How Infinity War destroyed Thor Ragnarok

Mike Narvaez
Sep 6, 2018 · 4 min read

The changes that Thor goes through in Ragnarok are reversed in Infinity War, which is a massive disappointment for the fans of the god of thunder

Big movie makers are willing to destroy entire story-lines, characters and plots in order to make more money (Photo: internet)

Avengers: Infinity War answers a lot of questions about the franchise but it also arises more questions, which is actually typical for the Marvel Universe.

However, the most disappoint aspect of Infinity War is its massive destruction of the character arc that Thor goes through in Ragnarok.

For those of you who are not familiar with the basis of story-telling, character arc is the journey that a character — in most cases, the protagonist — takes to change his life, thoughts, believes and points of view throughout the story.

For example, if we take the movie Titanic — I’m only choosing this movie because of its popularity — the main protagonist, Rose, starts the film as a naïve, weak, afraid, young little girl with suicidal thoughts whom throughout the movie, through her interaction with Jack, becomes brave and strong in her desire to be free. By the end of the film, Rose — as an older woman — is portrayed as someone who achieved everything she and Jack planned to do with their lives.

Let’s take, for example, Michael Corleone in The Godfather. Michael begins the movie as a caring, law-abiding, young military man and by the end of the film, becomes a fearful mafia boss and the head of the family.

There are also flat-type characters whose persona stays lineal throughout the movie. In these cases, it is not the main protagonist that changes but the characters that surround the protagonist.

Take, for instance, Elle Woods in Legally Blonde II — again, I’m choosing this film for its popularity. Reese Witherspoon’s character begins the movie believing that she can make an impact and free the animals that are used for commercial purposes. Even though her character’s ethical desires never change, the people around her that once rejected her for her believes start to become more like her, to the point of supporting her in her quest for good.

For examples of character arc, have a look at this video

Thor goes through the biggest changes in his life throughout Ragnarok. Even when he’s lost his father — only physically though, he does appear as a ghostly figure — he’s lost his hair, an eye, his friends and even his girlfriend (much for the dislike of his fans), the biggest change in his character happens when his evil sister, Hela, breaks apart his hammer.

Afterwards, believing that he is nothing without his hammer, his father, Odin, reveals to him — as a ghostly figure, of course — that the sole purpose of the hammer was so that Thor could control himself: after all, as Odin tells him, Thor is not the god of hammers, but the god of thunder.

The moment Thor realises he doesn’t need a hammer in Ragnarok

It is after the realization of his real self and his real power that Thor begins to control thunder with his body, without the need of a material object.

However, Infinity War reverses everything when Thor finds himself, once again, in need of a hammer. In fact, it’s not only the hammer that they give back to him but an eye as well, thus drawing back the most significant changes that he had previously gone through in Ragnarok and disappointing every single fan of the Thor movies. Let’s remember that the end of Ragnarok is the beginning of Infinity War, which is when Thor realises he doesn’t need a hammer to be the god of thunder.

But why would the filmmakers risk ruining such a massive production like Infinity War by undergoing such pointless changes to Thor’s character and introducing more time to an already long movie? It’s all to do with money, number of viewers and an appearance of one of the biggest television stars of today: Peter Dinklange.

Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy go to Eitri (portrayed by Dinklange), a weaponsmith and King of the Dwarves of Nidavellir — they’re not really dwarves, they’re actually giants — where they find that Thanos has already been and destroyed the planet and its inhabitants. Eitri is the only one left and so happens to be a master of his craft. And then Thor begs him to make him another hammer risking his own life in the process.

The moment Infinity War ruins Thor’s character arc in Ragnarok

Thus unnecessary for the story, this part of the film added some vital revenue to the movie. Dinklange is the star of Game Of Thrones, the HBO success, where he portrays Tyrion Lannister. Making an appearance in Infinity War, even as an unpredicted one, would have created a much bigger hype which would have attracted more movie goers to the film.

It appears that in an era when most of the movies are passable — even blockbuster ones — filmmakers are not only playing it safe by creating thoughtless plots and developing meaningless characters, they are also willing to destroy character arcs and entire story lines in order to make more money. It works though, Infinity War made 2.5 billion dollars in the box office world wild with a budget of only 400 million dollars.

Mike Narvaez
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