“Cut his hair, destroy his hammer!”, demands Chris Hemsworth from Marvel boss Kevin Feige sometime in 2016 and he’s serious about it. The hero from Thor 2: The Dark Kingdom – long-haired, haughty, clumsy, still a bit sticky – Chris Hemsworth never wanted to see again. However, you can see him today on ProSieben. The conversation sparked one of the most important developments in the MCU.
The fledgling MCU messed up Thor — and learned from it
Of the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is built in large part on its reliability. When superstars like Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson quit (and sue the old employer), the Marvel factory continues to deliver films and series.
Thor Steelbook in the unique Mondo style
To the deal
In the middle growth phase of the franchise, however, the creative team around boss Kevin Feige needed the one film that showed them that the evil twin of reliability is stagnation and boredom.
The Dark Kingdom is one of the biggest failures in MCU history for a variety of reasons. The sequel was not well received by many fans and critics, it is one of the less popular Marvel films, although with Thor and Loki two of the most popular characters play at the forefront.
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Those directly involved talk about the thunder god’s second single film like about a Lesson lesson on harmful nastiness in the MCU: Thor 2 is a film that relies too much on tried and tested ingredients. But a franchise like the MCU, largely defined by sequels, relies on original and imaginative twists on the familiar. This dreary stagnation must not be allowed to repeat itself.
“meh”: The boring Thor 2 cast Chris Hemsworth down a dark Marvel hole
Chris Hemsworth stars in the tough internal judging. The actor emanated the impulses that led to Reinvention of the character in Thor 3: Day of Decision led. Breeding ground was Hemsworth’s deep dissatisfaction with the development of his character. He also overheard fanboy guru and director Kevin Smith gossip about Thor on his podcast, which feels like a “ass kick felt.”
The Australian then addressed himself with one dramatic cry for help to Kevin Feige: “I feel like I’m dying. Like I’m handcuffed.” He describes his feelings shortly after Thor 2 to Vanity Fair as “frustrated and bored”.
In 2018, Hemsworth offered a more specific substantive critique in an interview with GQ:
the first is good the second is rather meh. What masculinity means, the classic archetype. That’s when it starts to feel very familiar.
The character hadn’t moved, was still the same. In fact, there were warning signs early on that indicated that Thor 2 a lost movie could become.
Avengers 3: Infinity War – The Evolution of Thor
Patty Jenkins, now two-time Wonder Woman director, resigned from directing because the script was too bad for her, as she revealed in 2020:
I didn’t think I would make a good film out of the script can that they wanted to use.
She feared for her reputation, after all, Thor 2 would have set the course of her career anew:
It would have looked like like it’s my fault been. It would have been like, ‘Oh my god, this woman shot that and she got so many things wrong.’ How Marvel invented a new Thor
In 2014, a year after The Dark Kingdom, Guardians of the Galaxy became the MCU film with the highest gag density to date for a surprise hit. He almost never played on Earth anymore, relying on eccentric characters like Groot and Rocket Racoon. Thor 3 adopted these components of the recipe for success at Hemsworth’s urging.
It has to be funnier, it has to be unpredictable. We need to change the tone completely. Decisive Day was about breaking all the rules. In a sense of ‘as soon as it feels familiar, do something else’ and Taika Waititi – the director – has the same vision and the same […] ‘Anything is possible’ thing. (2019 vs. Yahoo)
Thor escapes to a bizarre garbage planet in his third adventure, where he meets the rock creature Korg and their deepest conversations with the monosyllabic Hulk leads. In addition, there is the charismatic Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), a character who challenged Thor anew. The most important thing: Hardly a scene in Day of Decision goes by without a punch line. All that gave the before”drained” Hemsworth’s desire for his character is back.
Crucial to the extreme and successful reorientation was that the three main creators of the film were on the same wavelength: Hemsworth, the eccentric New Zealand director Taika Waititi, who wholeheartedly supported his leading actor, and also Kevin Feige:
When we started Hemsworth and Thor he had blond hair, a hammer, a cape. Thor is all that. He’s now appeared as Thor so many times that Chris Hemsworth IS Thor. So we cut his hair, get rid of his hammer, and he still is. How Infinity War and Endgame and soon Thor 4: Love and Thunder build on that
The third installment grossed over $200 million more than its predecessor. Broken, still crude and naive, but now armed with a dark sarcasm, the hero has become one of the most popular and interesting characters in the MCU. The ensemble films Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame hailed Chris Hemsworth’s uncovered comedy talent with great glee.
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Thor in Avengers 4
Taika Waititi is certain that Thor 4: Love and Thunder will soon be the best Marvel film of all time. Well, he just drums a little. But the conditions could be worse. The thunder god is the first hero before his fourth solo film. The next reinvention is coming, but this time the character starts from a stronger position.
All, according to Hemsworth, “rejoice, you something fresh and new to offer. After leaving Thor like this in Endgame, we have a lot of room to move and ourselves to change drastically again […]”
Thor 3 made the hero grow by stripping him of everything familiar. Thor 4 unexpectedly gives him back his great love. Natalie Portman’s comeback is based on a sensational Marvel comic, her arc could be so voluminous that there is hardly room for the title character. The return guarantees friction, sparks, love and thunder.
The team and Taika Waititi now know they can hurt, challenge and turn Thor inside out, and have the chutzpah to do so.
Thor – The Dark Kingdom airs today at 10:50 p.m. on ProSieben.
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