10 Most Irritating Subplots In The Marvel Cinematic Universe

9. Erik Selvig's Mental Instability - Thor: The Dark World

Another film we'll be seeing again on this list later is the supremely goofy Thor: The Dark World, which featured a ridiculous comedy subplot in which Dr. Erik Selvig ends up having a mental breakdown. Following his possession by Loki in The Avengers, we see that he ends up stripping naked at Stonehenge and gets arrested, ultimately being thrown in a mental institution. His chatterings about the Nine Realms no doubt make him seem even more disconnected from reality to his fellow inmates, until he's released into the custody of Darcy and Ian. When they leave, the trio witnesses a portal suck in a flock of birds, causing Selvig to bin his medication and finally return to reality, where he is instrumental in saving Earth from Malekith. This all would have been fine if it was actually funny, but really it was just silly and failed to make good use of Stellan Skarsgård's talents. In a film already featuring a number of daft comic relief characters, did we really need Selvig being reduced to a complete joke?