He's good for two issues; no more, no less!

Gladiator was used so well in Fantastic Four #249 and #250; I don't think these two are going to be as classic. But, that may be because they're a bit more continuity heavy. Or continuity bogged-down. From 2001, Thor #34, "Man of Tomorrow" and #35, "Across All Worlds" Written by Dan Jurgens, pencils by Andy Kubert, inks by Scott Hanna.

This was post-Heroes Return: Thor had been the last to come back, which we saw was backfilled later. Not unlike what had happened with Eric Masterson, Thor had been merged with a mortal, paramedic Jake Olson: this brought in a truckload of drama, like an ex-fiancé and her teenage daughter, and a co-worker with the hots for him that's so obviously the Enchantress in disguise she might as well still be wearing the green headpiece. (I want to say, before he was phased out, Jake might have been revealed to be not cool, which feels like it might hang over this run like a shroud.) These issues also feature "the Designate. The Supreme." Tarene, a massively powerful alien, currently in the form of an Asgardian goddess: she had taken the look of a teenage 'Thor Girl' but maybe that name hadn't been given her yet. Still, both Thor and Gladiator take shots from her that leave them gaping in surprise!

Gladiator spends much of the first part of this, in disguise; like a fancier, angrier, Clark Kent. He burns Jake with heat vision, then when fighting Thor, Thor seems to notice Gladiator appeared older than usual. (Which isn't really supported by the art.) The cliffhanger to #34 is the fairly standard separated-from-Mjolnir/returned-to-mortal-form bit.

The next issue reveals why Gladiator was allegedly older: he was from the future, sent back by longtime Thor also-ran villain Zarkko, the Tomorrow Man! (Think Kang, without the grandeur...or wins.) Tarene throws down with Gladiator, while Jake's partner tries to get him to summon back Mjolnir, and Sif arrives to get Thor since Ulik was attacking Asgard while Odin was in the plot device--I mean, Odinsleep. (What The--?! #5 has a pretty good 'Mighty Sore' parody, that takes the piss out of a lot of hackneyed bits that were used over and over in Thor: most were phased out when Walt Simonson came on, and most were back now!) When the Thor/Gladiator brawl starts again, they nearly wreck a landing passenger plane, and briefly work together to save it; but Gladiator still feels this just proved how dangerous Thor was. (That should've been a massive set-piece, but instead feels unimportant: we don't even see the passengers on the plane!)

This was a larger issue, 39 pages, but still seems hurried in the end: Sif ends up transporting Thor, Tarene, and Gladiator back to Asgard; where Odin has already woken up, probably cranky, and possibly atomized Ulik. (We don't see what happened, but c'mon, you know he'd be back.) A beaten Gladiator implores Odin to kill Thor, to prevent what was coming: "the Reigning." Odin seems to know what he was talking about, and returns Gladiator to the future, but refuses to say more. He's also steamed that Thor hadn't been there for Asgard, and that Tarene was dressed like him? "...attired in garments far beneath thee!" Weird. Odin strips Thor of his immortal self, leaving him in the scorched body of Jake Olson, writhing in pain. Back in the future, Gladiator tells Zarrko he hadn't been able to stop Thor, so they couldn't prevent a full-page spread of a demolished and destitute world, that looks pretty wrecked except for a big statue of Thor. And Jake's partner races home, before her illusion fades, revealing her to be, like we said, the Enchantress. (Anybody gets randomly kissed in a Thor comic, it was probably by the Enchantress!) 

 Thor Girl would stick around after this run, then get jobbed/crapped on in three straight crossovers (Civil War, Secret Invasion, and Fear Itself) before leaving the jerks on earth behind, which kind of feels like what Thor wanted for her: bigger things. And she felt like the closest thing to 'new' here: Odin being a jerk, seen it. Secret identity drama? Done before. Even the pages of subplots seem old hat; although, in the mighty Marvel manner, there's one here that would be lost later. Jane Foster's consolation prize/husband Keith Kincaid comes out of a coma, with an ominous smile: he's obviously possessed or replaced by something, but what actually ends up happening to him is unclear. He would survive, only to be killed off-panel later.