2011's Thor was a solid introduction for the God of Thunder, but 2013 sequel Thor: The Dark World is widely considered a disappointment. It's one of Marvel Studios' only movies not to be "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes, and director Alan Taylor has admitted to creative differences with the Disney-owned outfit.
We know that big changes were made during reshoots (including Loki's survival), but the simple fact of the matter is that Thor: The Dark World just wasn't very good.
Chris Hemsworth is currently doing the rounds to discuss his role in Netflix's Spiderhead, and the actor looked back on his career during an in-depth conversation with Vanity Fair. Along the way, the Thor sequel was a project Hemsworth reflected on, acknowledging that he wasn't entirely happy with how it turned out.
"I wasn't stoked with what I'd done in Thor 2. I was a little disappointed in what I'd done. I didn't think I grew the character in any way, I didn't think I showed an audience something unexpected and different," he admits. "And then when Ragnarok came along, out of my own frustration of what I had done, and this is not on any other director or anyone, this was my own performance. I really wanted to break the mould."
"And I said this to Taika and I think the conversation we had was, I said 'I'm really bored of Thor.' And he said, 'Yeah I'm really bored of Thor, too.' And then we decided not to be bored and any time that feeling came into play, we'd go in a different direction. We just dismantled the character, we wanted to have him be a little more unpredictable, we wanted him to be in a different set of circumstances than he'd been in before, and also have the humor come through."
Thor: Ragnarok ended up saving the God of Thunder, especially after even Avengers: Age of Ultron gave the hero a somewhat underwhelming subplot that felt shoehorned in (it was). Now, all eyes are on Thor: Love and Thunder ahead of its July 8 release, especially as it looks like one of Marvel Studios' best movies yet.
After the events of The Avengers, Earth and the Nine Realms come under attack from the powerful Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) and his age-old army in Marvel Studios' Thor: The Dark World. With the enemy proving near impossible to defeat, Thor approaches his adoptive brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) for help, despite his villainous past. Meanwhile, the hero becomes reacquainted with the woman he loves, astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), and takes her to Asgard in an attempt to protect her from harm.
Thor: The Dark World is available on Disney+, Digital, Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, and DVD.