Thor’s journey in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the transformation from “dark prince” to a cotton superhero.
Thor: Love and Thunder is the fourth solo film about the character of the God of Thunder. The film helps Thor establish the title of superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the most separate films. The film is also the second Thor work directed by Taika Waititi, succeeding in bringing back to the screen the comedic, goofy atmosphere that Thor: Ragnarok (2017) has created for its own series about the superhero. hero. However, the success of Thor: Ragnarok and the two films Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) can make the audience forget that the Thor of 2022 is very different from himself in 10 years. before.
MCU’s “Veteran”
Ten years ago, the MCU’s Avengers team made their first appearance on the screen. They include Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America ( Chris Evans ), Thor, Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). In the battle against the mad Titan Thanos (Josh Brolin), Iron Man and Black Widow were sacrificed. Captain America also announced his retirement after that.
Entering Era IV of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the “original set of 6” Avengers is left with only Thor, Hulk and Hawkeye. Marvel Studios does not hold the film rights of the Hulk character, so it is difficult for the Green Giant to become the main character in a separate movie franchise. Hawkeye used to have his own TV series on Disney, but only as a background for archer Kate Bishop (Hailee Stenfeld).
On the big screen, Thor became the last star of the original Avengers team to continue to shine in a separate movie. His teammates on the journey are old battle buddies: the Guardians of the Galaxy, Valkyrie, Korg (Taika Waititi) and a “new bottle of old wine” face Jane Foster. Thor’s old love returns in a new role – the superhero Mighty Thor or Thor, but the female version.
In the future, a new superhero team is born to replace the Avengers is inevitable. Recently, many information has revealed that Marvel Studios is preparing for the debut of the Young Avengers. Currently, we have Captain America Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), female agent Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Kate Bishop and in the near future Ms. Marvel and Iron Heart were introduced to audiences through series on Disney.
In the Marvel multiverse era, Thor is already one of the oldest faces. Prince Asgard has spent 1,500 green springs and is listed as a veteran in the great war against Thanos. Appearing on the screen for the first time in 2011, the Thunder God has fought for 11 years on the big screen. His potential with the superhero universe seems to have only now had land to develop when “tall tall trees” like Iron Man or Captain America have all retreated into the wings.
Thor, like Peter Quill ( Chris Pratt ), gives the MCU a free-spirited, amorous superhero character. But Quill “lost points” because of a second of emotional outbursts at the end of Infinity War . And the audience’s sympathy for Thor has not decreased, even increased significantly when his own film franchise was handed over to Taika Waititi, creating a spectacular makeover of the superhero’s image. .
The makeover on screen
Marvel Studios invested in Thor very early. He is the second member of the Avengers to have a solo film, after Iron Man and before Captain America. At the time of its release, Thor (2011) brought a different color to the MCU – which is being compared to being too colorful, “childish” compared to the darkness that the movies adapted from DC comics bring. .
Thor and Thor: The Dark World (2013) offers MCU fans a different movie-watching experience. They are tinged with the mysterious, dark colors of the Norse mythologies. The conflict between Thor and Loki has led to a series of dark tragedies, like the Hamlet tragedy written by William Shakespeare in the seventeenth century.
In The Avengers , Thor is the hammer-wielding superhero with a lackluster appearance. In the first two separate movies, his portrait is a leper prince with a tragic fate – betrayed by his brother, unable to save his mother, cold-hearted by his father, forced to leave his daughter. I love… The series of tragedies in Thor’s life turned him into the MCU’s first dark superhero.
However, this model is difficult to find a place in the hearts of the audience. On the box office chart for the 28 Marvel Studios superhero movies released, Thor and Thor: The Dark World ranked 23rd and 18th respectively from the bottom. Film rating site Rotten Tomatoes ranked The Dark World at number 27 and Thor at number 22 in its list of best MCU movies. In it, Thor: The Dark World has just been saved by Chloé Zhao’s Etenrals (2021) from the last position.
The separate series about Iron Man and Captain America both stop at the number of three parts. Both Iron Man 3 (2013) and Captain America: Civil War (2016) are considered the most memorable films, closing a successful Marvel Studios franchise. A similar responsibility may have been placed on Taika Waititi’s role when the filmmaker took on the role of directing the third Thor movie.
Waititi gave the Thor franchise and the superhero himself a second on-screen life with Thor: Ragnarok . On the economic front, the film earned more than $850 million at the global box office, significantly higher than Thor: The Dark World ($644.6 million) and Thor ($449 million). This can be considered a big step because Ragnarok was only invested with a budget of $ 180 million, which is slightly more than the previous two films of $ 30 million.
Waititi’s colorful, colorful film focuses on the goal of creating laughter while maintaining the identity of the series is the never-ending war for power between the gods. The new Thor is younger and more dynamic, a blend of sarcasm, sarcasm, and noisy carnival that has become the Taika Waititi brand with a cheesy, tragic, ribbed character associated with the character from previous movies.
This formula closes the gap between the audience and Thor. He is a god, a true superhero. But at the same time, he also looks like a sociable, humorous young man but has many dark corners in his soul that are hard to share that we can easily face somewhere every day. In particular, Thor’s emotional journey in Ragnarok , continuing with the latest two Avengers installments , created empathy with the audience. It’s the story of a man who wants to forget his past many painful losses, helplessly realizes that divine power does not help in dealing with emotional trauma.
The change in image is a huge leap forward for Thor, and plays an important role in keeping him on stage longer with the audience. Fat Thor is still a detail mentioned by the audience long after Endgame ended, the own movie franchise about the God of Thunder has entered the 4th part, showing the attraction, and the potential of the character is still there. Although Chris Hemsworth once hinted about “parting” when participating in the promotion of Thor: Love & Thunder , with what he and director Taika Waititi have done, the future of the God of Thunder with the MCU is still “a wide sea and a long river.” “.
