Thor: Ragnarok: The best superhero comic book movie ever made

Yes, it’s a bold and outlandish statement. It’s something people argue about, especially with Black Panther receiving several Oscars this year and Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse receiving an actual best film-related Oscar. I haven’t seen the new Spider-Man or Captain Marvel, though I really do want to, but I’ve seen Black Panther, which was not half as engaging or as fun as Avengers: Infinity War. I’ve also seen countless other comic book movies, from the DC universe—taking yourself too seriously never works, especially when you have super powers—to the X-Men films and The Crow. Thor: Ragnarok is the best of them all, mostly because it hems close to what it should be: a comic book.

Thor: Ragnarok does not take place anywhere close to Earth, which makes it unusual in the universe of superhero comic book movies. It follows Thor (played by…oh come on, you all know who plays Thor by now) as he fights back against his evil sister, Hela, and gets stuck on a planet ruled by crazy people, where the Hulk is their biggest celebrity. It sounds weird, and were it not based on an actual comic book story, it probably would have never been cleared by the film studio, but hey, here we are! The movie’s theme of family is perfect for the tone of the film, which is where Thor makes his claim to the throne of all superhero comic book movies. Its style is really that of a comic book, with the quips in the right places, the humor snappy and smart, and the scenery so vivid and imaginative that it almost looks like the frames of an issue of Thor.  

If you’re looking for other reasons why it’s the greatest superhero movie, think back to the 80s. Are you old enough to remember Back to the Future? If so, that’s what watching Thor felt like. In each case, the premise is something totally gonzo, and it’s also secondary to the characters and their chemistry. No one who’s ever watched Back to the Future cares that it’s a time travel movie. They want to watch Marty McFly’s genuine reactions and interactions with all the ridiculous things put in his path, while rooting for him to succeed at the same time. Thor is put into a similar situation, and you can’t help but love him. His quips are funny and relatable. The situations he’s put in are bizarre, yet there’s something affable that makes each scene memorable. No, it doesn’t have the same “half of the universe is floating away!” scene that the Avengers had, but it strings smaller ones together in a more consistent manner. It also highlights more character flaws than most comic book movies (although I acknowledge that the Avengers series generally does a good job of mixing flawed characters together in interesting ways, except for the Iron Man series, where resolution was just Tony calling upon a million robots he could’ve used at the beginning of the film to kill off the bad guy). The resolution here is infinitely more satisfying than most other Marvel movies, with a firm build-up to something that’s outright fun and badass, followed by an ending that’s also pretty quirky–SPOILER ALERT, BUT I’M SURE EVERYONE’S ALREADY SEEN IT ANYWAY–where Surtur just demolishes Asgard.

The one other thing that make Thor: Ragnarok better than the rest is self-awareness. This is a movie that could not have been made at the beginning of the MCU but fits perfectly with where it’s at right now. It can take risks and make clever jokes based on the previous films. It’s also the springboard, both chronologically and stylistically, to the heralded Avengers: Infinity War. The funniest bits of Avengers were, not coincidentally, the ones with Thor, and the success of Thor: Ragnarok probably gave Marvel Studios confidence that using cosmic settings with far-out characters would work.

Comedies don’t get a lot of praise as the best movies of all time. Many point to Christian Bale’s Batman series as the best superhero movie ever, mostly for its gritty, realistic take on the character. That’s fine and all, but what would you rather wrap your head around, again and again, for two hours? The new series of X-Men movies are especially guilty of this, making their characters so self-serious that there's nothing to really cheer for, while the other MCU movies lean a bit too much on either cheap gags (think Ant Man and the Wasp) or story threads meant to have a huge impact on the world itself (like Ultron or Civil War), but ultimately fall flat because we want to care more about our plucky characters than the world which they inhabit. Thor:Ragnarok makes it very clear that it cares more about its characters than Asgard itself, and it's all the better for it. 

Altogether, Thor: Rangarok is a movie most people love, but it's really better than that. Back to the Future is emblematic of this problem, where the most heartfelt, oddball comedies aren’t ever considered as “great” movies at the time, but years down the road, when people look back at all the self-serious crap that’s passed us by, they’ll be staring at Thor as the landmark superhero movie that officially kicked off Marvel’s biggest phase.