Entertainment

Thor | 10 years of franchise that failed to bring romance to the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Published

4 years ago

April 29, 2021

When you watch the MCU today, producing space epics, grand battles on a universal scale and all, it seems hard to remember that it started out a lot more down to earth, with a movie about the movie industry. weaponry, the protagonist of which was a swashbuckling. billionaire. And it worked for audiences and critics, who fell in love with the studio’s different proposition. However, there was one part of the audience that had yet to get into the hype: the female audience. So, reflecting the type of film that had been successful for this group at the time, the Thor franchise was born, which decided to bring the mythological space hero into theaters, leaving aside mythological wars and space to bet on a more romantic version. The result was the franchise with the lowest rating in the entire universe.

Back then, romantic teenage sagas like Twilight moved millions of people at the box office and dominated women’s magazines. Proving that no one is perfect, Kevin Feige has capitalized on this approach to try to attract this crowd. To this end, Kenneth Branagh, famous for his Shakespearean vision of cinema, has been called upon to lead the amorous adventures of the Norse god of thunder on Earth. This was an interesting addition because it allowed, especially when it came to setting and characterization, to explore much of the classic comic book universe of Asgard. In aesthetic terms, this was one of the more daring features of the MCU. The problem is, the script tried so hard to push a romance between Thor and Jane Foster, that the whole question of the hero’s origin lurked in the background. It’s practically a romantic comedy full of metaphorical dialogue packing a sweet water plot with the same beat as a Mexican soap opera.

The direction of this first movie is so lost that they give Natalie Portman a close-up just for her to say “my God” and look at Thor in wonder.

And that character-building problem was really terrible, not only for wasting an actress of Natalie Portman’s caliber in a completely forgettable and ill-motivated role, but also for bringing in an inexperienced Chris Hemsworth to make a Thor with no personality. It’s complicated when a character known for his strong personality goes to the movies and is unrecognizable. If it weren’t for the hammer and the winged helmet, they wouldn’t even know it was Thor. Not to mention the underutilization of established actors, such as Anthony Hopkins and Rene Russo, to serve as a staircase for the plot.

Odin, the (my) father of all, was underused in the original plot

This question of characters without personality was reflected directly in all the mess that Thor was in the following years. With the film’s average performance, the character was a bit low and had little screen time in The Avengers (2012), where he acquired a coarser approach, almost like a Viking Playboy. And even with that little time, fans have already seen a breakthrough there. So the sequence should have this more “epic mythological” way. So, they called Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman) to direct the sequel. Only, due to creative differences, she asked to leave and was replaced by Alan Taylor, who directed some episodes of Game Of Thrones. Once again, Thor suffered from a lack of personality and half-hearted excess of romance, and won an empty film, ranked among the MCU’s worst. Along with this failure in the solo movies, the character acquired a more fun and powerful way when he acted in scenes from the Avengers movies. And so, in 2017, Thor: Ragnarok hit theaters, which redefined the entire franchise and ultimately gave the God of Thunder some personality. Directed by Taika Waititi, the film let go of the hero’s bonds of love for good and gave him an enhancement of his powers and a more ironic, arrogant, and fun way. From this film, Thor became one of the fan favorite characters and was very well developed, becoming a key piece for Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Thor’s lack of personality in his introductory film forced the character to undergo several reboots throughout the franchise.

However, if there was one positive thing about the film celebrating its 10th anniversary today, it’s Loki. Played ironically and charmingly by Tom Hiddleston, the cheating god has become a fan favorite. Moreover, it is not absurd to say that he was the only one who achieved the main objective of the film: to get closer to the female audience. Those who have inhabited the internet for the past decade probably remember the flood of GIFs and videos posted by girls on Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook touting Loki. And look, he was soon one of the few characters in the film who had absolutely nothing to do with the romantic imprint and who ended up being successful with female audiences. It’s proof that that planning and market mapping that is constantly associated with Marvel Studios hasn’t always been as good as it is today.

Loki’s success was so great that in addition to stealing the film’s protagonism, becoming more popular than the title hero, he returned to virtually every other production involving his half-brother, including three of the four Avengers films. He will also win his own series which will debut on Disney + on June 11 of this year.

And even though Loki turns out to be the real plot villain, the film ends up spending one of the iconic comic book rivals in a single, completely forgettable scene in the middle of a street in a small country town. . It’s sad to see how they used a very powerful weapon like the Destroyer – which had perfect characterization, by the way – and stages it for just 10 minutes for a beast battle that totally wastes the visual potential that this clash would have. have in the hands of someone who focuses on a good adventure story

Seriously, it’s unforgivable.

Another character who appeared in the plot, but I bet many forgot him, was Gavião Arqueiro (Jeremy Renner). Yes, he was introduced to a quick scene in “Thor,” in which the hero who gives the film his name breaks into a SHIELD facility and tries to get Mjölnir back. However, he is still unworthy and fails in the attempt, forcing Gavião not to shoot an arrow at him, just to see him fail.

Answer honestly: do you remember that scene?

Currently, the characters who suffered from the introduction of Thor are being rescued and “towed” into other MCU productions. Thor himself has acquired a new personality and travels with the Guardians of the Galaxy, Loki will earn his own series by traveling through timelines, Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) has become a doctor at WandaVision, and now it’s the turn of the Dr Jane Foster to gain powers by becoming Mighty Thor in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder.

Enjoy watching:

Darcy returned to the screens of WandaVision

It’s interesting how the franchise’s initial failure resulted in something not very common to see on the big screen, which is the “fix” of pretty much every character. The initial idea was very promising and even laudable, which was to bring the world of superheroes into something that attracted more girls and women, but the approach was wrong, based on a distorted view of what the female audience wanted, which was ultimately won over by other adventures more concerned with telling good stories than creating some kind of romance. Between mistakes and successes, this franchise has settled over time and, currently, Thor is one of the heroes most loved by and by fans around the world.

Fans now expect Jane to win a bigger role than the avid scientist.