Thor has definitely had some of the weakest films in the entire MCU. The first Thor was a subpar origin movie that was saved thanks mostly to an excellent villain, and Dark World was undoubtedly the worst in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel had to do something bold if they were going to revive Thor both as a character and as a trilogy, so what did Marvel do? They made one of the most wildly entertaining films to date. This is Thor: Ragnarok!
Plot
After Ultron used the Mind Stone and nearly wiped out humanity, Thor left Earth to search for the other Infinity Stones. Infinity Stones seemed to be popping up left and right in the recent events, but Thor couldn’t find any more in his travels. Instead he came across the demonic being known as Surtur who planned to bring Ragnarok (the end of Asgard). After defeating Surtur and returning home, Thor discovers that Odin has been replaced by Loki as ruler of Asgard! Thor forces Loki to take him to Odin who has been on Earth this whole time. With the help of Doctor Strange, Thor and Loki find Odin just before he dies. He warns his two sons of their sister Hela who Odin hid from them due to her frightening power. Hela will bring the true Ragnarok and it’s up to Thor and Loki to stop her. Upon first meeting though Hela is far too powerful and sends Thor and Loki to the planet Sakaar ruled by the Grandmaster. Now a prisoner, Thor must find a way to return home and prevent Ragnarok.
Villains
Hela is the Goddess of Death. She was Odin’s first born and the two fought together to conquer all of the realms. None stood in their way, but one day Odin grew fearful of Hela so he banished her to the realm of the dead for millions of years. The day Odin died though, she was free and wanted revenge on Asgard. She obliterated the entire Asgardian army, killed Thor’s friends, the Warriors Three, and destroyed Thor’s hammer Mjolnir like it was made of glass. Her power is connected to her home Asgard; the longer she is there the more powerful she becomes making her essentially immortal. She can also create weapons out of thin air making her power limitless as well. Basically there’s no real way to defeat her, the most Thor and the others can do is summon the equally powerful god Surtur to distract her long enough for the people of Asgard to escape. While she may not be as great of a character as Loki, she is definitely one of the better characters in the MCU mostly because of her abilities and origins as a character.
Surtur is the ruler of the realm known as Musphelheim and was banished there after Odin defeated him and stole his Eternal Flame (the source of Surtur’s power). Just by glancing at him you can tell he’s an extremely powerful being. The fact that he is able to stand toe to toe against Hela should be proof enough of that. Although he does not have a lot of screen time he was definitely a memorable character and could very easily be a foe the Avengers face in the future.
Best Scene
I was tempted to say the battle between Thor and Hulk on Sakaar was the best scene in the film, but I just can’t pick that over Thor’s arrival on the Rainbow Bridge at the end of the film. Thor and Hela are battling it out and it’s clear that Thor is outmatched. Hela has Thor pinned down (literally via knives) and says “I’m the Goddess of Death, what are you the god of again?” To which Thor begins to fully utilize his powers as the God of Thunder. He then arrives on the Rainbow Bridge to help the Asgardians escape on the ship Loki brought from Sakaar. Thor, Valkyrie, Hulk, Heimdall, and Loki begin kicking ass on the Rainbow Bridge to the tune of Led Zepplin’s “Immigrant Song.” It’s an incredibly epic scene that spawned many spoofs the rest of the year. All over YouTube people were taking epic action scenes and adding “The Immigrant Song” over it.
Stan Lee Cameo
Thor is about to fight in his first battle in the Grandmaster’s Contest of Champions and he is forced to get his haircut. The barber of course is Stan Lee and he warns Thor, “Now don’t you move, my hands aren’t as steady as they used to be.” Thor then confidently threatens Stan by saying “By Odin’s beard you shall not cut my hair, lest you feel the wrath of the might Thor!” Stan then reveals the size of the many blades he has to cut Thor’s hair to which Thor then whimpers “Please kind sir, do not cut my hair!” which then causes Stan to let out an evil laugh.
Post Credit Scenes
Thor and Loki are talking about heading back to Earth and Loki asks if he thinks it’s a good idea for him to come back (since he tried to enslave them all). Thor replies that it probably isn’t, but it’s alright because he thinks the “worst is behind them.” At that very moment a look of horror falls on Loki’s face and Thor looks confused himself. They look out the window and find a massive ship in front of them. Anyone with a functioning brain should know who’s on that ship. That’s right, Thanos is officially here.
In the second post credits scene, Grandmaster emerges from a ship surrounded by those that revolted against him. Grandmaster then says some hilarious lines:
“I gotta say, I’m proud of you all. This revolution has been a huge success! Yay us! Pat on the back, pat on the back, come on! No? Me too, because I’ve been a big part of this. Can’t have a revolution without someone to overthrow so you’re welcome. And uh… it’s a tie.”
Jeff Goldblum was an absolutely amazing Grandmaster and I really hope we get to see him again in future films.
Final Thoughts
As stated earlier, Thor hasn’t had the best run of movies. Besides Avengers, one can’t really say he’s been in particularly good films. That being said, everything changed with Ragnarok. According to the film crew, most of the dialogue was improv’d by the cast and because of that, there was plenty of excellent comedic moments. You can just tell that Chris Hemsworth and the others are having a blast in this movie because everything is so unique, funny, and memorable. Thor went from having two of the weakest films in the MCU to having one of the absolute best. You can’t watch this film without smiling. Rolling Stone magazine put it best: “It’s the most fun you’ll ever have at a Marvel movie.”
Thanos Meme of the Week
Don’t worry Thanos you’ll be showing up very very soon. Just be gentle…
The Magical World of Dids 