5 Ways How Thor: Love and Thunder Can Be A Way Better MCU Movie
After the major success of the Infinity Saga, Marvel has since struggled with further expanding its universe. They do a fine job introducing the concept of Multiverse to the audience, but a large part of Phase 4 was a hit and miss, with Thor: Love and Thunder being one of the worse titles. The film carried high expectations upon its release, introducing a great powerful comic villain, Gorr The God Butcher, bringing back Jane Foster, who can now use the mighty Mjolnir, along with other notable characters such as Lady Sif or Zeus…However, the end product is quite disappointing.
That being said, the movie still has huge potential that has never really been put to good use, which is a real shame, because if Taika Waititi did it right, Thor: Love and Thunder could have been the best title in Phase 4. Let’s take a look at how the latest sequel about the God of Thunder could have changed for the better had it fixed these 5 imminent problems.
#1. Reduce unnecessary humor.
Source: Marvel Studios
A glaring minus point of Thor: Love and Thunder is how director Waititi tries to ease the film’s intense and emotional sequences by throwing in some mindless jokes. The humor-in-battle is a trademark charm of Marvel Movies and a good amount of it can do the movie wonders, but Love and Thunder has overdone it. Every scene is overstuffed with jokes and gags, some of which would have been funny if they were put in the right place at the right time. Even Chris Hemsworth addressed this issue himself, that the movie was too goofy for its own good.
For example, the part where Thor keeps stammering and spouting nonsense while he was alone with Jane completely kills off the emotional mood they set up. Or how Waititi turns the almighty Zeus in the comic into a self-centered clown in his Omnipotence circus show. Tone down the jokes to the right amount, and we’d have a much better Thor movie that suits its darker tone.
#2. More Gorr, less Korg.
Source: Marvel Studios
Christian Bale’s performance as the God Butcher is probably one of the few saving graces of the movie, but his character is so poorly handled, his acting alone isn’t enough to save it. There isn’t much room for Gorr to showcase his villainy or share more of his backstory and emotion, so his character feels half-hearted, and we can’t really sympathize with his motivation. Giving Gorr more screen time could work wonders, as we can learn much more about what he’s capable of, and his relationship with the Necrosword overall.
On the contrary, for a supporting character, Korg doesn’t really help much to the outcome of the movie, except for being a comedic relief (which he’s not even that good at). It’s baffling how the Kronan has even more screen time than Gorr, the film’s main antagonist, while the former’s contribution as a whole is close to zero. The crew should really have given Gorr more screen time by taking them from Korg, and the movie would have made much more sense.
#3. More God-Butchering activities.
Source: Marvel Studios
One of the biggest potential fights that Thor: Love and Thunder completely ignores, is that the great Omnipotence City could have served as an epic battleground between Gorr the God Butcher, and the immortal beings that live within the city. Zeus’s line about how Gorr wouldn’t dare to set foot onto the Omnipotence City could have been a great foreshadowing for the villain to make his entrance.
With all the gods living within, Gorr could have turned the whole auditorium into a slaughter-fest and showcased his terrifying God-Butchering skills. That way, the villain could have made a much bigger impact on the story, especially if he gets to kill some big shots like Zeus. A perfect opportunity wasted by Marvel Studios.
#4. Keep Jane Foster alive.
Source: Marvel Studios
We get it, the movie tries to stay faithful to the comic books with Jane slowly dying because of cancer. In Thor #705, Jane Foster, also diagnosed with stage-four cancer, dies in her lover’s arm, having used her last ounce of energy to transform into the Goddess of Thunder to defeat the Mangog. Mjolnir’s magic completely negates the effect of her chemotherapy, which fastens the process of her demise.
Thor: Love and Thunder follows the almost exact pattern, but Thor has been through so much in his own films: losing his parents, his brother, his friends, and even his Kingdom of Asgard. To have the God of Thunder lose another loved one is just plain cruel, and unnecessary for character development. Jane’s death makes the audience questions themselves: How many more must the Odinson lose before he truly grows?
#5. Include Lady Sif in their journey.
Source: Marvel Studios
One of the important characters of the Asgardian warriors, Lady Sif is criminally underused throughout the Thor franchise. Not only loses her love interest to a random Earthling despite all of her attempts to save him, but she also got banished by Loki after giving everything to the Kingdom. While she’s a very capable warrior, Lady Sif doesn’t get the attention she deserves, and now even in Thor: Love and Thunder, she lost an arm after a skirmish with Gorr the God Butcher, and must step away from the frontline.
Waititi could have done Sif some justice by having her join the team on their journey to find Gorr, or at least come to aid Thor and the children in the final battle. Without an arm, Lady Sif is still a formidable fighter, so having her standing alongside Thor will finally give the Goddess of War the screen time she deserves. Besides, with Jane’s gone, Sif’s appearance could be exactly what Thor needs emotionally.
Do you think Thor: Love and Thunder is a bad movie? What would you have done to change the story? Let us know in the comments.