Poor Thor has one really annoying brother, huh?

In this Marvel Replay episode, we hit the motherload, breaking down both the first Thor and The Avengers. What is really cool about being able to do these two back-to-back is that they literally bleed themselves right into each other. With the ending of Thor being Loki falling into a spacial abyss and the entirety of the Avengers being all about what Loki got himself into since that moment, we could say these are a perfect recipe for a replay. So without talking too much, make sure you get to listening by clicking the button below to find your podcast listening platform of choice or clicking play on the podcast inserted below.

To begin with Thor, something that both Taylor and I realized early on was that without this film we would have pretty much gotten near to nothing of the first three phases of the MCU. Sometimes it can be forgotten (and since Thor isn’t inherently one of the best movies) that the Thor franchise does play the most prominent role in the Infinity Saga out of the Big Three. And I’m not even talking just the stones but also the presence of Loki. Everything began because Loki was trying to ruin his brother’s big day. So let’s take a little look into Loki.

Something Taylor and I point out in the podcast that we would like to truly understand is where Loki’s corruption began. I don’t for a second that Loki was being evil when letting in the Frost Giants, I just think he is a prankster and wanted to postpone letting his awful brother take the throne of Asgard (which could have been for the better). Even when Thor and Loki are with Sif and the Warriors Three on Jotunheim, Loki helps talk them out of the situation and is ready to leave when Laufey taunts Thor. But then there is the debate on how they even ended up on Jotunheim. The idea to go there was indirectly Loki’s and he brought it up to Thor. In this scene, it is hard to decipher if Loki is manipulating Thor into going there or is being genuine. This leads to this gray area where Loki becomes corrupted. Obviously once Loki starts to figure out he is a Frost Giant and Thor is banished we see Loki take the turn for the worst. Then by the end of the film, it is too late for him to feel accepted in his own family anymore and we know he drops off to become even worse.

Since it was partially brought up before, Thor had one of the better character developments in his first film than arguably most other origins. He truly was unbearable when we first are introduced to him and for some time you almost can side with Loki on how frustratingly ignorant his brother is. But the biggest complaint that I have after watching the film again is that it is slightly frustrating that most of his character arc comes because of Jane. In all honestly, I think I could have done without the romance and just had them be friends and it would have worked really well. Very little time had passed while Thor was in New Mexico, so the deep relationship that forms between him and Jane feels a little unnatural. There isn’t the history of Pepper and Tony and the months that pass during CATFA to build a relationship aren’t there either. I think the relationship surely could have been better executed, especially since we see huge character development in Thor: Ragnorak and there is no Jane there to be a part of it. It definitely was possible to make him worthy without being tied to a love interest, albeit she is an interesting character due to how much of a genius she is.

Moving more into the Avengers front, there is a different level of nostalgia while rewatching this film. The first Avengers film is probably, by far, one of my favorite films to watch, as we see the beginning of what we have learned to love the most: a good team-up. But more importantly, after finishing all the films and being up to date on all of the MCU content, you can look back at this film and see just how much it foreshadows. Obviously, the jabs shared between Cap and Tony while on the SHIELD ship are iconic, as it shows the difference of opinions that essentially help to lead to Civil War. But even down to the small detail, such as having Cap standing on the left and Tony on the right, as they do in the film poster and during the scene of Cap shielding Iron Man’s blast in the final fight scene, are just mind-boggling. They’re so subtle.

But one that I will say caught my eye for the first time (since this might have been my first rewatch of Avengers since Endgame if I’m being honest) is the foreshadowing of Bruce and the Hulk’s character development. For one, Bruce is very clearly against his other half in all of this film, not even calling it by name for most of it, while instead, he comes to peace with him by Endgame and they choose to co-exist (except don’t ask me exactly how that works). Yet another point, though, that may be overlooked is when Bruce and Tony are talking and Tony essentially tells Bruce that the Hulk could have kept him alive for a greater purpose. We very clearly see this then in Endgame, when the Hulk is the one who decides to Snap because he is the only one known to 100% handle it. Bruce and the Hulk’s greater purposes come together and this line is by far one of my new favorite foreshadowing moments in the MCU.

Something that bothers me quite a bit from The Avengers (and I’m sure this is not the first or last time you’ll hear me talk about it) is Natasha’s character. By the time we see Natasha in this film, she had already made her debut appearance in Iron Man 2. We got a stoic, bas*ss woman who very clearly handles her own and embodies what Natasha is in the comics. We really see a woman who is a spy and assassin. But then in The Avengers, we get these moments that seem to tear this down and paint her as an almost desperate woman who becomes shaken easily. We see these moments when she first goes to meet up with Bruce at the beginning of the film and he has a moment where he seems to get very angry (which we know to be bad). It also happens when he first turns into the Hulk. This woman is an assassin who is well versed in her assignments, the Natasha we see in Iron Man 2 would have never have had these moments, same with the Natasha we then see later in The Winter Soldier. The issue with her character development stays shaky throughout pretty much the entire franchise and it is something you can very clearly see when going back and watching the works she is in back to back.

The Avengers film as a whole is a huge stepping point for the MCU, as it greatly furthers the Infinity Stone plot and gives us the OG6. But most importantly, we see Thanos for the first time (looking all grapy). The point of this film in the larger grand scheme of things is unparalleled, but so is the first Thor. Now, while it may not be as remembered or rewatched as The Avengers, the first Thor film is really the only reason any of this happened, circling back to my point from earlier. So it worked very nicely for us to do these two together and we hope you all enjoyed our thoughts on these two films. Remember, to hear everything we discuss in full, listen to the podcast that is linked above, as this blog post only gives a taste of some of our important points. We are also officially one month out from Moon Knight so make sure to prepare for lots of content coming your way, cause Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.