Near the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War, the Guardians of the Galaxy happen across a catatonic Thor Odinson floating in space. Thor’s ship of Asgardian refugees has been decimated by Thanos and his Black Order. Thor is the lone survivor, and that but barely.
“How is this dude still alive?” Peter Quill asks after they pull Thor into their ship. “This is not a dude. You are a dude,” Drax replies, “This is a man.” This sets off a crisis of masculinity in Quill that begins with him trying to one-up the God of Thunder and ends with him inadvertently allowing Thanos to kill off half the population of the entire universe. Oops.
But perhaps Quill might have taken Drax’s jab better—and saved trillions of lives—had he known that Thor’s own journey from “dude” to “man” was pretty recent, having happened in the Marvel movie that sets up this one: Thor: Ragnarok. At heart, Ragnarok is about Thor’s arc from cocky hero to self-sacrificing leader, and his journey from trying to prevent Ragnarok to instigating it. Along the way, he comes into conflict and enters into alliances with a whole bunch of characters who have their own way of being “a man,” and none of them have anything to do with being male.
Ragnarok’s director Taika Waititi is a master at finding the humor in the tensions between different modes of masculinity. His vampire roommate mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows draws most of its jokes from the clashing personalities of the prim and proper Viago (played by Waititi himself), the lusty torturer Vladislav, the louche Deacon, the dim bro Nick, and the ancient monster Petyr. But the man they all admire most is Stu, the mild-mannered, cool-as-a-cucumber mortal who takes the existence of vampires and being disemboweled by werewolves in admirable stride.
Waititi’s foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe pits an even broader variety of masculine archetypes up against each other, often literally, for humor and conflict. First we meet the fire-giant Surtur, hellbent on fulfilling his destiny of destroying Asgard. Surtur is literally a monster, but I admire his complete acceptance and comfort with who he is. He’s half a million years old at least and gets beaten down by both Odin and Thor, but that doesn’t stop him from embracing his destiny. We can all only hope for that kind of committed self-assurance in our later years.
Less self-assured is Thor’s adopted brother and occasional archenemy Loki, masquerading as his own father Odin in a move so Oedipal it’d make Freud blush. Loki’s stooge Skurge, now in charge of the Bifrost, isn’t any better. He uses his new position as gatekeeper to the cosmos mostly to collect crap like machine guns and Shake Weights to impress the ladies. When Hela shows up to claim Asgard, Skurge follows her, less out of any real ambition and more out of fear and habit. He’s not evil, he’s just unimaginative.
Thor and Loki set off to find Odin, whom they find in Norway thanks to Dr. Stephen Strange (if you’re wondering what sort of masculinity Strange represents: he’s a dick). Odin is wise and warm to his sons, even praising the spell Loki put him under. But he’s also impatient to die and doesn’t seem particularly concerned with the fact that his death will free his firstborn Hela from her imprisonment. Odin’s a man who never looks back, both out of a desire for progress and a fear of the shadows that lie in the past (Waititi frames Odin as always looking forward, out toward the sea, and Hela emerges from behind where he was literally sitting).
After Hela appears, she proves her power by crushing Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, with her bare hand. But while the loss of Mjolnir is a very blunt castration of Thor by his sister (and is maybe the most Freudian image you can get away with in a PG-13 movie), Waititi never frames it as emasculating. Hela’s not a misogynistic nightmare. She’s masculinity at its most toxic: she’s an imperialist military commander out for blood, gold, and glory who can generate an endless supply of giant swords (wait, maybe that’s the most Freudian image you can get away with in a PG-13 movie). And when Thor finally realizes that his phallus—er, power—was inside him all along, it’s not because he defeats Hela, but because he realizes he can’t. His people need a leader, not a Revenger.
Before that epiphany, though, Thor and Loki crash on the garbage planet of Sakaar, which is run by the sleazy, smarmy Grandmaster. Thor’s captured by the former Valkyrie now going by the codename Scrapper 142. Like Hela, Valkyrie’s a woman, but one who embodies a classic masculine archetype: the hard-drinking, haunted loner who needs to be reminded of the good-hearted warrior she once was. She and the old Wolverine in Logan would have so much to not talk about over endless bottles of cheap whiskey. And like Wolverine, she eventually realizes that all the booze in the universe can’t drown her pain—and if she’s going to die, it might as well be fighting for her endangered people.
