An arrogant prince is stripped of his power and exiled to Earth until he learns to deserve it back.
Until this point the run had been technology and radiation: things that could be argued into plausibility. Thor is the film that asks the audience to accept gods, a golden city, and a rainbow bridge, and it manages it by treating the fantastical parts as normal and the ordinary parts as strange.
The exile does the work. Stripped of the hammer, Thor spends the film as a large confident man being handled by a small New Mexico town, and the comedy of that is what makes the mythology go down.
Show detailsThe sleight of hand
The script solves the tone problem by declaring that this world’s magic is simply science the audience has not learned yet. It is a line of dialogue, not an explanation, and it works because nobody in the film treats it as remarkable.
The brother is the other reason it works. Loki is given a real grievance and a coherent plan, which is rarer in this material than it sounds.
Who is in it
- Clint BartonHawkeyeJeremy Renner
- Erik SelvigThe scientistStellan Skarsgård
- FandralThe DashingJoshua Dallas, Zachary Levi
- FriggaQueen of AsgardRene Russo, Chanique Greyling
- HeimdallGuardian of the BifrostIdris Elba
- HogunThe GrimTadanobu Asano
- Jane FosterThe Mighty ThorNatalie Portman
- Jasper SitwellAgent SitwellMaximiliano Hernández, Adam Faison
- Loki LaufeysonGod of MischiefTom Hiddleston
- Nick FuryDirector of S.H.I.E.L.D.Samuel L. Jackson
- OdinThe AllfatherAnthony Hopkins
- Phil CoulsonAgent of S.H.I.E.L.D.Clark Gregg
- SifLady SifJaimie Alexander
- Thor OdinsonThorChris Hemsworth
- VolstaggThe VoluminousRay Stevenson
How it connects
This one sets these up.
Sources
Facts last checked on Sep 7, 2026
Released: May 6, 2011