Post by Skaathar on Apr 30, 2019 21:29:43 GMT
I've had this long-running suspicion that the MCU is specifically giving Thor the short end of the stick in the Avenger movies. My suspicions were slightly alleviated (though still there) in IW but they're now back full force after seeing Endgame. It's not the these movies completely mistreat Thor, not like they do Hulk anyway. Thor still gets his chance to shine and all... but these movies always seem to portray Thor in a way that contradicts whatever development he accomplished in his own movies. Like for every few steps forward that Thor takes in his own movies, the Avenger movies drag him a step back. Whether it's by reducing his power levels, regressing his personality growth, dumbing him down, reducing his screen time... they always seem to take Thor down a few notches... which he then needs to make up for again in his own movies.
In comparison, Ironman and Captain America don't suffer from the same treatment. The Avenger movies continuously prop them up and helps boost their characters. Let me present my case:
The Avengers
* Thor got a good amount of screentime and his personality/character arc wasn't changed much but his power levels were greatly reduced. For example:
- Ironman matched Thor in combat. Despite IM having a 400% boost he still should not have posed a challenge for Thor, especially when you consider how easily Thor took care of Destroyer. Great feat for IM, horrible feat for Thor.
- Thor bleeds from a single punch from Hulk. Considering that this guy survived the Bifrost explosion without issue, I would have thought it would take a few more hits to make him bleed. In Ragnarok we see him take multiple punches from the Hulk without damage.
- In the final fight he does get a good feat when blasting the leviathans out of the sky (plus his fight against Loki), but after that he doesn't really get to do much other than hammer a few chitauri here and there. Based on how he was easily taking out Frost Giants in his own movie, we know he could have done so much better.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Of the main Avengers, Thor got the 2nd least amount of screentime. The only one with less screen time was Vision, who only joined the movie partway through. But even Quicksilver and Wanda had more screentime than Thor here. Both Stark and Rogers had around 50 minutes each of screentime. Thor had 14 minutes.
- His cave scene, which was the only solo scene he had, was cut in half
- His fight scene with Vision was deleted
- In fact, I don't recall him having any decent fight scene. We don't really get to see him have a one on one fight with Ultron. Their fight is done off screen and the only thing we see is Ultron strangling Thor as he distracts Ultron. That's it. Both IM and Cap had prolonged fight scenes against Ultron. Actually now that I think about it, Thor never really gets a proper one on one fight with the main villains in the Avengers movies after his fight with Loki.
- In the end, other than hitting the vibranium core, Thor doesn't really do anything special in this movie.
Avengers: Infinity War
* So far the best representation of Thor in an Avengers movie. He had a good amount of screentime and development, he had his badass neutron star feat and his awesome entrance in Wakanda. Still, there were some things that contradicted his development from previous movies:
- The movie made it seem like he needed a weapon again to use his powers. I mean, other than the Bifrost and flight, Thor should have been able to do everything else he did in that movie without a weapon. Yet we never see him utilize his thundergod powers and the first thing he does and try to find a weapon. This takes him a few steps back from the development we've seen established in Ragnarok.
- Puts a fake eye to replace his eyepatch. Not a big deal, but still ends up nullifying some of the events his character underwent in Ragnarok.
- His attitude when he's with the GOTG is more reminiscent of his younger, arrogant self. The way he just automatically tries to assume command of a ship from a bunch of strangers who saved him... that's an attitude that I haven't seen from him since the first Thor movie.
- Does not get a proper fight with Thanos. Sure he had that great moment where he hit Thanos with his axe but it was a very short segment. In comparison, IM's 1on1 fight with Thanos was given a lot of time and emphasis. Cap didn't get a lot of time in IW, but what time he did get they made sure that he shined, and nothing he did contradicted his already established character arc.
Avengers: Endgame
- I previously mentioned that I had no problems with making Thor fat. What was weird was how they made him almost completely useless and irresponsible.
- Nowhere in the movie does he get a redeeming scene. I didn't mind him being depressed and out of it, but he went through the entire movie like that.
- He had no decent fight scene at all in the entire movie. The few scenes he had against Thanos was mostly him getting his ass handed to him, and again they made sure that he didn't use his powers to their potential.
- a 1500 year old warrior who's won countless battles over the millennia is somehow broken down into a joke in just 5 years. I understand depression, and like I said I enjoyed fat Thor, but surely someone with that much experience would have a lot more inner grit that they could rally themselves given only a few incentives?
- then in the end he gives up on his throne and his people and jumps onboard with the GOTG. His reason for giving up on his people is he needs to find himself... which is very similar to the reason he turned down the throne in TDW. So here we nullify all the development he's had as a character from Ragnarok and IW. He has completely given up on his responsibilities and basically just wants to go on a galaxy joyride. Now you might say he's depressed and this makes sense, but then all of them have lost people during this period, and he's acting even more irresponsible than Starlord.
- Then once onboard with the GOTG, he again reverts to his more arrogant attitude. I admit I actually prefer this attitude on him as it gives him more personality, but it still goes against the development he's had from his movies.
Now to be fair, I'm not saying he's completely mistreated. He still gets way better treatment than characters like BW, Hawkeye or Hulk. But of the main 3 Avengers (those with actual trilogies), he's the only one that gets treated like this.
Both Cap and IM regularly get power boosts in the Avenger movies that allow them to take on more powerful enemies, whereas Thor gets powered down. Cap and IM have long, very well choreographed fights in these movies... Thor almost has none outside the first Avengers movie. Cap had great fights against Loki, Ultron, Thanos and even himself. IM had great fights against Hulk, Thor, Ultron, Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian and Thanos. Thor had good fights against IM, Hulk and Loki but they were all in the first movie. After that he doesn't get any good ones other than a brief scene here and there (like the battle of Wakanda).
