The Last Hope of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Past and Future of the Thor franchise

“Thor: Love and Thunder” will land in Northern America theaters on July 8 this year. In the first trailer, “Thor” started his retirement life and successfully lost weight. Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman, made a stunning appearance. .

Thor is probably one of the most successful characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I still remember the lukewarm market reaction after the launch of “Thor” and “Thor: The Dark World”, which almost made Marvel executives start Doubt whether this character is necessary to continue development.

However, with Taika Waititi’s stylistic shift, the superhero character finally came to the big screen with unprecedented dynamism and charisma.

With the increase in popularity and popularity, Thor has become increasingly important in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In “Avengers: Infinity War‎” and “Avengers: Endgame”, Thor has become the second most important player in the Avengers. Captain Marvel’s firepower output and his actions even deeply affect the direction of the entire story.

First superhero to usher in fourth independent film

After Iron Man, Steve Rogers and Black Widow ushered in their respective endings in “Avengers: Endgame”, the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” faces an unprecedented opportunity and a development crisis.

Saying that this is an opportunity is because the exit of the veteran superhero characters has freed up enough space for other new hero faces to play, and it has also enabled subsequent Marvel movie projects to reduce the pressure caused by huge paychecks and focus more on movie stories. itself, rather than winning with the participation of big-name actors.

It is a crisis because in “Avengers: Endgame”, as many as three members of the original Avengers bid farewell to the screen, making such a decision rashly when the new batch of superhero characters have not yet established a firm foothold. It is easy to cause the Marvel Cinematic Universe to enter into a developmental predicament of inexorability.

As a result, Kevin Feige and other Marvel executives have announced the production plans for “Black Widow” and “Thor: Love and Thunder” in order to make the Marvel Cinematic Universe smooth through this period of transition between the old and the new.

The former, as the second film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe featuring a female superhero as the protagonist of the film, undoubtedly has profound significance beyond the storyline.

Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson, has finally ushered in his own independent film project after playing the vase in many Marvel superhero movies, and has inadvertently satisfied the resentment of many audience fans for many years.

It’s just that this “Black Widow” will not develop into a movie trilogy starring Scarlett Johansson in full, because Scarlett Johansson will finally announce his farewell to the Marvel Cinematic Universe after starring in this movie, and she “Black Widow” The name will also be officially passed on to the second-generation Black Widow played by Florence Pugh in this film.

So compared to “Black Widow”, “Thor: Love and Thunder” plays a more prominent role in the new phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Although Chris Hemsworth still has not answered directly whether he will bid farewell to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in some form in the near future like Robert Downey Jr. and officially unload the burden of Thor, but according to his age, Chris, who is in his prime, is in his prime. Opting out seems unlikely at this time.

Compared with Hulk, which is restricted by Universal Pictures in the development of film projects, the film and television adaptation rights of Thor are completely in the hands of Marvel, which means that Marvel can use this character in the movie universe at will.

For some time to come, Chris Hemsworth will succeed Robert Downey Jr. in a similar role as the backbone of the Avengers and continue the Thor saga on the big screen.

The Prodigal Son of Asgard

Although the ending of the story will eventually be evil, Thor Odinson in the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” is never a one-sided hero image.

In “Thor”, he defied his father Odin’s wishes, risked the lives of his friends, and ultimately paid a terrible price for his hubris.

It can be said that in the first half of the film, Thor is not a qualified hero or a god at all.

Deep down in his heart, Thor has never found the true destination of his life. As a god, what should he do? Whether to use his divine power to arbitrarily decide the life and death of other races, or to show off his power with his own thunder hammer. .

In the end, as a mortal Thor understands that his innate divine power is not a capital to show off, but a tool to protect his friends and loved ones in times of crisis.

“Thor” presents the audience with a heroic character who has shortcomings and is growing at the same time. In the end, the film is as good as ever, but the end of the story is sad. The brothers who grew up together eventually parted ways. The family has so far cast a shadow.

The difficult choice between the lover and the throne, the two worlds also forced Sol, who has experienced the first test, to face another test and growth, and continue to find his final destination.

If Thor in “Thor” began to gradually transform from the original blind arrogance to growth, then Thor in “Thor: The Dark World” has to complete a more difficult transformation. He has to gradually learn to become a king, And to make the right choice between love, family and responsibility.

