Thor: Ragnarok

I have no interest for the Thor series because all of the actors are jumping ship. Anthony Hopkins quit because these are terrible to film, Natalie Portman quit but will go back on that quitting for obscene money, Idris Elba called it torture but is under contract to keep on showing up, one of the Warriors 3 quit between the first and the second and nobody even noticed he was gone. I like Marvel on the whole, their movies have common flaws but are usually decent fun and their two from 2014 were both really good, but Thor is the black sheep of the MCU. The people making them know it, the executives at Marvel know it (why else would they need something as gimmicky as a Hulk crossover?), the critics know it (2 of the 3 lowest Rotten Tomatoes scores are from the Thor series), and the audiences know it (Replace Iron Man 2 with the first Cap, but both Thors are still there).

I'm presuming Thor will encounter The Hulk in this film on Earth. Plus, there could be a couple of possibilities... Bruce encounters Thor due to maybe Thor finding out where he's hiding, and needs some kind of help from Hulk to fight. The Hulk's appearance can be a memory or some thing, Hulk\Bruce could appear in flasgback type sequence, this could link heavily with the next avengers and have Hulk emerge because he is needed to return and fight with his team...I could think of various options as a MCU fan. I just think they could ruin the whole deal with Hulk in outer space like the Planet Hulk situation.

As for Jane, in the comics she is the new Thor. Natalie Portman could have a significant role in this if they decide to bring that to the screen.

Heck, Bruce \Hulk might not even have a major part in the movie...just a minor appearance. Nobody knows the exact details yet but when it's revealed I'll be sure to read it.

Are these crossovers not the whole point of a shared universe? By that logic the captain America series is desperate too since civil war is an iron man crossover winter soldier anyone?

So you hate the MCU because it's all interconnected.....like the comics?

None of these MCU movies are 'crossovers' since they mostly all link together and are one big story line. It's not like characters from some other film series 'crosses over'. So yes good point Coon.

I don't wanna be advocate here, but I think he dose not hate MCU as the Universe, he hates them for making only two good movies and then connecting those two movies to the rest of the universe. Plus, what comics have to do with any of this?

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Speaking of the actors quiting, I heard Peter Dinklage is going to play Thor this time.

I can imagine that

Seriously? What do films that are based on decades of material and hundreds/thousands of issues have to do with comics?

To be fair to Marvel that wasn't so much them that screwed up as it was Universal. It was after Universal didn't make a sequel in time that their contract expired and creative control reverted to Marvel.

I hate to sully the discussion with such pesky things as facts but I just can't help myself. Yes Anthony Hopkins has indicated he'd like to leave but all things considered he had a good time making the films but its not really his type of movie. Outside of doing the Hannibal sequels he's never really been someone for mainstream movies and blockbusters. Idris Elba's comments were blown way out of proportion. It's not that he hates making the films in general, he was just really down about one day of filming that he described as torture. 24 hours earlier he had been on location in South Africa filming Mandela which he had found to be a magical experience. Then the next day he was hanging upside down on a wire in his large, over-the-top costume in front of a green screen and the comparison was quite the come down which I think most people could understand. A lot of actors moan about the requirements of making a blockbuster such as green screen.

How enamoured Portman is with the films is a question but the main reason she would have liked out was that she wanted to cut down on acting and spend time with her young son who was born in June 2011. If you look at her filmography you can see that for 3 or 4 years she didn't really star in much at all except the Thor films. The Warriors 3 person you talk about was Josh Dallas playing the role of Fandral. He didn't just quit or 'jump ship', he was unable to reprise the role because of his commitments to the TV show, Once Upon a Time. He has since spoken of his great disappointment at not returning because he loved his experience on the first film.

