# Thor (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2011, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672 "2011-05-04T08:51:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/41 "2011-05-10T05:29:33Z")
**Reloy3** , when did Quicksilver appear in a movie? Unless he’s gonna be in the new X-Men: First Class flick, I’m not aware of him ever appearing on screen. Also, I’m not sure who owns the screen rights to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch – Disney-Marvel or Fox. If its the latter, then Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch won’t make any Avengers appearances until their rights revert back to Disney-Marvel. I disagree with you on Comics Loki. He’s a great character. Malevolent and tragic and scheming. I almost wish we’d get fem!Loki for the next Avengers movie (Jennifer Connelly maybe? She could pull it off). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/42 "2011-05-10T15:11:37Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Go tell Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s ghost you didn’t like one being Asian. Yup; Hogun was Asian in the comic books, too. There were a lot of little funny touches in the town which I noticed and enjoyed: - A tourism billboard which says “Land of Enchantment” (New Mexico’s nickname), but also “Journey Into Mystery” (the name of the comic book in which Thor first appeared) - A sign on the high school football stadium: “Home of the Vikings” - A neon hammer in the window of one of the shops in town (mostly visible when Thor is standing in the middle of the street, talking to Jane, planning on walking to the crater where Mjolnir is embedded) I agree with previous posts: Hiddleston did a great job as Loki. Clearly conniving and a troublemaker, but also emotionally complicated. I didn’t particularly like the fight between Thor and Loki on Bifrost, in part because Loki spent too much time trying to physically beat on Thor – he should have been using more magic and trickery, rather than engaging in a toe-to-toe fight. We finally did get a little bit of that when Loki was dangling off the side of Bifrost. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/43 "2011-05-10T16:51:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Natalie Portman’s character and her geeky sidekick were really enjoyable - even though Natalie was one of those amazingly beautiful astrophysicists you see running around in action films all the time, I appreciated that her character dressed and acted like my hard sciences grad school friends, wearing jeans and a few layers of grubby T-shirts/jackets/cardigans, shoving dirty dishes in the cereal cupboard because she can’t be bothered to do the washing up, etc. I didn’t get that at all. I ordinarily think Portman is quite attractive, and I’m naturally very strongly disposed to nerd women, but she just didn’t click at all for me. Personally, I found Sif a lot more attractive (especially her attitude-- “Who defied all who said a woman couldn’t be a great warrior?” “I did.” “Well, yes, but I supported you.”). Overall, I think my favorite character was Heimdall. The combination of general badassery, strict obedience to his oaths, and the true loyalty behind those oaths was great. “Would you defy your sworn oaths to Loki your king?” “Yes.” “Good.”, and then very scrupulously _not_ opening the Bifrost for them, but just walking away with the keys in the ignition. And I’m a bit puzzled/disappointed that they ended the movie with Thor in Asgard with no way to return to Earth. Obviously, he’s going to have to find a way back for _The Avengers_, but they’re going to have to take up time in that movie to explain how he does that, which seems like it might be a distraction from whatever the A plot of the movie is (though given that Loki is the villain, it could well be tied in). ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/44 "2011-05-10T17:27:10Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > **Reloy3** , when did Quicksilver appear in a movie? Unless he’s gonna be in the new X-Men: First Class flick, I’m not aware of him ever appearing on screen. Maybe I’m mistaken, but I thought Quicksilver was the blond basketball player in the first X-Men movie who moved blurry fast. Maybe it wasn’t, and it was certainly a brief reference, if it is him at all. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/45 "2011-05-10T17:31:19Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And I’m a bit puzzled/disappointed that they ended the movie with Thor in Asgard with no way to return to Earth. Obviously, he’s going to have to find a way back for _The Avengers_, but they’re going to have to take up time in that movie to explain how he does that, which seems like it might be a distraction from whatever the A plot of the movie is (though given that Loki is the villain, it could well be tied in). I thought the implication at the end of the movie was that Jane was trying to figure out a way to get from Earth to Asgard. She’s the scientist interested in this stuff, and SHIELD has just returned all her data and equipment to her. The final scene she’s in shows that she’s definitely pursuing that line of work. