SPOILER DISCUSSION

1.The scene of Agent Colson (Clark Gregg ) interrogating Thor and calling him a mercenary type is meant to be a call-back to the start of the film, but it doesn’t work as well because the incident is an example instead of a pattern. If the film had started with a montage of Thor’s conquests and showed him repeatedly taking the same actions, the poignancy of Colson’s words would hit harder and would make Thor’s subsequent arc easier to believe.

2.As if we needed more proof of how good Iron Man is, the intro in that movie works so well because the short portrayal of Tony’s downfall is clearly hinted to be his own fault because the camera shows the name on the missile helping the audience connect two and two. Additionally, the confrontation with this weapon foreshadows his eventual missions – to render his creations unusable by forces that would threaten others.

Meanwhile, Thor gives no indication that Thor’s comeuppance is deserved and instead makes us pity him; getting hit by a car during a storm doesn’t seem fun.

3.Despite being set up as Thor’s love interest, the story never gives Jane the respect nor setup she deserves. We’re supposed to believe she’s a serious researcher who’s come upon a discovery that no one else has with technology she’s hand-developed. However, instead of demonstrating her drive towards research or desire to understand more, the film spends its time on getting Natalie Portman to make ditzy eyes as though she’s entranced. Imagine if the movie spent time showcasing Portman at work and the way her research and work insulates and keeps her driven and then juxtaposed her loss of research with Thor’s hammer.

Then the couple’s journey towards breaking in and getting back their respective tools could feel like a genuine bonding moment and sow the seeds for their eventual relationship status. If they had differences in opinion on how to get back their items, say with Jane being more diplomatic than aggressive, then it would help explain how Thor slowly changes his disposition over time.

Furthermore, this would solve the problem of sending The Destroyer to Jane and Thor’s location. We could still have the Warriors Three and Lady Sif show up to help Thor by informing him of what’s happened, but now his newfound humanized tenderness with Jane has made him worthy of using the hammer. Especially given that Odin can still see Thor’s progression and set up the hammer test for him, this would be a better test to see how much Thor has changed.

If the film spent the time in making Jane seem as competent as she should be and then spent time on her talking with Thor and trying to decipher his magic into science instead of him hulking it out with Selvig ( Stellan Skarsgård) among other things, it could even go so far as to have her reverse engineer the bifröst via Mjöllnir and her technical expertise. That would have helped keep the focus on antagonisms between Loki and Thor as opposed to trying to introduce a lumbering bore of an villian for 15 minutes of runtime.