From the transformation after losing his mother at the end of “Thor: The Dark World”, to the nirvana after suffering in “Thor: Ragnarok”, from the much-anticipated miss of “Avengers: Infinity War”, to the drumming of “Avengers: Endgame” Take the courage to fight again, and now Thor Odinson on the screen is no longer just the original thunder god who only used a hammer to solve all problems.

At the end of “Avengers: Endgame”, he resolutely gave up his readily available throne, chose to hand over the new Asgard to the Valkyries, and embarked on a distant and unknown interstellar journey with the Guardians of the Galaxy. He is the prodigal son of Asgard and a true hero in the hearts of countless people.

The appearance of Thor and Beta Ray Bill

According to previous reports from several media, after the foreshadowing of the first three films of the “Thor series”, Marvel finally decided to introduce more popular comic characters in “Thor: Love and Thunder”, including the female Thor, Beta Ray Bill, Minotaur and other characters.

It is currently certain that the female Thor in the movie will be transformed by Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman. This is also Natalie Portman’s return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to play the original old role after many years.

Also returning at the same time are Darcy Lewis, played by Kat Dennings, and Erik Selvig, played by Stellan Skarsgård, and with the return of these characters, it can be predicted that “Thor: Love and Thunder” will once again bring the focus and focus of the story to the fore. Put it back on Earth, and Thor’s love story will also occupy a lot of space in the movie. After all, this is the first time after eight years that Thor and Jane are seen on the same screen again.

Compared with the heroic rescue of beauty in previous Marvel movies, female hero characters and the feminism they represent are destined to play an increasingly important role in the future Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The image of Beta Ray Bill has actually been glimpsed in “Thor: Ragnarok” before, that is, when Thor first arrived in Saka and was brought to the High Heaven Arena by the Valkyrie, the camera flashed several huge giants. Statues of human heads, including the statue of Beta Ray Bill.

In the original Marvel comics, Beta Ray Bill defeated Thor and accidentally lifted Thor’s hammer, gaining the power of thunder.

Odin, the father of the gods, specially built a storm hammer similar to Thor’s hammer for him, but in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the storm hammer became Thor’s main weapon after the destruction of Thor’s hammer. Not sure how to deal with this detail if Beta Ray Bill does appear in the movie.

Beta Ray Bill in the comics has almost all of Thor’s abilities, and is even better than Thor in some aspects, because he is a cyborg after the result transformation, so Beta Ray Bill has superhuman strength and speed , and super heat resistance, and can locate the location of other tribes or enemies anytime, anywhere.

As a comrade who fought alongside Thor, Beta Ray Bill once fought with Thor’s demon army against Surtur’s demonic army, fought against the Star Eater for the sake of his people, and against the Skrulls for cosmic justice.

In the “Planet Hulk” comics, Beta Ray Bill once fought the furious Hulk in the arena. This scene was perfectly restored in “Thor: Ragnarok‎”, but the Hulk’s opponent in the movie Turned into a desolate Thor who had just experienced the destruction of his homeland.

The villain who can alarm the female Thor, Beta Ray Bill, Thor and the members of the Guardians of the Galaxy must not be a fuel-saving lamp. According to the media, the villain who will appear in “Thor: Love and Thunder” can be turned into a bull head anytime, anywhere. Weird Dario Agger.

In the series of comic stories, Dario was born in a wealthy family, but lost his parents since childhood. Of course, his tragic childhood experience did not make him finally become a hero like Batman, but grew into a greedy businessman.

As the CEO of Rawson Energy, he used his authority to expand the company’s mining scope, and even extended the tentacles of commercial development to space energy. He has repeatedly given multiple superheroes including Thor. The characters create huge trouble.

Interestingly, there is news that the villain, who has the same tragic childhood experience as Batman, will be played by “ex-Batman” Christian Bale.

After “Avengers: Endgame”, Kevin Feige once revealed that in the next period of time, Marvel Studios will no longer develop super blockbusters like “Avengers: Endgame” that gather many hero characters, but will use “Captain” America: Civil War” story mode that keeps the cinematic universe connected by bringing in other hero characters and teams in a single superhero stand-alone film.

“Thor: Love and Thunder” is undoubtedly a practitioner of this development strategy. As for the box office results and audience reputation this film will achieve, it is still unknown until the film is officially released.

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