By Jesika Islam || Arts & Leisure Editor
It is no secret that the Marvel Universe has taken the world by a storm. The Marvel
Universe has been around since 1961, adding The Fantastic Four, the Defenders and the X-Men to the world of superheroes and most recently the Avengers. The twenty-two film franchise began with the Incredible Hulk and proceeded to tell the back stories of many of the other characters. After all the back stories the characters introduced come together for the 2012 The Avengers movie that launches the highly anticipated series. Currently the Marvel Universe is working towards the end of the films of the Avengers characters as they are almost done building all the relevant characters and relevant backstories needed to create the Infinity Wars story arc.
The latest installment of the Avengers timeline is Thor: Ragnarok. This film is the last film of the Thor series, creating the path to the penultimate Avenger movie. The premise of the Thor: Ragnarok movie begins where Dark World, the second installment, left off with Loki impersonating their father, Odin. Thor returns from a battle against Surtur, who promises the bringing of Ragnarok, the end of Asgard. Thor, wrongly, believes he has prevented the end of Asgard and realizes that Loki has been impersonating Odin. Thor makes Loki take him to Odin, who has been spending his retirement in Norway. After a brief cameo from Dr. Strange, the two end up in Norway, where they find their father and find out that he is at the end of his life. While on his deathbed, Odin casually mentions that he has a first born that he had thrown into jail when she became too violent. Odin was the last barrier between Hela coming back out. He dies, and Hela reappears. After a battle, Loki and Thor are ejected to Sakaar, where Jeff Goldblum is the ruler. The society functions around battling and scavenging. Thor finds that Loki is in the inner circle of the nobility, while Thor is a prisoner set to battle. He finds that he is battling the Hulk and they eventually work together to escape Sakaar. On Sakaar, they also meet some auxiliary characters and a main character, Scrapper 142, who used to work for the elite army in Asgard. This story line prefaces the huge battle that goes down between the people of Asgard and Hela’s undead army.
This third installation of Thor melds perfectly the impending doom, ridiculous humor and Marvel’s complex history that is necessary in the Avengers films. The film is not novel or artsy in anyway but it accomplishes what superhero movies set out to do: make people feel good and make a blockbuster. Similar to the Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor aims to have raunchier humor geared for a more adult audience while including the superhero elements necessary for children to enjoy their favorite heroes. The movie is perfect for a lazy night in or a family get together.
Senior Jesika Islam is the Arts & Leisure Editor. Her email is jislam@fandm.edu.