The Thor movies have been one of the most influential franchises in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even though Iron Man takes the credit for setting “Avenger’s Initiative” off, it’s been Thor who has had the most influence so far in terms of the plots leading up to Thanos.
From the idea of intergalactic species, to the tesseract, one hand of the infinity gauntlet, Loki – who was the main villain in The Avengers, and the ether (reality stone). It’s definitely safe to say that Thor’s franchise, despite the mixed receptions of his movies so far, has been influential in setting up the Avengers storylines.
The first Thor movie was deemed too small in scale, because it spanned just a weekend and was set mainly in a small city in New Mexico. The second movie, received some stick about giving us a villain that doesn’t even match up to Loki/Frost Giants. However, the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok directed by Taika Waititi, is aiming to change that course.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly as part of a big public rollout for the highly-anticipated film’s bizarre new characters, surprising MCU crossover characters and radical upending of the established Thor aesthetic, Waititi explained just how big the task at hand is for his own film and the ever-expanding Universe-wide storyline:
“A lot of what we’re doing with the film is, in a way, kind of dismantling and destroying the old idea and rebuilding it in a new way that’s fresh. Everyone’s got a slightly new take on their characters, so in that way, it feels like [this is] the first Thor.”
Indeed, what’s already been revealed of the film marks a stark change from what’s come before, with opulent sets and costumes reminiscent of films like Flash Gordon (or the work of legendary Thor comic book artist, Jack Kirby) and an expanding cosmic storyline that features new characters like Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster, Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie and guest-starring roles for other Marvel characters like Mark Ruffalo’s Incredible Hulk and Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange – all of which are expected to help set the stage for Avengers: Infinity War, when it arrives in 2018.