Marvel Movies

Here it is, almost Christmas, and while I should be doing things like wrapping presents and making fudge, I am instead, obsessing about Marvel Movies.  I really really like most of the Marvel Movies.  I think that when it comes to casting actors to bring some of my favorite characters to life, they have done a simply superb job.  Seriously, Robert Downey Jr. IS Iron Man, Chris Evans is a perfect Captain America and may have the most glorious behind I have ever beheld. Chris Hemsworth is the perfect embodiment of Thor, and Tom Hiddleston is simply sublime as Loki.  In fact about the only actor I don't have much use for is Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch and that is mainly because I don't like the Character much...not because of the Actress. 

But anyway, the other evening I decided to go on a bit of a binge and watched Thor, Avengers and Thor II, or as I like to call it, the Loki Trilogy.  And I have come to the conclusion that Odin is a really big idiot. 

I love Anthony Hopkins as Odin, and there is very little that I enjoy more on this earth than to watch he and Hiddleston chew up the scenery together.  But...as a History major and Mythology buff, I have to say that Odin made a HUGE mistake in throwing Loki into a dungeon without a trial at the beginning of Thor, The Dark World. And even before that.  It shouldn't have been Loki that gave Odin the Heebie Jeebies, it should have been Thor!

Thor is the heir to the throne, no matter what Odin said about both of them being born to be Kings.  And where does the opposition to the throne's policies always align? Why with the camp of the next-in-line of course. Sif, and the Idiots Three weren't particularly loyal to Odin, they were loyal to Thor.  Heimdall was loyal to Thor.  They ran of with Thor to Jotunheim in direct disobedience to the edicts of their lawful King, without a care in the world, because Thor asked them to do it.  Heimdall let them take the Bifrost in direct disobedience to the King because...well, who really knows why, other than he suspected some shenanigans from Loki.  Loki by the way was the only one trying to NOT go to Jotunheim! 

Later when Thor has been banished to Midgard, it all blows up in Odin's face of course.  Loki was about the only one who WAS loyal to him!  Finding out he'd been lied to his whole life put a damper on that of course, and Odin should have known better, but as I said...he's a bit of an idiot.  Loki was loyal to Odin, and Odin should have used that loyalty as a way to keep a lid on Thor. 

It was even worse when Loki was hauled back from New York, and Odin had a temper tantrum and tossed him into jail without doing ANYTHING to find out exactly what happened to him during that time between falling off the Bifrost and showing up on Midgard.  Where the heck did he even get that army anyway?  Why did he give a rat's ass about Midgard?  Isn't anyone happy that he's actually alive instead of dead?  But no, Odin sends Thor, who is about as thick as a brick, and the first thing he does is grab his long-lost brother by the throat and throw him from a plane, and then threaten to beat him up, if he doesn't give Odin his toy Tesseract.  A "I'm glad you're not dead" would probably have been the nice thing to say.  Then Thor tries to kill both Captain America and Iron Man, and nobody thinks that anything is wrong with this?  And if Odin and Asgard couldn't see what happened to Loki after he fell, then how does Odin and Thor know about the Chitauri?  Plus the whole "He's adopted" line just makes me want to slap Thor. 

It was pretty obvious that Loki had been tortured into helping Thanos, and that his idea for subjugating Earth was absurd.  He practically waved a flag in front of Thor and the Avengers, that he didn't really want to succeed. He DID succeed in getting himself and the Tesseract back to Asgard and the Mind Gem out of the hands of Thanos.  But did Odin ask him about any of this?  No, he just tossed him in the dungeon.  And then when the Dark Elves attack in Thor II, Thor and his buddies betray him AGAIN!  If Thor asks them to, Sif and the Idiots Three will do anything, up to, and including committing treason. And hey, so does Heimdall! 

I am rather hoping that all of this will come out in the future movies, but I'm not holding my breath.  I had a crush on Thor from when I was about fifteen, and I started collecting comics, but there is no doubt that he can be a lummox, and that even in the Marvel Comics, Loki always got the short end of the stick. But Odin is  supposed to be smart...even though he doesn't seem to show much proof of that, and making it easier for your successor to undermine you is just bad bad politics.  He should have backed the son who was actually LOYAL to him instead of Thor. 

Well!  I got that off my chest!