While Loki uses his cunning to rise in the Grandmaster’s good graces, Thor’s metaphorically castrated again when his hair is shaved (this time by his own co-creator, Stan Lee. Poor Thor.) and sent to fight in Sakaar’s gladiator arena. There he meets a rock creature named Korg, played through motion-capture by Waititi himself. In an interview on the British talk show The Last Leg, Waititi talked about how he based his performance on the Polynesian bouncers he’d encountered in his native New Zealand: strong men capable of great violence who nevertheless speak and carry themselves with warmth and gentleness. Korg is the most chill character in the film, despite his desire for violent revolution and his hatred of his mom’s new boyfriend. He’s the Stu of Sakaar, if Stu were made of rocks and didn’t print enough pamphlets.
Korg’s chill contrasts with Thor’s rage and frustration at losing his hammer, and the digs and slights he takes from the Grandmaster (who nicknames him “Sparkles” and “Lord of Thunder”) and even Tony Stark’s Quinjet (who recognizes him not as the “Strongest Avenger” but by the nickname “Point Break,” a sign of Thor’s dudeness if there ever was one). Not to mention Korg’s mistaken belief that Thor used Mjolnir for masturbation. Thor only lets his guard down when he realizes Scrapper 142 is a Valkyrie and professes how much he wanted to be one when he was young. Until he found out they were all women, of course—though this does nothing to dampen Thor’s admiration for them.
It’s in the ring that Thor faces off against the actual strongest Avenger and pop culture’s giant green avatar of masculine rage and anxiety: the Incredible Hulk. Most takes on the Hulk center on the Big Guy as a manifestation of Bruce Banner’s rage and tormented psyche. But Waititi flips the script: Hulk is front and center here, not just a monster who emerges from Banner’s psyche for the fight, but a lonely, wounded creature. When Thor angrily taunts him by shouting “Earth does hate you!”, confirming Hulk’s fears, the strongest Avenger is reduced to throwing things and sulking. There’s no monster within he can let loose. His anger and strength have hit a ceiling. And when Thor tries to escape on the Quinjet, Hulk desperately follows him and pleads, “Friend stay!”
Bruce has his own insecurities, of course. When he does finally emerge, he’s horrified to find out he’s been trapped in the Hulk for two years. And not only does he fear becoming Hulk permanently, but he resents the way Thor (and others) only see him as a conduit for the monster within (“How many PhDs does Banner have? Seven! How many does Hulk have? Zero!”). On Sakaar and on Asgard, he’s an intellectual among warriors. That sort of warrior masculinity fits him as poorly as Tony Stark’s too-tight suit.
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Bruce, Thor, and Valkyrie eventually escape Sakaar via the Devil’s Anus and head back to Asgard. Loki inevitably betrays Thor, though for once Thor’s a step ahead of his brother and tases him. “Life is about growth,” Thor says, yet Loki never wants to change, despite how badly that’s worked out for him overall. More than anything, that’s what makes Thor a man instead of a mere dude: he’s able to grow.
Back on Asgard, Heimdall’s stolen the Bifrost sword and is sheltering Asgardians from Hela’s wrath. Heimdall’s the platonic ideal of masculinity, with his courage, leadership, kindness, selflessness, and strength. He’s what Thor, Valkyrie, Loki, Bruce, and even Skurge need to become when they arrive on Asgard to face down Hela and her undead army.
Once the players all return to Asgard, they bravely face their fears in order to help save the other Asgardians. Valkyrie fights the omnipotent goddess who killed her sisters and sent her into drunken exile. Loki returns to fight beside his brother (like Thor always wanted), rather than running away like he usually does. Skurge finally follows his conscience and turns on Hela, sacrificing his life so that the Asgardian ship can escape. Bruce lets himself turn back into the Hulk, possibly forever, to save the fleeing civilians from Hela’s giant wolf (let us now take a moment to talk about what an incredibly beautiful pop-art moment it is to watch the Incredible Hulk fight the god-devouring wolf Fenrir of Norse mythology at the edge of a planet. The movie really earns their use of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” there).
