One of the greatest accomplishments in cinema history happened when marvel was able to create the MCU cinematic universe. It involves multiple movies, over many years that tie many characters narratives together for a epic event, culminating in the Avengers films. Though the MCU was and still is an amazing accomplishment it was not without its failings, most notably the Thor films. For whatever the reason that part of the franchise could not seem to get it together until the highly acclaimed Thor “Ragnarok”. The third edition of the Thor films is widely loved by most but what if I told you that Marvel made one of its best films pointless in its own canon? You may think my opinion sucks but hear me out?
To salvage the Thor franchise marvel decided to create some turmoil in the light hearted Thor Odinson’s life by sending him on his own coming of age story. When Odin dies Thor battles his sister, Hella, for the right to rule Asgard. She promptly smashes Thor’s greatest weapon, his hammer Mjolnnir, and just before she was to make quick work of Thor and Loki they are sent to another world by Loki to save their skin. To ensure that the “Ragnarok” movie is at least a fan success Marvel made sure to incorporate elements of the “Planet Hulk” storyline, making the planet they land on the the gladiator planet Sakkar. As Thor goes on his adventure he meets some new friends, notably the mild mannered and polite rock guy Korg and the sometimes drunk warrior goddess Valkyrie. He also runs into his old work associate, The Hulk and they square up for round two to finally answer the question of who is the strongest! Of course no coming of age story would be complete without pivotal life lessons learned and Thor becoming a r al boy when he realizes all the power he needs is within him and does not need the hammer. This would all be a great ending for the new king of Asgard if there wasn't a movie called “Infinity Wars” in the MCU canon.
In “Infinity Wars” we meet a broken and beaten Thor by the hands of Thanos. The beat down was so bad that it was done off camera. Marvel might have had its first R rated film if they had shown this beating. Just to demonstrate the power of the beat down Marvel allowed us to see Thanos putting his hands on the Hulk. Beat the Hulk so bad it made him quit the Avengers! I digress , this is about Thor and the fact that after Thanos let him live he learned some knew life lessons very quickly, such as: his hands were not good enough, that he did not have all the power he needed inside him and that he needed a weapon in his hands immediately. Thor knew he did not want Thanos putting his hands on him again and that not only did he need a hammer, he went ahead and paid extra for the ax on the other side! After Thor spent the whole “Ragnarok” learning that the power was inside of him and the hammer was a crutch, it took all of a off camera beating in “Infinity Wars” for Thor to spend that whole movie looking for a knew rutch that apparently he did not read the manual on because if he did he would have read, “when using the ax side, always aim for the head.” While Thor “Ragnarok is a fan favorite and considered a success Marvel made arguably one of its best films irrelevant with with the arrival of the “Infinity Wars”.
You may still believe my opinion sucks but if you made it till the end I’m glad you at least heard me out!
