So, here we are again. It's been several years since I last updated this blog, way back in December 2020. Hopefully, people will still want to read what I have to say. Fittingly enough considering the subject of this article, my last piece was about how a Thor comic helped me hold on to hope in a dying world. But let us turn our attention to the present and today's focus - Thor: Love and Thunder.
Ah, Love and Thunder. Rarely has a MCU film been so divisive or misunderstood.
As we approach the one year anniversary of its release back in July of 2022, I want to reflect on why this film has been worming around in my head, how I can't seem to let it go despite how its flaws or how messy it is. Why a lot of people genuinely do not seem to understand what Taika Waititi was doing with Thor, and why Thor: Love and Thunder is a classic Thor adventure about loss, love, trauma, and false bravado.
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| "A classic Thor adventure? You must be joking." |
How did we get here?
In his first solo film and in The Avengers, Thor gains humility after being stripped of his powers and learning the value of self-sacrifice, not to mention how to work in a team of equals. In The Dark World and Age of Ultron, he learns to build instead of destroy, creating Vision and fearing the destruction he might cause. So naturally it is in Ragnarok that he achieves self-understanding and realises his best self.
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| This moment here, in case you forgot. |
Thor is stripped of all the visual symbols of the wisdom he gained [in Ragnarok] and is reduced to a man driven by vengeance. A vengeance fueled by rage that masks his trauma and serves to obscure his grief and despair. How does Thor express this vengeance? By reverting fully into his old arrogant facade of desperate bravado, unable to admit his failings or emotions to himself, let alone to others.
This is made clear in his emotionally wrenching conversation with Rocket where he is so obviously a man in pain and dealing with deep grief but cannot let the facade of "Mighty Thor" down.
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| Sure, bud. Whatever you say. |
It is in Endgame where Thor's facade finally breaks, where he finally allowed himself to be vulnerable and expressed his fears openly and honestly. I naturally am referring to the scene where he speaks with his mother. The scene which gives us the line which sums up Thor's struggle in the MCU up to that point: "Everyone fails at who they're supposed to be, Thor. The measure of a person, of a hero, is how well they succeed at being who they are."
So, Thor ends Endgame adrift, no longer burdened by the weight of expectations from his birthright to the Asgardian crown or his desire to be worthy. As he says to Valkyrie when she asks what he will do, "I'm not sure. For the first time in a thousand years, I... I have no path. I do have a ride, though."
And this is where Thor: Love and Thunder picks things up.
Alone in the Crowd - The Asgardians of the Galaxy
But beneath this God bod, there was still a sad bod just trying to get out. Because all of the bods that Thor had worn over the years couldn't hide the pain that he was feeling on the inside. So he gave up his search for love, accepting he was only good for one thing... Waiting in quiet contemplation for someone to say, 'Thor, we need your help to win this battle.'
On a sidenote, it boggles my mind when I see people say they don't know what Love and Thunder was about. The film literally has Korg say out loud the themes of the story, either in narration or directly to other characters, multiple times. If anything, the film is too blunt about what it's about, but I digress.
Unable to find sense or purpose in his adventures with the Guardians and still wracked with grief and unable to process his loss, he is pompous and careless, not really aware of how his actions or behaviour impacts on others. All of which is perfectly established in the first fight scene on the planet Indigarr.
"Tell them what happened here today, tell them of the time that Thor, and his ragtag motley crew of misfit desperados, turn the tide in the battle and etched their names in history. For the odds may be against us, but I'll tell you this for free - this ends here and now!"
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| "Can you believe this guy?" |
Furthermore, Thor's act isn't fooling anyone. Perhaps because he has also often put up a braggadocios persona to hide his feelings but Star Lord sees right through Thor and tries to connect with him. He notices the distress Thor is in when he sees his friend Sif is in danger and asks if he is okay.
In an example of the film again blatantly telling us what it is about, Thor says he admires the Guardians' commitment to each but it's something he can never have. Then Star Lord tells him straight up, "After thousands of years of living, you don't seem to know who the hell you are" and to "Remember what I told you, you ever feel lost just look into the eyes of the people you love, they'll tell you exactly who you are". Wow, it's almost like he's setting up Thor's character arc and the themes of the film.
