Avengers: Doomsday Trailer And Other MCU Bits

Every once in a while I do cover Marvel related stuff on this blog and over the last few weeks, there's been one thing in particular that's been looming. Of course I'm talking about Avengers: Doomsday. 

In the last few weeks, the Russos have been teasing about their choice in charactera being spotlighted in a series of trailers. The characters have included some of the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Black Panther (Letitia Wright). For a movie that's not due out for another eleven months, it's pretty early.

The trailers themselves have been decent enough. Not revealing anything too major but raising enough curiosity as to why these characters are drawn into whatever chaos that will be caused by Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.). When the first proper trailer gets released in a few months, it'll undoubtedly break the internet.

However there's still eleven months to go and closer to time we've got a few things on Disney+ to watch first. There's the imminent arrival of Wonder Man, with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in the title role. All eight episodes of that will drop from January 27th. Also on Disney+ through the year will be the second seasons of both Daredevil: Born Again and X-Men '97, a special presentation for The Punisher and the upcoming Vision Quest. Oh and on July 31st in theatres there's also Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Overall, a pretty solid year for Marvel fans.

Avengers: Doomsday will be in theatres from December 18th 2026.

My Review of Thor: The Dark World (2013)

 

Written by Christopher L. Yost And Christopher Markus And Stephen McFeely

Directed by Alan Taylor

Thor: "I wish I could trust you."

Loki: "Trust my rage."

There was a time when there was a sequel to Thor that was more divisive than it's fourth entry and funnily, that was this sequel. It's been over a decade. Is it still that divisive? Maybe but I didn't have too big an issue with this one.

Following the events of The Avengers, we saw Thor (Chris Hemsworth) bring younger brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) back to Asgard. Loki immediately faced Odin (Anthony Hopkins) being disappointed him and Frigga (Rene Russo) wanting better for him while being confined to a cell.

Back on Earth, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) was trying to get over Thor by going on a date with Richard (Chris O'Dowd), which Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) interrupted. Oh and this movie also took the adventures to London where portals were popping up all over the place.

On the plus side, it didn't take too long for Thor and Jane to reunite and for the latter to make her feelings about being abandoned known to the titular hero. Of course, there was also Jane being brought to Asgard when the Aether ended up inside and that presented another problem.

The problem being the main threat itself - the Dark Elf Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) and he's probably not the greatest of MCU baddies out there. Still, his presence did force a team up between Thor and Loki, a betrayal of sorts from Heimdall (Idris Elba), more screentime for Sif (Jaimie Alexander), Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Fandral (Zachary Levi) and Hogun (Tadanobu Asano), nudity for Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard)and the death of Frigga.

If the movie did have a plus point, yet again it was the rapport between Thor and Loki. They almost came close to reuniting but the latter's resentment for the former did rear it's head again. On the other hand, he did sacrifice himself to take down Malekith and save the day. 

- Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje appeared as Algrim/Kurse,the second in command for Malekith.

- The credit scenes included Sif and Volstagg giving the Aether to The Collector (Benecio del Toro) and Carina (Ophelia Lovibond) as well as Thor and Jane reuniting on Earth.

- Stan Lee popped up as a patient in a mental ward and Loki briefly disguised himself as Captain America (Chris Evans).

- Other actors would appeared in this movie included Tony Curran, Alice Krige, Clive Russell, Tallulah Riley, Richard Brake and Jonathan Howard. The latter ended being a love interest for Darcy.

- Had things been different, both Benedict Cumberbatch and Mads Mikkelsen could've been in this movie as different characters.

- Chronology: 2013, Greenwich, England as well as Asgard and eons on Svartalfheim for Malekith's origins.

Thor: The Dark World isn't that bad a sequel. I mean it's easily the weakest movie in Phase 2 and I'll admit that despite enjoying Christopher Eccleston as an actor, Malekith might be the least interesting villain we've had. The Thor/Loki dynamic did keep it watchable though.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Thor (2011)

 

Written by J. Michael Straczynski And Mark Protosevich And Ashley Edward Miller And Zack Stentz And Don Payne

Directed by Kenneth Branagh 

Thor: "Why have you done this?"

Loki: "To prove to Father that I am a worthy son! When he wakes, I will have saved his life, I will have destroyed that race of monsters, and I will be true heir to the throne!"

