Defending the Thor movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe can be a lonely and futile ordeal. While meeting opponents halfway at “Eh, the first Thor is all right” is not such a tall order, it’s a bit tougher to find fellow admirers of the whimsical oddball outing that is Thor: The Dark World. I’ll cop a few of the usual complaints: It’s got a weak villain, inconsistent tone, and and a story that doesn’t quite fit so snugly inside the MCU canon. But that last point is also the beauty of the film, and of Thor as a character on the whole. What he brings to the table is something that no other corner of the ever-expanding franchise can manage: true-blue weird-as-hell old school cinematic adventure. Case in point: the trailer for Thor: Ragnarok.
Sure, the Guardians of the Galaxy touched down on a massive skull planet and Captain America faced off with a talking Nazi computer, but nothing in the MCU thus far can hold a candle to the imagination promised by this first look at Ragnarok. Glimpses of Cate Blanchett’s majestic dread-soaked Hela and Jeff Goldblum’s General Commodus by way of Liquid Sky evoke the old world of big screen epics, but with the saucy flare born of the late ’60s and ’70s. Though we only get stingy hints of the new realms that Thor will himself be traversing in this latest, ostensibly biggest outing, those quick looks hearken back to everything from Endor to Cleopatra.
And though we’re treated to the MCU’s usual brand of schtick (Thor’s reaction to the reveal of the Incredible Hulk as his sparring partner is the sort of gag you’d expect from a Marvel trailer), this Ragnarok trailer nevertheless feels like it shows something the series hasn’t yet managed. The Avengers have had their share of adventures, yes, but have any of them felt this beholden to what we’ve always known and loved as the adventure genre?
Let us know what you think of the new trailer!
Images: Marvel/Disney
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