As an event, Acts of Vengeance largely involved switching up villains from their usual hero-enemies. For the Thor tie in, he takes on Juggernaut.
It’s a good fight, but….
Juggernaut figures out how to turn himself into a projectile and knocks Thor out. So technically, Thor lost the fight (he wakes and up and wins later), which I find odd because I can think of at least three ways off the top of my head that he could immobilize Juggernaut: 1. Create a heavy typhoon and batter him around until the lack of oxygen makes him pass out; 2. Use weather to turn the ground beneath him to mud and bury him; 3. Simply teleport him somewhere else, like the land of the Snow Giants or something (which is actually how this story ends–Thor teleports Juggy to another planet).
Anyway, Thor loses and then…
A new superteam shows up. This is clearly the most “important” and lasting thing to come from the AoV event. Firestar, from the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends cartoon had already starred in her own miniseries and appeared in a few X-Men issues, so this wasn’t her first introduction into the 616 universe, but it would become the one that lasted the longest. Night Thrasher is new and tries to make skateboarding cool.
Marvel Boy, and Namorita were well-established D-listers. Kid Nova I can’t explain. It’s just Richard Rider from the Nova comic, but he’s letting the world know he’s a juvenile now. And Speedball, well, Marvel pushed the crap out of that character (I imagine to try to get Steve Ditko to like Marvel again), and The New Warriors is finally where he’ll shine.
Thor gives us the hard-sell pitch.
And Hercules reads really crappy comics
Ron Frenz did the breakdowns, Joe Sinnott did the finishes.