Tim + Alex + Friends (Including Me) Kill The Marvel Cinematic Universe: Avengers Assemble!

I was asked by Tim+Alex to submit a piece for their site about my favourite scene or moment from Phase 1 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as part of a retrospective and I gladly obliged! You can check out their site and follow them both on Twitter should you so wish to follow their great content (and you should), I'll include the links below. Without further ado, here's the piece I wrote which was first published on their site on July 26th 2018:

"For me, there’s a single film in Phase 1 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that sets the overall tone for the comedy in the entire franchise. Sure, Iron Man has plenty of sardonic quips but before Kenneth Branagh’s Thor came along, humour wasn’t something I associated with the MCU.

As much as I enjoy a good action scene or a well drawn out character arc, ever since the release of Thor in 2011, I’ve found the one facet of Marvels behemoth of a film-verse that outshines all other elements and resonates with me most is its humour.  

Thor’s anachronistic, verbose Asgardian language coupled with his inability to fully grasp or understand the social graces and behaviours of the modern day time period make for some comedy gold. Unlike Cap, who is rather like a bemused grandfather who doesn’t understand kids today with their new fangled gadgets, Thor’s complete lack of awareness struck a comedic cord that I’ve craved upon every new Marvel release.  

It’s hard to pick my favourite scene or moment because so much of this film made me howl with laughter, from the pet shop scene where Thor asks for a cat or dog the size of a horse to ride to the scene where Thor is sedated mid-sentence “You are no match for the mighty Th…” all of these moments along with Thor’s culture shock make for some excellent and improbable screwball comedy.

However, the scene that solidified my love of humour in the MCU was the diner scene. Thor is ravenously eating and drinking after arriving on Earth/Midgard, he downs a whole cup of coffee then exclaims, “This drink, I like it” to which Darcy barely has time to respond “Yeah, it’s great, isn’t it? Isabela makes the best coffee in town” before Thor throws his mug to ground and shatters it. Only to call out majestically “Another!”, the transition from pure slapstick to Chris Hemsworth’s sincere but stoic expression never fails to make me laugh. 

I remember being quite taken aback, despite reading comics for many years and knowing that comedy does indeed exist in them, I hadn’t yet experienced that same level of jocularity in the MCU. It felt like a rarity to be watching a Blockbuster fantasy movie that had action, drama and comedy in it. 

Thor’s character has developed immensely throughout the franchise and his comedy moments have continued to dominate my favourite scenes, Hemsworth is so damn charming and funny that Marvel Studios utilised this going forward and in Thor: Ragnarok, it shows".  

So, there you have it. My favourite moment of Phase 1. What I found interesting is that two other contributors chose the same scene or film. Does this mean I'm boring? Maybe. But does it also give my opinion validity? Damn right it does! 

I'd love to know other people's thoughts on this, let me know in the comment section what your favourite moment is.

In the meantime, follow Tim Maytom and Alex Spencer on Twitter and check out their website, Tim+Alex here.