Thor: Ragnarok

Saw it a couple weeks ago. It was alright. Would've been better if it wasn't basically an ad for Infinity Wars. I hate how all the Marvel movies now have to have all the characters. Hulk's presence doesn't even make sense. Even I buy that Stark's jet can go to space, it doesn't have FTL travel.

Also would've been nice if they could pick a side, fantasy or sci-fi.

Sci-fantasy is a thing that was popularized hard by Star Wars.

Wormholes

It was like that in the comics too.

All of space is like that in the comics. Asgard's even more medieval fantasy-esque, but that doesn't stop Thor from hanging out with Beta Ray Bill. Hell, before the massive uptake on Tolkien in the '60s, the line between fantasy and other sci-fi was a lot blurrier. Read some Jack Vance or Edgar Rice Burroughs sometime.

Just watched the movie.

Really enjoyed it, if it was a bit TOO silly, and I write silly superhero fiction so if I think it is...well.

I will say I totally disagree with you guys on Thor and Valkyrie. I was under the impression since Lady Sif is now permanently hunting terrorists due to the tattoos on her body that Valkyrie was replacing her as Thor's love interest. Given Thor might be sacrificing himself, though, I could be wrong.

Mind you, I also think Odin being treated as the party responsible for Hela is a bit of a mistake. I think the movie casts a lot of Odin's actions into a different light. Odin's father annihilated the Dark Elves and now it's easy to view that war as a simple act of genocide that just so happened to be a bunch of asshats (and perhaps they only became that because of the genocide). Odin also was a murderous conqueror just like so many other villains in Marvel but pulled back and tried to build something better—which is why he's so angry at Thor for breaking the peace. He tried to change his legacy into something positive even if no one was having it.

edited 23rd Feb '18 6:19:56 PM by CharlesPhipps

Question: where did you watch it? Marvel claims it came out on digital February 20 but Amazon says March 6 >:(

Amazon.com Prime Video.

It was available a couple of days ago.

...are you in the US?? Cause my stupid Amazon still says March 6.

Yes, I am in the USA.

Sorry.

:(

’’The Thunder Games’’ is probably the best of the Thor films.

I felt like there was too much time spent on Sakaar and not enough to developing the conflict and themes with Hela, though.

edited 28th Feb '18 4:33:30 AM by Noaqiyeum

They could have had Hela follow them to Sakaar,that would of at least connected the two

edited 28th Feb '18 4:33:18 AM by Ultimatum

Or had Sakaar related to Hela's conquests in some way. Like, instead of being sealed away by a magic Plot Barrier for millennia, maybe she was exiled and spent her days taking over and governing Sakaar. She could fill in for the Red King in the Planet Hulk half of the story and then there'd be a clear connection between the Asgard portion decrying imperialism and the Sakaar portion showing us the horrors inherent to Hela's way of life.

edited 28th Feb '18 7:03:17 AM by TobiasDrake

Part of the problem is Hela is hella entertaining but they've clearly made no actual character for her but "Sexy Goth Godzilla."

...that is a very disturbing mental image you just put in my head.

Why Godzilla?

Godzilla is what I use as a metaphor for, "character who exists to show up and wreck things." Malekith being a good example of this in the previous Thor movie. We actually even end the movie in a big monster-on-monster fight between Hela and Surtur.

There's a lot going on with, say, Loki about identity politics (at least Asgardian) and inheritance as well as inadequacy. Relationships and so on. Hella? Not so much. Her role is to scare our heroes off and break things until they can come back and knock her off.

There's no real moment where Thor or Loki could sit down and have a conversation about anything.

edited 28th Feb '18 10:21:10 PM by CharlesPhipps

I mean she's not that deep but she does it well compared to other examples. Probably the acting.

Generic Doomsday Villains are not inherently bad. Hela is a perfect example of it done well.

I still say it would have been more interesting to have made her Loki's daughter and aged her down to being more like teenagish. It could have still been a black mark on Odin, since he would have locked up his own granddaughter for a crime she and her brothers hadn't even done yet.

Honestly, given Loki isn't Odin's son in mythology but his blood brother, I'm not sure why people are so irritated by the change there.

Another way to do it would have been her be Laufey's daughter and have her as Loki's sister, coming to avenge herself on Asgard with an army of zombie giants.

edited 28th Feb '18 11:07:08 PM by CharlesPhipps

It would be a black mark against Odin but not against Asgard as a whole. The endpoint of Hela's significance on the plot is justifying the prophecy of Asgard's own destruction.

Honestly, I'm not sure the movie sold that.

Hella claims Asgard was an empire built on blood, oppression, and doom but it's kind of undermined by the fact Odin did turn his back on slaughter and the fact everyone we've met so far in the Nine Realms (humans included) have been assholes.

@ Charles Phipps

In the comics, she was also canonically considered Loki's daughter like in mythology for a long time. So, it's not only a change to mythology but comics as well. I also just like the idea of Loki being a fawning daddy. I am surprised they didn't put the Midgard Serpent since that is also a child of Loki's and a crucial figure in Ragnarok.

Jormungandr has more or less been forgotten in the comics. To the point that his role as the serpent who kills Thor was supplanted by a different character made up in the comics: Cul Borson, Odin's brother and the Asgardian god of fear.