Despite all their adventures together (shown in extended montage and set to Enya), Thor never allowed himself to open up and truly join the Guardians. He never became part of their family because he refused to allow himself to be vulnerable or grow attached - so he grew adrift and lost purpose instead.
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| "Okay, bye guys. Have fun on your next adventure, I'm sure it won't be emotionally damaging or heart-wrenchingly traumatic." |
Then the Guardians get out of dodge, leaving Thor with Korg and the screaming goats to save Sif and join the plot proper. While it might have been an anticlimactic goodbye, the use of the Guardians effectively sets up the struggle Thor will grapple with throughout his story.
Rainbow in the Dark - A Bombastic Heavy Metal Fantasy
Okay, I have to talk about the film's aesthetic. I love this look. Like most things, aesthetic is a nebulous thing and subjective as all hell - either you vibe with it or you don't - but I think the late 1980s metal visuals are a perfect fit for Thor, particularly Waititi's Thor.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Waititi said he was heavily inspired by the ridiculous over-the-top nature of metal band logos and wanted the film to be an 80s style adventure, saying “You know, just the whole thing, like all the art and everything - it feels like an 80s album cover.”
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| Yeah, that tracks. |
And the innate ridiculousness of this aesthetic serves not only the adventure feel of the film but also the comedy which serves to point out the inherent silliness of the superhero genre and the pomposity of our glorious himbo God of Thunder.
Again, this is reflected in the opening fight scene on Indigaar's loving homage to Jim Henson classics like Fraggle Rock or Dark Crystal in the design of the Booskan Raiders and their vehicles, as I mentioned earlier.
Furthermore, the heavy metal aesthetic fittingly serves the story being told, one of irreverence but with a beating emotive heart under the surface, just like how metal bands would cover their sappy love ballads in distorted power chords and blistering guitar solos.
Talking about guitar solos, in addition to the inclusion of three Guns N' Roses songs and Dio's "Rainbow in the Dark", Michael Giacchino's score mirrors this feel perfectly. Giacchino utilises screeching guitar licks and thunderous drums with slick eletronic synths to supplement his traditional swirling superhero string arrangements to complement the metal vibe of the visuals.
Waititi also stated that “Thor with the singlet, that’s obviously a homage to Big Trouble in Little China, to (Russell’s character) Jack Burton.” Possibly the fact that Big Trouble is a favourite film of mine probably explains why I thought Thor's singlet and sleeveless jacket look is the coolest shit.
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| I'm sorry, but this is just a baller look. |
Speaking of things subjective...
"They turned Thor into a joke!" - Understanding the humour behind Taika's Thor
Now, not everyone is going to like every joke and not every joke is designed to be for everyone, which is fair enough. Thor: Love and Thunder is a pure comedy for most of its runtime, when its not being an 80s adventure or a love story (we'll get to Jane soon). That means if you can't get its sense of humour, you're probably not going to have a good time.
Although, there are some people do not like an overly comedic tone in their superhero movies at all because they believe that superheroes must be treated MATURELY. These people seem to mistake a comedic tone for derision or lack of RESPECT for the source material. The fact comics are inherently silly (which is part of why they are great) and that Thor canonically turned into a frog in the comics doesn't seem to matter much to that sort of angry comic book nerd.
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| Hell yeah, Throg rules! |
There is a fair argument to be made that there are far too many weightless jokes in Love and Thunder, particularly the ones like Valkyrie and Jane bobbing their heads to the speaker which looks like a hand grenade. A lot of these jokes seem like pointless improv which should have been left on the cutting room floor and often fall flat or raise a bemused chuckle at best.
However, a big source of humour in the film is the juxtaposition between the caricature Thor presents himself as and how oblivious he seems to how he is actually perceived by others. See how King Yakan refers to Thor as "God of Destruction" after he destroyed their sacred shrine but which Thor doesn't even seem to acknowledge. I would argue that those jokes which revolve around how Thor's braggadocios persona is shown to be empty and undercut by the reaction of the people around him serve a vital purpose for Thor's character arc, just as they did in Ragnarok.
As mentioned earlier, Thor's ridiculous bravado and oblivious himbo persona is an act designed to keep people at arm's length so they cannot get too close. It is defense mechanism for Thor and one that fits him like well-worn leather since he's just adapted the old uber-masculine façade he used to hide his insecurities and sense of unworthiness into a shield to prevent anyone getting too close.
