100 Days of Marvel: Road to Infinity War - Day 10: Thor

Of all of the MCU heroes thus far, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) will be one of the easiest to analyze as a hero (when the time comes). In the first movie alone, he has almost every step of the archetypal journey - he even has the elusive Return that a lot of heroes either flash past or skip entirely. In addition to that, Thor has, in my opinion, the greatest Marvel Villain in all of the MCU - Loki (Tom Hiddleston). This, of course, is debatable the later we get into the franchise, as Loki, a trickster character to his core, becomes less of a villain and more of a thorny Ally. Their brotherly struggle, however, is the best part of their rivalry. And, after all, the X-Men are not in the MCU, so Loki does not have to compete with Magneto for the award of GOAT.

It is amazing how much of this film I do not remember. For one, I don't really remember Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) being in this movie. He was sort of there all along during these first few films, but he never really impacted me until Avengers. Not only was he in this film, but he is a straight up jerk here. Even though I knew what S.H.I.E.L.D. was during my first viewing, and he announced himself to Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) as an agent of it, I was still convinced he was jackass when he steals her equipment. As the movie goes on, however, he comes around. It is strange watching it back and discovering these things as if for the first time.

One of my favorite aspects of this movie was the humor. Yes there was humor in some of the earlier movies, and this movie gets a lot of bad rep since "Thor Ragnarok" came out and showed everyone "what a Thor film should really be like," but I remember a time when THIS was the funniest film in the MCU, at least to me. Though "Iron Man" and "Captain America: The First Avenger" had moments, and "The Incredible Hulk" a lot fewer than those two films, "Thor" has the most laughs for me. From watching Thor smash a coffee mug on the floor of that little cafe, to watching him fail to be able to successfully pick up Mjolnir, I was in stitches almost the whole time. The movie put the character in an unfamiliar (to him) world, and all of those moments were great.

The serious tone for the first third of the movie, however, really hurts it. The scenes when Thor is on Earth, the funny moments not dripping with the over serious tone of Thor in Jotunheim, were much better than the first portion of the film. The best part of these early moments was also the humor. Lines like, "you've come a long way to die, Asgardian," have the weight to them, but still make you chuckle. The moment Loki whispers, "damn" under his breath is funny! These moments cut the serious tone with the tone that should have been throughout the entire movie, but more balanced. This was really well done in Ragnarok, and you can see it emerging here. I am not saying this because "Ragnarok" was so funny, but that I really think, and thought when watching this the first time, that the humor was really downplayed. It seemed as if the movies were still taking cues from the Batman Trilogy and really needed to come into their own. Humor in the films seems to be - Loki-, when really, once Disney acquired Marvel Studios and directors began to take more risks, their humor in all of the MCU films began to shine. This paved the way for films such as "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Ant-Man" to do well.

All the humor aside, however, it did come at a hefty price that I think the more recent films adjust. Thor is kind of a dumb-ass. Yes he had coffee for the first time, but no he shouldn't have been dumb enough to smash the glass. What did he think that was? Additionally, was he so naive to think that he could take on an army of Ice Giants so powerful his own father, who recently was warring with these people, needed to have a truce so that both sides would not have a large amount of loss. Thor really thought that his actions visiting this other world would be fruitful? He thought it was the right thing to do? NO REASON his pops didn't let him be king and tossed his over confident ass into time out. Even so, all heroes need to learn lessons, and some need to learn them the hard way.

One of the major enemies in this film, non-Loki, are the Frost Giants. I thought they were -cool- enough -wink. But on a serious tip, they were pretty bland. In one breath: I know they wanted some ancient power and there was a war between them and the Asgardians because the Asgardians were protecting that artifact so that the Frost Giants couldn't use that artifact's power to destroy and subsequently rule the 9 realms but Odin (Anthony Hopkins) was too dope and they couldn't cut it so they agreed to the truce but never really stopped being even and - exhales. They didn't really offer a single interesting thing, and after-all, it ain't like we have never seen frost powers before. YAWN. The coolest thing about them is that their leaders name is Laufrey (Colm Feore), which makes me think of Jofrey (an ACTUALLY cool villain from "Game of Thrones"), and the fact that Loki is one.

Interrupting Fact: If you were alive in 2017, you know how big a hit the film Stephen King's "It" remake was / is? Stellan Skarsgard, who plays Erik Selvig in "Thor," he is the old man hanging out with Jane and friends, is IRL Bill Skarsgardssdsesd father. Bill plays the titular "It," aka Pennywise the DANCING (insert jazz hands) Clown. This has been the very first Interrupting Fact, and now you rudely know a little more than you did before.

But popping back to Loki and Thor's brotherhood, we see them together throughout the entire movie. When Thor "invades" the Jotunheim, Loki is just kind of there, but it is nice to see that his brother was going with him on adventures. We later find out that Loki was responsible for the invasion earlier in the film that caused Thor to grow war crazy. Sometimes the moments where the camera lands on Loki are just as brilliant as anything else shot in the film. When Thor is being banished, the camera hits Loki, who has the most "I'm-not-even-here-right-now," look on his face. Then, he tries to say something to Odin and is met with a growl, to which he responds with an expression of, "oh, okay, never-mind," and stands down. It is such a funny moment in a scene that is pulsing with pain for the hero. Loki, through his actions in the film, perfectly captures the roll of trickster. He is happy to capitalize on the misfortunes of others, even his own brother, for his own personal gain and amusement.

This post has gone on long enough, so here are some quick closing thoughts:

Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner, Sif (Jaimie Alexander ) and the Warriors Three - Volstagg ( Ray Stevenson), Fandral (Josh Dallas), and Hogun (Tadanobu Asano) are all in this movie. They all have things to do. They all have lines. They all...who am I kidding, why are they here again? All of these characters (save for Hawkeye) help fight the Destroyer, so I guess they are useful.

Anthony Hopkins is one of, if not the, greatest actors of our time. This man has range and is spectacular with emotional work. He controls his face and body language masterfully. If you have not seen him the HBO TV Series Westworld, check him out so that you can watch the throne.

Heimdall ( Idris Elba), The Gatekeeper of the Bifrost, is in this film too. He has a few scenes that mean more to the plot than they do for his character progression. However, we learn through his actions more about him. He really cares about his job and keeping Asgard safe. So much so, that he is ready to break the rule so that he can keep Asgard safe in the future. Unfortunately, his actions has poor consequences for the realm he hopes to protect, while being highly beneficial to Thor's inevitbale growth and development. Had he not been allowed by Heimdall to pass, Thor would not have had the same growth in the same fashion.

That reminds me of one final thing. Loki's motives for letting the Frost Giants in at the start of the film were actually kind of valid. Thor, an idiot, was really not ready to rule. Loki's actions saved Asgard from his idiocy. And even though his actions resulted in a war, he was able to learn about his own true identity and set himself up for an Atonement with Odin later. All I am saying is this = Loki, Trickster Hero?