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/46 "2011-05-10T17:48:38Z")
> [@Reloy3](#): > > Maybe I’m mistaken, but I thought Quicksilver was the blond basketball player in the first X-Men movie who moved blurry fast. Maybe it wasn’t, and it was certainly a brief reference, if it is him at all. I had to google this too. Supposedly in the Wolverine film, there’s a quick shot of a imprisoned/restrained silver-haired mutant who keeps trying to movie quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/47 "2011-05-10T18:03:02Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > It’s Thor vs. Thor! > > [War of the hammerers: the Thor v Almighty Thor face-off | Movies | The Guardian](http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/apr/27/thor-almighty-thor-faceoff?CMP=twt_fd) I haven’t seen the movie yet but I did read this link and had to share what one of the commenters said as it struck me funny. “I am Thor!” “Then wear a thaddle thilly.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/48 "2011-05-10T20:27:08Z")
> [@](#): > > I thought the implication at the end of the movie was that Jane was trying to figure out a way to get from Earth to Asgard. Oh, certainly. It wouldn’t take a figurative deus ex machina (though I suppose it would be a literal one) to bring him back; it’s all set up for it. It’ll still take up screen time, though, that it seems to me would have fit better in this movie than in the next one. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/49 "2011-05-10T20:56:51Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Go tell Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s ghost you didn’t like one being Asian… > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Yup; Hogun was Asian in the comic books, too… Unless I missed a comic where they say this explicitly, I don’t think this is true. The only evidence for the claim that I know of is a [Fu-Manchu-esque mustache](http://movieviral.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/hugun.png) and a mention in an early “Tales of Asgard” is that Hogun is from a different land than the rest of the Aesir. If I had to venture a guess, he was meant to be a little more “exotic” than the Scandinavian-modeled characters, but I would stop short of saying definitively Asian/Oriental. I seem to recall that Stan said that the inspiration for Hogun was a moody, dark Charles Bronson-type character. Moreover, Marvel (regrettably) had a hard time rising above racial stereotypes in their earlier days — look at their treatment of Wong-Chu and the Mandarin in Iron Man comics from that same period. Despite this regrettable proclivity, Hogun _wasn’t_ drawn with narrow eyes or colored with overly-yellowish skin tones. Granted Jack Kirby is a different artist than Don Heck, but that doesn’t change the fact that Hogun’s history just hasn’t been revealed. All that said, given the diversity of humanoid and non-humanoid creatures that inhabit the worlds of Asgard, it’s silly to take issue that one or several of the characters have eyes that are slightly less-roundish. I will say, however, that I was less a fan of the movie’s portrayal of Hogun for two reasons: (1) the few times he spoke, Asano’s Japanese accent — so different than the pseudo-olde-Englishe that his peers had — took me out of the movie, and (2) he didn’t bring a grim, broody tone to the character, which was supposed to be his defining characteristic. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/50 "2011-05-10T21:27:49Z")
> [@B.Serum](#): > > Unless I missed a comic where they say this explicitly, I don’t think this is true. I read _Thor_ mostly during the Walt Simonson era (1980s). Hogun always looked vaguely Asiatic to me, though some of that might’ve been his [hat](http://movieviral.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/hugun.png), which reminded me of something Mongolian. While I think you’re right that nothing had ever been explicitly said, the casting of a Japanese actor as Hogun didn’t feel off to me, in the slightest. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/51 "2011-05-10T22:11:34Z")
Charles Bronson was of Lithuanian Tatar stock which is of Mongol descent. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/52 "2011-05-11T00:01:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Oh, certainly. It wouldn’t take a figurative deus ex machina (though I suppose it would be a literal one) to bring him back; it’s all set up for it. It’ll still take up screen time, though, that it seems to me would have fit better in this movie than in the next one. I don’t know. I’d assume it will take some time to do so…and a time lapse at the end of the movie always feels very strange…a flashback to the previous movie in the next movie is less strange. Which, of course, assumes it really takes any screen time at all. Its completely possible another method will be established to link the worlds - it is implied there are other paths established already, just not known. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/53 "2011-05-11T00:24:06Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I read _Thor_ mostly during the Walt Simonson era (1980s). Hogun always looked vaguely Asiatic to me, though some of that might’ve been his [hat](http://movieviral.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/hugun.png), which reminded me of something Mongolian. Good point! It kind of brings us to “How many Asiatic elements do we factor in before it’s a foregone conclusion?” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/54 "2011-05-11T03:38:04Z")
