“Marvel movies are formulaic!”
That shouldn’t exactly come across as news to anyone. Since the beginning of the MCU with 2008’s Iron Man, Marvel movies have followed a very basic story structure. It isn’t a bad thing, per se, and the beauty of the MCU has been how regularly it’s produced entertaining films that follow this formula. But, after 14 years of Marvel media, some cracks are beginning to form in the facade.
Let me start with this: Thor Love and Thunder is a delightfully entertaining film full of great humor and vibrant set pieces. Chris Hemsworth continues to shine as the titular God of Thunder.
So why did I leave the theater feeling like it was a mess?
Some of it, I think, has to do with the obvious problem: the pandemic. Since COVID-19 first shut things down in 2020, film production has been stalled and messy across all of Hollywood. Multiverse of Madness, the previous MCU entry before Love and Thunder, was notoriously cut up and delayed as a result. However, slowed production isn’t entirely to blame for the big issues the MCU is now facing.
A Villainous Issue
Early MCU villains like Obediah Stane are no more than mustache-twirling bad guys who are evil just for the sake of being evil. Loki, the villain in both the first Thor and Avengers movies, is easily the most complex, though he until later films when he ‘redeems’ himself, he remains fairly basic.
As the MCU has progressed over time, however, so to has it attempted to provide audiences with antagonists with complicated motivations, properly starting with Civil War’s Zemo and his desire to rid the world of super powered individuals.
And then came Thanos.
Thanos, based purely off his movie version, came in with a very clear impetus: to wipe out half of all sentient life. We know why he wants this: his home planet fell into ruin because of overpopulation, and so he believes that wiping out half of all life would save the universe. He also holds the that no single life is more important than the whole.
This is in direct conflict to the heroes, who have constantly held and protected the idea that ‘the greater good’ is not more important than the life of an individual. There is a genuine ideological conflict taking place in Infinity War, and it elevates the film above those which preceded it, particularly when, for the first time in the MCU, we see the heroes actually lose. The heroes’ philosophy is proven wrong when Thanos’ conviction grants him a victory, leading us into Endgame.
The problem, however, is that Endgame isn’t interested with having the heroes actually contend with why they lost and simply focus on having them reverse the failure in the first place.
And thus, we get to the issue of Phase 4’s repetitiveness.
Take Wandavision, the breakout series that offered a much-needed break amidst the pandemic and the first piece of MCU media since 2019. It started out exceptionally different from anything else seen in superhero media…and yet it ended with a typical hero-v-villain brawl. Falcon and the Winter Soldier? Same deal. Again and again, the MCU seems incapable of ending a film without some form of battle.
Okay…but how is this a problem?
Let’s use Love and Thunder as our example.
Thor: Love and Thunder’s villain is Gorr the God Butcher. What does Gorr want? To kill all of the gods in the MCU. Why does he want this? Because after the god he worshipped abandons Gorr’s people, resulting in the death of Gorr’s daughter, and laughs at his misery, Gorr decides that the gods are useless and deserve to be exterminated.
From the outset, we’ve got a solid villain with an interesting motivation. There are ideas to explore here, starting with a significant question: if the gods aren’t using their powers to help people, are they worthy of that power?
This is something that has been played with before, in the first Thor film. There, our titular hero was stripped of his power when he acted selfishly and started a war with another realm. The story focuses on showing us that Thor was unworthy of his power when he used it purely for his own benefit, and he is only worthy of wielding Mjolnir when he proves himself capable of acting in a selfless manner. As a god, he was a terrible person who abused his power.
Love and Thunder, at first glance, seems to be going in this direction with all of the gods. We see how many of them have sought refuge in Omnipotence City, spending their days lounging and engaging in orgies. Thor and Co. are horrified by their inaction and are forced to face Gorr without a godly army. Additionally, Jane Foster is dying of stage 4 cancer, despite seeking every possible scientific solution and even seeking out a magical one in the form of Mjolnir. Despite this, her end is at hand.
Gorr knows this and uses it against them. He points out how the gods have failed Thor, Valkyrie, and Jane, and truthfully…he’s right. Though Thor certainly tries to help people, the other gods of the MCU have largely abandoned the people of the universe. Yet the film seems disinterested in actually exploring this conflict, and in the end results in your typical ‘mano-a-mano’ brawl between hero and villain.
And thus, Love and Thunder devolves into another formulaic entry into the MCU. Aside from some other issues (too many plot threads in too little time, mainly), Marvel’s major issue has been an inability to think outside the box…or even, frankly, inside a box that isn’t the same as every single other Marvel movie. Had the film taken a moment to stop and reflect on Gorr’s motives – and perhaps had Thor or Jane realize that he wasn’t wrong in his distaste for the gods – it might have elevated itself above the rest. Thor, reminded of his first big adventure with Jane by side, might have convinced Gorr not to kill all the gods (or resurrect his daughter) by instead asking him to tread in a new yet familiar direction: taking away the gods’ powers and forcing them to prove their worthiness in order to regain them.
Think about it: the first film was about Thor proving why he was worthy of his powers. In doing so, it made we the audience appreciate his growth. Would it not be fitting for the other gods to go through a similar trial, forcing them to consider their actions in order to regain their powers? It would still allow for Thor to enter his new role as mentor: only now he would serve as mentor to the other gods, rather than a single (not-a-god-yet-still-having-eye-laser-powers?) child.
Sadly, Love and Thunder did not go this direction, and the film suffered for its lack of imagination. Jane’s loss, while sad, felt largely inconsequential – she saves Thor’s life but otherwise fails to have a meaningful impact on the story.
With luck, future MCU films will try exploring new territory and actually consider concluding without some “end-all-be-all” battle. Until then, however, we‘ll have to just continue to accept formulaic, well-worn stories.
Jacob Ryckman 