Remember the days when Thor (Chris Hemsworth) was a lot more on the Shakespeare side of things? Well, now I do, seeing as I went back to reviewing this first movie. I mean he still sort of does have that side to him but not as pronounced these days.

Anyways getting back to this movie, we started with our leading lady Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and her friend, Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) accidentally running over a banished Thor. Then we cut to what led to his banishment.

Yup, that meant seeing the glory of Asgard and it's gloriously depicted onscreen. You've got it's ruler, Odin (Anthony Hopkins) along with his wife, Frigga (Rebecca Russo) and their two sons, Thor and the rather mischievous Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Thor was desperate to prove himself a worthy successor to his father should the time come for him to rule. Loki had other ideas.

One of those ideas being to cause war with Laufey (Colm Feore) and the Frost Giants of Jotunheim. It was a good idea on Loki's part because Thor's action led to him igniting a war and also to Odin banishing him to Earth and placing his powers into the hammer Mjölnir. This meant Thor had to do a lot of growing up.

Being stuck in New Mexico and bonding with Jane, Darcy and Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) somewhat forced his hand into doing that. While Thor did bond with his Earth friends and Agent Colson (Clark Gregg), his own allies Sif (Jaime Alexander), Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Fandral (Josh Dallas) and Hogun (Tadanobu Asano) also provided some much needed support. Not to mention Heimdall (Idris Elba) was pretty much team Thor as well.

Anyways the fight scenes with Thor and the Destroyer added some nice visual spectacle but it was the final confrontation between Thor and Loki with Odin caught in the middle that highlighted the family dynamics beautifully. Despite being a scheming little shit, it's hard not to feel a bit bad for Loki. As for that portal, well it had it's own complications.

- A post credit scene saw Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) reaching out to Selvig. The latter being influenced by Loki. Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) was introduced in this movie.

- Loki knew that Laufey was his real father but still had no issue with killing him in order to get Odin's approval. 

- Various actors were considered for the role of Thor, including Hemsworth's own brother, Liam.

- Stuart Townsend was originally cast as Fandral before being recast with Josh Dallas. The latter would also be recast with Zachary Levi in the next movie.

- Standout music: Foo Fighters Walk as well as Patrick Doyle's score music.

- Chronology: 2011 New Mexico as well as 965 AD Asgard.

Thor does hold pretty well as a movie. It's a good debut outing for the larger than life hero and both Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston knock it out of the park with the Thor/Loki dynamic. I do like this one a lot.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Thor: Love And Thunder (2022)

 

Written by Taika Waititi And Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

Directed by Taika Waititi

Thor (to Gorr, re Jane): "You've won. Why should I spend my last moments with you, when I can spend them with her?"

Every once in a while, the mostly invincible MCU has a little wobble of sorts. The odd movie or Disney+ series doesn't quite escape the scrutiny of critics. It happens and with a franchise that has tried to experiment with it's current phase, this scrutiny has become a bit more intense. This movie in particular has certainly generated more scrutiny than solo movies in the past.

It appears that while a lot of people found Taika Waititi's shake up of Thor's world refreshing with Thor: Ragnorak, this romantic of sorts themed follow up has seen Waititi's format proving that sometimes lightening really doesn't strike twice. I have to admit myself, there are some issues with this particular installment that leave a bit to be desired.

First of all, you've got two very big storylines competing with each other in something of a limited time frame. The first one being our villain arc of the piece with Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) on the rampage to murder some gods and he's bored of picking off the lesser known ones. His attention doesn't take long to pivot on Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and he's not above taking the children of New Asgard to lure the himbo God of Thunder into his shadow realm.

Thor of course doesn't shy away from the fight. After going his separate ways from the Guardians Of The Galaxy (who add nothing to the main story at all), he's soon reunited with Korg (Taika Waititi), King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and ex-girlfriend, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) as they head to Mount Olympus and fail to get party boy Zeus (Russell Crowe) to help in their efforts to get an army against Gorr while royally pissing off the orgy obsessed God instead.

The MCU have had a mixed success rate with villains to put things mildly and while Christian Bale looked suitably creepy and delivered a fun performance as Gorr, I'm not sure he actually worked as a baddie. With the limited screen time he had, I think Gorr lacked a bit as a villain (except for one exchange when he had Thor and company bound and gagged in his realm) and his redemption at the end, while a bit of a dynamic game changer for Thor himself, did feel very rushed and unearned. 

