Page to Screen: Thor — The Dark World (2013)

Thor: The Dark World
based on characters by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby, and Walter Simonson

Out of the sprawling Yggdrasil that is the Marvel cinematic universe, you’d think I’d be the most inclined towards the Thor branch—I mean, it includes sweeping space fantasy, lady scientists, and an earnest, dorky sense of humor, all things that are directly up my alley. But the first Thor film didn’t work for me on the level of, say, Captain America: The First Avenger. I liked all the individual pieces, including Tom Hiddleston’s star turn as Loki, but something about the way all the pieces were put together didn’t click for me. Still, it seemed a problem of execution, not of potential, and that’s the magical thing about long-lived stories: the potential is never wasted, only set aside for that moment. (Thus my eternal and increasingly pigheaded optimism about Harley Quinn at the moment.)

Page to Screen: Iron Man 3 (2013)

Iron Man 3
based on characters by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby

As much as I enjoyed Iron Man and Iron Man 2, I don’t really think of myself as an Iron Man fan. In the Marvel universe, I usually gravitate to Thor and X-Men. (How excited am I about the new all-lady team? SO EXCITED.) So I didn’t make plans to go see Iron Man 3 at midnight, as I usually do for big franchise films—I like not being the only one in the audience gasping, clapping, and cackling. Plus, it was during my last round of undergraduate finals. And yet, when the reviews started piling up, I tuned them out, in an subconscious attempt to remain unspoiled. Deep down, I wanted to see it. When an opportunity to see it on opening day came up, I took it.

Page to Screen: Iron Man 2 (2010)

Iron Man 2
based on characters by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby

Somehow, I completely missed Iron Man 2 when it came out in 2010. It’s not that I didn’t want to see it—the trailer looked fantastic—but I just never got around to seeing it. Or renting it. But when Netflix made the ridiculous decision to split its streaming and DVD services, I had to move fast; on top of that, it was time to get caught up for The Avengers.

Page to Screen: Iron Man (2008)

Iron Man
based on characters by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby

When Iron Man came out, I went to go see it with my dad—we bond over superhero movies and Pixar films. I’d heard nothing but good things about it, and I quite enjoyed it. But as the Marvel film universe gathered speed in 2011, I started getting excited for The Avengers, despite the lack of Edward Norton’s Bruce Banner. (We’ll get to The Incredible Hulk, I promise.) That meant I had to watch Iron Man 2, which I’d passed on when it came out, which meant that I had to reacquaint myself with Iron Man the first.

Page to Screen: Thor (2011)

Thor
based on characters by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby

When it comes to comics, I’m a DC girl. There’s a snarky edge to Marvel that I don’t appreciate—in comic book form. When it comes to the movies, I quite like Marvel’s output. …well, their recent output. Iron Man was a fantastic romp and I quite liked The Incredible Hulk; but then, my thing for Liv Tyler probably had something to do with that. But I wasn’t exactly planning on seeing Thor until a friend of mine saw it three times when it came out. And then the trailer, where Thor behaves as if he’s at a mead hall in a tiny diner, grew on me and grew on me, until I jumped at the chance to see it on the big screen.