In 2013, Marvel Studios released Thor: The Dark World, the eighth film in what was, at the time, a still-experimental attempt to build a unified cinematic universe. The film made nearly $650 million at the global box office, was a technical success by virtually any Hollywood standard, and yet—if you ask the average Marvel fan today to recall its plot, you’ll likely be met with a long pause, followed by something like, “Was that the one with the elves?”This is what psychologists call the forgetting curve—the measurable way in which human brains discard information over time. And The Dark World may be the MCU’s most fascinating case study in collective amnesia.In this season premiere of Marvel Movie Minute, hosts Pete Wright and Matthew Fox take a closer look at why this film, despite its blockbuster credentials, has become an outlier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They explore its roots in Norse mythology, its connections to Walter Simonson’s legendary Thor comic book run, and the production challenges that may have doomed it from the start. They also examine the role of Christopher Eccleston’s Malekith—who, on paper, should have been a compelling villain, but in practice, is about as memorable as that one password you created three years ago and never wrote down.But here’s the real question: Is Thor: The Dark World actually as forgettable as we think? Or is it possible that we’ve misjudged it—overlooking important moments of character development, underappreciating its role in shaping the larger MCU, and failing to recognize that, for all its flaws, it still laid the groundwork for Thor: Ragnarok?Pete and Matthew also take a step back to rank every Thor appearance in the MCU, asking a broader question: What makes Thor work? Is he at his best when he’s a brooding Shakespearean prince? A reluctant hero? A cosmic himbo? Or is the answer something more complex—something that, like all great characters, depends on the context in which he exists?And so we welcome you to a conversation about memory, about expectations, and about what happens when a film falls into the strange space between successful and impactful.If you want to hear these conversations unfold in real-time, join the Marvel Movie Minute community at
trustory.fm/join, where members get early access, invitations to live stream recordings, and other bonus content.
Film Sundries
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