10 Movie Sequels That Were Way Better Than They Had Any Right To Be

Before 2017, Thor seemed to always be getting the short end of the stick.

His first film was a lovingly-crafted tale of gods, kingdoms, and mythology but held little of the vitality that films like Iron Man or Captain America: The First Avenger did. The first two Avengers films saw Joss Whedon never being quite sure how to utilize him in the narrative. And the less said about the dull and dreary Thor: The Dark World, the better.

All of this to say, that expectations were practically at rock-bottom when Thor: Ragnarok was first announced. So Marvel took this opportunity to hand the least of their franchises over to a madman from New Zealand, veteran off-kilter comedian Taika Waititi, and see what he could do with it. The results are about as strange and wonderful as one could possibly hope for.

Waititi's film delivers everything a Thor film should have been all along, with visuals straight out of an '80s metal band album cover, a Carpenter-esque driving synth score, and the most assured and staggeringly funny visual humor in the entirety of the MCU. With this new approach, Hemsworth gets the chance to truly shine for the first time in the franchise, showing off his impeccable comedic chops.

And yet Ragnarok also has some of the highest stakes of any Marvel film. The film constantly challenges Thor as a character, inside and out. He loses his father, his hammer, and has to sacrifice the entirety of Asgard to save his people.