Eh, the way I see it, Hogun _definitely_ isn’t Asian, given that Asia is on Earth, not Asgard. He has some features that look sort of Asian, but that’s really no weirder than that Thor has features that look Scandinavian. Folks from different parts of the multiverse are bound to show at least as much variation as those on a single planet. If anything, if there _weren’t_ a variety of appearances among the Aesir, we ought to be asking why _not_. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/55 "2011-05-14T01:43:03Z")
9 thumbs up. I haven’t really analyzed the thing and I’m sure there are a lot of holes, but I thought it was a lot of fun, and a good omen for the Avengers movie. Helmsworth was terrific and the supporting cast really sold the thing, and made me forget how, let’s face it, ridiculous the concept was. I actually thought he and Portman had decent chemistry together, and I liked his relationship with the Stellan Skarsgaard character. The direction and pacing were good and there was no tedious middle, like there was in Iron Man 2. (which I also basically liked, but not as much.) Loki’s motivations were a bit muddled, but tied the thing together. I would have liked to see more of Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye. I didn’t recognize him until I read this thread. Hopefully he’ll have more of a role in the Avengers movie. The 3d annoyed me, and didn’t make the FX any more exciting, but I guess that’s the wave of the present. Hopefully Captain America will live up to Thor. Man did everyone here see this movie opening weekend? Also, is Loki part frost giant in the comic book? ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/56 "2011-05-14T02:54:53Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Also, is Loki part frost giant in the comic book? Yup. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/57 "2011-05-14T03:01:08Z")
> [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > The story begins with the Asgardians fighting the Frost Giants on Earth about a thousand years ago. Fine, I’ll accept that. Then, some time after that war is over, we see Thor and Loki as children. So how the hell are these two even included in the Marvel Universe’s Norse mythology, as adults no less? Shouldn’t the Norsemen have only known about the Asgardians who were around during that war? Presumably, Asgard’s interaction with Earth didn’t end with the defeat of the Frost Giants, and the two realms continued to interact until some point after Thor reached adulthood. Possibly, the interactions never actually stopped, the Asgardians just started taking a lower profile. At the beginning, when Natalie Portman is out chasing astronomical phenomenon, she mentions that she’s observed the Bifrost bridge (although she doesn’t know that’s what it is) opening several times before. They don’t mention this again in the film, so it’s not clear what that’s all about, but someone apparently has been traveling between Earth and Asgard recently, if not regularly since the end of the war. > [@](#): > > And if Asgard has presumably had no contact with Earth for hundreds of years, how is Thor immediately able to speak modern English? Is that another one of his super powers? If my above assumption of regular contact between Earth and Asgard is incorrect, there’s still another pretty obvious answer: magic. It’s also worth noting that Loki explicitly says he knows ways of traveling between realms that do not require the Bifrost. When he shows up in the SHIELD facility to tell Thor his dad’s dead, there’s no big lightshow as the bridge opens, and none of SHIELD’s sensors or alarms go off, the way they do whenever anything else comes through the bridge. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/58 "2011-05-14T03:51:31Z")
I’ve seen it twice now, in 2D and in 3D. The 3D doesn’t add a thing (except for maybe making the ending credits look cooler while that awful song is playing). I’d gladly see it again, in 2D. Like others, I thought it was a terrific movie, lots of fun. I was not familiar with the comic book, and thought the trailer looked lame. I got excited by the advance reviews and my expectations were exceeded. I now have a crush on Hemsworth, and the Loki guy was pretty cute too, though the scene after the credits makes it seem as if they’re going to ugly him up in The Avengers.[/shallow] I recognized Jeremy Renner right away (and also loved his “I’m starting to root for this guy”), and since I’m not familiar with the source material, was surprised when he didn’t show up again as a character. (Full Douche Disclosure: I didn’t actually pay extra for the 3D. I paid for the 2D and walked into the 3D. I carry my own clip-on 3D glasses.) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/59 "2011-05-15T04:32:50Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Also, is Loki part frost giant in the comic book? Loki is the son of Laufey in the source material as well. The mythological Laufey is female, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672/60 "2011-05-15T05:59:17Z")
I didn’t like the 3D either (I wouldn’t have seen it in 3D except that was the only showing I could get into); I couldn’t see anything I wasn’t directly focusing on, and the edges were all blurry. I dunno if that’s related to me wearing glasses or not, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thor-open-spoilers/580672.md?page=4)