In the comics, the Avengers take on a little bit of everything -- from alien hordes to
hungry vampires, they've faced it all.
But the buffet of beasts and villains found on the page meant that the movies would have
to reconcile all that fantasy with at least some semblance of reality.
It's one thing to have gods, robots and wizards rubbing elbows in a comic book, but in live-action
films striving to be taken seriously, that's a bit more difficult.
The solution was a consistent theme throughout the MCU films: the notion that in the Marvel
world, magic and science are the same.
The characters we might otherwise perceive as gods or magical monsters are just aliens.
A flying hammer and a rainbow bridge are no different than one of Rocket Raccoon's cool
gadgets.
The idea is to ground everything in some basis of reality.
With the release of Thor: Ragnarok, though, all that changed — and with it, some fundamental
aspects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe were scrubbed out.
The movie was so much fun, no one seemed to notice, but here's a spoiler filled look at
how Thor: Ragnarok may have radically changed the MCU.
"It's not possible."
"Darling you have no idea what's possible."
Not gods
In the comics, there's no argument: Thor is a god.
So are Odin and a bunch of other characters.
And it never seems to bother anyone that all these gods of Greek and Norse mythology are
hanging out in New York City having brawls.
This hasn't been the case in the films.
In 2011's Thor it was implied that Asgardians were not gods, but aliens mistaken as gods
by the Vikings.
You could argue there was some debate on the issue outside of Thor.
While Thor never calls himself a god in early movies, plenty of other characters do.
"Oh, I still don't think you're the God of Thunder.
But you ought to be."
Black Widow, Tony Stark, and Nick Fury all call him a god.
But they're all members of the same "primitive" culture unable to comprehend the Asgardians,
so you have to take their assessment with a grain of salt.
Meanwhile, even though Loki refers to himself as a god, considering his arrogance, he'd
likely call himself that whether he was from Asgard or Hoboken.
"Puny god."
By the first few minutes of 2013's The Dark World, the matter seems settled as Odin says:
"We are not gods.
We are born.
We live.
We die.
Just as humans do."
So, even if the earlier films left the matter of their heritage unanswered, The Dark World
told us once and for all … or at least for a little while.
Science and magic
At the same time, the MCU's filmmakers seemed to want to prepare audiences for the synergy
between science and magic they would see in Avengers by laying the groundwork in Thor
and Captain America: The First Avenger.
In Thor, the Odinson tells Jane Foster:
"Your ancestors called it magic and you call it science.
Well, I come from a place where they're one and the same thing."
He goes on to show Foster in her own notes how the World Tree of Norse mythology connects
with her own theories of the universe.
In the post-credits scene, when Erik meets Nick Fury, the latter unveils the Tesseract,
saying:
"Legend tells us one thing, history another.
But every now and then we find something that belongs to both."
According to the Red Skull, this understanding of the synergy between magic and science is
precisely what makes him superior to others.
As he toys with the Tower Keeper who guards the Tesseract, he tells them they are alike
because:
"What others see as superstition, you and I know to be a science."
Later, when Hitler sends his underlings to get an update from the Red Skull, one of the
Nazis scoffs at the villain, asking him if he plans to win the war with "magic."
The Red Skull corrects him, saying:
"Science.
But I understand your confusion.
Great power has always baffled primitive men."
The merging of science and magic is a consistent theme, even when it's a subtle suggestion
rather than a blatant statement.
In Thor: The Dark World, when Thor brings Jane Foster to Asgard to find out what's happened
to her, Foster is subjected to tests directed by an Asgardian woman named Eir.
Foster thinks she recognizes what's happening and asks:
"That's a quantum field generator, isn't it?"
Eir then tries to her it's a Soul Forge, like that's something unique to Asgard, but Jane
then asks:
"Does this Soul Forge transfer molecular energy from one place to another?"
"Yes."
"Quantum field generator."
The Soul Forge and other Asgardian tech is operated with the same motion and touch methods
we not only see Tony Stark using in Iron Man, but that we see in the everyday lives of aliens
in Guardians of the Galaxy and the vibranium-enhanced Wakanda of Black Panther.
Even in Doctor Strange, arguably the magic heart of the MCU, the connections between
science and magic are clear.
When Strange first meets her, the Ancient One shows him a chakra chart, an acupuncture
chart, and an MRI scan.
She tells him that each was created by someone who could see "in part, but not the whole."
She invites him to think of magic spells as "programs," describing them as "The source
code that shapes reality."
When Strange asks how he could possibly ever learn to do what she does, the Ancient One
responds by asking him how he was able to be a neurosurgeon.
In other words, magic and science go hand-in-hand in the MCU, making it simpler for audiences
to understand and accept it.
But then...
Things change
With Thor: Ragnarok, everything changed as the concept of science equating with magic
got kicked to the wayside for a much more mythical approach.
From the beginning, the change is clear.
Surtur's rantings about the coming of Ragnarok are all about prophecy, and prophecy hasn't
reared its head in the MCU before now.