Most importantly though, Cap and IM continuously evolve through the films. They grow. Thor... regresses. Losing some of character arc he'd already achieved in his previous movies. The only good thing here is that he's not dead yet, so I'm hoping he gets to properly redeem himself.
In comparison, Ironman and Captain America don't suffer from the same treatment. The Avenger movies continuously prop them up and helps boost their characters. Let me present my case:
The Avengers
* Thor got a good amount of screentime and his personality/character arc wasn't changed much but his power levels were greatly reduced. For example:
- Ironman matched Thor in combat. Despite IM having a 400% boost he still should not have posed a challenge for Thor, especially when you consider how easily Thor took care of Destroyer. Great feat for IM, horrible feat for Thor.
- Thor bleeds from a single punch from Hulk. Considering that this guy survived the Bifrost explosion without issue, I would have thought it would take a few more hits to make him bleed. In Ragnarok we see him take multiple punches from the Hulk without damage.
- In the final fight he does get a good feat when blasting the leviathans out of the sky (plus his fight against Loki), but after that he doesn't really get to do much other than hammer a few chitauri here and there. Based on how he was easily taking out Frost Giants in his own movie, we know he could have done so much better.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Of the main Avengers, Thor got the 2nd least amount of screentime. The only one with less screen time was Vision, who only joined the movie partway through. But even Quicksilver and Wanda had more screentime than Thor here. Both Stark and Rogers had around 50 minutes each of screentime. Thor had 14 minutes.
- His cave scene, which was the only solo scene he had, was cut in half
- His fight scene with Vision was deleted
- In fact, I don't recall him having any decent fight scene. We don't really get to see him have a one on one fight with Ultron. Their fight is done off screen and the only thing we see is Ultron strangling Thor as he distracts Ultron. That's it. Both IM and Cap had prolonged fight scenes against Ultron. Actually now that I think about it, Thor never really gets a proper one on one fight with the main villains in the Avengers movies after his fight with Loki.
- In the end, other than hitting the vibranium core, Thor doesn't really do anything special in this movie.
Avengers: Infinity War
* So far the best representation of Thor in an Avengers movie. He had a good amount of screentime and development, he had his badass neutron star feat and his awesome entrance in Wakanda. Still, there were some things that contradicted his development from previous movies:
- The movie made it seem like he needed a weapon again to use his powers. I mean, other than the Bifrost and flight, Thor should have been able to do everything else he did in that movie without a weapon. Yet we never see him utilize his thundergod powers and the first thing he does and try to find a weapon. This takes him a few steps back from the development we've seen established in Ragnarok.
- Puts a fake eye to replace his eyepatch. Not a big deal, but still ends up nullifying some of the events his character underwent in Ragnarok.
- His attitude when he's with the GOTG is more reminiscent of his younger, arrogant self. The way he just automatically tries to assume command of a ship from a bunch of strangers who saved him... that's an attitude that I haven't seen from him since the first Thor movie.
- Does not get a proper fight with Thanos. Sure he had that great moment where he hit Thanos with his axe but it was a very short segment. In comparison, IM's 1on1 fight with Thanos was given a lot of time and emphasis. Cap didn't get a lot of time in IW, but what time he did get they made sure that he shined, and nothing he did contradicted his already established character arc.
Avengers: Endgame
- I previously mentioned that I had no problems with making Thor fat. What was weird was how they made him almost completely useless and irresponsible.
- Nowhere in the movie does he get a redeeming scene. I didn't mind him being depressed and out of it, but he went through the entire movie like that.
- He had no decent fight scene at all in the entire movie. The few scenes he had against Thanos was mostly him getting his ass handed to him, and again they made sure that he didn't use his powers to their potential.
- a 1500 year old warrior who's won countless battles over the millennia is somehow broken down into a joke in just 5 years. I understand depression, and like I said I enjoyed fat Thor, but surely someone with that much experience would have a lot more inner grit that they could rally themselves given only a few incentives?
- then in the end he gives up on his throne and his people and jumps onboard with the GOTG. His reason for giving up on his people is he needs to find himself... which is very similar to the reason he turned down the throne in TDW. So here we nullify all the development he's had as a character from Ragnarok and IW. He has completely given up on his responsibilities and basically just wants to go on a galaxy joyride. Now you might say he's depressed and this makes sense, but then all of them have lost people during this period, and he's acting even more irresponsible than Starlord.
- Then once onboard with the GOTG, he again reverts to his more arrogant attitude. I admit I actually prefer this attitude on him as it gives him more personality, but it still goes against the development he's had from his movies.
Now to be fair, I'm not saying he's completely mistreated. He still gets way better treatment than characters like BW, Hawkeye or Hulk. But of the main 3 Avengers (those with actual trilogies), he's the only one that gets treated like this.
Both Cap and IM regularly get power boosts in the Avenger movies that allow them to take on more powerful enemies, whereas Thor gets powered down. Cap and IM have long, very well choreographed fights in these movies... Thor almost has none outside the first Avengers movie. Cap had great fights against Loki, Ultron, Thanos and even himself. IM had great fights against Hulk, Thor, Ultron, Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian and Thanos. Thor had good fights against IM, Hulk and Loki but they were all in the first movie. After that he doesn't get any good ones other than a brief scene here and there (like the battle of Wakanda).
Most importantly though, Cap and IM continuously evolve through the films. They grow. Thor... regresses. Losing some of character arc he'd already achieved in his previous movies. The only good thing here is that he's not dead yet, so I'm hoping he gets to properly redeem himself.
