The MCU is filled with hundreds and hundreds of amazing moments. It’s a franchise that truly deserves its legendary status and it’s difficult to not marvel at all its achievements which as of now are unmatched by any other studio.
Picking the moment that embodies all that it is is very difficult but there’s one scene that forever stands out in my mind as being absolutely perfect.
But why does it work so well and why is it that the moment somehow gets better after multiple watches? Well throughout this video we’re gonna be breaking down exactly what makes this scene what it is, as well as the storytelling behind it that just makes everything about this a complete knockout.
Thor in Wakanda
Thor arriving in Wakanda to save the heroes in their most desperate moment works on several levels not only because of what happens after it but also because of what comes before.
Thor’s Devastating Losses
Throughout the MCU, Thor was always a hero to me that was way too overconfident in his abilities. In fact, when we first meet him this great character flaw is the thing that gets him cast out of Asgard and his first Solo movie is about him proving that he’s worthy of being the king that his father wants him to be.
As self-assured as he is, when we look back at the series, Thor is also the person that has lost the most.
Before the events of him journeying to Wakanda not only did he lose his mother, but he also lost his father, sister, brother…. well-adopted brother, home, best friend and half of all his people after Thanos attacked his ship.
Fate
He’s easily been on the most devastating arc in the entire series but this loss also gave him a false perception of himself and what fate had decreed for him.
In Infinity War he even says that he’s only alive because “fate wills it so”.
Because he’d lost so much and yet always come out on top, he believes that the odds will always be in his favour and even when he looks like he’s done that he’ll bounce back. This again plays into his character flaw and self-belief which we’ll touch upon more later on in the video.
Now this line about fate plays massively into how well the movie is crafted and why it lulls us into a false sense of security so that the rug is pulled from under our feet come the final act.
What Infinity War does so well and why the snap feels so devastating is because the movie tricks us into believing that the Avengers will win.
(Not) Killing Thanos
There’s the aforementioned fate bit but beyond that, there are several lines of dialogue and motifs that lead us down the path to thinking that Thanos is done for.
After surviving the onslaught, Thor sets out on a quest to get Stormbreaker a mythical weapon of great power. If we look at cinematic conventions, most movies in the genre involve the hero going out on a quest to get a MacGuffin that will help them to defeat the villain.
We’re even told that Stormbreaker is a weapon which is the ‘Thanos killing kind’ so Thor going through the journey that he does in which he gains it at the end makes us believe that he now has the power to stop the Mad Titan.
The movie also uses our expectations to make us think that we know exactly the way that it’s going to go.
In the franchise, we’ve already seen the Avengers team up and defeat several villains and Thor arriving in Wakanda perfectly mimics the scene from their first team-up movie.
When we play them side by side we can see that the same stances, the way that the camera is used to portray movement and the music are all deliberately chosen to lure us into a false sense of security.
It’s masterful filmmaking and makes the twist a complete gut punch as due to all this build-up we were sure that the good guys were going to win.
The Build-up to the Perfect Scene
Now why this scene also works incredibly well is immediate the build-up to it.
Our heroes on Earth are facing insurmountable odds as the forces of Thanos swamp them and it seems like all is lost. That is until the Bifrost shoots down with a bass sound that would crack your subwoofer and Stormbreaker flies out of it. Within seconds, the forces of Thanos are completely decimated and when it returns to Thor’s hand we see the hero once more, standing triumphant.
Throughout the film, Thor has painted a sorry picture of himself and he’s very much been a character that’s defeated and down on his luck. However, his return here shows that the character we know and love is back and he’s ready to take Thanos.
Why Does it Work?
Now why this works so well is because throughout the film Thor has been going about things away from Thanos. Rather than travelling to Nowhere to take him on with The Guardians, he travelled to Nidivallir to get Stormbreaker. I wouldn’t necessarily call it cowardly but he wasn’t really rushing to battle and up until this point in the film the character hasn’t had the action scenes that the others have.
He’s been a shadow of his former self, almost wallowing in self-pity and on the verge of Bully Maguire asking him if he’s gonna cry now.
However, here he’s the complete opposite of that, rather than skirting around the edges he’s running head first to his opponents and completely wiping them in the process.
It’s difficult to not get swept up at this moment and because of this scene, you can’t wait until Thor finally beats the villain and rights the wrongs of all that have been done to him.
There is no way he can lose.
… but he does
Calling back to our earlier point it’s Thor’s great character flaw that is the reason why he does and why he also dooms the universe.
In the finale after Thanos has collected all of the Infinity Stones, we see Stormbreaker rushing towards Thanos but rather than hitting him in the head, it goes into his chest.
Thor has the opportunity to kill him but rather than delivering a killing stroke he prefers to gloat and rub it in Thanos’ face that he won. This overconfidence and need to boast is the thing that has always been his downfall and just as we’ve seen before he fails because of it.
A moment that should be his greatest triumph is now his greatest failing and we watch in Endgame as he has to wrestle with the fact that him taking this action is what destroys not only half of all life in the universe but also his belief in himself.
That is exactly why his arrival in Wakanda is so perfect.
Beyond just being a cool entrance, that saves his friends from death, it has several layers to it that perfectly show the good points and bad points of Thor’s character.
Thor riding confidently into battle believing that fate wills him to win is precisely why he ends up losing in the end and the scene is masterful in its storytelling. Not only does it perfectly recapture the elements from earlier in the franchise but it also uses them to make us believe that the film is going to go a certain way.
Us seeing the self-assured, confident Thor here makes our confidence rise as well as we as an audience believe that the heroes are gonna come through in the end.
Crushing Finale
However this high is what also makes the low of the snap even more devastating and the movie perfectly uses this moment to prop up its heroes so that they can fall even more.
Thor standing here confidently is a complete juxtaposition to how we catch them in the final scenes and whereas he props himself up tall and proud, Cap slumps on the ground over the Visions corpse, knowing that all is lost.
The dynamics of the film are complete opposite ends to each other and the snap only feels so crushing to us because it follows on from this scene in which we were celebrating the return of one of the best Avengers.
We watch as the hero goes on an arc of being defeated, to rising up, only to be crushed again by the final twist and that is why this moment is so perfect.
It captures the character as he believes he’s bounced back which makes it all the more devastating when we see him lose. The music is perfect, the timing of the scene is perfect and the fact that it bases itself heavily on both the good and bad in Thor’s character is what makes it astounding.
It also brings in several elements from earlier in the franchise and just gets you so hyped for the climax of the film that it’s difficult not to get swept up in it every time you watch it.
Thor arriving on Wakanda is one of my favourite scenes in any comic book and I think it’s gonna be a while before the MCU tops this in my eyes.
I’m still blown away by it to this day and that is why it’s perfect.
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