We see this clearly in Thor's early interactions with Jane in the film.
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| It's very normal to pop out the wings on your helmet to assert your manhood. |
Before he knows it's Jane wielding the restored Mjolnir, Thor confronts this 'stranger' by donning a grandiose golden costume with a ridiculously ornate (CGI) helmet. This wardrobe change signals how Thor feels a need to perform a caricature of himself and that we are meant to laugh at him, to see he is being ridiculous and that this is silly.
As this article in Film Obsessive argues, "Like a jester figure, Waititi takes jabs at every trope he’s inherited: cackling at the costumes, the props, and the heroic gravitas of his beloved cast of comic book characters." However, this isn't a lack of respect for the source material or the characters. Waititi's irreverence serves a purpose. In addition to reinforcing the notion that, at the end of the day, superhero archetypes are inherently silly (which is a good thing and we should be willing to embrace that silliness), it "humanizes Thor as a relatable manly man—a Himbo who can oscillate at the snap of a finger from a dad-bod to a god-bod [to a sad-bod]".
Indeed, Thor's bumbling stunned response once he realises it is Jane wielding his ex-hammer is incredibly relatable. He rips off his ridiculous helmet and tugs at his collar from a hot flush. He stammers over his words and tries to reassert his previous braggadocios persona but is even less convincing than he was before.
Jane is not fooled anymore than Star Lord was. She knows Thor and she can see that this is not the real him, which is reflected in Natalie Portman's performance. Jane constantly reacts to Thor's awkward bumbling and false bravado with a upturned mouth or slightly raised eyebrow, as if she is wondering why he is acting like such a fool but willing to indulge him.
We can also see this in how Thor struggles at first to reconcile the fact the previous symbol of his manhood, Mjolnir, is wielded by Jane and in ways he never could.
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| Korg yet again saying the themes of the film out loud for the audience. |
We'll come back to Jane and Thor in a moment but first I'll like to talk about...
The Gorr of It All - Comic Book Adaptation vs Adapting a Comic Book Character
I think most people appreciated Christian Bale's portrayal of Gorr and wished there was more of him in the film. I personally would have like Gorr to challenge Thor's ideology or perspective of the gods, the same way he did in Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic's fantastic story arc in the comics or even how Kilmonger gets T'Challa to change in Black Panther.
The whole scene on the Shadow Realm planet where Gorr taunts our heroes with the truth while they struggle is chilling and honestly one of the best in the film. There is no comedy here, just pure tension and suspense.
The fact that each of our heroes knows that Gorr is correct only adds to the sense he is ultimately under-used in the film. Their terrified and upset reactions highlight the truth of his words. The gods will use Jane but not help her or cure her cancer, The gods did not help save Valkyrie's fellow warriors and lover as they died in battle. In fact, the Valkyrie's were in battle for a god - on Odin's orders to stop Hela - and he did nothing to save them.
However, I'm not going to spend a heck of a time on this since everything I want to say about Gorr is probably summed up better by Pillar of Garbage's excellent "The Gorr Dilemma: Critiquing Adaptation" video.
To poorly summarise Pillar's argument, while movie Gorr is similar to comic book Gorr, he is not the same since the original Gorr storyline would not fit the focus of Thor: Love and Thunder which is Thor's personal journey to learn to be vulnerable and love again.
This is reflected in how both Gorr's have a similar origin but there are slight, yet important, differences. Both versions of Gorr present a man driven to despair by the inactions of the gods he worships, who comes across two gods, one alive and one dead, and takes up the Necrosword to slay the alive god, before going on an intergalactic crusade to kill all gods. However, the key difference is in how and why each version of Gorr slays the first god.
In the comics, the god is wounded and asks Gorr for help. This causes Gorr's faith to be broken completely as he learns that the gods aren't omnipotent or benevolent, that his people weren't special or chosen, that godhood is a sham. In the film, unlike the space age design of the comic god, the god Gorr meets looks mostly human, if covered in gold. He does not appear alien but familiar. Movie Gorr does not kill him out of outraged morality but pure rage, fueled by the corrupting influence of the Necrosword, as an act of vengeance for the death of his daughter. It happens just after his god mocked him for believing in him and as his god is chocking him, almost an act of self-defense. It is not the existential grief of a man who has lost his faith like in the comic, it is far more personal.