Then there's the Mighty Thor plotline with Jane Foster. In the comics, it's a storyline that factored in with the character having cancer and it's no different here. Natalie Portman definitely delivered a strong performance, was convincing in her action scenes as Mighty Thor and her romance with Thor itself got some reasonably good closure. However as with the Gorr storyline, the Mighty Thor arc while good undeniably felt rushed as well.

As for the much hyped LGBT content, it's another case of the MCU really doing the bare minimum. We did learn that Korg's species are all male and he does get a husband, there's at least one trans/non binary character in the mix and Valkyrie alluded to an ex-girlfriend of her own but didn't get a female love interest in this movie. I definitely on this front, the MCU can pick up the pace here.

- The mid credit scene introduced Brett Goldstein as Hercules with Zeus recruiting him to kill Thor. 

- The post credit scene had Jane go to Valhalla with Heimdell (Idris Elba) greeting her. Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) and Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) made their returns here too.

- Aside from flashbacks to previous movies, this was also a Loki free zone. We did however get actors, including Melissa McCarthy to reenact the events of the previous movie.

- Chris Hemsworth's daughter, India played, Love, the daughter of Gorr who Thor ended up adopting at the end of the movie. Lets just say she gave Mjolnir a bit of a makeover.

- Standout music: Guns n Roses Sweet Child O' Mine and Enya's Only Time.

- Chronology: It's a bit a while for Thor since the events of Avengers: Endgame

Thor: Love And Thunder definitely could've fleshed out it's two main stories better than it did and while I can understand that the humour wasn't for everyone, I felt it was the least of the movie's problems. Overall, there's definitely enough to enjoy with this movie but it's also a movie that maybe needed a little longer to breathe and should've been better than  it was. Still, it has it's moments.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Thor: Ragnorak (2017)

 

Written by Eric Pearson & Craig Kyle &Christopher L. Yost

Directed by Taika Waititi

Valkyrie: "This team of yours, it got a name?"

Thor: "Yeah, it's called the... uh... Revengers!"

Okay, I'm not gonna lie here. When it comes to the MCU, much as I do like Chris Hemsworth as Thor, I gotta admit that his movies don't really do a lot for me and it seems that they're generally the weakest, that is until we get to this one.

With the first two movies taking more of a serious tone, things changed big time with Thor: Ragnorak as it feels like the comedy was upped several notches, our title hero lost his father, eye, some of his hair and a bit of his mojo. He did however gain something of a team (even if the name needs working on) and of course, there was the matter of family as well.

Odin (Anthony Hopkins) might have passed on but Loki (Tom Hiddleston) of could was still very present in this third installment, serving as both a thorn in Thor's side and a grudging ally when things got really bad. The really bad of course being the arrival of Hela (Cate Blanchett) who had her own plans for Asgard.

Hela without a doubt has been one of the better villains in the MCU and she wasted no time in making her presence known when Thor had to witness his half sister destroy Mjölnir while she then took over their home world and while she did that, Thor himself wound up being taken by a slave trader named Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and forced by the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) to take part in some gladiator tournament for good measure.

It's through this plot we're reunited with the Hulk (Bruce Banner) who feels more disconnected to his former humanity while Thor himself cooks up an escape and even wins Valkyrie around into helping him defeat Hela while also building some bridges with Loki as well.

There are times in the movie where the humour definitely feels like it's overplayed and while Hela is more camp villain than full on scary (in spite of the headgear she dons when things are meant to be serious), there's plenty of drama as well. Drama centring on family and humanity and it's handled pretty well, especially when you consider that the last scene did lead into something very dramatic for Thor and Loki.

- Director Taika Waititi had a supporting role in the film as Korg, a character he'll likely reprise for the next film, Thor: Love And Thunder.

- Nice cameo appearances from both Doctor Strange and Black Widow as well as the amusing retelling of the events of Thor: The Dark World.

- This movie was originally going to refer to Valkyrie as a bisexual character but was cut. The next movie however will confirm it.

- Standout music: great use of Led Zepplin's Immigrant Song.

Thor: Ragnorak is definitely one of the MCU's most colourful of movies. It's also a massive step up in terms of movies focusing on Thor and it's easy to see why Taika Waititi could end up being something of a mainstay in the MCU. In some respects, this would've been a satisfying end to Thor's solo outings but it's great that he'll get another outing after the results of this one.

Rating: 8 out of 10