Without any kind of explanation, suddenly the Asgardians are gods.
Thor, Loki, Odin, and Hela all refer to themselves and others as gods.
"I'm the goddess of death…
What were you the god of again?"
In a psychic conversation with Odin, complaining he can't defeat Hela without his hammer, Odin
asks Thor:
"Are you Thor, the god of hammers?"
Doctor Strange calls Thor the "god of thunder" when he meets him and Thor refers to himself
the same way several times.
He even tells Loki:
"You'll always be the god of mischief."
The about-face is stark enough to give any audience member whiplash.
And it's not just about the status of Odin & company either.
This untethering from the rule that science and reason have to inform everything that
happens in the MCU has another obvious effect in the film.
"I'm into numbers and science and stuff!" (scoffs)
Doctor Strange was released only a year before Thor: Ragnarok, yet in the scene when Thor
finds himself in the Greenwich Village Sanctum Sanctorum, magic already works much differently
than it did in Strange's own film.
"Take a seat."
In Doctor Strange, magic is portrayed as following specific rules, which lends itself to that
notion of science being intrinsically connected to it.
Almost everything the different magic users do begins with the fiery patterns they make
in the air, or in mystical items imbued with power like the sling rings or Strange's Cloak
of Levitation.
But when Thor and Strange meet in Thor: Ragnarok, things work differently.
Strange teleports himself and Thor throughout the house at a pace that disorients and annoys
Thor, without using his sling ring or making even the slightest motion with his hand.
Thor finds himself inexplicably holding a cup of tea and then a bottomless mug of beer.
In Strange's own film these things would seem impossible, yet here magic is being handled
in the more undefinable way we see in older comics.
By dropping the pretense that science must be the base of all supernatural elements of
the film, the characters are free to lean into their talents, no matter how unusual
they are.
Open ends
Ironically, even though Thor: Ragnarok ends the established godlessness of Asgard and
the magic-science synergy, much of what makes the film so fun is exactly what it's throwing
away.
Thor's adventures on the planet Sakaar give us some of the best moments of the film.
It's where Thor battles the Hulk, where we meet the hilarious Grandmaster and the tough-as-nails
Valkyrie.
And of course it's where we learn about Thor and Loki's well-loved childhood game, "Get
Help."
None of it would make sense without everything that's come before — and everything Ragnarok
is willfully forgetting.
The fact that the Asgardians were established as aliens instead of gods is precisely why
Thor, Loki, and Valkyrie are not as out of their element as they otherwise might be.
Thor isn't shocked by meeting a group of aliens moments after he arrives on Sakaar.
He isn't confused by their technology.
Valkyrie clearly has an intuitive command over her spaceship.
Loki navigates the technology so well he's able to steal security codes from the Grandmaster.
Odin's sons wield laser rifles as comfortably as we've seen them wield hammers and daggers
respectively, and when Thor steals the Grandmaster's ship, he says it should be no problem to figure
out because after all, "it's just another spaceship."
Indeed, he handles it just fine.
Even Bruce Banner, with all his doctorates, is utterly shocked by the fact that he's on
an alien planet, stressing him out to the point where he almost turns back into the
Other Guy over it.
Yet the comparably meatheaded Thor is just fine.
As if he were not a god, but just another alien, exactly like we've been told up until
now.
We're also left to wonder who else might be a supposed god in the story.
In the comics, it isn't just Thor and Loki and the named characters of Asgard who are
gods.
Everyone on Asgard is a god.
Skurge the Executioner, Lady Sif, the Warriors Three, Heimdall, and all the rest.
Every man, woman, and child.
If there's an Asgardian dude who cleans the toilets of Asgard, then the dude who cleans
the toilets of Asgard is a god.
Does this mean all the Asgardians of the MCU are gods?
If it does, then why are they such cannon fodder when it comes to fighting Hela's zombies
or Dark Elves?
How could there be such a thing in Asgard as an innocent civilian or bystander?
If they're gods, they should all be kicking butt and taking names.
Meanwhile, it might not make sense that Loki is called a god.
If the character is actually a Frost Giant adopted by Asgardians, how is he a god?
Are you a god if you just hang out with other gods?
The questions are endless.
Then there's the matter of how the changes Thor: Ragnarok made to the MCU will impact
future movies.
In spite of its huge cast, Avengers: Infinity War should give Thor a key role in the fight
against Thanos.
Thanos, even without the Infinity Stones, is supposedly the most powerful being in the
universe.
If Thor is now a god, then he's probably going to be the only one even able to keep up with
the Mad Titan.
"Ready?"
If not, we may have to wonder whether the developments in Ragnarok might harm the integrity
of the MCU.
If Marvel Studios decides to ultimately nix the whole concept of Asgardian gods in a future
feature, it could make things even more confusing and convoluted.
On the other hand, allowing creators the freedom to change the rules once in a while is what
makes the comics such a rush to read, so who knows?
Maybe this abrupt alteration is just part of a bigger plan to shake things up in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe and bring in some real magic, science and continuity be darned.
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