Marvel Mania: MCU Phase 1- Thor

Thor (2011)
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston
Directed by: Kenneth Branagh


Plot Summary: In the realm of Asgard, King Odin prepares to step down from his throne and name his son Thor as the new ruler of the kingdom. The ceremony is interrupted when the Frost Giants of Jotunheim attempt to steal an ancient relic from Asgard. Seeking revenge, Thor gathers a group consisting of his brother Loki, his childhood friend Sif, and the Warriors Three: Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun to confront the Frost Giants. Odin disapproves of Thor's impulsive actions and his arrogance, and as a result, strips Thor of his godly powers and banishes him to Earth. Landing in New Mexico, Thor encounters a group of scientists who use him to help research the wormhole that brought Thor to Earth. In order to prove that he is the God of Thunder, Thor tries to pull his mighty hammer Mjölnir from the ground, but fails for he is no longer worthy to possess the hammer. Meanwhile, Odin falls into a deep sleep and Loki rises to power and assumes the throne. Using all his tricks and manipulation, Loki will go at any lengths to make sure Thor doesn't return home.


After realizing that a sequel may not be the best way to continue the MCU (at the time), Marvel put out 2 movies in 2011 to introduce two important characters into the universe. Let's look at the first film released that year, Thor. At this point, we've seen a universe that has followed a modern tone in the realms of technology and warfare (Iron Man), and a science fiction story about the metaphorical and literal monster within (The Incredible Hulk). So now, Marvel planned to lead to an ancient and mythical realm where Gods and the supernatural exist. Of the main heroes going into The Avengers, Thor may have been the toughest in concept to incorporate in the MCU, so how did they do? Well, the film focuses on two different worlds: the realm of Asgard and Earth. Guess which one the audiences actually didn't like seeing in the world of Thor.

Chris Hemsworth stars as Thor, the God of Thunder. I'm not going to go out of my way to say Hemsworth is an A+ actor, but when it comes to playing Thor, he gets the job done. Thor is supposed to be this larger than life character, a literal God for crying out loud. Now look at Hemsworth when he's in the costume. He definitely has that larger than life look about him. He's very charismatic and can play Thor in two different ways: stoic and courageous, as well as humorous and light-hearted. You don't have a problem following this guy for an entire movie either because he isn't as one dimensional as one may think. He screws up in the beginning and knows he needs to redeem himself. You also learn a lot about Thor through many of his lines and quirks. He values his home, his people, and his family. He is also a man of his word, making promises with those around him and living up to his word, so he is very loyal and trustworthy. Viewers may look at Thor in the very beginning and see the impulsive and arrogant man that he's played up to be, but throughout the film, we grow more fond of Thor as we see his better qualities on display.

The main antagonist for the film is Thor's brother Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston. Nowadays, Hiddleston has become a pop culture phenomenon as Loki. Women find him attractive, men find him awesome, children find him funny...he's keeping the franchise more alive than Thor is. Hiddleston has such charisma while playing Loki, he makes him a villain that you love to hate. In fact, you don't really end up hating him that much. You just kind of love him. It's a phenomenon that's really hard to explain actually. I haven't seen this much positive response to a Marvel movie villain since Magneto in the X-Men movies (both versions of him). He's also given quite a bit of depth about his origins and motivations in this film. He's jealous of Thor and all the attention he receives from their father Odin. He may not be the strongest fighter, but he has all the skills and intelligence necessary for being a ruler and never gets the credit. He's a character I think the general moviegoer would be able to identify with, and that's why he's so popular.

In order to talk about the supporting characters, I think we need to talk about it by addressing characters by worlds first. When Thor is on Earth, he encounters Dr. Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman. Let's be honest, all we see from her in this film is Natalie Portman. She's the obvious love interest for Thor. Then she has an intern Darcy, played by Kat Dennings. HOLY CRAP!!! There is no character in the MCU more annoying to me than Darcy. Every time she cracks a joke, I die inside as a comic book fan. The only voice of reason (for a while) on their team is the older mentor character Dr. Erik Selvig, played by Stellan Skarsgård. He's the only one who thinks Thor is crazy when he claims to be the God of Thunder, and is very protective of Jane like a father would for his daughter. It's actually pretty commendable. We also have great supporting characters on Asgard, including Thor's loyal friends Sif and the Warriors Three (Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun), played by Jaimie Alexander, Ray Stevenson, Joshua Dallas, and Tadanobu Asano respectively. They're fun loving characters who are also the right friends to have by your side in combat. The watcher of Asgard, Heimdall, is played by Idris Elba. Elba is quickly rising through the ranks of one of the best actors out there today and he adds a lot of commanding presence for playing a supporting role. But the best supporting role has to be Anthony Hopkins as Odin. Having different relationships with Thor and Loki, Odin is a very crucial part of the story. Hopkins does a great job at portraying these relationships, while also making Odin look like a BA even in his old age.

Thor is a very polarizing film with comic book fans. Some really liked the film, and some really hated it. So let's look at what works first. The look of Asgard is absolutely incredible. Director Kenneth Branagh really has a solid taste for creating beautiful environments on screen and he really brought in the right aesthetics to create a mood to get viewers excited. Then, we get to what didn't work about the film: Thor getting sent to Earth. We're introduced to this breathtaking mythical world and introduced to these larger than life characters, but then within the first 20 minutes they put Thor in our modern world. The film then takes on cheap jokes that are heavily dated and all summarized the same recurring gag for an hour: that Thor is out of his element. If we are talking in terms of visual elements and plot points, it's the epitome of changing from a Hollywood epic to a Saturday morning cartoon. It's not to say the cartoon is a bad film, but it's the contrast and shift in styles that makes it feel so out of place. Fans probably would've liked an introduction to Thor that would have kept him (and the viewers) in Asgard. Since that is NOT what they got, they were disappointed with the end results. So if there was ever advice to give Marvel Studios for creating a sequel to Thor, I think they should follow three simple steps: 1. Don't have Thor spend more time in Earth than Asgard. 2. Don't take away his powers. 3. Give us more of Sif and the Warriors Three and less Darcy. If they can follow those three steps, I think fans may get the Thor movie they've anticipated.

And now it's time to announce *SPOILERS* in order to review the post-credits scene...

So the film comes to an official end with Dr. Selvig entering a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility and meets Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson. Fury opens a briefcase unveiling a mysterious cubed object. When he asks Selvig to study it, it cuts to a reflection to reveal that Loki is STILL ALIVE!!!! He then takes control of Selvig as the film cuts to black. So here, we have a tease at who the villain will be in The Avengers. This scene was also directed by Joss Whedon, so we also had a taste of what Whedon might bring to the big screen with The Avengers. And there was also the introduction of a mysterious blue cube that is sure to have tons of power that would actually be developed a little more as we head into the final movie before The Avengers...


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This film gets a slight boost in points from me for introducing Thor and Loki (and Hawkeye) to the MCU. However, Thor had a lot of appeal with how Asgard looked, but lost a lot of its audience once it decided to keep Thor on Earth. Setting up a lot of events for The Avengers, the film may only be worth watching once if you're doing an MCU marathon, but as a standalone film, you could probably pass this one up.

Thor and movie images are copyrighted by Paramount Pictures