Marvel Cinematic Universe: Every One-Shot & Webseries Ranked Worst To Best
6. A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor's Hammer
Released several weeks after The Consultant, the MCU's second One-Shot served to help fill in a little gap between when Coulson left Tony Stark's home in Malibu for New Mexico and when he arrived there in Thor. Stopping at a gas station, he finds himself in the middle of a robbery, something he puts an end to pretty swiftly before continuing on his way.
Unlike its predecessor, A Funny Thing doesn't necessarily answer any lingering questions or set anything up, but at the end of the day, it's the more entertaining watch. Not only did it give Clark Gregg even more time to shine in order to highlight Coulson's physical capabilities and his wit, something Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would later capitalize on fully, but it suggested that not every short film would have to exist merely to pave over plot holes or tie up loose ends.
A Funny Thing represents the idea that the One-Shots could tell day-in-the-life stories of characters that didn't necessarily need to connect to or depend on the bigger picture to still work like The Consultant had to in existing only to answer lingering questions, and that's something the later, larger short films would tend to embrace in their storytelling.