Ragnarok Movie Should Make Thor Costume Worthwhile

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Will Thor: Ragnarok be the smash hit we’ve come to expect all Marvel movies to be?

By Shrey Sankalp

In my humble opinion, Marvel’s Thor movies have been a bit of a curiosity. They have an excellent character, what is arguably Marvel’s best onscreen villain, a very interesting world, great costumes, sets and production designs, a talented cast and yet the two movies that we have seen so far are widely regarded as some of the weakest in Marvel’s stable. And they’re not weak in a sense that they’re overstuffed or underwritten, they’re weak as in the sense of ‘meh’ that surrounds them, when for all intents and purposes, they should be the equivalent of a PG rated Game of Thrones.

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It’s not due to the characters, that’s for sure. Thor is a likable enough character (complete with a more or less comics accurate costume, save for the helmet, so that’s a plus), Loki is perhaps the joint best villain Marvel has along with Wilson Fisk and Kilgrave (and his costume is just like Tom Hiddleston – smooth and elegant), and while Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins doesn’t quite do enough to justify his casting, he’s impressive enough to not have fans turn up their noses at his presence. The human cast is serviceable too, and your mileage on them might vary (especially on Natalie Portman, who is thankfully not returning), Stellan Skarsgard and Kat Dennings are undeniably a great presence. Be that as it may, Marvel doesn’t seem to be taking any chances with characters this time, having cast Karl Urban, Jeff Goldblum and Cate Blanchett in key roles (who will in all likelihood get their own set of costumes in the film), so that’s one field covered. Marvel has also thrown in the Jade Giant, the Hulk himself in the film (who is reportedly getting his own costume upgrade in the form of his battle costume from the Planet Hulk storyline, a costume which is a fan favorite and a definite upgrade over his usual purple pants costume), and he and Thor have shown a cracking chemistry, rivalled only by that of Thor and Loki’s, so this area looks fairly well covered. I’ve already told you how the films have had terrific production values with the sets and costumes being top notch, so I don’t suppose we’ll be seeing too many changes there apart from the usual costume upgrade that comes with a new film. The production team will get to run free a little this time, with Planet Hulk being reportedly adapted in some form, and if the rumor holds, then we will be seeing some rather interesting costumes this year.

I believe the reason Thor doesn’t do miraculously in solo vehicles is because the writers and the director didn’t have a clear vision of what to do with him. The Avengers and Age of Ultron had a reasonable amount of screen time devoted to the God of Thunder, and they did the most they could have by presenting Thor as a funny, affable person who one could relate to, and I just felt it had been missing in the solo films. It made sense that The Dark World made that mistake, as Alan Taylor is a TV director and no disrespect to him, but TV directors are more used to following the showrunner’s vision instead of enacting their own, but it was strange to see it in the first one where Kenneth Branagh had the directing duties. Maybe they’ve understood that a cool costume and an existing fan base isn’t enough to get audiences in seats unless the lead character is utilized as best as possible, because Marvel have changed directors yet again, with acclaimed Kiwi director Taika Waititi taking over directing duties, and I expect him to solve this problem as the man has shown he’s capable of presenting great characters, something everyone who has seen his What We Do in the Shadows will attest to. He’s shown what he’s capable of in the short clip that debuted at Comic Con where he fully tapped into Chris Hemsworth’s comedic abilities, with Mark Ruffalo playing nicely off of him. Couple that with the fact that Ragnarok is billed as a road movie/buddy cop comedy, my mouth salivates at just the possibility of Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and God of Charm Tom Hiddleston sharing the screen reparteeing.

I genuinely believe Thor: Ragnarok could be an exciting adventure that is one of Marvel’s better  standalone films, and break the rut that Thor movies find themselves in. The kids love Thor, and are more than happy to pick up Thor costumes on Halloween and wear the said costumes all the time anyway, but it sure would be nice to have a Thor movie that makes that costume worth it.