And Thor takes his place as king of Asgard. He truly becomes his father—even losing an eye—in a way Loki’s magical charade could never manage (it’s Oedipal in an extremely heartwarming way!). Thor didn’t want to be king, but his people need him to be. Furthermore, he finally understands that he has to sacrifice his home in order to save his people. He sends Loki to resurrect Surtur, who destroys Asgard and Hela with it.
“What have I done?” he wonders as he watches Asgard explode Alderaan-ishly. “You saved us from extinction,” Heimdall says. And unlike Hela or Thanos (who shows up mid-credits), Thor’s newly earned manhood isn’t based on blood and glory, but on providing safety and sanctuary for his people and other outcasts. In the end, to paraphrase Hela, he’s not a king or a god. He’s a hero.
Austin Gilkeson formerly served as The Toast’s Tolkien Correspondent, and his writing has also appeared at Catapult and Cast of Wonders. He lives outside Chicago with his wife and son
Okay, yeah. This is a great article.
I don’t really feel like Heimdall stood out much when I last watched the movie, but I think that only serves your argument. As the platonic ideal of masculinity, he *doesn’t have to stand out*. He doesn’t need to brag, or wave his courage in your face, or demand respect and power the way Hel does. He has a job to do, and he’s going to do it, even if it takes his life.
I’m not really sure if the deaths of the Warriors Three fits with this, beyond cementing Hel as a callous murder-machine whose only doesn’t recognize courage, strength, and heroism if it doesn’t immediately serve her.
@@@@@ 1. Yes! Elba does such a great job making Heimdall wise and grounded (impressive given he’s a dude with orange eyes and a giant sword), and serves as a good contrast to Thor’s show-off heroism in the first scene when he fights Surtur. I thought about including the Warriors Three, but they’re dispatched so quickly I didn’t have much to say about them.
Thanks for this great article! Ragnarok is one of my top two all time favorite MCU movies so far, and I think this helps put a finger on why.
Enjoyed this article. Would love to read more in the same vein.
I’m going to be pedantic here. Decimated literally means one in ten of a given group dies. This is more like ninety-nine percent.
@rob the death of the warriors three in the frame of this article means Thor loses the men who enable his dude bro behavior. They never question him or tell him no they just follow his lead in everything. Now he has to stand up on his own without the men who previously enabled him to do whatever he wants when he wants without check.
OP:
You’re totally right, you know, they wouldn’t. Talk, that is.
This is fantastic, although I would say that Loki’s own growth was stunted by Thanos’s use of the Mind Stone on him, which is now canon.
Which is probably why a fantastic, world-class actor like Idris Elba pretty much hates playing the character. There’s no room for growth. Heimdall is perfection. And utterly boring.
Well, for 5 minutes at least, until Thanos shows up in the post-credits scene.
@Jessica So inverse decimation?
This is a great article, and a great movie. In ten years I really hope this movie has found its way to the core of our cultural zeitgeist, I think it would do a lot of good.
I was put onto Taika Waititi by What We do in the Shadows as well and have since fallen in love with his films. Despite their generally absurd premises they consistently have the most down to earth and real characters I’ve ever encountered in pop culture.
@6. Also, his three FRIENDS are dead.
princessroxana@5:
I will match your pedantry and raise: that definition of decimate is considered historical, obsolete, and/or archaic, by some sources.
For instance, the entry for decimate on dictionary.com is:
verb (used with object), dec·i·mat·ed, dec·i·mat·ing.
1. to destroy a great number or proportion of:
The population was decimated by a plague.
2. to select by lot and kill every tenth person of.
3. Obsolete . to take a tenth of or from.
And Google’s dictionary has this:
verb
verb: decimate; 3rd person present: decimates; past tense: decimated; past participle: decimated; gerund or present participle: decimating
1. kill, destroy, or remove a large percentage or part of.
“the project would decimate the fragile wetland wilderness”
• drastically reduce the strength or effectiveness of (something).
“plant viruses that can decimate yields”
2. HISTORICAL
• kill one in every ten of (a group of soldiers or others) as a punishment for the whole group.
I was a diehard on the “Words mean what they mean!” bandwagon for a long time. I gave up. Meanings change. We watched the meaning of this word change in our lifetime. I now view that as cool, instead of awful.
Awful. Like, full of awe? Or as Horrible? :D
@11:
Exactly, lol. Although the definition of that word changed long before I was born.
