Thor: The Dark World is great. You’re just mean.

Defending Thor: The Dark World and hating on Ragnarok for internet clout.

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Scott Niswander
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Edited by @laurence_hisee:
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⏱ CHAPTERS
00:00 i want internet clout
01:05 quiet moments & comedy
05:39 tea time!
06:28 the best of asgard
10:51 i didn't start this fight
13:16 however...
15:04 meta backlash
19:40 sponsor
21:56 support me on patreon!

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📚 SOURCES
Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi
If S/He Be Worthy: Redditors’ Reception to Female Thor by Matthew Guinibert & Angelique Nairn

🤔 ABOUT NERDSYNC
Home of the popular Comic Misconceptions series, NerdSync makes video essays and in-depth analyses about nerdy pop culture. From comic books and superheroes to Scooby-Doo and other classic cartoons, host Scott Niswander explores fascinating topics that range from history, philosophy, culture, and art. NerdSync makes fascinating, complex ideas a little more accessible through the heroes and villains from Marvel, DC Comics, and beyond! Subscribe for new videos every other Friday, you wonderful nerd!

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#NerdSync #VideoEssay #Thor #Marvel #MCU #LoveandThunder #Ragnarok

[NerdSyncProductions]

😅 Sorry for the bait and switch on both videos this week, but I thought it helped make things fun and interesting. I promise not all videos will be this clickbaity.

[Silvershire]

I didn't interpret the play in Ragnarok as retconning anything from Dark World. I thought it was just a recreation of the events that Loki experienced.

[hismonkeybusiness]

So, Thor hanging up his hammer on the rack was actually improvised by Hemsworth on the day. I don't think it was written in the script

[ethankillion]

The film actually has great character building moments for Loki and for Thor and Loki's relationship as a whole.

[sven_lu_]

I love the push and pull of "there's no room for nuance" and "no content, only context" during the first half of the video.

[ramblinentertainment]

I love what the dark world did with Thor and Loki’s relationship. It really builds up their dynamic for the third act which gives lokis death(?) a lot of weight and his subsequent betrayal more weight. I also love the stuff with their mom which REALLY gets it’s payoff in endgame (as Scott so eloquently talked about in the past) )

[absoul]

Personally I don't think Ragnarök was trying to say Dark World didn't happen. I would assume Loki (as Odin) gave them the idea for the play as if it did happen.

[ToastOnSmores]

The play isn’t retconning Dark world. Loki (as Odín) is putting on plays about his “noble sacrifice” to stoke his own ego. Hence why he got Matt Damon to play himself and the least famous Hemsworth brother to play Thor.

[Everik-ctpg]

Ignoring the bait and switch of this video, i have to say that Dark World really isn't that bad. I do actually like the color grading a bit, and how it tried to expand on some aspects of the lore like Asgard.
Regardless, i still think that Thor 1 is the best Thor movie, followed by Ragnarok. DW is in the middle and L&T is the worst one.

[Icepick]

I still defend Dark World for having some of the best Thor and Loki moments in the franchise. As time goes on I've enjoyed it more and more

[kjiyere]

While it's not the best Thor movie, I think Dark World has some really excellent moments. It showed Thor was capable of holding his own against an opponent with an Infinity Gem and even destroying one.

[Nightmank]

I always liked the Dark World. The sad parts felt truly emotionally resonant and the brotherly parts between Thor and Loki were great and I genuinely felt invested in Jane and Thor being able to be together. It felt like Taika Wahtiti really doesn't care at all about the previous movies or the things they set up. I also hated the Ragnarok improv comedy. Every single character has that wink-at-the-camera "Oh that's like a stupid sci-fi comicbook thing, right? That's cute." even Hela, so it's jarring that they juxtapose it with the concept of Ragnarok and a ton of Thor's closest loved ones dying. He's immortal, the people he loves best are dead forever, c'mon, that should be tragic. But not even losing Asgard was given gravity they have to play the whole, "Asgard is a people not a place" BS, how lovely, well good to know if the Earth gets blown up it won't matter that the place had value to it as well.

[KotaSlim]

Two new Nerdsync videos in the span of two days?! We must be living in the darkest timeline.
Just kidding, I love Nerdsync. I don’t always agree with what Scott has to say, but I’m usually entertained for a good half hour.

[Volvagiaslayer]

As someone who actually really liked Dark World, it's Ragnarok > Love and Thunder > Dark World > Thor for me. That said, if I rewatched Dark World, I could see myself potentially moving Dark World up above Love and Thunder, but I really loved Ragnarok despite agreeing that it would have been nice if it had let some of the emotional moments sit a bit more than they did.

EDIT: Yeah, Scott, you completely misread that play scene. It isn't pretending the previous movie didn't happen at all. I personally didn't even read it as making fun of the previous Thor movie. It's just reestablishing for the audience that Loki is believed to be dead right before it's revealed that he's actually been masquearing as Odin.

[IkeyCaptain]

I watched it again in prep for the fourth film (that I never watched 👀) and really enjoyed it. watched ragnarok after, and the shakespearean aspect of Thor the Drak World was lost that I really liked about it. The tropes tended to catch up to them in the second film, which brought it down just as Wanda's asinine heel turn brought down MoM. Tho, just like apparently anything regarding women in the MCU, it implodes itself with Jane and even with Hela in Ragnarok. Older sister who didn't get daddy's attention? SHE GOES MAD YALL. but the brothers get to be closer I guess idk

[ActualOphelia]

When I watched through the MCU films for the first time, my friend who was introducing me to them had to pause Dark World bc I literally couldn't breathe bc I was laughing so much: the escape from Asgard scene ("I AM PRESSING GENTLY!!" "congratulations, you just beheaded your ancestor.") is HILARIOUS.

[Tuaron]

Was not expecting this video to go where it went, but I really do appreciate this video on so many levels.

Back to earlier parts: the part of Ragnarok I hated the most was how flippantly it eliminated the Warriors Three (and didn't even include Sif), particularly as their role already seemed unfortunately diminished in Dark World (particularly sad to me because I was really happy to see Zachary Levi get to be Fandral).

[joeyunderwood]

i don’t think the play in ragnarok is meant to retcon the dark world. it’s just a play of what happened in ragnarok so loki can make himself look heroic after his “death”.

[fll]

The funniest thing about this video for me it's that you used outrage movie culture by defending a objectively bad movie just so you can spread the word about a very real and important issue and that you managed to tie the message to the movie
Bravo

[blaze]

The first 45 minutes of Dark World is stellar. I totally agree I love the Lord of the Rings tone. It does degenerate into a campy kind of movie but it's pretty solid for awhile. Like last 30 or so minutes is like wait, what they're teleporting through matter and fighting in a subway?