Movie Gorr is driven by love and grief... the very same things which our lovable God of Thunder is struggling with. Therefore, although it is clear that Gorr is right in his assessment of the gods unworthiness of being worshipped, the film provides no clear counter-point. In the comic run, Thor knows that to prove Gorr wrong, he has to continually answer prayers and perform miraculous acts of labour and heroism to justify his existence as a god. Film Thor doesn't really have a retort to Gorr aside from the fact that Gorr might be as hypocritical as the gods, which sure, I guess.
However, the fact movie Gorr and Thor's motivations are both personal and essentially the same is the point. While I would have liked Thor to see how Gorr's crusade to kill all the gods for their petty selfishness and callous disregard for their worshipers is not dissimilar to Thor's own anti-colonialist recognition that "Asgard is a people, not a place" in Ragnarok, this is a personal story, not an overtly political one.
This Gorr is not an adaptation of the comic Gorr but has adapted Gorr to suit the needs of the film and serves Thor's arc. As Pillar points it, "the centre of this film is Thor's journey towards emotional maturity. This arc is the point around which every other aspect of Love and Thunder is oriented." In this way, movie Gorr is the same repressed individual driven by revenge that Thor was in Endgame and who Thor could be if he didn't work towards becoming authentic and emotionally honest version of himself.
Which is why the truth Gorr taunts Thor with is about love and pain.
Love is the central conflict Thor struggles with in the film, not Gorr. This is why Gorr tells Thor to "choose love" and call Stormbreaker to save Jane. Thor's main journey that leads him to change is not the goal of stopping Gorr but the realisation he wants to be love, and be loved by, Jane, to be confident enough to open himself up to someone else, even at the risk of getting hurt yet once again.
Which brings us to...
"You made me worthy" - The Legend of Thor and Dr. Jane Foster
Okay, some nerds who are way too precious about things are going to be upset but Thor: Love and Thunder is not really a superhero film. It is a 80s adventure fantasy based on comic book characters. That difference might seem like splitting hairs but it is important.
In a lot of ways, when Thor isn't hanging out with the Avengers, he's not really a superhero. He's heroic, sure, but not really a superhero as we tend to think of them. He doesn't have a secret identity or a symbolic costume or even really fight crime. Instead, he has grand epic adventures across the galaxy, hunting monsters, battling gods, and confronting intergalactic beings beyond comprehension. His stories are more mythic and fantastical than a superhero on a crusade against crime.
I bring this up to lead to my next point about genre - in addition to being an 80s styled fantasy, Love and Thunder is a comedy (duh) but more than that, it is a ROMCOM. At the centre of this story is the relationship between Thor and Jane.
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| Aww, look at these two. |
Before we get into their relationship, let's talk romcom for a bit. As this helpful article from Collider points out:
The romantic comedy genre is one that's full of distinct tropes. The meet-cute, the burgeoning relationship montage, the third-act breakup, love being rekindled, the crazy ex, the scene that pulls on your heartstrings.
Love and Thunder plays with these tropes in interesting ways. Firstly, Thor and Jane have already had an entire relationship that dissolved in the past, so their meet-cute in this film is not meeting someone for the first time but someone bumping into their ex. As discussed above, this shows Thor in a different light, awkward and bumbling, unable to maintain his overly-confident façade.
This playing with romocom tropes also explains the weirdly obsessive way Thor reacts to Mjolnir's return and Stormbreaker's jealousy of Mjolnir by reworking the crazed romantic partner trope through Thor's signature two weapons of choice. The jokes about Thor trying to call Mjolnir and Stormbreaker not working properly out of jealousy are rooted in this trope inversion. Once you understand what that Love and Thunder is playing with these tropes in this way, a lot of the 'awkward' comedy in the film makes more sense.
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| "No, baby, I wasn't thinking about her. I was actually just about to call you... beautiful." |
Similarly, instead of the typical burgeoning relationship montage, since Jane and Thor have already had a relationship, we have a romance and subsequent break-up montage, fitting set to ABBA's classic "Our Last Summer". Also, Korg's voice-over narration gives another layer of pathos under the corny humour of a shmaltzy romcom montage.
