Up to this point in the timeline order viewing of the MCU, the threats the heroes fight against mostly came from Earth. Aside from Captain Marvel, it was mostly human v human with a dash of “mad scientist.” In Thor, the threats become more powerful and more otherworldly. My takeaways…
But first, an aside on MCU love interests
In Iron Man, we had Pepper Potts. Pepper is an intelligent woman and the CEO of Stark Industries. Yet, she also seems to be at Tony’s whim and constantly puts up with his macho bullshit. In Thor, we get Jane Foster. A brilliant scientist… who LIT’RALLY GIGGLES every time she sees Thor.
Can we get some women in the MCU writing rooms or what? Jesus.
Thor, god of thunder (and so much hubris)
Oh, Thor, a man who thinks only of war and glory. A man who is so easily goaded by the Jotuns that he kicks off a full-scale war and almost gets all his friends killed because the Jotuns called him a princess. Luckily, unlike some other characters in the MCU, Thor gets his comeuppance (and thus character growth) pretty quickly.
When Odin learns what Thor did, he tells Thor he is vain, greedy and, cruel, and strips him of his power. Odin banishes him down to Earth to teach him some humility. Loki shows up and is basically like – everybody hates you, dude. So, Thor eats his slice of humble pie and was willing to sacrifice himself, which gets him his powers back. He’s still vain, but I suppose 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
Loki, god of mischief (and chaotic evil)
Soooo… Loki is so jealous of Thor that he wants to kill him. At best, he seems indifferent about Earth, but maybe also wants to destroy it. He’s so wanting Odin’s approval that he would invite an attack on Asgard so he could then destroy Jotunheim. But he also wants to kill/get rid of Odin so he can take over the thrown?
It’s a pissing contest that basically ends in a planet’s destruction. So at least that part is relatable.
The reveals
Odin’s eye patch
In 965 AD, the frost giants aka Jotuns (who look a lot like white walkers) fight Thor’s dad, Odin, in a battle over Earth. Odin defeats them and in the process gains the Casket of Ancient Winters, but loses an eyeball. This is the second eyeball lost in the MCU. RIP Odin’s eyeball.
The tesseract
In the post-credit scenes, Nick Fury asks Erik Selvig to study the tesseract so they can understand its power. Loki sees this, which cues up the conflict that will happen in The Avengers.
Hawkeye
Thor is where we get our first look at Hawkeye who is, in my opinion, the most boring of all the Avengers. Shrug.
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