A Decade On: Revisiting Thor: The Dark World

This Loki is a great character in Ragnarok, sacrificing his own life to save Thor in Avengers: Infinity War, than the strangely misogynistic Joss Whedon-written Loki in The Avengers. He’s similar to Loki, and there’s a spinoff in the works now, an off-show for Disney+. It’s technically a different Loki, but with the multiverse and everything. But even if Loki isn’t Loki, someone who quietly plays a role in this film is Darcy Lewis, played by Kat Dennings. When we came back from the first Thor, she asked, “What is Norse mythology?” Darcy’s main job this time around is to act as an audience stand-in and liven up the boring exposition scenes that Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster has to deal with, so Jane Foster can be more actively involved in the action. It’s there and yet it can’t do anything funny or interesting. It’s interesting. The best line in the movie comes a few minutes after Thor has a little laugh, when Darcy and Thor are reunited and Darcy asks “What’s space like” and Darcy replies “Space is fine.” Loud, funny, entertaining? No, it’s just a sweet little moment that feels at least a little realistic in a movie that’s 90% about magical portals. In perhaps the truest expression of the undeniable nadir of about 30 films that are even worse, Dennings’ self-aware comment that “what we’re doing is weird” is deeply offensive (and wrong.) Marvel’s Throne and some of her Marvel films often fail, but she’s so good at it that it makes up for the silly storylines.