I really enjoyed the article, and the premise it is based on, but there were a few times where I felt that I could hear the creaks as something was shoehorned in a bit.
I think that the Hela comments, though entertaining, suffer from being labelled as a symptom of toxic masculinity. I think that there is something to be said for her role being that of the scourge: the unstoppable force of destruction that is the flipside of the life-giving mother trope. I think that Hela, the Marvel villain, Hela, the Norse myth, and Kali, the Indian myth, are about a destructive, remorseless female identity that was kind of refreshing to see on screen. It wasn’t the temptress, or the alluring dangerous woman tropes that seem to be the go-to of Hollywood villains, but rather a completely empowered, power-focused portrayal of the character.
I just thought that in her particular instance the framework of the argument began to crumble a little bit, and does a slight disservice to some top-rate scenery chewing and a mesmerising, charismatic performance by Cate Blanchett.
Perhaps moving away from the metaphor in that part of the article might permit that rather than castration, the removal of the hammer is the destruction of a crutch – a totem which Thor has invested too much of his identity into to question properly or continue his growth. And yes, swords can be seen as phallic symbols – they’re shaped a certain way(-ish) and penetrative, etc – but many of the scenes had her firing quills, or spikes, or spears of the stuff. The medusa/antler headdress and the other accoutrements seemed alien and androgynous rather than overtly masculine and, in my eyes at least, none the worse for it.
So, it’s a bit nit-picky, but that was the one I couldn’t quite stretch far enough to really engage with the premise on. Still, it was a good article all told.
@@@@@ 13. I don’t want to do a disservice to Blanchett at all! She’s fantastic! Your point about her being a scourge is a good one! Though I think the way Hela is grounded in being an imperialist military commander, a better frame might be that she’s a scourge like Hel/Kali, but one cast in the more traditionally masculine mold of a military conqueror.
I think that is more a sign of Tony’s than Thor’s. Tony, even when he isn’t in the movie, continues to be such a complete and utter flippant, petty, prick that he’s put messing with people above the mission even when he isn’t there. Yet another reason they ought to have been called the Tony Accords.
This was a fantastic and fun movie, and I liked that Hela was a self aware tyrant. She doesn’t try and hide what she is, nor cover up the past with euphemisms; where do you think all the gold came from, she asks. Nothing about giving the gold back, nor trying to wave a fig leaf over it by claiming to have brought benefits to the people it was stolen from. She (and Odin) took the gold, and that is fine by her.
The only thing I disliked about the movie was the offhand way it killed the Warriors Three. Mainly because I was holding out for a Sif and the Warriors Three movie in phase four, which I guess can’t happen now.
@14 – It really was a very minor nitpick; I wouldn’t worry about it! As I said, it was an enjoyable article!
@15 – Never say never. They may only be mostly dead.
Great article, it made me think!
I have come to dislike the word decimate, because its definition has become so imprecise. It means very different things to different people. While I can’t find this definition written anywhere on the internet, I always thought of it in a military context, as a unit that had sustained so much damage it was no longer an effective fighting force.
I object more to the description of Thor as the “sole survivor.” I am pretty sure I read somewhere that while the Asgardian exiles suffered grievous losses in their encounter with Thanos, they were not all killed.
One of the things I liked in the movie was Skurge’s redemptive arc, from being an obedient stooge to serving the greater good. There’s a positive message there, which parallels Thor’s journey.
The type of masculinity represented by the Warriors Three in this movie is sadly one of the most common roles of men in warfare; to be cannon fodder while serving the machinations of those in charge. While I hated to see their deaths, the fact that we had developed affection for them in previous movies gave some weight to the losses Asgard was sustaining in the struggle with Hela.
@10, I guess we have to go with Humpty Dumpty, when he uses a word it means what he wants it to mean. :-)
@17 I don’t think they are the “true love” type, I’m afraid.
Like anything else, this article would have benefited from much more discussion of the Grandmaster.
@21 I was going to say the same thing – in an article exploring different types of masculinity/power, the Grandmaster definitely has his own, uh, spin on it.
I really loved this movie, and I like this article, although I admit something is not sitting right with how Hela/Valkyrie were treated. While on one hand I don’t believe ‘masculinity’ is a thing unique to men (in that we all have feminine and masculine qualities) I also am not sure I like Hela/Valkyrie, as strong women in their own ways, simply being reframed as ‘masculine’, even if their traits are what have stereotypically been associated with masculinity. I could argue myself in circles though.
