Thor: Masters of Evil

Thor: The Masters of Evil is a 2011 superhero film set in the Marvel Media Franchise, the sixteenth film in the universe. It also a sequel to Thor. The film stars Charlie Hunnam, Yvonne Strahovski, Charlie Cox, Gal Gadot, Olivia Wilde, Ethan Hawke, James Franco, Jamie Dornan, John Cho, Victoria Principal, Tobey Maguire, and Sam Neill and was released worldwide on May 26, 2011. The film ran 133 minutes and grossed $586.8 million on a $195 million budget.

Plot
Thor has been in Asgard for two years now, after the Attack on New York City. His father Odin, has prepared to give the throne to Thor in two days. Loki, Thor's adopted brother who has commited multiple crimes, has been in a cell since the Attack, while Sif and Heimdall, Thor's friends who are siblings, watch over the Nine Realms, all of the places or planets on Yggrasil, the Tree of Life, and watch over Loki, Skurge, and the other prisoners. Amora, the Enchantress, also had a role in the Siege of Asgard which resulted in Loki and Skurge's arrest, though Amora cast a spell over Asgard that made them forget her role in the event. Amora also watches Yggdrasil, though through her own methods. Finally, when Asgard is at peace, Amora marks three lives of Earth and sends them up to the kingdom.

Thor, Sif, Heimdall, Odin, and Frigga, Thor's mother, feel a disturbance in the world and race over to Yggdrasil, where they find Amora presiding over Simon Williams, Chen Lu, and Baron Zemo. Simon and Chen are confused until Amora awakens powers within them. Simon now has super-strength, super-speed, flight, energy blasts, invulnerability, shape-shifting, and teleportation, while Chen has super-strength, flight, energy blasts, rocket blasters, and technokinesis. Zemo has retained his ability of genius intellect, enhanced strength and speed, agility, and swordsmanship. Amora breaks Skurge out of prison and the five villains attack Thor, Sif, and Heimdall, while Odin and Frigga escape the underground levels of the castle. Thor and Sif nearly kill Skurge, though Heimdall is almost killed by Chen/Radioactive Man. Thor and Sif save him and escape.

The three heroes decide they have no other choice but to break out Loki and convince him to fight on their side. However, Thor is suddenly transported to Earth, while Sif and Heimdall are now in the prison. Amora leads her Masters of Evil to the Throne Room to kill Odin and Frigga. On Earth, Thor finds Jane Foster, an old love who was separated from Thor when he went back to Asgard. The two kiss as they reunite but Thor reveaks his problem. Jane reveals she thinks she knows a way to return him to Asgard. She brings Thor to Williams Industries, Simon/Wonder Man's company. She shows him the Reactor Core, which Simon theorized could send beings across the universe. Jane fires it up as Thor prepares to go in. It turns on and Thor is pulled in. Jane realizes she cannot let Thor leave her again and jumps in too, just as it closes.

On Asgard, Amora and her Masters of Evil bring Odin and Frigga to the prison. Amora orders Skurge to kill Frigga, which he does, with Odin, Sif, Heimdall, and Loki watching. Loki mouths something to Odin, which prompts him to attack Amora. She is caught offguard and Odin stabs her with a knife. Skurge attacks the king, though Odin quickly stabs himself with the same knife. Amora realizes what he has done: given himself some of Amora's powers. Odin quickly opens the cell doors and Loki, Sif, and Heimdall attack the Masters of Evil. Thor and Jane return at the same time and Jane is nearly killed by Amora. However, she shoots Amora, which causes her to overload her powers and send everyone there to another realm. Odin realizes they are in Hel, the land of the dead. Odin quickly escapes the group to find Frigga.

Amora traps herself, Skurge, the Masters of Evil, Thor, Sif, Heimdall, Loki, and Jane in an alternate reality, which only herself and Thor know is real. Thor is forced to watch Sif and Jane kiss on loop, while Amora is able to kill Loki several times over, with him feeling the pain continuously. However, Odin returns after saying a thoughtful goodbye to Frigga and uses the last of his powers to stop Amora. The reality is erased, sending everyone back to Asgard. However, when Amora set off a blast, it killed countless Asgardians. Amora, Simon, Chen, and Skurge are put in cells, while Zemo's dead body is found, having been stabbed by Sif in a fight, slowly dying throughout the entire battle. Odin learns Thor has decided to return to Earth with Jane, as he wants to be with her. Sif and Heimdall return to their duties, though Sif realizes she does have feelings for Jane, after the reality. Loki is also pardoned from his crimes after helping them and promising to quit his life of crime.

In a mid-credits scene, set in Hel, the ground shakes and a fiery, beastly diety, Surtur, awakens. In a post-credits scene, an AI called Ultron awakens in Stark Industries.

Cast

 * Charlie Hunnam as Thor
 * Yvonne Strahovski as Jane Foster
 * Charlie Cox as Loki
 * Gal Gadot as Sif
 * Olivia Wilde as Amora
 * Ethan Hawke as Simon Williams/Wonder Man
 * James Franco as Skurge
 * Jamie Dornan as Heimdall
 * John Cho as Chen Lu/Radioactive Man
 * Victoria Principal as Frigga
 * Tobey Maguire as Baron Zemo
 * Sam Neill as Odin

Production
A sequel to Thor was announced in May 2009, along with a sequel to Iron Man: Rise of the Patriots, a sequel to Spider-Man 2, and a sequel to The Avengers. A release date for Thor 2, a title given to the film temporarily, was announced shortly after as May 26, 2011, while Charlie Hunnam revealed that Thor 2 was on his contract, along with a third film, and two Avengers sequels. Yvonne Strahovski had also signed on for the film and a second sequel. Charlie Cox agreed to appear in the film, his third film on his five film contract. Gal Gadot, James Franco, Olivia Wilde, Jamie Dornan, and Sam Niell were all announced to appear in the film as part of their contract, while in October, Victoria Principal revealed that she was in the film. Ethan Hawke and John Cho were cast in the film as Wonder Man and Radioactive Man, two of the film's villains, in November, along with Tobey Maguire reprising his role as Baron Zemo, from the Captain America films. Alan Taylor returned as director while the screenplay was written by Christopher Yost. Filming began on April 23, 2010 and concluded on September 16, after delays throughout filming. The film was released on it's previously announced date.

Box office
Thor: Masters of Evil grossed $254.5 million in North America and $332.3 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $586.8 million, against a budget of $195 million.

Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 33% based on 233 reviews with an average rating of 4.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A crueler, darker, weirder carbon copy of the first installment, Thor: Masters of Evil lacks the element of surprise—and most of the joy—that helped make the original...okay." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 44 out of 100 based on 40 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.