THOR (2011)
Thor is my favourite comic book character, and he was played by an Australian actor, so I will try to be as impartial as possible. Thor is the greatest feat in the history of cinema and should have won all the awards ever… sorry, couldn’t resist. Thor, played by Australian Chris Hemsworth, came to our world in 2011, and introduced a new dimension to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What once was all sciences and technology soon became magic (or, at least, technology so advanced it might as well be magic). Natalie Portman joined the cast as legacy love interest Jane Foster, with Anthony Hopkins as the father of Thor, Odin, and Stellan Skarsgård as Dr. Erik Selvig, who would prove to be important in the later movies. One under-the-radar inclusion was Jeremy Renner as the sharp-shooting Hawkeye, a standard in films yet to come. But it was the addition of Tom Hiddleston as Thor’s brother, the villainous Loki which would prove to later be the most important.
As far as origin stories go, this film probably had the hardest challenge, but I think it managed better than Hulk, but was not as engaging as Iron Man. Thor’s addition of far and away the most powerful character in the universe (sans Odin himself, perhaps) was always going to be difficult, but it added some stakes to the world that otherwise may have never been an issue.
As always, Thor featured a post-credits scene, with the presumed-dead Loki revealing himself to be in control of Dr Selvig, as Dr Selvig was asked to work on some sort of cosmic looking cube.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011)
As explorers in the Arctic discover a frozen ship, with a frozen captain, we flash back to the early 1940s, where the sickly, small and weak Steve Rogers is attempting to join the army, but is constantly being rejected. Chris Evans (the second of what will become three Chris’s in the MCU) portrayed the sickly Rogers – and continued to portray him after the super soldier serum made him swole and sexy – and Sebastian Stan was on side as Rogers’ soldier friend and ally, James “Bucky” Barnes. Dominic Cooper became the second to portray Howard Stark (father of Tony Stark – it’s all in the name, see) after a small cameo by John Slattery in Iron Man 2. Opposing Captain America was the devious Red Skull, represented by Hugo Weaving, in what was, in my opinion, far and away the best villain of phase 1 of the MCU.
As much of a Thor fan as I am, and as effective as Iron Man was in establishing the first few threads of the Marvel universe on screen, I believe it was Captain America which was all around the best film in the first round of films on offer. This is heavily in part to Chris Evans’ likability as Captain America, and the opening scenes of him when he is frail make it that much easier to root for him even when he is the ass-kicking powerhouse.
Surprise surprise, there was a post credits scene here too, where Nick Fury visits Rogers and lets Rogers know that the world needs him. Bam. Cut to black. Cue logo. COMING SOON. THE AVENGERS.
MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS (2012)
This is what it was all leading to; no new introductions need to be made, all the major players are the ones we’ve been following the last 5 or so years. Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk (now played by Mark Ruffalo after conversations between Marvel and former actor Edward Norton broke down), Black Widow and Hawkeye teaming up with S.H.I.E.L.D, lead by Nick Fury, Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) and Phil Coulson as one collective to take on the treacherous trickster, Loki. But that obviously is far too one sided, so Loki hacks the brains of Hawkeye and Dr Selvig, from Thor, and utilises that elusive Cosmic Cube to open a portal, bring in some aliens and conquer Earth, under the command of a mysterious unknown. The good guys didn’t really want to work together until they needed something avenge (see, it’s all in the… never mind), leading to a shield-flinging, hammer-whacking, laser-firing, hulk-smashing, widow-stinging, arrow-loosing all-in brawl for a finale.
The plot doesn’t scream Oscar winner, but let’s be honest, this was always just meant to be a reason to get the big names on screen together, and for my money it succeeded ten-fold in that regard. The film grossed over a billion dollars by itself, and managed to give most of the cast their times to shine. Most, I say, because Hawkeye spends the majority of the film under mind-control of Loki, and as such his heroic are limited to the climax only. The film was full of director Joss Whedon’s signature quips and banter, and by the end of the fight our heroes had gone their separate ways (Banner and Stark to do some science-y stuff, Thor back to Asgard with Loki in chains, Black Widow and Hawkeye to do… something and Captain America to salute the flag as a bald eagle flies overhead while some red, white and blue fireworks go off behind him). As I said, the story didn’t really need to be great.
Then the post credits scene lets us know that this hectic final fight was nothing compared to what is coming; the mastermind behind Loki’s Earth invasion is none other than The Mad Titan, Thanos, a galactic threat of life-ending proportions. Oh, and then the heroes go and eat some shawarma.
It is interesting to note that each of the five individual films are the five lowest grossing films in the MCU (from lowest: Hulk < Captain America < Thor < Iron Man < Iron Man 2), whilst the team up, The Avengers, is the highest (so far). Whether that discrepancy is based on hype for the team-up alone, remains to be seen. Also, as a fun fact, I could not find a single picture of Captain America on a black background for those nifty banners up there. Goes to show he really is the lightest hearted of them all.
What was your favourite of the opening phase of films? Who played their hero the best, and who was the most intimidating villain? What order do you like to watch them, or do you prefer to skip certain films? Let me know in the comments, and look out for my Marvel Cinematic Universe Retrospective: Phase 2, coming soon to a blog near you.
MoshFish Reviews 