While Hela does not represent a ‘healthy’ feminism (as you point out, she’s conquest-hungry) in some ways she also represents powerful women who are then brushed aside. And honestly, that part where, after giving her big hammy, dramatic spiel, the Asgardians don’t know who she is, and she replies, “Whoever I am? Did you not listen to a word I said???” kind of resonated to me as something all those brushed aside/ignored women would want to say.
@18: I believe it’s been stated that Thanos only killed half of the Asgardian refugees, as was is usual modus operandi before getting the Space Stone, while the other half (Including Valkyrie and Korg) escaped.
What I don’t know is if Thanos’ snap took into account the civilizations he’d already halved, or if the snap halved them again.
@10. Anthony: “2. to select by lot and kill every tenth person of”
That one’s not labelled obsolete. It’s so much easier and accurate to say Thanos halved the population of the universe (where the hell are the Guardians of the Other Galaxies in all this?). Using decimated is so imprecise. “He tenth it!” Still bad, but not the same ring to it.
@@@@@ 22
I don’t mean to frame Hela and Valkyrie purely as “masculine.” Blanchett and Thompson, in particular, give wonderful performances. Thompson’s is so full of nuance. There’s a lot to both characters, and a lot of readings of both. But I do think both–especially in how Thor relates to them–pull from “masculine” tropes. Valkyrie, especially, as the haunted and hard-drinking ex-warrior. And I wouldn’t say other warrior women characters in the MCU–like Black Widow, Gamora, Nebula, or Lady Sif–conform to any “masculine” tropes. But Hela and Valkyrie do, in part, and it’s those tropes that Thor bounces off against and push his character along.
As for the Grandmaster, I tried to dig deeper into him, but found there wasn’t much there beyond a sleazebag who’s basically Jeff Goldblum playing Jeff Goldblum turned up to 11. But I’d love to read yours and others’ takes on him (and Rachel House’s delightfully vile character, too!)
NICE. Loved this.
A bit off topic, I know, but one of my favorite moments in What We Do in the Shadows (and there are so many of them!) is Viago carefully laying down newspapers around an unsuspecting woman before making a total mess of feeding. It makes me giggle helplessly even thinking about it.
@27. Ashgrove: And the TV version of What We Do in the Shadows is only a couple weeks away!
Thor takes his place as king of Asgard Captain Marvel” Be Coming To Netflix?
Enjoyable analysis of this pop extravaganza. Fun fact: Stu the chill human from What We Do is in Ragnarok in a technical capacity; he created the dynamic lighting effects that made the fall of the Valkries so painterly and gorgeous, creating beauty and awe out of sacrifice (the movie’s third reference to the evolution of painting techniques).
Thought: this movie really does complete the Thor trilogy in the sense of these movies being about royal lineage and inheritance. Loki wants the throne, gets it, but isnt good at it. Thor wanted the crown but hadn’t earned it, he was a 1500 year old selfish boy who learned to sacrifice himself and then just as important in a leader, to suddenly think laterally and accept the advice of Heimdall that reframes Asgard as its community, not a location. It is my favourite MCU movie.
@@@@@ 30. I knew Waititi’s friends had developed that lighting effect, but I didn’t realize Stu was one of them! And I would love to hear more about the movie’s reference to the evolution of painting techniques. I love its use of Kirby’s art and aesthetic in Sakaar, but I’m not knowledgeable enough about Art to really dig into it.
I dunno, when he isn’t being undermined by his brother or his brother’s dudebro friends, he seemed to do okay. The worst we can say is that he likes watching really crappy plays. Still being a good patron of the arts though. Number of times Asgard is destroyed on Loki’s watch #0, number of times destroyed while on Thor’s watch #More than 0.
@32:
The king of Asgaard is the ruler of all nine realms, not just Asgaard. The narrative tells us that the nine realms fell in to chaos after Loki took over for Odin, and pins that on Loki. We don’t see it on screen, but its there in the info dump.
I don’t see Hela as masculine at all, simply because she has power and uses it for destruction. There have been many goddesses of war, death and destruction. Hela embraces her power as part of herself, not as a pretend maleness.
Like #22, I find Hela’s position quite sympathetic. The best villains always are.