Marvel’s Avengers: Thor #1 review: Setting the stage
Marvel’s Avengers: Thor #1 features a brief clash between the Hulk and Thor and little else.
It is 2020 and that means we are just a few short months away from Marvel’s Avengers, a brand new game featuring Earth’s mightiest heroes. It is the first in a long-term deal between Square Enix and Marvel to make multiple games based on Marvel properties.
However, the upcoming game isn’t strictly based on the movies or comics. It’s more an amalgamation of the two, so special one-issue comics focusing on one member of the core team that makes up Marvel’s Avengers is being released each month. We already had one focused on Iron Man in December, and this month, Thor gets the spotlight.
The story is roughly as follows: Iron Man is trying out some teleportation device with Thor and Bruce Banner’s help. It blows up, causing a bit of tension between these teammates. When Thor summons the rainbow bridge to Asgard but cannot close it, that leads to a physical brawl with Banner’s inner monster, The Hulk.
Unlike Iron Man #1, Marvel’s Avengers: Thor #1 also actually sets the stage for the game a little more by establishing that there’s been an incident where the Avengers did a lot of property damage and endangered lives over what appeared to the public, like a personal squabble so that at least is something that ties directly into the game.
Those are really the only positives I can give this comic, however. It’s called Thor #1 but it’s really just a drawn-out battle between Thor and Hulk. Hulk is getting his own comic where I’m sure he’ll go on some sort of rampage of his own, so why is this here? We don’t actually get a good sense of what Thor’s whole deal is because of this.
Iron Man #1 may have covered really familiar territory but it was all about Iron Man. There is no focus on the son of Odin here. It would have probably made more sense to have the story take place in Asgard but still tie into events on Earth in some fashion.
Additionally, while this supposedly isn’t specifically based on any previous version of the Avengers, there’s some behavior that makes little sense. Tony explains why he thinks the teleportation device would come in pretty handy (i.e. the Avengers can respond to a crisis anywhere in the world in seconds) and Bruce still snaps at him about it, even though it’s established that Bruce has worked with Tony to get the teleportation device to this point.
What exactly is he mad at Tony about? It’s a little reckless, sure but if Bruce thought it was a bad idea he shouldn’t be helping Tony out like this in the first place.
Secondly, when the Rainbow Bridge to Asgard appears and cannot be closed, Tony just decides he doesn’t want to get mixed up in Asgard business and just leaves. That’s not only dangerously irresponsible, but any version of Tony Stark has a big enough ego that he thinks he would be essential in just about any situation — even if he’s out of his depth. He wouldn’t just up and leave.
Much like with Iron Man #1, Marvel’s Avengers: Thor #1 seems completely unnecessary. It does a little to set the stage, but nothing that couldn’t be done, and will probably be reiterated, in the actual game. It doesn’t do anything new with the characters and doesn’t even give much thought to the supposed star of the issue.
Honestly, a better idea for the comics might’ve been to have it from the perspective of a character who is not in The Avengers. Maybe a major character who is in the game but a relative newcomer to the Marvel Universe who views The Avengers as her personal heroes? Just a thought.
It’s a good thing the more recent trailers for Marvel’s Avengers have been interesting because much like the last issue, Marvel’s Avengers: Thor #1 fails to give me any compelling reason to be excited about the upcoming game. Marvel’s Avengers releases on PS4, Xbox One, and PC May 15, 2020.
A copy of Marvel’s Avengers: Thor #1 was provided to App Trigger for the purpose of this article.