Coming out after the first ‘Avengers’, ‘Thor: The Dark World’ rode the wave of that film’s success and was a huge hit at the box office. It ended its run with $644 million worldwide and was the 10th highest-grossing movie of 2013. But over the years, it hasn’t stood the test of time. Director Alan Taylor called the experience “something I hope never to repeat and don’t wish upon anybody else.” Christopher Eccleston, who played the villain Malekith has denounced the film, as well as his earlier popcorn flick, ‘G.I. Joe’, saying “Working on something like GI Joe was horrendous. I just wanted to cut my throat every day. And Thor? Just a gun in your mouth.”
Fans may not feel quite that strongly, but there’s no denying that ‘Thor: The Dark World’ is one of the less beloved of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And surprisingly (or not) Thor himself shares that opinion. In a recent interview with GQ, Chris Hemsworth said:
“The first one is good, the second one is meh. What masculinity was, the classic archetype – it just all starts to feel very familiar. I was so aware that we were right on the edge.”
While ‘The Dark World’ certainly isn’t bad, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was still unfolding and finding its footing. Both ‘The Dark World’ and ‘Iron Man III’ which also came out in 2013 are relatively dour. Things really took a turn for the brighter the following year when James Gunn’s rollicking ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ became a surprise smash, that Marvel really embraced humor which then spilled over into their other films. This was on full display in last year’s ‘Thor: Ragnarok’, a feel-good space buddy flick, co-starring Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, a reluctantly heroic Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Tessa Thompson as the new hard-drinking badass Valkyrie. ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ revitalized the ‘Thor’ movie line and was so popular that a fourth movie, with ‘Ragnarok’ director Taika Waititi is one of the few Marvel movies that is known to be in the works for the studio post-‘Avengers 4’.
Are you a fan of ‘Thor: The Dark World’? Does it get a bad rap? Or is it truly one of the weaker Marvel movies?
