Thor’s Worst MCU Movies Needed To Swap Villains
The MCU's worst-received Chris Hemsworth movies, Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Love and Thunder, could have made a bigger impact had they swapped their main villains. Kenneth Branagh's Thor established Thor, Loki, Jane Foster, and all the Asgardian mythology that continues to shape the MCU to this day. Years later, Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok gave Chris Hemsworth's God of Thunder a breath of fresh air with a comedic take on the character. Their direct sequels, however, couldn't replicate their predecessors' magic.
Thor: The Dark World's unambitious plot and clichéd villain failed to build upon Thor, and Thor: Love and Thunder's zero-stakes story and exaggerated comedy hurt the character's credibility. In Thor: The Dark World, Christopher Eccleston didn't have much room to explore Malekith as a character, and in Thor: Love and Thunder, Christian Bale's terrifying take on Gorr was lost amongst Taika Waititi's extravagant directing style. Taking that into account, it would have been more appropriate for both Thor MCU movies to swap villains.