You say that 2 of the 3 lowest Rotten Tomatoes scores are for Thor films; also not true. The Dark World is indeed bottom but the first Thor is actually ranked 8th, or 5th bottom if you prefer. So 2 out of the bottom 5. And with Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3 making up 2 of the bottom 6 Iron Man is as much of a black sheep using your logic. And even both of those films are certified fresh. The first film in particular has a score of 77% which is very impressive. Only blockbusters considered really great and awards-worthy films usually hit the 80s and 90s on a regular basis. And as for audiences knowing it, The Dark World made $645 million at the box office; showing that audiences wanted more after the first film. So for a black sheep it's doing not too bad. I think pretty much every studio in Hollywood would be delighted to have a black sheep like that.

And how is Hulk being in the film gimmicky? That's one of the big bonuses of a shared universe. Can I assume that you see Batman v Superman as being a huge gimmick as well? And another argument as to why to utilise Hulk in this manner is that Marvel don't currently have the rights to make a stand-alone Hulk film; those are still owned by Universal. So the way to use him right now is in ensembles and team-ups.

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In order: You didn't actually say anything to dispute my stance on Hopkins, just that he does it often, which is true. Inte4resting story about Elba. Maybe Natalie Portman's kid is a minor contributing factor to her desires to stay away, but obviously the big thing is when Marvel fired Patty Jenkins as director of Thor 2. Interesting story about the warrior guy.

The only Rotten Tomatoes scores for MCU movies below the 77 of Thor are Thor 2 and Iron Man 2 (Unless the Norton or Bana Hulks count as part of the universe? I was under the impression neither was still in continuity after Ruffalo took over). My box office numbers were referring to domestic, where the second Thor basically grossed the same thing as the first one.

Batman vs Superman is absolutely the biggest gimmick in the history of film. It's the cinematic equivalent of a Buzzfeed article with a clickbait headline and nothing but memes once you click the link. You want to nail me for being a hypocrite in supporting DC over Marvel, but it's stupid no matter who does it. Shared universes are fun for big team up events (Avengers movies), but get really annoying when they happen all of the time and become essential to the point where you have to follow a bunch of things you normally wouldn't so that you can enjoy the one thing you actually wanted to enjoy in the first place. I'm a mild comic book reader, and by far the most annoying thing is when I'm reading a great run about let's say Wolverine and I have to look up the events of a crappy X-Men book in order to understand the next Wolverine issue. I don't want the movies to be like comic books in that way. In my and plenty of other people's opinions, the worst part of Avengers 2 was the side quest that sets up Thor 3 with absolutely nothing to do with the movie I was trying to watch.

That's considered hate speech and will not be tolerated. The proper authorities have been notified.

Did somebody say Peter Dinklage?

Oh no, warn James Gunn that there's better films than GotG.

That confused smilie works. I was talking about movies do not need to be as connected as comics and what dose shared universe of comics has to do with Hulk appearing in this? Are movies just copy-paste?

What I was trying to say is these crossovers are the point if you're not going to do them there's no point in having a shared universe would you rather have stand alone unconnected films

Going back to the Hulk crossover thing with this movie, I think this makes a lot of sense. Paramount actually still some rights for a Hulk standalone movie, so this is a good way to include the Hulk outside of the Avengers.

It's not a 'crossover'..neither were any of the other MCU films. The characters all are a part of one film series. And I believe it's Universal that has the rights not Paramount.

Oh Marvel, you sly dog.

Seems like they have incorporated a way to use a bunch of good Hulk stuff without paying Universal. It's what everyone said they wanted, so I say good job!

I really didn't like the first Thor film and I didn't even bother with Dark World. I probably will only see this just because Taika Waititi is involved and attached to direct so that gives me some hope for the film, but overall worried that it's going to just be a slapstick Thor comedy with a green man running around in space.

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Not really a fan of Thor. Love The Avengers but not really into the Thor movies.

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I wasn't impressed with the first Thor and didn't watch the second one. This one seems like it will affect the MCU more than the previous. Add to that the Hulk storyline (if it's the one being speculated) and consider my interest piqued.