blake stumbled into a cavern where Thor’s magic hammer had been left, in the form of a wooden cane. Blake hit the cane against a boulder in anger, and he was magically transformed into Thor, and the cane became his hammer again.

Years later, he informed Thor of his true identity, and allowed Thor to retain his immortal form permanently. Recently, he granted Thor’s request to merge with a human, Eric Masterson, so that the human would not die of mortal injuries.

At one point, Odin sacrificed his right eye to the sentient Well of Wisdom, Mimir, in return for knowledge on how to delay the Ragnarok, the end of Asgard. The eye later grew larger and became sentient. The eye told Thor many stories about his past and Odin’s. The truth of many of these stories has yet to be verified.

When the Fourth Host of the Celestials arrived, Odin drew all the life forces of the Asgardians into himself except Thor. Odin’s spirit then entered the Destroyer armor and attacked the Fourth Host. The Celestials easily destroyed the Destroyer.

The Celestials ended up judging in humanity’s favor, when Gaea presented the host with 12 genetically advanced youths, the Young Gods. The remaining pantheons of gods granted Thor the power to resurrect Odin, who then restored the other Asgardians.

Recently, Surtur attacked the Nine Worlds. Surtur’s demons battled the Asgardian armies on Earth, while Surtur battled Odin, Loki, and Thor in Asgard City. Odin enlarged him self and grappled with the huge Surtur. The two combatants fell into a huge crevice that supposedly led to Muspelheim. The crevice then sealed up behind them.

Baldur the Brave was chosen to rule Asgard in Odin’s absence, while Thor decided to remain the guardian of Earth. About this time, Seth, an Egyptian god, declared war on Asgard and the other pantheons. Thor and some allies attacked Seth’s Black Pyramid, the source of Seth’s power. Thor and his friends successfully invaded the Pyramid and discovered that Odin was being held prisoner there.

Odin was freed and returned in time to witness Seth’s defeat. Odin then resumed his leadership over Asgard. Odin explained that he had been forced to defeat Surtur by physically merging with Surtur, in an effort to stop Ragnarok, the destruction of the universe. When Ymir, the Frost Giant, attacked Asgard, he let Surtur gain control of the joint body.

The fire elemental and the frost elemental fought over who would have the privilege of destroying the universe. Thor recovered the Twilight Sword, Surtur’s sword, from the Sea of Eternal Night. While the two elementals fought over the Twilight Sword, Thor opened a dimensional aperture that sucked both of them in to the Sea of Eternal Night. There the two would remain trapped for ever in suspended animation, so that Ragnarok would never occur.

Odin was able to separate himself from Surtur’s body before it was drawn through the dimensional rift. Odin then resumed his normal physical form. Odin appointed Heimdall as his representative while he slept the Odin Sleep and re-energized himself. While Odin slept, events on Earth soon caused Thor to kill Loki.

The dimension-shattering repercussions of Loki’s death awoke Odin from the Odin Sleep prematurely. Odin was forced to have Heimdall banish Thor for eternity because he had willfully killed Loki.