Thor: Ragnarok (4½ Stars)

Every new film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is a cause for excitement. I can almost forgive Marvel Studios for messing up the stories by mixing old comics events and characters (from the 1960's) with new events (from the 2000's). As an old school Marvel geek I'd prefer the films to be based on the silver age stories when Marvel was Marvel, maybe with a few elements from the bronze age stories mixed in. Any complaints that I have about the film are based on deviations from the comics.

The first problem that I have with the film is the excess of comical remarks coming from Thor's mouth in the early scenes. He's one of the most serious Marvel heroes. Did he ever tell a single joke in the comics? None that I can remember.

The next problem is the apparent superiority of Doctor Strange over Loki, easily overwhelming him with a single spell. In the comics Loki is far more powerful because he's a God, whereas Doctor Strange is only a mortal. We saw this most clearly in Strange Tales #123, published in August 1964.

This is clearly a result of Marvel Studios scaling down the power of the Asgardians in the films. In the comics they are Gods, even if it's never clearly explained what Gods are. In the films we're told early on that they aren't Gods, they're just aliens from another planet who were mistaken for Gods when they revealed themselves in Norway a few thousand years ago. Why does Marvel do that? Is Marvel afraid of insulting the Good Christian People of America.

I'll stop there. Any other criticisms I might make would give away spoilers.

"Thor: Ragnarok" is a good film. I just think it could be better by sticking closer to the original Marvel comics.