Thor set his sights toward a future and all it might hold. But the more he pondered a life with Jane, the more he feared losing that life. And although Jane didn't want to admit it, she was scared of loss as well. And so, they built walls between them. Thor got busy saving humanity. And Jane got busy doing the same. Real busy. And eventually, the space between them grew and grew until it became too wide to bear. Something had to give.
Hey, isn't that the thing I've been harping about, how Thor's false bravado is a wall to keep people distant? Stop telling the audience the themes of the film, Korg! Seriously though, this is a sad account of Thor and Jane's relationship. Instead of being vulnerable and open about their fears, they retreated into themselves and drifted apart.
As this article on Jane and Thor's romance says, "Often heartbreak can lead someone to harden their hearts to love. In Thor’s case, he numbed his heart into believing that his only purpose is to fight when called upon." This is exactly where we find Thor at the start of the film, adrift and alone.
However, it is through being reunited with Jane and the rekindling of their relationship that Thor realises that it was Jane who made him worthy and that he wants to open up and love again. It's on the way to the Shadow Realm that Thor reveals to Jane that she made him worthy. His path to reclaim his self-worth began when he crash landed in New Mexico and Jane hit him with her car. In his own words, "I wanna feel shitty about you. I wanna feel shitty about something and I think that's you."
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| In another example of romcom subversion - instead of a third act break-up, we get a third act make-up. |
I have to talk about the hospital scene for a moment. Thor, now aware Jane has cancer and that Mjolnir is draining all of her mortal strength and killing her, wants to leave her behind and go face Gorr alone. Not because he doesn't believe she could help or because he doesn't want her by his side in battle, but because he loves her.
This declaration by Thor that he loves her is the first time across eight movie appearances, four of which he was in a relationship with Jane, that we hear Thor say it out loud. Possibly it is the first time Jane has heard it too, judging by the stunned look on her face. It honestly is heart-wrenchingly earnest in a film which had been so irreverent before, pretty much up to the point where Thor begins to open up and admit his feelings out loud.
However, Thor does not force Jane to stay in the hospital. He recognises it is her choice and tells her so, but his love for her means he wants to try at a second chance if they can. As he says,
While Jane does initially decide to stay in the hospital, when she senses that Thor is losing his fight with Gorr, she picks up Mjolnir and suits up as the Mighty Thor one last time. The look of anguish on Thor's face when he sees her arrive is tearjerking as he knows that this will kill her but he does not argue with her or force her to leave since he respect her decision.
He is no longer the broken sad bod hiding under a god god and an offish braggadocios persona. He wears his heart proudly on his sleeve in a healthy non-toxic masculinity which doesn't seek to keep people at a distance but allows them in - more on that in the last section.
This is why during the last scene at the Altar of Eternity, Thor does not fight Gorr to stop him making his wish, he chooses to be with Jane and cradle her in his arms during his and her last moments, an image that parallels Gorr cradling his dying daughter. He tells Gorr to choose love (throwing the God Butcher's words back at him) when making his wish and promises to look after his daughter with Jane's approval.
Love is the purpose Thor finds in his long journey towards meaning. Which brings us to...
"From god bod to dad god" - The Ballad of Love and Thunder
In yet another example of Korg spelling out the theme of the film to the audience so there's no confusion, he tells Valkyrie on the way to the Shadow Realm that he "thinks Thor would be a great dad". And so it came to be.
We see hints of this theme in more subtle ways throughout the story through the kidnapped Asgardian kids. Thor's interactions with them are fumbling at first, still trying to maintain his mythic "I am Thor" façade and instill false confidence. Over time, particularly after the confrontation with Zeus at Omnipotence City, he eventually speaks with them more openly and genuinely praises them for being braver than he was at their age. This leads Axl to declare, "I'm glad I met my hero." to Thor.
Then, in what I believe is one of the best MCU climatic battle scenes, Thor share his power with the kids, even the non-Asgardian ones, since they are all worthy and Space Vikings on this day.
- the pitch-perfect use of the outro solo from 'November Rain' to score the action
- how the lyrics of the song reinforce the themes ("Don't ya think that you need somebody?/Don't ya think that you need someone?/Everybody needs somebody/You're not the only one")
- how the visual of Thor sharing his power with the kids recreates Yggdrasil the World Tree
- the fun action of the kids fighting the shadow monsters, probably the best action sequence in the film after the amazing Shadow Realm fight.
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| Quality family time. |
