The Dark World’s Best Marvel Cameo Happened Thanks to Perfect Timing

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Some might consider it one of the worst Marvel movies yetbut “Thor: The Dark World” is not without its moments, notably one added at the last minute which contributed to the growing cohesion of the franchise which was being built like a Russian doll. A scene in the hammer-wielding hero’s second film saw him being taunted by Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who, in an attempt to push his adoptive brother’s buttons, briefly transformed into the all-star Captain America (played by Chris Evans). (although in one of Cap’s worst costumes), before going back. According to “The History of Marvel Studios: The Creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe”, the small cameo was added purely by chance, given that “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” was being picked up and the MCU’s super soldier had some free time to pass through Midgard and back.

“We were doing additional photography on ‘The Dark World’ in Manhattan Beach at the same time as filming ‘Winter Soldier,'” Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige explained in the book. “And Evans was nice enough, at the end of one of his days, to take off his ‘Winter Soldier’ ​​outfit, put his ‘Avengers’ Cap outfit back on and do the Loki thing, which was very cool of him.” It’s this small, lighthearted tie-in that would become a larger tool applied to future solo superhero films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and which, thanks to “The Dark World” reshoots, would also change the trajectory that Thor would follow for the foreseeable future, for better or worse.

The title might have made fans prepare for a more serious sequel, but through additional filming, filmmaker Alan Taylor began to see that he could liven things up a bit in “Thor: The Dark World” with an action star hiding in plain sight.

“In my case, we had a movie where Thor broke up with his girlfriend and his brother died,” Taylor recalls. “By the time we released it, they hadn’t separated and the brother was alive. A lot of things happened along the way, like rediscovering the lightness of [Thor] and the fact that Chris is also a natural and brilliant actor.”

However, although Taylor was happy with the outcome, Hemsworth was unhappy with the outcome, considering his appearance in “The Dark World” as his most disappointing. This kind of self-criticism would return years later with “Thor: Love and Thunder”, which met with an equally negative reception and had Hemsworth vouches for drastic change for Thor 5if and when that happens. If the (second) strongest Avenger returned to the MCU alone, there might be a sweet spot close to the standard of “The Dark World” that could return Thor to standalone hero status, and he might not even need a Cap cameo to do it, either.