**Spoilers Ahead**
Last week, I had the opportunity to see Marvel’s newest film, “Thor: Ragnarok”. The film is the third installment of the Thor movies, and takes place two years after “Avengers: Age of Ultron”. With any superhero movie, there is bound to be a powerful villain who’s intention is to take over the world. While the film does have that same storyline, it also has extremely vibrant imagery, comedy, and a rich plot. However, the film becomes problematic when the plot is dominated by male characters. Now, “Thor: Ragnarok” does have compelling female characters, namely Hela and Valkyrie. But, in my opinion, both female characters are overshadowed by Thor, Loki, the Hulk/Dr. Bruce Banner, and Heimdall. It makes you question the screenwriters’ intentions when the female leads have such underwhelming character development. Let me just break it down simply: This film would have been more successful if the “sausage” clan didn’t navigate the spaceship.
Here’s a quick synopsis of the plot:
The film opens with Thor being held hostage in a fiery cave where he discovers a prophecy about Ragnarok and the fall of Asgard. With this warning in mind, Thor reunites with his brother, Loki. Odin, their father warns them about Hela, and her release from an inter-dimensional exile. Hela, who the audience discovers is the older sister of Thor and Loki, has plans on taking over Asgard and ruling all of the nine planets. She even destroys Thor’s unbreakable hammer, proving Hela has the potential to be unstoppable. Thor and Loki are eventually trapped on a trash planet, and Thor is captured by a former female-warrior named Valkyrie. Thor is eventually forced into an arena game and ends up defeating the great and powerful Hulk. Hulk eventually returns as Dr. Bruce Banner and discovers he’s been the green monster for over two years. Thor, Dr. Banner, Valkyrie, and Loki escape the planet and attempt to defeat Hela. During the battle, Hela blinds Thor in one of his eyes, and she proves to be too powerful for any of the heroes. In the end, Ragnarock is rebirthed through an eternal flame, and the creature fights Hela. In the process, Asgard is ruined, leaving Hela presumably dead. The movie concludes with all of the citizens of Asgard looking at their now crumbled city, and they venture on a spaceship to find new territory.
Hela, the main villain, is represented as a powerful woman who is dark and mysterious. This is a change from the traditionally male Marvel villain. Her clothing is non-traditional and makes her much less of a body for male consumption (*Cough* Black Widow *Cough*). Her dress is completely black, and emulates power and fearlessness. She is ruthless and determined to take over the planets. She even awakens a dead army, and commands them to follow her every order. Her unlimited power seems to mirror the modern female, who is strong and who people are in awe of as a leader.
Hela’s scenes display her strength and struggle for power. However, this is overshadowed by Thor’s excessive screen time. The movie seems to center-focus Thor’s heroic battles more than Hela’s conquest on Asgard, favoring the male superhero to his sister. Yes, Thor’s name is in the title of the movie. However, Marvel missed an opportunity to focus on Hela’s powers, allowing her to expand her character development and power throughout the film.
Another underwhelming character in the film was Valkyrie, a fighter turned alcoholic trash collector.
At first, Valkyrie holds grudges against Thor, and refuses to interact with him, even when Thor attempts to compliment her strength. I was very excited when I learned Valkyrie’s backstory and the fact that she belonged to an all female fighting group. Thor even comments that he looked up to those fighters as a child, and dreamed of joining them (that was ruined when he realized he was male). Unfortunately, Valkyrie’s character seems to be lacking dialogue. There could have been more potential to expand her backstory, but the film was more focused on masculine dominance. Hopefully, her character make an appearance in more Marvel movies, and she will be viewed more than just a female sidekick.
Overall, I enjoyed the premise of the movie, and love the fun personalities in each character. There weren’t too many dramatic effects, and had several hilarious moments that made the audience members burst out into uncontrollable fits of laughter. The film introduces more fighting female characters, but there needs to be more improvement to give these characters the equal representation to their male counterpoints. Let’s give these ladies the “Wonder Woman Treatment.”